7 posts tagged “food”
Today we made it downtown to the New Otani Hotel & Garden in Little Tokyo to take part in the 8th Annual Japanese Food Festival. For 4 hours we supported the Japanese Restaurant Association of Southern California at the all-you-can-eat-&-drink festival.
Entertainment included:
- professional fillet of a 125+ lb. maguro tuna on stage (which we got to sample afterwards)
- taiko drum performance
- jazz band
- sushi making contest.
On Friday I went up to Mountainview to the Google campus. Came away with some good info and a lot of envy for the way Google has set up the employees up there. There is a farmer's market every Thursday, a little organic garden that the chef @ SFMOMA works on with the Google chefs/Sous Chefs, day care, pool, volley ball, shuttles for employees to the city and other surrounding cities, company provided meals from breakfast to happy hour, grass! The vibe up there was so nice.
This was my lunch! I was in one of those moods where I wanted a little bit of everything just because it was there. If I worked at Google I would be a little pudgier I'm sure. Friday lunch special included a full seafood bar with 2 types of Oysters, Fried Shrimp, Sea Bass, Mahi Mahi in Banana Leaf, and Salmon. Imagine meals like that, provided by your employer, every day...good sign of a good company. Across from this cafeteria there was the No Name Cafe cafeteria that had 70% vegetarian and vegan foods (would've gone there, but we didn't see it until after lunch).
Take away, if you get a chance to visit the Googleplex - Go! And if you are working for Google, congrats. I wonder if there is another side that visitors like me aren't seeing because it looked damn good!
I met up with some friends at Cafe Gratitude on Saturday. I had to check this place out after the review that my friend had given me earlier this month. She told me that you have to answer the "question of the day" (which happened to be "Why are you blessed today?") when you order and that when she had eaten there she had ordered the "I am thriving" soup. Sounded a little over the top so of course I was excited to try it out.
I will eat pretty much anything once and I love trying new restaurants and new dishes so i did my research before on Cafe Gratitude before I went. the only raw restuarant I've been to is Leaf in Culver City. I was pleasantly surprised with no question of the day, awesome service and some exceptionally good raw cuisine. I ordered the YO SOY MUCHO Mexican bowl (Shredded kale under black rice, topped with guacamole, spicy salsa, and sprouts) with the I AM REJUVENATED (Wheatgrass, apple, ginger, lemon, and naturally sparkling water.) The food was really good (Mochi agreed as he was finishing up my leftovers). Definitely recommended. So, I don't know if I missed the over the top waitress with the super personal question of the day or if they have taken it down a notch but I'm hoping for a location down here in LA. (PS: If you go, get a side of the Macadamia nut cheddar cheese to mix in with the rice - so good).
Cafe Gratitude Locations in SF, Berkeley and San Rafael.
I went to Lola's on Fairfax last Friday night with my girlfriends and had the most amazing time! We made reservations for 8:00. It was pretty packed when we got there but we sat immediately and had a wonderful waitress - "Liz from Lola's". If you go, try to get in her section for great service. Food and Martinis were fabulous.
Food: 1 appetizer special (grilled cheese with goat cheese and smoked Gouda) with balsamic reduction over a bed of arugula, Split pea and French onion soups, and a Warm Goat Cheese salad.
Drink: Lola's Martini (the Lola's cosmo), What a Pear martini, Chimay and another martini that was similar to to the Lola's and named after Lola's daughter.
Location: 945 N. Fairfax Ave., West Hollywood, CA 90046
Definitely recommend it, but make reservations if you want a table!
I just want to state again how I love these Johnny Cupcakes tees. This is my favorite design, you know...your basic plaid cupcake tee. Mochi has the cupcake grill shirt and I think he might have this one as well.
Speaking of cucakes, a vendor sent cupcakes from Magnolia Bakery in New York this week. My god, these were up there with Sprinkles! I am such a sucker for cucakes now. I am dying to try Sprinkles holiday flavors: peppermint, eggnog spice, and coconut of the day. I have never been to the store, I am lucky enough to have an office full of people that recieve Sprinkles from vendors. I think these flavors might deserve a visit, though!
Its definitely been a weekend full of eating, so I thought I'd document it.
Saturday Brunch: Leonor's Vegetarian Mexican Restuarant, North Hollywood
Review: LOVE LOVE LOVE THIS restaurant, and I am not a vegatarian. Its's healthy comfort food, and its just fun to go there. Leonor's daughter always helps us when we go in there, and she always has such a big smile. Mochi introduced me to this place when we started dating. He's been going there for years and in the last 2 years I think we have gone there 7 or 8 times. They have soy everything (soy chicken, beef, shrimp) and it all tastes good. My favorite is the Chicken Quesadilla (with fresh guacamole), Soy chicken salad (with cabbage, olives, and other yummy things all chopped up together) and the flax ice tea. A++
Saturday Dinner: U-Zen Sushi for Kent's Bday
Review: Decent and reasonably priced. The Spicy tuna hand roll was amazing. The crunchy roll was a interesting but a little flavorless. It had spicy scallops fried and topped with sliced raw onions and peppers. Bamboo roll was pretty good with eel in the center and a cucumber wrapper. Other great things that were ordered Toro, Albacore and interestingly enough a stuffed jalapeno that was awesome. Happy Bday Kent!
Sunday Breakfast: Left-over Leonor's
Review: Tastes even better the next day.
Sunday Lunch: Honey's Kettle Fried Chicken
Review: Greasay! Food was decent, not as good as I thought it would be after reading a few very good reviews. I liked the pan fried fish and coleslaw. Mochi liked the chicken. Dont' think we'll be eating there again but had to try it.
All for now, thank god.. I dont want to eat anything for a while.
