The Taste 2012: Flavors of LA Paramount Pictures Studios 5555 Melrose Avenue Los Angeles, CA 90038 Dining date: 9/2/12 Day 2 of The Taste brought two more events: ‘Flavors of LA’ during the day and ‘Dinner & Drinks’ at night. I went to the daytime session, featuring an eclectic mix of LA’s food scene. Some…
The Taste 2012: Field to Fork Paramount Pictures Studios 5555 Melrose Avenue Los Angeles, CA 90038 Dining date: 9/1/12 This past weekend, The Taste returned to LA. In its second year, it’s one of the biggest food festivals in the city, stretching over the three day Labor Day weekend. It was a slightly slimmed down version…
Playa 7360 Beverly Blvd Los Angeles, CA 90036 Dining date: 7/22/12 I’ve stepped into Playa a few times for Julian Cox’s cocktails, but this would be only my second meal here (the first was dinner). I recently had an OpenTable dining certificate about to expire, and picked Playa due to strong brunch recommendations. Playa is…
Ray’s LACMA 5905 Wilshire Blvd. Los Angeles, CA 90036 Dining date: 7/13/12 Ray’s (and connected Stark Bar) has been a place I’ve wanted to try for some time now. Opened a little over a year ago, it’s somewhat quietly gained some strong accolades including being named a Best New Restaurant in 2011 by Esquire. It’s…
Whole Hog Dinner Mozza’s Scuola Di Pizza 6610 Melrose Ave. Los Angeles, CA 90038 Dining date: 4/14/12 Mozza has really made use of their space at the corner of Melrose & Highland, creating their higher end Osteria Mozza, their sitdown Pizzeria Mozza, their takeout Mozza2Go and a sort of all-purpose Scuola di Mozza all within…
Mezze 401 N La Cienega Blvd Los Angeles, CA 90048 Dining date: 2/18/12 Mezze opened last March and was commonly featured on “Best New Restaurant” lists in LA. The food is something a little different than what I’m typically accustomed to, being focused on Mediterranean (particularly Eastern Mediterranean) flavors from the likes of Syria, Egypt…
Picca 9575 West Pico Blvd Los Angeles, CA 90035 Dining date: 12/14/11 and 2/1/12 Generally regarded as one of the top restaurant openings in 2011, Picca has truly been a hotspot since opening in June. It seems that every time I’ve visited, the restaurant’s been packed – boisterous and full of energy. It’s easy to…
Lucques 8474 Melrose Ave Los Angeles, CA 90069 Dining date: 1/31/12 Lucques is Suzanne Goin’s first restaurant (opened in 1998), located in West Hollywood. The menu is seasonal and market-driven; every restaurant claims to be doing that nowadays but Goin was doing it before it become so cool. It’s probably attributable to her background at…