Another whirlwind of a weekend in Los Angeles. This time I have to give a shout to Wife’s brother who acted as an incredible tour guide this weekend. He basically took everything I love and compressed it into a long weekend. Thanks buddy, it was fantastic.

Here are some highlights.

The weekend started with cocktails at Ray’s & Stark at the LACMA (5905 Wilshire Blvd). Before I even saw a menu I knew the place was legit. Its outside under the cover of the museum with decor that looks modern in a 1960s lounge sort of way. The bartenders were all very interested in helping us select cocktails and were friendly enough to just hang out a little. As you likely guessed, I went with the (Far) East of Manhattan, which is masala-infused rye, Amaro Nonino, Sweet Vermouth, bitters. Wow. I ended up having a couple of them. Dangerous, dangerous stuff. The bite of the rye is almost neutralized by the flavor but you can still feel it in your throat. Great stuff.

The next day, after I slept off my cocktails, some Jameson and some cask beers from Daily Pint, we headed to Downtown LA. A part of LA that I had never really checked out. You can see there is a lot of change going on but the grit is still there.  We decided to go for a french dip and an old fashioned at Cole’s (118 East 6th Street near Los Angeles st.). You step inside this place and its like stepping back in time. Black and white tiled floor, deep brown woods, a huge wooden bar, vested bartenders… yeah this is my kind of place. I ordered a pastrami french dip and garlic fries. Holy garlic fries! They were amazing but they stayed with me all day long. Wife let me know plenty of times. The sandwich was great but the most memorable part of this stop was the old fashioned. I went to the bar with Wife’s dad to order them. The bartender really took his time and put a ton of care into these. The drink came with a giant block of ice that he chipped away himself. Again, very old school. Again, this could have gotten dangerous. Fantastic spot, not to mention its been there since the magical year the Cubs won the World Series!

Walking distance from there, we headed to the park from 500 Days of Summer. Wife and I had to get a picture. While there were a ton of bums passed out around the park there were also a lot of young couples hanging out. I guess that is a perfect example of Downtown LA being in the midst of change. The bench is located in the Angels Knoll on Olive street.

From there, we headed to Santa Monica for some afternoon beers at Bru Haus (11831 Wilshire Blvd near Westgate). Aside from the great beer list, the draw of this place was the timing we were there.  In a room with less than 20 people at the time, we were five of them. The waitress was fantastic knowing her beers, despite admitting she hated beer! Impressive stuff.  Any way, we tried a few different Belgians, English brews and some tater tots (with beetchup!?) and called it a day. As it got later and more crowded a different group of wait staff came in and you could see the whole dynamic of the place changing. It was time to go.

Looking forward to getting back to LA to hit some of these spots and seeing more!

A few other highlights:

• WP24- small bites and great view at LA Live, could be a great date spot
• Daily Pint- for the beer lover in you, I would say more but thanks to the (Far) East of Manhattans, I don’t remember much!
• Pat’s Topanga Grill- great breakfast spot.  I felt more like I was in a mountain town than LA!

https://foursquare.com/v/rays—stark-bar/4d632faf1a83f04d320c712b

https://foursquare.com/v/coles/431e2d80f964a52081271fe3

https://foursquare.com/v/br%C3%BC-haus/4db5d3e6cda1c57c82771fe3

I am the exact type of person that the PR machines of the Food Network and Travel Channel are looking to exploit when they make shows like “The Best Thing I Ever Ate” and “Man vs. Food.”  I instantly want these places and get oddly excited when they end up at a place in New York.

I recently saw an episode where Claire Robinson was talking about oysters… in New York.  Perfect, I love me some oysters.  So I grabbed Wife and we went to dinner at Desnuda (122 E. 7th near Ave A).  I knew she would like it because she digs romantic spots, ceviche and of course wine.

We get there and lucked out getting seats right on the corner of the bar.  That’s something worth knowing, there are no tables, you sit at the long narrow bar, so you need to realize not ideal for groups.  The room has a sexy version of a dive bar feel to it, if that means anything.  The setup just kind gives off a cool vibe that makes you happy to be there with the one person you are with.

When you sit down they give you some truffle popcorn, that was a nice little surprise.  You also notice that there are two gentleman behind the bar.  One clearly in charge and you order your ceviches and oysters through him, where he makes them right in front of you at the bar.  The other is just there to serve the drinks you order.  So we of course started with the oysters we saw on tv.  The sichuan tea smoked oysters were fantastic.  He fills a small fishbowl looking thing with smoke from a tea filled gravity bong and places the bowl over the oyster.  You wait a couple minutes and shoot it… wow.  Wife doesn’t even eat oysters and she liked these. Claire Robinson was on to something.  We then followed it up with the ceviche de la casa and two orders of the shrimp ceviche because we liked it so much.  It had great spice and was refreshing at the same time. 

Since its a wine bar, their wines by the glass were all fantastic.  We will surely be going back.

https://foursquare.com/v/desnuda/4a090904f964a5202e741fe3

This Memorial Day weekend, Wife and I decided to stay put in Manhattan for a little staycation.  We pretty much enjoyed the Champions League Final, did some shopping for my sister’s wedding and ate & drank and ate & drank.  Wife had been wanting to check out this spot in NoHo/East Village/Bowery area.  The place is cash only and no reservations so we figured that the Saturday night while everyone runs to the Hamptons, Fire Island, Jersey Shore and Miami was as good as any.  So we headed to Wife’s choice, Bianca (5 Bleecker st near Bowery).

