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Showing posts with label West Hollywood. Show all posts
Showing posts with label West Hollywood. Show all posts

BLT Steak

Comments (0) | Saturday, April 14, 2012


For our anniversary last year, we both wanted to indulge in our appreciation for cows. Ok, not so much cows, but steak. Having been to Ruth's Chris, Lawry's and the like, we decided to try BLT Steak out in West Hollywood. It's located in the Le Dome space on the ever-so-busy Sunset Boulevard, so allow yourself plenty of time to get there before your reservation time. We got there super early, so we took advantage of their happy hour specials.

 SoCal Sangria: I don't know what's in this, but I will say two things about it: one, it has club soda or sparkling water in it, because it was fizzy. Two, it's the best sangria I've ever had.

 Cast Iron Black Mussels: Black mussels with chorizo, roasted tomato and served with bruschetta. I was not a fan of mussels...until I tried these. Now, I consider myself a mussel snob of sorts.

 Short Rib Grilled Cheese: another item on the happy hour menu, this delectable treat was cheesy, crunchy and beefy all in one bite.

So now we 're shown to our seats, and before we even have time to digest the mussels and the grilled cheese sammy, we have to unbuckle our belts to make room for the rest of the feast:

 Chicken pate served with bread. I am not into liver, so I only tasted it enough to report that it tastes like, well, liver.

 BLT Popovers: Served hot and fresh. The popovers alone are worth the trip. Crunchy on the outside, flaky and buttery on the inside. They also give out the recipe, though I doubt that I can replicate that piece of perfection.

 Rib Eye (Bone in): Cooked to medium perfection, served with roasted bone marrow and roasted garlic. Even in the midst of a food coma, I can tell that the meat was cooked perfectly, although just slightly underseasoned. The bone marrow was so good, words can't describe it.

 Hangar steak: cooked medium, and it was almost just as good as my ribeye.

 Parmesan Gnocchi: served with tomato sauce and topped with a generous portion of Parmesan cheese. Pillowy potato dough swimming in a savory tomato pool.

 Creamed Spinach: served with caramelized minced garlic. No steakhouse experience is complete without these leafy greens. Cooking it in cream just kicks it up a notch...or two.

 Our sweet finish to an epic meal.


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Lucques, West Hollywood

Comments (0) | Sunday, January 8, 2012

For DineLA many moons ago, we visited Lucques for lunch. Lucques is owned by renowned chef Suzanne Goin, and is located on Melrose, close to La Cienega. I liked the atmosphere at Lucques; it was sophisticated, yet homey.

 House bread, almonds and olives, served with butter and sea salt (I think).

 Corn soup with poblano peppers and pepitas - savory and comforting with a little kick. Chief complaint? Not enough.

 Fall fruit salad served with prosciutto, walnuts and saba - I didn't try it, since it was Boogs's choice, and the only indication I had that he liked it was an empty plate.

 Polenta with summer squash, salsa verde, pecorino and breadcrumbs - I decided to go the vegetarian route, and it turned out well for me. Tasted good, and felt healthy.

 Grape leaf wrapped trout with green rice, nasturtiums and dill yogurt - Boogs's entree choice, and he raved about it. I thought the green rice was good, and the fish was well cooked, but to me, it was simply an "ok" dish.

 Bittersweet chocolate tart with crushed honeycomb and coffee ice cream - my dessert choice, and it was yummy and rich. I'm down for coffee ice cream anytime.

Vanilla semifreddo with Gaviota strawberries and almond croustine - I loved this dessert. The combined flavors and textures of vanilla, strawberry and almond worked so well together. Too bad Boogs didn't want to share too much.

Lucques Restaurant, 8474 Melrose Avenue, Los Angeles


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8 oz. Burger Bar, Hollywood

Comments (0) | Friday, January 14, 2011

For my birthday meal, we went to 8 oz. Burger Bar in West Hollywood. Owned by famous celebrity chef Govind Armstrong, it sits on Melrose Avenue amidst busy boutiques and restaurants. 8 oz. Burger Bar features high quality burgers and other food fare.
Started off with Mini Kobe Corndogs served with purple mustard. The batter was crispy, hot dogs savory and delectable.


I chose the 8 oz. Burger, because, after all, it is called 8 oz. Burger Bar. It is usually served with iceberg lettuce, house made pickles, tomato, onion and special sauce. I customized it by nixing the tomato, pickle and onion, and by adding gruyere cheese, roasted mushrooms, a fried egg and some mayonnaise. Let me say, it was impossible to pick up and eat because it was so juicy, the bread sopped it up and became soggy. I did not mind one bit; the beef was seasoned well, each bite felt like being in burger heaven. Don't even get me started on the runny egg yolk...

