I didn't know these were in my camera

Valentines dinner

Dining the best of LA

DineLa is a two week two time per year event. It is where the best of the culinary arts are exhibited at fixed price menus. $15, $25, $35 lunches and $25, $35, $45 dinners.

It does sound like a great deal doesn't it? but why is it that I always walk out of the restaurants spending a magical $75. It is like the target cover charge of LA restaurants. My first dinela experience was a year ago at Nic's Martini Lounge with my friend E. I started off the regular menu had an amazing snapper in papillote a couple of their signature martinis and the next thing I know i am wearing a furcoat and hat, locked in a cold room tasting vodkas and speaking Russian like I knew it. I won't disclose the amount I spent that year, but the vodka versus food ratio set the need for a mcdonald's french fry stop mid commute home.

In the end I was a rube for tipsyangratron.

This year I was excited to try a lot of the restaurants on the list. There were so many, so many that I wanted to try, but weren't really ever in my budget. This year I had learned my lesson, no triple digit dinners. The prix fixe and maybe one drink. That was the plan.

But as I walked out of each place $75 poorer I wonder what happened.

My first choice of the dinela week was Ray's at LACMA and it was one of the best meals of my life. It was a three course with little bonuses, like a sorrell potato soup amuse bouche and a better than oreo dessert with the check.

Here is what I chose: (3 courses)
Charred octopus with burrata (fried greens with a siracha like sauce)
Short ribs in a mustard sauce with brussel sprouts
Toffee pudding with lightly cinammoned ice cream and tiny baked apples (I didn't understand that it was pudding in the English sense but ate it, wheat and all and it was totally zombie worthy)

Bouchon was the second on my must list and was a perfect reward to a weekend of tango bootcamp. I have always been too daunted to try this place, Thomas Keller, Beverly Hills, dollar signs. I have to say I rocked the heck out of my clearance Target dress. I loved our waiter. I wish I would have remembered his name. He was great like a friend, giving recommendations like he already knew us. The food was great and their normal menu isn't as pricey as I thought.

Here is what I ordered: 4 courses
Olives (um what was I thinking, where do I put the pits and how do I politely expel them from my mouth)
Warm goat cheese salad
Salmon with quinoa and a meyer lemon sauce
Rice pudding with apricot compote

We snuck in a place that we didn't know was on the dinela list, so many to keep track of, was MEET in Paris. I did not have the dinela, but had moules a la creme, while my date had escargot, fish a meunier and creme brulee.

Last was Lukshon, which unfortunately was not open during my stint of employ at the Helms Bakery Building. Lukshon is great place for sharing dishes with friends. I think it is pretty reasonable and has pretty fantastic flavors.

Here is what I ordered: 3 dishes
Green tea salad(which I could eat everyday in the summer)
Grilled squid salad
Steamed cod


Until next DineLa. I hope I didn't make you too hungry.

The SS

It is going to be hard to pick out the best photos of the hundred or so photos I took of the Salton Sea. So in favor of photos and not words, I will say that we arrived there at the perfect time, enough daylight to get clear photos of the beach and enough sunset to get photos of the lake and hundreds of birds that call it home.

Here is my friend T's post about that day on her blog Western Wilds. click here

Note that in the beaches, that is not sand, it is shells, fish scales, barnacles, as seen in one of the close ups.

This is the river this is the sea

There has been a lot of California to explore lately, although a lot of my time has been spent exploring the gastromical corners of los angeles (dinela adventures to come)

I did happen to explore a part of the desert as part of a Thanksgiving, thanks for nature trip the Saturday after an orphan turkey day feast. I really don't know what has drawn me to the Salton Sea. What makes me want to go to a lake that often smells like sulfur and beaches strewn with fish carcasses. History I guess. It wasn't always like that. It used to be the black sea of california. It once had healing properties, it was once the resort town of hollywood, pre-Palm Springs. I guess I had to see this place for myself. It wasn't at all what I expected and even more ugly beautiful then I imagined.

We set out on a Saturday morning early enough to take the mountain road through Idyllwild, just take a right across from the cabezon dinosaurs. We winded up the side of the mountain and found autumn of all things. We stopped for pictures often of leaves, trees, rocks and valleys. We tried stopping in the little town of idyllwild for lunch, but they were holding a festival, which pushed us to the outskirts. Too bad the town was cute, but it was just as well, because the day was getting away from us due to all the nature photo ops.

And what goes up must come down and i have to say that i did close my eyes for part of it. What would you do if it looked like you were going to drive off the side of a mountain?

To be continued.....

Sunday meal eating italian with chopsticks for charity

On Overland on a quiet corner in an unobstrusive building, that you aren't sure is a home or business stands n/naka. I have been up and down that street a lot lately. And every time we pass K says "we need to go there I have heard it is fantastic". It can also really set you back, so when he heard there was a charity dinner for the luekemia and lymphoma society at a price that was pleasantly surprising and benefitting a cause he jumped at the chance and got us the last seat on the third night, all had sold out in a manner of minutes.

The title of this post may be a little confusing. N/naka is japanese in the kaiseki tradition dish 4 was a departure and shows the chef's love for the non traditional as well. Spaghetti with cod roe, abalone liver, oil and summer truffles. This is what our sunday meal was dish by dish. All amazing. I recommend going to try these for yourself. I will not bore you with words, but if you have questions you can alway email me. I did not join in on the wine pairing, due to a weekend of wine tasting in the Santa Barbara region.

Star-when you came in the air went out

After my last volunteer shift, some friends joined me for a little bar hop in dtla (downtown los angeles) We walked past the skating rink in Pershing Square, down 6th where they were shooting a movie at the Cicada Club to wokano for some hot sake on a cold winter day. (50*) We were there for a while when I notice that a couple of guys dressed in tuxes come in and sit at the table behind us. My friend A starts doing that thing where she is talking with her teeth clenched. At first I had no idea what she was saying. But it turned out to be

Do you watch True Blood?

I thought to myself, is this the day I see Erik the Viking in the flesh, I have been waiting for this day. So what i am holding hands with my bf, we have only been dating 2 months.

The other word she was clench talking that I didn't understand was "Jason"

It ended up being Ryan Kwanten. I texted mom and coey right away. They wanted pictures, but my phone isn't for dimly lit places.

My first celeb siting in a while. I don't know where they have been hiding.

Last sunday's meal

I really enjoyed DineLa week this year. Reports to come once I play a little catch up.