203 posts tagged “food”

After I had dragged us all the way out to Atwater Village for an art opening the only logical thing to do was drag Him to Downtown for dessert. Syrup Desserts sounded familiar, but I've read so many LA food blogs I couldn't remember who said what about it. All I know is that they served waffles and I wanted to get my waffle on.

Syrup Desserts has a bevy of waffles (liege, Belgian, or deluxe fancy) as well as crepes, dessert staples like opera cake and creme brulee and sweet grilled cheese sandwiches. I ordered the classic, simple, unadorned (except for the whipped cream) liege waffles. If they can get the base waffle down right, then the crazy variations will be made on a good foundation. Liege waffles are fantastic because of the large chunks of sugar crystals in the batter. I loved the chewy sweetness of the waffle dotted with warm pockets of sugar.

He's THE chocoholic so He dove into the Mudslide - a chocolate liege waffle with chocolate ice cream and strawberries. He washed it all down with a frozen hot chocolate. We've never had one, but I've heard great tales of them especially the legendary one at Serendipity3. I'm not sure frozen hot chocolate is my thing. I enjoyed it, but I wasn't converted into a fan.

We'll definitely come back whenever I need a waffle fix and to try out all those grilled cheese sandwiches.

Can you still call it brunch if you're eating your first meal of the day at 2pm? I think so, especially since brunch at Rush Street is served until 3pm on Sundays. If waffles are on the menu I'm probably getting them. Rush Street has cinnamon pecan waffles. I liked it. It was like a pecan sticky bun. The bacon was very, very smoked. My friend customized an egg white scramble and He ordered everything else off the menu. I'm kidding; He just got scrambled eggs, potatoes, sausage and pancakes. You know, a lite breakfast.

Continuing our journey home from San Francisco, we stopped for dinner in Santa Barbara. We discovered Cafe Luck with the help of a little site called Yelp.

Cafe Luck turned out to be a local French bistro. Perfect for a romantic dinner, elegant birthday celebration or business power meal.

We helped ourselves to the mixed olives and warm olive bread while waiting for our first course. Beet salad for me as usual, and He had an excellent scallop cerviche. I've never had cerviche, but have had my share of raw - barely cooked seafood.

He ordered the special - suckling roast pig. Just look at that crackling. That's the stuff magic is made of. I had the mushroom ravioli, which was good. I thought it strange to have such soupy sauce with the ravioli.

For dessert I got the creme brulee because I'm a creature of habit. He's the chocolate fiend and got the chocolate mousse. With the mousse came a hazelnut (I can't remember if it was hazelnut) and nicoise olive brittle. Interesting and not as gross as it sounds.

Do you think restaurants in tourist traps with a nice view willingly get away with mediocre service and food just because...well...it's a tourist trap with a nice view? After brunch at Trailside Cafe in Monterey, I think this is very much the case.

The place wasn't that horrible, but it wasn't great and, sadly, the nice view isn't enough to redeem everything else. What more can I say about a place that uses pancake batter to make waffles?

It's not a waffle; it's a square pancake.

The only thing I got out of Trailside were these great photos of the square pancakes to the right. It's like I'm almost a professional...eater...

Last month He and I took a trip to San Francisco. Our first evening in SF we met up with His friends at District, a wine bar in the SoBe area.

The rest of the table indulged in robust red wines, but reds don't sit well with me. Instead I decided to celebrate with a sparkling Riesling.

It was a table of cheese lovers (well most of us) so of course we got the large cheese plate: Buche du Cremier, hand ladeled goat; Truffle Tremor, aged goat; Taleggio,  soft ripened cow; Tomme du Levezou, firm aged sheep; Fourme d' Ambert, cow's blue; accompanied with Marshall Farms local wildflower honey, membrillo, almonds, assorted fruits and Acme bread. My favorite was the tallegio.

There was a beet salad on the menu, but it was different from the beet salads I've gotten in the past. The beets were shaved paper thin and they were crunchy, perhaps pickled. Definitely not the soft beet texture I'm used to.

He got a pizza, the one with meat on it.

I knew I would be cooking all day, so I made us (Him) snacks to munch on.

This Thanksgiving I spent with Him. Just the two of us. I decided to surprise Him with breakfast.

He had bought too much basil, so I decided to try my hand at making pesto. I liked this recipe from the Barefoot Contessa, but put my own spin on it. Half of the basil I replaced with spinach and arugula. My other twist was using half the Parmesan from the recipe and replacing the other half with Pecorino. It gave the sauce a great depth of flavor.

With all this pesto, I was inspired to try to recreate the eggs de parma dish from Alcove. Only problem - I didn't have proscuitto or goat cheese, so I improvised. I made Parmesan toasts topped with poached eggs and pest

Why go to a pancake house and order waffles?
Because I can't help myself...