Also ordered some sides, including Brussel Sprouts with Bacon... c'mon, y'all know I love the brussel sprout. I thought that the sprouts were cooked well, very tasty. However, (and I never thought I'd ever say this), there was too much bacon in the dish. Still great, though, as I ate the whole thing by myself.

We also got some Stout Battered Onion Rings and Kennebec Fries, standard burger accompaniments. I thought that these were just okay, seasoned well, although they were nothing to really write home about. Maybe an honorable mention?

The final side dish of choice was the Chorizo Mac and Cheese. It was pretty good; the mild cheese flavors were a good complement to the more robust flavors from the chorizo. Overall a solid dish.

As an added bonus, I ordered the Pumpkin Gingerbread Milkshake, which contained pumpkin puree and pieces of fresh gingerbread throughout. I really liked it at first, but the more I consumed, the less I liked it. I don't think I really appreciated the gingerbread chunks in the shake. Perhaps the purist in me demands a smooth milkshake.

Great place to get a good burger, however, you have to be willing to shell out a couple extra bucks. Hey, quality ain't cheap. Looking forward to trying it again.

8 oz. Burger Bar, 7661 Melrose Avenue, Los Angeles
http://www.8ozburgerbarlosangeles.com/


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Taste on Melrose, West Hollywood

Comments (0) | Tuesday, April 6, 2010

While browsing through OpenTable's list of restaurants, I came across Taste on Melrose, a quaint restaurant that serves updated Californian cuisine. They were offering a 3-course prix fixe menu for only $26, so I knew that it was worth a try. We asked our foodie friends to join us on this adventure, and the following photos are glimpses of what we consumed that night.

Please allow me to preface this by mentioning that the restaurant, although quaint, was dimly lit. So the pictures you will see are the best pictures I could take because I had to use my flash. I think that the photos look terrible and don't do much justice to the food, but at least you'll have an idea of what it looked like. Sort of.

Since we got there first, I took the liberty of ordering a cocktail to sip while we waited. Introducing the Tell Me You Love Me drink comprise of Smirnoff Pear Vodka, St. Germain liquer, orange juice, cranberry juice, pomegranate purée and a splash of soda. It was refreshing, fruity goodness, but unfortunately, I pretty much had to nurse this drink all night on account of me turning into a lightweight post-offspring. We also ordered the Calamari Fritti, which was served with a chipotle aioli. Crunchy batter, good dipping sauce, we practically devoured it before our friennds showed up.

We also got the Crispy Rock Shrimp to share. These are lightly battered fried rock shrimp that's served with three different dipping sauces: wasabi aioli, spicy aioli and a sweet & sour Thai sauce. I really liked this dish, and thought that the wasabi aioli was the best complement - the pungent, spicy wasabi with the delicate flavor of the shrimp was the perfect match.

For the first course, we all pretty much agreed to try the White Truffle Oil & Mushroom Mac n' Cheese. Ingredients included, you guessed it, white truffle oil, shiitake mushrooms (if I remember correctly), macaroni and globs of cheese. I really liked it, I thought that the truffle flavor was really strong, it was a good dish. Side note: the girls were served lukewarm, almost cold ramekins of the first course, so to compensate for the mistake, we ended up with a full serving and a half of mac n' cheese to enjoy at the table and to take home.

The girls chose the Kobe Meatballs for the main course. Two gianormous meatballs with pine nuts, golden raisins and caramelized onions on top of linguine swimming in a white truffle cheese fondue. I personally like all the different flavors and textures, the meatballs were super moist, but had crunch because of the pine nuts and sweetness because of the raisins and the onions. The linguine was cooked al dente, and was so good with the cheesy sauce that had white truffle flavor in the background. My friend thought that the meatballs were too soggy for her tastes, though. Maybe adding some (more) bread crumbs would have helped.

The boys chose the Crispy Chicken Paillard, thin piece of breaded chicken cutlet that is fried and served with a potato purée, white gravy, a baby arugula salad and red onion jam. The chicken was golden brown perfection - crunchy on the outside, but tender white chicken meat just one layer below. The potatoes and gravy were really great, the arugula helped cut the richness of the dish. I actually preferred this over my entreé.

For dessert, it was boys vs. girls again, with the boys choosing the Crème Bruleé. It was a good dish, but there wasn't anything memorable about it. The girls, on the other hand, picked the Chocolate Bread Pudding. Chocolatey goodness mixed with bread and custard, then topped with cream? Sign me up! One of the best bread puddings I have had, and was easily my favorite dish at Taste.

The service was great, the food was decent at reasonable prices (if you go the prix fixe route, anyway). Overall, this is definitely worth a taste.

Taste on Melrose, 8454 Melrose Avenue, West Hollywood
http://www.ilovetaste.com/


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