Wednesday, September 28, 2005

Out To Lunch

Hey boys and girls. I'm on vacation and too lazy to update you to my current events. I'll give you a lowdown this weekend.
In the mean-time, why not take in a cartoon?

Wednesday, September 21, 2005

On the Lighter Side

If you've read many of the food reviews here, you'll witness a whole lotta meat eating. Well yeah, Jenny and I are carnivours and for the most part thats the way itll be. But thats not to say that we don't enjoy to eat healthy and groove on veggies and soy as well.

So let me give a quick run down on some of the healthier food venues we enjoy.

Fatties: In Eagle Rock on Colorado Blvd, Fatties is all vegetarian but loves to layer on the cheese with some of their dishes. This place lets you run the gammit as to how "healthy" you really wanna be, what with options like cheese fondue and sloppy joes its not a guarentee that you wont feel gluttonous after leaving this place.

Vegan Glory: Located at 8393 Beverly Blvd. This place is a vegan thai resteraunt. Soy and Tempeh versions of Satay, Mee Krob, and Curry dishes. This place is damn tasty and for the most part you don't miss the meat at all. In addition, Jenny saw Andre 3000 having dinner here one night.

Hugo's: Hugo's is on the corner of Santa Monica and Kings Rd. I think. Not all vegetarian but definately veggie friendly. Last weekend, we had a seared ahi salad and a unique sweet potatoe stir fry type thing. A large selection of Teas, as well, if you're into that sort of thing.

Real Food Daily: Another veggie venue that creates healthier version of comfort food like Salsburry steak. Located on La Cienega near the Bev Center and in Santa Monica on Santa Monica Blvd.

India Sweets and Spices: An Indian grocery store chain with a cafeteria style vegetarian restaurant. You can fill up on tasty curries and samosa's for under 5bucks. Highly recommended for the budget vegetarian. The one closest to me is on Los Feliz Blvd. in Atwater.

Orean, The Health Express: A vegetarian fast food take-out in Pasedena that holds it own nestled among an array of fast food joints within a two-block area on Lake Avenue. Soy is popular here as a filling for their many tasty burgers, burritos, pizzas, chili dogs, and tacos, and they use crisp and fresh clover sprouts in their sandwiches. There are four tables outdoors for your quick meal that can be topped off with one of their popular shakes. They even serve a breakfast burrito to start your day.

The Newsroom: I've mentioned this place before. Good selection of healthy and not so healthy dishes. Last weekend I had possibly the best damn bowl of oatmeal I've ever eaten. Seasoned with cinnamon and topped with dried cherries and bananas, brown sugar on the side.
Haven't had a bad dish yet.

KP's Vietnamese Deli: This little spot with a facade easy to miss makes funky vietnamese sandwiches called bahn mi and spring rolls. But the best thing offered here is the green papaya salad. It comes with a beef jerky that can be substituted with a tofu variation. KP's is at 2616 Hyperion Ave.

M Cafe de Chaya: I haven't been here yet, but am assured that its an interesting take on macrobiotic cuisine. I'm not exactly sure what this means since according to other reviews the menu includes sushi and other fish dishes. M cafe is located at 7119 Melrose ave.

*whoops, seem to have lost the links i posted for some of these places, i promise i'll correct it soon.

Ed Hardy


About a year ago I was driving down Melrose west of Fairfax and caught a glimpse of T-Shirt in a window that struck my interest. Later that weekend I walked up the street to check out the shirt through the window. The shirt had an image of what looked like a vintage tattoo. In addition, the shirt was distressed and modified in some ways cool and some ways overdone. It was something different though. Something grittier then the overly sterile concept designs that have been flooding the market.

Later I saw the price tag and didn't let my urge to purchase the shirt control me. Several months later, A shop on Melrose just east of Fairfax opened devoted to the shirt line called Ed Hardy.

Ed Hardy is a San Francisco based tattoo artist. Ed Hardy the clothing company is actually not owned by Mr. Hardy but by Christian Audigier. Unfortunately, this is the fashion designer who took the Von Dutch clothing lable from nitch market greaser apparel to gawdy super star style of the moment. It was sad to see Von Dutch's imagery applied to cheesy glam trucker hats and pink glittered clothing.

So suddenly I am torn in my thoughts about the new Ed Hardy line. I love the aesthetics of the graphics, but am already kind of dismayed as to how they are applied to fashion. The shirts are cool, but pricey. There is a new shoe line that has some pros and cons. Regardless, its probably going to catch on. Keep an eye out.

Oh, by the way, their website SUCKS!, but check it out for the whole lowdown.

