March 11, 2005 4

C & O Trattoria (Marina del Rey)

//// By in 14: Marina del Rey

DSC02525.jpgDSC02526.jpgDespite busy as hell we still go out to eat. 😀 The second I walked into the courtyard and saw the waiters with plates of bread rolls, I was hit by an instant DEJAVU !!! I realized that I’ve been here 13-14 years ago! I was in highschool and my friends and I drove out here for bike-riding on the beach and we dined here afterwards. It has faded into this ‘legend’ in my memory as this ‘nonstop bread roll’ place by some beach I forgot. I was delighted to found it at last. In my memories the area was bared and undeveloped, but look at all the restaurants and shops now~ Anyway this is a famous landmark Italian restaurant, it’s always fully packed at night. They’d played Dean Martin songs all night and when a certain song came up, everyone sang along. ^_^

DSC02523.jpgThe waiters will bring you these “Killer Garlic Rolls”, and refilled immediately when your plate emptied out. During our meal we had 4 round of servings. They’re very oily but good~

DSC02537.jpgEverything here is huge portion and taste very good. Mine: Fusilli – Roasted Eggplant, Gorgonzola, Cream, Pine Nuts, Roasted Red Pepper. The corkscrew pasta were cooked just right. Though the sauce were clogged at the bottom. There’re strong bell red pepper in the pasta, very nice. I only ate 1/4 of it (ate the rest for dinner that night).

DSC02535.jpgDSC02536.jpgNot mine. Ravioli of the day, I tried one bite and it’s shrimp, awesome! Fettuccine Prosciutto, Mushrooms, Roma Tomato, Cream, Cognac. I WISH this were mine! It’s soooo good! The prosciutto flavor is well soaked in the pasta, added on the fresh tomatoes, nice.

C & O Trattoria (310) 823-9491
Italian
31 Washington Boulevard, Marina Del Rey, CA 90292

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March 10, 2005 4

French Market Cafe (Abbot Kinney)

//// By in 15: Venice

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Casual French cafe serving the Abbot Kinney neighborhood. There’s a little gourmet market inside (though there’re several world gourmet markets around that offer much more). The open cafe is facing the parking lot.

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Onion Tart & Bouillabaisse. $9 So-so.

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March 8, 2005 5

Tibet Nepal House (Old Town Pasadena)

//// By in 02: Pasadena

DSC02474.jpgDSC02479.jpgDSC02482.jpgFinally try Tibet Nepal House, a tibet nepal place in Old Town Pasadena we’ve always wanted to try. They’re more known for Clay Oven. But we didn’t try it since we weren’t so hungry. It comes with bread and soybean. Mango Lassi and Himalayan Lassi, the regular white one is better.

DSC02485.jpgDSC02487.jpgTSE (Vegetarian) $ 6.95
Spinach and PHING, slightly seasoned with ginger, garlic, onion and coriander. VERY simple and healthy tasting ^^;;; Nepali set meals, $12.50. Basmati Rice with 3 types of curry. I like the taste of the middle one the best, it’s more watery than others.

DSC02489.jpgDSC02490.jpg The desert comes with the meal, we picked KHIR, Rice pudding served with almond slices raisins and walnut. It has strong Ginger flavor in so it taste rather unique, very yummy! Crepe with vanilla Ice cream and chocolate syrup haha not very Tibetan/Nepal AT ALL. It taste rather normal.

Tibet Nepal House (626) 585 9955
Tibetan & Nepali
36 E Holly St. Pasadena CA 91103

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March 6, 2005 3

Hal’s Bar & Grill (Abbot Kinney)

//// By in 15: Venice

Hal’s Bar & Grill was our “plan b” so I didn’t expect much, hence not too disappointed. But still given the price =_= it was somewhat medicore. It is an American bar+grill place, most patrons are in their 30+ (-_-;). The paintings on the wall gave the dim, minimal, high ceiling interior an arty, jazzy feel.

DSC02451.jpgDSC02453.jpgThe Lamb Sirloin ($24) and Duck ($22) looked good but rather rough and tasteless. Nothing spectacular, not even comparable to the quality of Cafe Beaujolais (where they cost half the price and taste unforgettable ).

DSC02456.jpgDSC02457.jpgRisotto ($20) was pretty nice, there’s salmon & bacon. The Kobe beef steak ($28) was quite wonderful~~

DSC02458.jpgAn appertizer with artichoke, asparagus, salmon, etc.

DSC02462.jpgDSC02464.jpgBread pudding and chocolate souffle. Bland…

The place is also very noisy, hard to held conversation especially when we had a huge table. It’s about $35 per person. Conclusion: will never go back.

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March 3, 2005 1

La Dijonaise (Culver City)

//// By in 13: Culver City

DSCF0034.jpgBusy days at work right now, time to post almost forgotten old entries. I lunched at La Dijonaise weeks ago at Culver City. It’s a nice, cheap casual French bistro. Their sandwiches are $5, very basic but cheap. It’s a good work day lunch spot.

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However I ordered the most expensive item on menu. Cotes d’agneau $16 classic lamb chops with Dijon sauce. Very good, soft, tender and no muskiness, but not ‘pink’ enough for what I ordered (‘medium rare’ means different thing to different people). Raspberry mousse $3 no good. Rough cakes, fake pasty sugary sweet mousse with little raspberry taste.

La Dijonaise
French bistro & pastry
8703 Washington Blvd, Culver City, CA 90232

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