Caulfield’s, one in what seems like a growing string of literary-themed bars and eateries (Hemmingway’s, Writer’s Room), is the Catcher in the Rye-inspired restaurant that took over the Bond Street space inside the Thompson Beverly Hills hotel. Now, I’m not sure how you get a French bistro out of the Holden Caulfield character, but I guess that’s neither here nor there. What would be significant is the food and drink; unfortunately, some of the menu here misses the mark. While some dishes are really good, others are kind of boring. The good thing is, nothing I tried here recently was actually bad.

The good:

We started and ended well. The appetizers Toad in a Hole, with the traditional egg cooked into a piece of toast and as well as a side of smoked trout salad, and the Pan-Seared Crab Cakes served with planks of corn were mighty tasty. These dishes were seasoned well and prepared nicely. The Banana Terrine dessert, which was really more like a trifle with layers of banana, wafers, chocolate and rum custard, was a delightful way to end the meal.

The not-so-good:

Our first Frisée Bacon-Lardon salad arrived sans bacon and with an overcooked poached egg. Our second salad was better, though there wasn’t much in terms of seasoning on it. Same goes for our mains: the chicken pot pie and the beef short ribs lacked pizazz, and by that I mean salt and pepper. This was unfortunate as the dishes could have been much better, though I could have done with some kind of starch to go with my huge plate of short ribs.

As for the cocktails…I don’t remember much about them other than whatever whiskey-based drink I ordered was very strong. Obviously these didn’t make much of an impression.

If Caulfield’s would step it up a notch and make some small adjustments, this could be a great place for an upscale-yet-unpretentious meal, which I would find welcoming in shi-shi Beverly Hills.

Note: This meal was hosted.

I love Japanese candy. I love the unique flavors and the cuteness of it. So when a friend from Japan recently gave me these Japanese Kit Kats, I was overjoyed! Now, I know strawberry and green tea aren’t that exotic, but the red bean toast (toast!) flavor was definitely something new…and I’m not sure I liked it. I love red (azuki) bean, but the toast component just made it taste a little burned, which isn’t my cup of tea, so to speak. I also didn’t love the green tea flavor — too matcha-y for me. I did really like the strawberry, though. I know, that’s so boring! But it had a perfect strawberries-and-cream flavor. I believe you can find some of these flavored Kit Kats at Japanese supermarkets in the United States, such as Mitsuwa. I wonder if you could find some of the weirder flavors, such as grilled corn, Royal Milk Tea or soy sauce (yes, soy sauce!). Have you tried any of these flavors before?

Further reading:

Japan’s Strangest Kit Kat Flavors by Weird Asia News

Kit Kat Kaleidoscope: Far-Out Flavors from Japan by NPR

The view of Mt. Werner from downtown Steamboat Springs

Every winter, between Christmas and New Year’s Day, Rory and I travel to Steamboat Springs, Colorado, to visit his family. Now, I’m not a cold weather sports fan — I don’t ski or snowboard, and when I’ve tried other things like snowmobiling or sledding, I’ve ended up hurt — so I tend to gravitate toward my shopping and eating standbys. Here are some of my favorite places to go in The Boat.

F.M. Light & Sons: This is the quintessential cold-weather cowboy-town store. The walls are lined with cowboy and snow boots, and the space is filled with button-down Western shirts and fleeces. You’ll also find some camouflage accessories and long underwear, complete with backdoor relief, for your hunting and camping needs.

Zelmo on the horse statue outside F.M. Light & Sons

Lyon Drug: This drugstore is a cute, old-timey place that offers not only fun chotchkies and a pharmacy but also a real soda fountain. Who doesn’t like a milkshake when it’s freezing out? (I don’t know about you, but I’ll have ice cream in any weather!)

Off the Beaten Path bookstore: My real favorite bookstore in Steamboat was Epilogue, but that cozy spot has been replaced with a tattoo parlor. A close runner up is Off the Beaten Path, where you can enjoy a warming latte while you peruse the shelves. It doesn’t have everything, but there’s a good edited selection. There’s also a cute children’s reading area in back, if you have kids to entertain.

Off the Beaten Path bookstore

Steamboat Art Company: This is my favorite place to pick up gifts. It’s a sizable store with a nice selection of jewelry, accessories, home and seasonal goods, children’s items, and other odds and ends. A lot of the items here are from local artists, too. I once got myself a pretty jade stone necklace here from a local jewelry maker.