Saturday, September 17, 2005

Blind Pack Heaven


Next time you take a trip down to Chinatown for some scrumptious Dim Sum at Empress Pavilion, take a trip just around the circle to Robocon. Robocon is yet another shop filled with "designer toys". Not as high-end as Munky King which is located just down the street near Hop Lueys but still chock full of goofy characters and products. I snagged a full set of the latest Gary Baseman blind-pack (you know, those little boxes that offer one of many different figures, but you don't know which one until you open it). Although I think this trend is getting a little played out, I have to say there is still some cool stuff. Robocon is at 988 N. Hill St., Suite 202.

Friday, September 16, 2005

Citizen Cake


Last weekend I accompanied Jenny up to San Francisco to attend a fundraiser for the City of Hope that Jenny's company participates in yearly.

The City of Hope is a research and treatment institution dedicated to the prevention and cure of cancer and other life-threatening illness. The fundraiser was kind of what you would expect out of a big corporate production. It did what it needed to do, which was raise money, but other then that not really worth describing here. We had fun though.

So although we had minimal time to route around the city, we managed to hit one or two places worth mentioning.

Before leaving on our trip, a friend of mine had mentioned a cafe that she had heard about and that sounded good for a brunch type of destination. I promptly forgot the name as soon as we got on the plane. Cake....somethin....some kinda play on words....Jenny would shout out the obvious "Let Them Eat Cake! They Can Have Their Cake and..." No no no, something funkier...When we got to our hotel, Jenny was flipping through a magazine and yelped out "Citizen Cake!" Yeah that’s it, I replied. So the next day we hoofed our way down through the tenderloin (pretty, not really), past the Asian museum, Opera house, and whatnot to what’s known as the Hayes Valley district. Citizen Cake is on Grove Street.

So we sat down at our table and rubber necked around gawking at other people’s plates. We saw a blueberry laden something or other that we quickly calculated was the Dutch Baby Soufflé Pancake. Yeah, we'll get that. We decided we needed something Eggy to go along with it. Since Jenny doesn't eat poached or fried eggs our selection was limited. A quiche was decided on. Oh, and a fruit plate...to make it all seem sort of healthy.

Everything was delish, although the quiche was quite tiny for the price. Yeah, the prices are a bit steep for breakfast. 9 bucks for the quiche. The fruit was exceptional though. All ripe and sweet, it included figs, raspberries, a peach cut up into a rose and more. We were happy and satiated.

After our meal, we checked out the baked goods. Oh man, it all looked great. Funky combos like green tea cheesecake, sweet corn and blackberry cheesecake. Standards like chocolate cake, scones, and ginger snaps all in exquisite form. It was tough but we avoided buying anything for we didn't feel like lugging it back to the hotel and wanted to keep our appetite for the dinner later that night. Bad move. I regret not having tried at least one of the ginger snap sandwiches.

Upon exiting the cafe we stumbled upon a shop just a few doors down called MAC. No, not a computer store...no, not a cosmetics store...A clothing store. Despite the poor choice in name ( it stands for Modern Appealing Clothing....clever), the store had a very unique selection of clothing as well as too incredibly large friendly dogs. Many of the labels offered here I had never seen before. A decent men’s selection of fall and winter clothing that would probably do well up north, but a bit weighty for LA. A bit weighty in price as well with few items for men below 80 bucks. But I guess that’s beginning to be the norm these days. I can't find a pair of decent jeans for under 80 bucks these days. I met up with Jenny in the women’s section and the owner began to tell us about one line of clothing that she was checking out. All the fabrics have a narrative them to them based on the story of Rapunzel. One had abstract locks of hair on the shoulders, another elements of fire and such. And it all actually worked. Pretty cool, but not worth shelling out the 500 bucks. So we thanked her for her time and left. If you've got the money to drop on some one of a kind clothing, check it out. If you don't, you can still just check it out.

Citizen Cake is at 399 Grove Street
MAC is at 387 Grove St
in San Francisco.

The image shown here is a random one taken on our walk to the cafe. I carelessly forgot to take any images of the places mentioned here. But whats up with the blindfolded woman with a rolling pin?

Wednesday, September 14, 2005

A Message From Your Host

Hey boys and girls. Just so you know, I've changed the permissions on the Blog so you no longer need be a member of Blogger to post comments. There is a security process to keep spammers out, but its much easier to make comments now. So all of you who have had things to say, but haven't cause you're too lazy to sign up for the service, please have at it. The Blog is largely about community, so It stands to reason that its community have its voice. Thanks for checking in, and I hope to have some new stuff up soon.

