whew. it has been a little crazy here in la. guess who had two weddings in one weekend that happened to be week one of football season?! us! hectic and tired would be the appropriate words here BUT! both weddings were amazing. i did get to snap a few photos from the first wedding and have to share since it was pretty much perfect. congrats to d&a, we love you!
ps. isnt the ritz in marina del rey beautiful?!
we spent a few days in mammoth relaxing, fishing, hiking, golfing, and of course, eating. we needed a little time away from the city. mammoth is awesome in the winter but even better in the summer! here are just a few pictures from our trip! (if you cant tell, we love mammoth!) ps. an added bonus was that we got to spend time with our little niece!
six people. 6:45pm reservation at picca. dinela. two hours and forty-five minutes later, thirty dishes down! boom. for dinela, we decided to go to picca, a trendy peruvian restaurant in west la. for a fabulous $45 a person (not including alcohol), you get to enjoy two appetizers, two main dishes, and a dessert.
since we were a table of six, we were able to order almost everything and even double up on certain ones! here is what we tried:
appetizers
main dishes
dessert choices – flan or alfajores (cookies)
verdict: very good! (although not all are winners). trust me when i say you will be stuffed and satisfied. favorite dish was the snow crab appetizer, pan con tuna, and the bisteck a lo pobre! the main menu is so extensive, i think i will need to come back and try certain dishes not on the dinela menu.
since the sun set while we were eating, there wasnt enough light to keep using my dslr so i had to switch to my point and shoot canon s95! however, i couldnt take pictures of all our food (trust me, there were a lot more dishes). haha.
picca down, so many more food adventures to go! shout out to the dinela crew. to old friends and the loveliness of new ones. cheers!
Picca
9575 W Pico Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90035
Neighborhood: West Los Angeles
it was a bittersweet dinner. a good friend and colleague of mine is heading back to japan with his wonderful wife (who i just had the privilege of meeting). he and i, along with a handful of other people, went through a (what seemed like the longest) training program together. during this 1+ year period, we grew close since we saw each other every day, studied together, struggled together…these are the people who i started my career with.
fast forward four years. i am sitting here wishing him a bon voyage and reminiscing about days we took for granted. during the training program, he got married, i got married, i got a house, and we developed our food palette (him on the west side and me in the valley/everywhere else). it was good to see him and to finally meet the wife i have heard so much about.
since we were all foodies, we decided to try blue blate oysterette in santa monica.
the food: we hit a gem. i say this because i definitely think its harder to go somewhere and like pretty much everything that is set in front of you. we definitely were too aggressive with the ordering and overestimated our stomach capacity. so on yelp, this place had 3.5 stars 368 reviews. since i quickly glanced at this before dinner, i didnt really think i was going to be blown away by any means. here is was we ordered (i will give my comments at the end):
this place is a little pricey, but then again, its a great location near the water and its seafood. i saw the menu and knew we had to get the lobster roll (because kyle and i get this every where we go: nyc and hungry cat). our server recommended the lobster mac and cheese and the mussels, which turned out to be my favorite dish! hands down one of the best mussels i have ever had (a close tie with mussels at firefly in studio city). lobster mac and cheese was also very good. clam chowder good. however, keep in mind that there is bacon in it, which is overpowering. fried seafood combo was also good (comes with two yummy dipping sauces).
the curry mussels were a winner. the sauce was so delicious. mussels were hot.
the lobster roll was good but short of mind blowing.
so i read some of the reviews on yelp on this place right now and a lot of them have to do with the price of some of these dishes (lobster roll is $22 and small. i think this is pretty market. we paid the same thing in nyc and at hungry cat in hollywood), long waiting time with no reservations (we didnt mind so much. is this because we were in good company?) and that the lobster roll came cold (i laughed at this one). i liked this place a lot and look forward to taking kyle here.
small note: these pictures were taken with the canon s95. its a pretty awesome point and shoot, huh?
Blue Plate Oysterette
1355 Ocean Ave
Santa Monica, CA 90401
Neighborhood: Santa Monica
so this weekend we went to pasadena for the obon festival. this annual festival is a celebration of the japanese culture and more specifically, is an event for commemorating one’s ancestors. kyle’s dad has been going to this festival since he was a kid and so has kyle! (cute, eh?) this event is run soley by volunteers from the community. isnt that great?! bbq, community, kimonos, martial arts, dances, and kintoki on ice (sweet red beans. my favorite). i look forward to this every year because its delish.
