a comer

so as my friend karl would say, 'i'm still in the eating habit.' lately, between working in downtown and going on dates i have been eating at some pretty good places. im not a food critic, but i do enjoy good food as much as the next person not named stacey romney. so here are some places i have enjoyed:

roscoe’s house of chicken and waffles: the other extern took me here during her last week. she was raving about this place. i guess it’s well known in l.a. there is one in l.a., one in hollywood and one in long beach – that i know of. what is it? exactly what it says. fried chicken and waffles. i got two large pieces of fried chicken and two large waffles with syrup. it was a lot of food for pretty cheap. next time ill probably just get one chicken and one waffle. most everyone else in the restaurant had the exact same thing. good? yes. great atmosphere. the eating area was small so its better for smaller parties. it also helps if your not of caucasian descent, or if youre with someone that speaks jive. its not necessary, but i was a minority. i hear the hollywood has one waitress and her name is ‘big mama.’ i need to go. surprisingly chicken and waffles is a great combination. who woulda thunk?

korean bbq: this one was interesting. before the pete yorn concert the other week, dave and i had some time to kill while waiting for zach. we found ourselves in korea town and walked into this korean bbq. no one spoke english. we asked our hostess a question, she looked puzzled and another hostess told her, ‘just say yes.’ i cant remember the question, but dave and i started laughing because ‘yes’ wasn’t even an option for an answer. anyways, the food was excellent. there is a grill in the center of every table. they bbq the meat right there and you eat it with the small side dishes. very fun. very filling. very much needed george bush's help with the bill. happy i did it, i’m sure this one was more upscale than other bbq’s. i will go back, but it will be a female instead of dave, and we will already be on a kissing level. this is also important because you reek of smoke afterwards. so its sort of a one stop date unless you are going to a dairy farm or something after dinner. so if she’s not already into me, there is no way I can make a move with onion breath and smelling of smoke.

the creperie: this is in belmont shores in long beach.

quick side note on belmont shores. the place is awesome. all of the small side streets are named after cities from the inland valley - nice bonus. the whole area has a great feel and atmosphere. i have also been to an italian restaurant called ‘bonos’ which is supposedly named after sunny bono. there are skis and giant pictures of cher hanging all over on the walls. ok, not really, but that would be funny. the place looks really, really nice. my friend recommended it to me and when i walked in with my date and saw how nice it looked i started cursing my friend under my breath. being on a date i couldnt turn around and walk away, thankfully the place turned out to be not much more than a macaroni grill type. there is also a ‘bj’s’ and a 'lucille’s bbq' in the area. both really good. as well there is a mediterranean restaurant which looks really good that i want to go to. and there is of course ‘dominico’s’ which is a shanon favorite. basically, there are tons of places to eat and the whole area is cool. plus, its right by the ocean. granted the ocean there is waveless and filled with oil, but those things aren’t important at night anyways.

back to the creperie. basically, the food is just a regular meal, wrapped in a crepe. fantastic. i got the chicken alfredo, my date got the jambalaya. jambalaya is gross, but she was happy with it and i was satisfied as well. plus there are sweet crepes for dessert. perfect. now for the ambiance. one night while passing by with a friend on our way to dominicos, we noticed a three piece jazz band playing. when I was there, we were treated to a man on the piano playing covers of 80s and 90s love songs! we heard brian adams ‘everything i do, i do it for you.’ richard marx ‘right here waiting’ and even some meatloaf ‘i would do anything for love.’ you cant beat meatloaf. just good times. oh, we also had the garlic fries as well. im pretty sure they were good, but not quite sure, my date inhaled most of them.

one more quick note on belmont shores. there is a rite aid: for all your late evening pharmaceutical needs. (translation: cheap, large scoops of ice cream waiting no matter when you finish with dinner. crepes, crepe dessert, then ice cream. good times for all.)

swingers: i love these places. swingers is in santa monica. its open late, 2-3 am ish and its always crowded. its just a little diner. we went there after the pete yorn concert a couple weeks ago. it was about 1 am and the place was full. no music or anything. just full of people in their 20s coming and going from the nights activities. good milkshakes and quality food. much better quality than an ihop or denny’s. im always in the mood for snacks late at night and so these places are good to know. there is one in belmont shores (not a swingers, but an all night diner) and a place called harbor house café in huntington beach which is the same type of thing. try the peanut butter oreo shake at harbor house. this was lindsey’s idea when we went one time. really good.

phillipes: ah phillipes. this is a downtown l.a. landmark. i didn’t even know about it before i started working downtown, but i guess every ‘angelino’ should or does know about it. its been around forever (maybe 1930’s – just a guess) and i don’t think they have changed the menu or the look of the place since it first opened. its french dip sandwiches. you pick your meat and type of cheese and you get both of those items on a french roll. that’s it. very simple. very traditional. very good. like usc cheerleader uniforms. just a classic. there are a ton of side dishes as well. pudding. large dill pickles. chips. soups. pies. everything. anyways, i hear that before dodger games, the place is packed. so don’t go then. on the train this morning i found out that they also do breakfast. i of course showed up 20 minutes late to work. the breakfast didn’t dissappoint. simple. delicious.
french toast, eggs, bacon, fresh squeezed orange juice: $6.55 (cash only).
improving your entire workday by starting it off right with some good food and in the company of 40+ elderly chinese men on their way to work in chinatown: priceless….(well, still $6.55)

one final one: beard papas. they have a website. Check it out. Someone said that beard papas is to japan as dunkin donuts is to boston. Basically, they are all over there and everyone eats them. i don’t even know if that statement is true, but it makes it sound popular. its probably a cheap line from their marketing director that i bit on. anyways, im not really a cream puff guy, but these are good. but im here to tout the fondant au chocolate. check it out on the website. they’re great. nuke them for about 10 seconds so they are hot and melty on the inside…..guuuud stuff.

(there are many others i could discuss, but maybe another time. 'viva madrid' is incredible and a biased favorite of mine. 'allegria,' described as modern, hip mexican food is really good as well. the clerks took me there. its in silver lake which is apparently is one of l.a.'s gay districts. i also caught wind of a peruvian seafood bbq place in hollywood that is supposed to be really good which i am hoping to try soon).