Monday, September 12, 2005

My Creative Friends Pt. 1


For a while I’ve been wanting to do a periodic blog highlite on some creative friends of mine. I’m lucky enough to know a lot of talented people who are doing their own thing in one form or another that it would be a shame not to use this space to hype their stuff.

Josh Goldstein and Rachel Hefter are two very good friends of mine who live in NYC with their daughter Tally. Both of them hold part-time day jobs in addition to pampering Tally, but have persued a variety of personal projects that I think are great.

For a while, Josh was providing culinary bike tours of his neighborhood. Those interested would rent a bike and josh would take them for a tour of Brooklyn’s neighborhood dining establishments, focusing on ethnic niches and small mom and pop shops.

Both Rachel and Josh, with their friend Jon, started Shoytz. Shoytz is a Yiddish centric t-shirt company featuring Yiddish slogans and whatnot.

My personal favorite project of theirs is Josh’s Bodega Art. Josh has spent years taking pictures of various Bodegas (Mexican grocery stores) around the New York metropolitan area and creating high-contrast cropped squares mounted on wood. These pieces really take shape when a number (I suggest 3) of squares (or bars) are combined into a montage of colors and type. Even people from LA can appreciate the aesthetic and I’d love to get Josh to do a Los Angeles edition of our own breed of Hispanic signage.

I write this post without giving either Rachel or Josh the heads up or without fact checking the particulars, I'll leave it to Rachel and Josh to post any additions/revisions in the comments section.

You Know, For Kids!

Keep a lookout for a new toy store opening up in the neighborhood. It will be called Monkey House Toys and located at 1618 Silverlake Blvd. The space used to house a Yoga studio. The space doesn't look anywhere near ready, but signs up in the window mark the coming of this place. They currently have an online store which carries a pretty wide variety of stuff. At first sight, I thought the place would focus on the latest fad of Designer Toys, but when looking at their site (which could use a solid design revision) the products look pretty diverse.

While mentioning kids oriented shops, I must mention I finally stopped by Zanzebelle while it was open. I love it, and the neighborhood kids seem to as well. Check it out when you have a chance. If you didn't read the previous posting about Zanzebelle, scroll down and look for the Giraffe in the yard.

Thursday, September 08, 2005

Self Help Needs Your Help


I wont deny that the south can use all the help it can get. And I hope anyone who has the means, has found a way to do so. For those who still have the energy to do some good in Los Angeles, and in return obtain works by up and coming artists, check out the Self Help Print Sale this weekend.

Self Help Graphics needs your help to get back on its feet. The particulars are as follows,


The Annual Print Exhibition & Fair
Sunday, October 9, 2005
12-5 PM

The One Day Only Print Fair, held in tandem with the Print Exhibition opening and all the other open house activities, is the best opportunity of the year for collectors and art lovers to acquire new editions featured in the show, as well as an outstanding selection of new work created by dozens of artists from the various workshops, including etching, woodblock, linocuts, and one of a kind monoprints.

For more information on how to help please visit their website at http://www.selfhelpgraphics.com

Regrowth

Props to threadless for THIS generous fund raiser.

Wednesday, September 07, 2005

Down with AOC

I wont go into the disastrous circumstances that led to Jenny's condo manager to encourage us to go out for a "nice" meal on his dime a few weeks ago, but lets just say its the least he could do.

So when Jenny hears "nice meal" she's not thinkin about Super Sizing her Quarter Pounder at the local Micky D's. In addition, we had just recently talked about how we both would like to go out for a nice dinner at some point.

Jenny decided we should check out AOC on 3rd street in West Hollywood. AOC is a take on a French Wine Bar. Its food is served in small "family style" portions that might be snacked on over a nice glass of wine. Think of it as French Tapas. For a whole meal, it was suggested by the waitress that we select 5 to 6 dishes.

The decor is nice, but very stripped down. No paintings or significant decorations to speak of, just a nice wood bar. In the back you can spot a deli style meat slicer cutting thin slices of choice Prosciutto and whatnot.

Our waitress was very nice and made us feel at home.

The crowd was definitely upscale, but everyone was there to eat, not to make the scene.

Our food choices and our thoughts on them are as follows:

Wine: a mid-priced Pinot Noir called Estrella I believe. It did the job, good but not a stand out in its own. Tasted pretty good with everything, but I'm not a wine pro so there isn't much more I can say.

Tapenade: Came with bread while we were waiting for our courses. It was hard not to go over board on it and ruin our appetite, but we managed to do so. The bread was good and chewy.

Cheeses: The menu allows you to choose from a variety of cheeses in different combinations. We went with one goat cheese, one sheep, and one blue cheese. All were pretty mild. The blue cheese was my favorite. The mould was sitting in a Brie style soft cheese, really delish.