Steamboat Art Company

Freshies: Outside of downtown is this casual breakfast and lunch spot that serves up sandwiches, salads and soups. I’ve had some really tasty meals here and some OK ones, but I did like the tuna melt, which comes with avocado and is served open-faced. Their house-made veggie burgers aren’t the best, though.

Tuna melt at Freshies

Winona’s: Another breakfast and lunch place, this time downtown. Winona’s is delicious but small, so be prepared to wait for a table with the après ski crowd. I loved my Grilled Vermont sandwich, with Vermont cheddar, avocado and tomato on sourdough, and sweet potato fries. My sister-in-law’s go-to is the Vermont Cheddar salad with fresh greens, granny smith apples, Craisins, white cheddar, candied walnuts, red onions and maple vinaigrette. The pastries here are also good (notice the chocolate chip muffin with the salad).

Grilled Vermont at Winona's

Vermont Cheddar salad at Winona's

Bäco Mercat, the new downtown Los Angeles restaurant from Chef Josef Centeno (of Lazy Ox Canteen fame) centered around his flatbread sandwich/pizza/taco creation, is a restaurant years in the making. Centeno first introduced the hybrid bäco as a staff meal at Meson G in Hollywood, where he was executive chef, and later put it on the lunch menu at Lot 1 in Echo Park. It occasionally shows up at Lazy Ox, too. Now the bäco has a home of its own, and it’s settling in nicely.

A good place to start on this menu is with The Original bäco made with pork, beef carnitas and salbitxada, a zesty tomato sauce made with almonds, serrano chile and garlic. The cocas, or pizzas made with thinner bäco flatbread, are also a good bet, and The Tomato & Cheese with smoked tomato, jalapeno and basil is a nice one.

The Original baco

The Tomato & Cheese coca

Don’t over look the small plates, though. The Caesar Brussels Sprouts, which are shaved and tossed with pecorino, anchovy and garlic, and the Crispy Head-On Shrimp with cubeb pepper and side of pickled cauliflower are delicious and addictive. The braised beef raviolo topped with pesto and egg is a revelation; unfortunately, it’s not always on the dinner menu. I hear the bazole is also good, but I didn’t try it on this recent visit.

Caesar Brussels Sprouts

Crispy Head-On Shrimp

Braised beef raviolo

As for dessert, make sure to try the Almond Cheesecake Pudding served with lemon curd and chocolate crumb. Skip the Banana Cream Cannoli, which just isn’t that tasty.

Almond Cheesecake Pudding

The drinks here are interesting, but I’m not entirely sold on them yet. You pick a spirit and a house-made sweet and sour soda from a list of seasonal flavors. I had a bourbon with a persimmon soda, which was fine but not extraordinary. There is also a rotating list of drink specials, too.

Drinks, bourbon and persimmon soda in back

Another thing to note: One of my dining companions commented that Centeno favors pickled onions, and lo and behold, most of our dishes contained pickled onions. Not that they’re bad, but what’s the deal?

Public's oysters

Want something special for dinner? Then head over to Public Kitchen & Bar, the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel‘s lobby eatery, for some oysters and champagne. Choose from East Coast and West Coast varieties, including Belon, Coromandel, Fanny Bay, Hood Canal, Kumamoto, Malpeque, Phantom Creek, Raspberry Point, Well Fleet, Salt Pond and Kusshi, which rotate daily. Make sure to put some of the citrus and tarragon accoutrement on your oysters for extra oomph. Get a half dozen for $14, nine for $20 or a dozen for $28.

And don’t forget the bubbly — choose from a wide range of champagne and sparkling wine, including Bollinger Special Cuvée Brut NV, Milan Brut Cuvée Millenaire NV, Chartogne-Taillet Brut Cuvée St. Anne NV, Pommery Brut Royal NV, Margaine Brut Rosé NV, Graham Beck Brut NV, Familia Oliveda Brut NV, Gruet Brut NV and Jansz Rose NV. Prices are $10 to $29 per glass, or $35 to $140 per bottle.

You’ll have to hurry, though — this special ends December 31.

Note: This meal was hosted.