We really didn’t know what to expect before we got there.  From reading about it online we didn’t know if this was the quiet romantic spot we were looking for.  Right when we got there we realized it was.  Well not right when we got there…

When we first got there, there were no tables so they had us wait at Von, a bar right next door.  The host said to go grab a drink next door and he would come get us.  The bar was a perfect place to continue our idea of a romantic staycation.  The patrons were fairly diverse.  You had your artsy local hipster types and also the we-were-just playing-softball-for-our-bank types.  Wife had a white wine of course and I went with a simple Kettle One up with olives.  The dim lighting and not too invasive music allowed us to continue our conversation.  The weathered wood bar was complemented by the exposed brick walls,  creating a homey feeling.  Apparently there is a dance lounge in the basement, but that wasn’t really what we were there for that night.  They even brought someone’s food from Bianca to Von.  When one of the dishes passed me, I knew exactly what I was ordering for my main course.

After about 10-15 minutes, the host came to get us and put us at our table (we were able to bring our drinks with us).  The whole restaurant seemed to be young couples or double dates.  There was a table or two of groups of girls. It was a little loud in there but it did not take away from our experience at all.  If that is something that bothers you, this may not be the place for you.  The restaurant is almost like you are sitting in a country house.  Beat up wood floors, white wood walls and plates lining the walls.

Our waitress started a little tough on us but she certainly warmed up as the meal went on (we were there for about two hours).  Wife started with thin artichoke slices with parmigiano in a lemon dressing (which she loved) and I started with the gnocco frito, fried bits of dough with staracchino cheese.  The taste of truffle oil was front and center.  She then had chicken poached in balsamic vinegar.  I followed with the salcicce e fagioli, fennel sausage simmered with cannellini beans. Awesome.

If you are looking for a romantic night without breaking the bank, I highly recommend hitting up Bianca (and most likely Von first).

Bianca

https://foursquare.com/venue/9240 

Von

https://foursquare.com/venue/884

This past weekend, we had a birthday party for Wife at 1534 (Prince near Elizabeth). This French inspired bar is a simple doorway and a set of stairs heading to a basement. Some of you may remember this as that place that people drank wine out of baby bottles… forgot what it was called when they had that.  The room is on the smaller side, not a too many tables and they have a DJ that isn’t loud enough to block your conversation (a nice change for DJs these days in my opinion).  Both of these things make it a pretty comfortable place.

As the title says, this place is known for its mixology and this aspect of the bar is being overseen by Contemporary Cocktails inc, a company that specializes in, well, just that.  I had a couple Manhattans (as I have been lately) and they were fantastic.  A friend had an Old Fashioned and that was really nice as well.  They have a cocktail list that they break up into being from the Americas, Asia, Africa, French Polynesia and a list of punches.

They do have some food but we had dinner before we got there so we skipped. 

More or less the view from our table setup.

https://foursquare.com/venue/12347321

Wife & I just got back from London.  What a great town for twists and turns you never expect.  We stayed in and spent most of our time in Soho, getting lost in the little streets strewn with bars and sex shops.  It was on a street full of nothing but porn shops and gay bars that we found Spuntino (Rupert near Old Compton).

The restaurant has a West Village vibe to it.  There are no more than 25 seats in the whole place, most of which are stools at the bar.  The front room staff was the two bartenders.  Both good looking, but dressed very hip and for the part.  The playlist was a great set of old American rock and blues tunes.  I was shocked to hear this stuff in London.  Wife said to the bartender that she felt like she was in New York.  I was curious to see his response, but he stayed as cool and nice as he did the whole time we were there, when he mentioned that was what the owner was going for.  ”He got a lot of his inspiration from the New York scene.  The whole Italian and Jewish thing.”  He then went on to show us the Heimlich Maneuver posters in the bathroom.  The “filter coffee” that is poured by diner style black kettles.  The French’s yellow mustard.  The music.

Any way, the place had only been open for five weeks and we were shocked since it had the lookings of a local classic.  I had steak and eggs and Wife had a salad with egg and some sort of cod dressing.  We split the side of gralic green (awesome).  She had a glass of Sauvignon Blac (obviously) and I had a pale ale.  We loved everything we got. The staff was really cool and talked to us the whole time we were there as if we were old time (5 week customers).  

They have a desert that is called Peanut Butter & Jelly.  The “bread” is peanut butter ice cream and the jelly is a jam.  There is also peanuts sprinkled on for a crunch.  Do it.

When you sit down they give you the “popcorn of the day” which is something the bartenders just seem to make up.  We had lime flavor and it was pretty damn good.

Things to know before you get there:

• Go for lunch they said dinner has been pretty crazy
• Their license must include food with alcohol so you can’t order just a drink
• If you are packing an appetite get more than one dish, they are tapas style
• There is one table in the back, the rest of the seats are at the bar
• There is no phone and no reservations so you have to just show up 

The street its on is small and its literally across the street from a gay club/porn shop but this should not discourage you.  This place is highly recommended.

The seats Wife and I sat in.

https://foursquare.com/venue/17954788