Summer Fruit and Prosciutto: Plums, peaches, and grapes with a sort of dried prosciutto that was almost like a high- class bacon. I really liked this. Oh yeah I believe there were nuts in it as well....and something else, I can't recall now. But like I said, it was nice.

Pork Rillettes: This is one of those foods that Jenny has turned me onto and I never thought I'd like. Probably my favorite dish of all. Basically its kind of a pate of pork and fat with seasonings undefined. It was served with toast and cherry preserves. Just a touch of the preserves, some rillettes, on toast and I was in heaven.

So those were the cold dishes, we quickly learned that our dishes were divided into cold and warm. So onto the warm.

Wild Mushrooms: Oily and crispy, I liked the texture of these, but nothing super special. Should've probably chosen something else for our Veggie selection since the meat dishes just kept on comin'.

Pork Confit: A pork cutlet. Not really much for me to say about this one. Jenny loved it at first bight, but I wasn't impressed. Reviews I had read have complained about the fattiness of their meats...and this seemed par for the course.

Stuffed Squid with Chorizo: The squid basically acted as a casing for this spicy sausage. Good, but kinda overwhelming. And after all the other food, a bit much to take.

With all that, you'd think we were stuffed. And we were. But lest you forget, this wasn't on our bill. So yes, desert was in order. We chose the lightest thing on the menu. A plum and almond torte with almond ice cream. Very good. The crust was buttery and flakey, the ice-cream tasty. Had an espresso with it.

All together counting in over $100.

I'm sure your evening could either fall short or surpass ours depending on your selections, but I'd have to say the gamble is worth it.

Monday, September 05, 2005

Damn the Like Minded!


One of my many dreams has been to open a shop that caters to children and their interaction with their parents. Ya know, the way Ice cream parlors used to be. My parents used to take me to Farrell’s or Swenson’s when I got a good grade or did something exceptional. Since I was a rather marginal child, these places seemed like grand events to look forward to.

These days, it seems all too often that destination events for kids and their parents have turned into expensive endeavors like taking the kids to some theme park where one can easily spend over a hundred dollars to sit in long hot lines for rides, or drop several hundred bucks on some isolated back yard event with a clown, farm animals or god knows what. Or, on the other side, there are sterile places such as Basken Robbins and MacDonald’s....and I don't have to explain to you why they suck. Where are the kooky little corner sweet shops of yesteryear where a kid and father (or mother) can bond over a licorice whip, ice cream sundae, and leave with a goofy little trinket.

Well, one of two new shops on Rowena that I discovered this weekend is attempting to do just that. Its called Zanzabelle. And although it was closed when I stopped by, It looks like a very fun place indeed. A big inflatable giraffe welcomes you upon entering the gate. Through the window I could spot a small Ice Cream freezer, a collection of fun candies, funky toys and more. Kind of like something that might have existed in Peewee’s Big Adventure. Zanzabelle is closed on Mondays and does not open till 12 on Sundays.

I'm so jealous; I've had the idea of doing something similar...but just never followed through. I hope this place proves me right, that such a place is sorely needed in this day in age... I also hope that the area can stand one more in the near future...one that I may put my personal touch on.

In addition to this mini play land, just two doors down is an adult Eden that mom might sneak off to while dad plays with the nippers at Zanzabelle. The Raven is the name. The Raven is a relatively up-scale Thai Message house that brings the ambiance of Thailand to Silver Lake. The Raven offers an array of massages including deep tissue and Swedish, but focuses on Thai. Although there are plenty of cheaper Thai massage parlors in the area, The Raven definitely steps up the decor and comfort. Basic hour-long massage is $65.

Forgive me for not writing down the addresses but both shops are located on Rowena near the Coffee Table and Patty Faye's. Gromitville is less then a block away.

Guerilla Community Builders


Heavy Trash is an interesting blog documenting some extreme attempts at rectifying efforts of people and places attempting to seperate themselves from their own communities. Thanks to Edwin for the discovery.

Friday, September 02, 2005

Blair's

Jenny and I decided to treat ourselves to a mid-week dinner at Blair's at 2903 Rowena in Silver Lake.

Blair's has been open for about a year now I believe. Jenny and I have been wanting to check it out for a while, but just haven't made the effort until now. Evidently the chef has served time at The Water Grill, LA's premium sea food spot.

From the outside, it looks tiny and darkly lit. Inside it looks slightly less tiny and slightly less darkly lit. The ambiance is simple, not too unlike AOC's (review coming soon, i promise) where the food is the focus.