Valerie Confections SUPER CHOC-O-FOOD

Still scrambling for holiday gifts? If you’re shopping for people who like food, or should like good food, then look no further than these L.A. options:

Valerie Confections: While Valerie Gordon is know for her toffees and cute-as-a-button petit fours, an interesting gift would be the SUPER CHOCO-O-FOOD, a huge block of milk chocolate with a hint of caramel loaded with dried pears, apricots, golden raisins, macadamia nuts, cashews, almonds, sunflower seeds and peanuts. The packaging comes from Commune Design, and each color (pink, violet, aqua) corresponds to part of a triptych image found under the label. Valerie now also has teas blended by the American Tea Room just for the shop, including the Black & Blue, which was inspired by her Black & Blue jam and contains black tea from Nilgiri, blackberries, black currants, blueberries and blackberry leaves.

Kiss My Bundt Baking Academy: Chef Chrysta Wilson of Kiss My Bundt, formerly on West Third Street, is now teaching baking classes at Surfas in Culver City. The first class will be on January 15 and will focus on baking with winter citrus. And if you purchase a spot in this class before December 24, you’ll get 20 percent off. If you’ve ever had Wilson’s bundt cakes, you know they’re a treat.

Monsieur Marcel at the Original Farmers Market at Third and Fairfax: This gourmet foods store has all kinds of delicious treats, including European chocolates, fancy vinegars and oils, flavored salts, cheeses, wine and all kinds of fun stuff. This place will have lots of variety, so you’re sure to find something for the gourmand on your lift.

Sage restaurant from Chef Shawn McClain at Las Vegas’ Aria Hotel is a gem. It was the most impressive meal of our stay. Maybe it was because I didn’t really know what to expect — what’s “new American,” anyway? — but Sage has turned into a place I highly recommend for any stay in Vegas. Everything that is placed in front of diners has been carefully considered — even the bread (crusty and fluffy) and butter (lavender, with a side of salt) are special.

We started our meal with cocktails, including a flaming absinthe demonstration. Check out the video:

My favorite drinks of the night were the Smoking Bulleit, with smoked peach-infused Bulleit bourbon, mint and lemon (the cocktail menu changes seasonally, so this one may no longer be available), and The Artful Margarita, made with Oro de Jalisco blanco tequila, Art in the Age root liqueur, Cointreau and lemon, which tastes like root beer.

The food at Sage was excellent. The Foie Gras Custard Brulée blew my mind, and the Wagyu Beef Tartare — topped with a gorgeous poached egg yolk and served with crispy chocolate chips — had made me reconsider the dish entirely. You know the food is good when something you normally don’t go for, in this case beef tartare, leaves you wanting more. The Slow-Poached Organic Farm Egg — all foamy, topped with shaved potato chips — was another delicious dish.

The Glazed Pork Belly, which is actually more sweet corn tortelloni than pork, is still a good choice; you’ll just want to know what you’re getting. The Main Dayboat Scallops were perfectly cooked, and the 48 Hour Beef Belly came so fork-tender that the meat practically fell apart just by looking at it.

We opted for the Signature Tasting Menu ($79 per person), which comes with optional wine or beer pairings ($39 each). This is a good value for four courses at this quality (by the time we got to the dessert course, I was stuffed, so please excuse me for not discussing it), so you’d be well-served making a stop here on your next trip to Vegas.

Further reading:

Las Vegas, NV: Sage is a Cocktailian’s Respite From Bottle Service by estarLA

Note: This meal was hosted.

Mushroom-dusted shrimp at Roy's

Like prix fixe prices but not prix fixe menu choices? Roy’s, the restaurant that introduced Hawaiian and Asian fusion food to many, has brought back My Prix Fixe Mondays to address this very issue. For $35.95 on Monday nights, you can choose any appetizer, entrée and dessert from the regular menu.

On a recent visit to Roy’s in downtown Los Angeles, I tried out my own prix fixe combination. I enjoyed my potato croquettes, shrimp dusted with mushrooms and pappardelle, and pineapple upside down cake. The shrimp entrée was interesting — I’ve never had shrimp “dusted” with mushrooms, and the sauce the pasta came in was thinner than I expected, but it was satisfying. My dining companion chose the lobster potstickers, braised short ribs and bread pudding for her meal. The bread pudding took us by surprise — it was really spicy, though the menu didn’t describe it as such. Turns out the bread pudding contains cinnamon and dark chili powder, and the dark chocolate ice cream served alongside it has pacia peppers, cinnamon, dark chili pepper and cayenne peppers. The dish was tasty, but perhaps Roy’s should warn its diners of the spicy hotness in it!