Prices were slightly higher then I expected. Unless your going for something full-on, you can sneak through a main dish for under 30 (under 20 if you're eating light). They have a top notch selection of beers focusing on Belgian. Prices range from 8 to 58 a bottle and they have a few on tap.

We ordered a trout dish with fava beans and ginger, and a short ribs dish with palenta. Both were pretty tasty. I preferred the trout actually. Super fresh tasting and the ginger really went well with it. The short ribs tasted more like brisket then ribs...but maybe I'm just not schooled in that particular meat. Regardless, it was good and evidently one of their signature dishes. The main course portions were incredibly generous. Luckily we passed on appetizers to save room for desert.

The desert was insane. An espresso somethin or other that was similar in some ways to a terimisu (sp?). Again, a healthy portion designed for two. This thing was incredible, very rich and creamy. We gobbled it up without hesitation and paid the consequences later. All the deserts were priced around 9bucks, but like I said, were plenty for two people.

Dinner, drinks and desert topped us out at around 70 clams. Not what I would typically shell out (and in this case Jenny paid, so I snuck out unscathed) but well worth it after a rough week.

Threadless

Cool Hunting did an interesting interview with the guys who created the Threadless web-site.

Although I sort of feel like the over-designed T-shirt is kind of played out, I like the way that these guys have taken their idea and created permutations of it that seem fresh. Including Naked and Angry.

Thursday, September 01, 2005

A Kick in the Head


As I may have mentioned, I’m not too crazy about the wave of boutique sneaker stores that are so in fashion these days. I’m just not convinced that a different presentation of the same pair of addidas or converse (actually, they aren’t even the same converse, they are now Nike’s in converse clothing) should warrant an extra 20-50bills.

With that said, I do like myself some shoes. Fashion and function; that’s my thing.
So although I might try and avoid the boutiques, I still am always on the look out for a kicken pair of kicks.

Two of my favorite places are Footland Sports in Little Tokyo and Sportie LA on Melrose in Hollywood. Both are unpretentious shops that carry a solid selection of sneakers and casual shoes.

Footland has a healthy selection of Vans, Nike’s, Clarks, and Puma’s. They are also the first place I saw a shoe brand called J Shoes. There is a particular pair of Vans there that I’ve coveted for quite some time, but haven’t managed to purchase for some reason. The shop is run by an Asian couple that probably hate me, cause all I ever seem to do is browse. Regardless, I like stopping by and checking out the latest. A few doors down is a tasty pastry shop with black bean stuffed pancake type things that are delish when fresh from the griddle.

I’ve been shopping at Sportie LA since I moved to this town. When I worked on Highland Blvd. A group of us would drive down to Melrose for lunch, hitting Golden Apple Comics and occasionally Sportie before hitting up Johnny Rockets or a cheap Mediterranean restaurant for food. Back then, the shoe shop was a tiny closet of a place packed with sneakers. Since my work is downtown now, I really haven’t made It back that way in quite a while, until last weekend. The place has quadrupled in size I believe. I entered what seemed to be the familiar tiny store only to notice that one of the side walls had been knocked out, making way for a maze of shoes. The environment is still messy, just even more so, but the selection is great. A small but good selection of PF Flyers which are my latest infatuation. Although I’m sure they carry a good selection of running shoes and whatnot, this place is mainly about style…so don’t expect any advice on the shoe that is right for your next triathlon. Sportie also has a separate store of apparel on the same block.

I’m trying to control myself from going back to Sportie for a pair of those Flyers but I’m not sure how long I can hold out.

Currently in my rotation of shoes are the following.

Jshoes –Tumble: Although a strange combination of euro/moccasin styles, this shoe is super comfortable for the summer. I’m into this brand, well made, funky styles. Maybe not totally me, style wise.

Born: This shoe is your basic casual leather shoe. Well constructed and comfy, this shoe is a good stand-by in the cooler months. Found a small selection of these at Shoe Pavilion, but for more selection check out the website. *Thanks to Raz for setting me streight on the background that I've have since edited out of this description. Check his comment for the lowdown.

Medium – Minimalist: I really dig many of Mediums designs. Very old school with subtle touches that make them fresh (touches of leather in weird places and whatnot). Each series of shoe is developed by a featured designer and carries their signature. Despite that, these shoes had a comfort curve similar to a pair of Chucks. Flat soles and rigid fit made this things pretty uncomfortable for a while. For the average price, these shoes should be much more comfortable from the start. Luckily I paid half the retail price for these on BlueFly.

Tsubo – Funky tech styling and pretty comfortable. High quality synthetic fabrics.