Even with the surprise spiciness, Roy’s $35.95 prix fixe is a good deal — this is considered Hawaiian fine dining, after all.

Note: This meal was hosted.

The Blue Boar

The Blue Boar Public House, an English-style pub from Curtis Nysmith, tries hard to live up to its British theme. With its wrought-iron and dark-wood decor and traditional pub menu, Blue Boar is a far cry from the Nysmith-owned Capitol City sports bar that once stood in its place (you know, the one that had the humongous TV screen that could be seen from a mile away). The cocktails are pretty darn good for the vodka-and-Redbull Cahuenga Corridor neighborhood, so you’ll be pleasantly surprised there. But when it comes to the food, the menu is a bit hit-or-miss.

The Basset Hound cocktail, made with Bulleit rye whiskey, Travis Hasse apple pie liqueur, Liqueur 43 and black tea, is a good option, but ask for it made with less Travis Hasse to cut down on the sweetness. The London Eye with Hendrick’s gin and lavender bitters is simple but nicely balanced. All cocktails are reasonably priced at $10.

The Blue Burger and Chips is a really satisfying meal (and at $10, it’s a steal, too). The toppings are traditional — lettuce, onion, tomato and choice of cheese — but the juicy patty, fluffy brioche bun and savory garlic aioli really make this burger. And the fries! The fries are addictive to the nth degree. I ate way too many in one sitting. The Scotch eggs — hard boiled eggs encased in chicken sausage and deep fried — are kind of scary but also kind of good, especially if you’ve had one too many drinks. Speaking of hangover food, the English Fry Up, a terrifying plate full of fried eggs, English bacon, beans, fried potatoes, sausage (i.e, banger) and fried toast, is to be consumed only while under the influence or while recovering from such a state. Trust me on this one.

Blue Burger

Basset Hound

As Blue Boar takes up just a sliver of the old Capitol City space, Nysmith has plans for a Mexican cantina in the adjacent spot. I guess you can’t take the Hollywood out of…Hollywood?

Further reading:

Cocktail Quick Pick: Hollywood’s Blue Boar Pub by LAist

Note: This meal was hosted.

Julian Serrano at the Aria Hotel in Las Vegas is a fun and flavorful way to have a meal. Not only is the food a delight, but the restaurant’s decor complements the playful tapas menu with its bright colors and modern design. This was one of my favorite meals while staying at the Aria.

First and foremost, the cocktails. The drinks here were great — the Manzana Deliziosa made with Hendrick’s gin, green apple purée, Lillet and fresh thyme was nicely balanced as it packed a punch. The Piña 43, made with Herradura añejo tequila, Cuarenta y Tres liqueur, pineapple and lime, and the Dulce y Picante, with Spanish brandy, St. Germain, strawberry and cayenne pepper, were also standouts.

As for the food, most of my favorite tapas dishes turned out to be vegetables. The sautéed baby spinach with pine nuts, raisins, apple and shallots, while it sounds a bit boring, was the most flavorful plate of spinach I have ever had. And I couldn’t down put the sautéed padron peppers (which I thought were piquillo peppers) simply prepared with extra virgin olive oil and sea salt. The Brava Potatoes topped with spicy tomato and alioli sauces were satisfying, and the seared scallops in romesco sauce were perfectly cooked.

And the, of course, there was the paella. We got the mixed version chock full of lobster, mussels, chicken, Spanish pork chorizo, vegetables and saffron rice. Take a look at the photo — somehow this huge plate is meant for just two people! With all the other dishes we had, we barely ate any of this, which was a shame, but it was tasty.

We had three desserts — churros with chocolate sauce, almond cake and rice pudding. The arroz con leche de coco, a rice pudding made with coconut milk topped with fresh pineapple, was the most appealing to me. I love rice pudding, and this version had perfect consistency and interesting flavors.

If you’re visiting Las Vegas, Julian Serrano should be on your short list of places to eat and drink. Hey, you’ll even get a Spanish lesson in the restroom over the speakers — not a moment will be wasted.

Further reading:

Destination Vegas: Lunch at Julian Serrano by LAist

Note: This meal was hosted.