ShopEatSleep

I was so excited to finally — finally! — eat at LudoBites, which eluded me in its last incarnation at BreadBar over the summer. So when Esther of e*starLA generously opened up her reservation to a bunch of her blogger friends, I happily signed on. And I had never been to Royal/T Cafe, the location for this LudoBites pop-up, so I was expecting all kinds of new experiences.

And then I got sick.

Now, I felt fine except for a ridiculously stuffy nose. After making sure I didn’t have a swine flu-like fever, I decided to still go to dinner. After all, who knows when I would be able to eat at LudoBites again, especially since reservations for the 2.5 week run sold out before opening night? So I went, determined to make the best of it.

I arrived at Royal/T not really knowing what to expect and was pleasantly surprised by the eclectic art installations and gift store that had Hello Kitty Rubik’s Cubes on Christmas trees. The night was already off to a good start.

And then I took my first bite of food and realized I couldn’t taste anything. Damn you, stuffy nose!

So I’m at LudoBites, and I can’t taste anything. Other than running to the restroom periodically to blow my nose in the hope that I would clear enough to be able to taste again, what was I to do? I decided to make the best of it and make the experience an exercise in textures (!).

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Inside Akasha. From Eater LA.

It’s the day before Thanksgiving. You don’t have plans, but you want to have plans. What to do? Check out the holiday dinners from these L.A. restaurants, and take your pick.

Akasha: This Culver City eatery is offering a $55 per person, three-course meal ($30 for kids 12 and younger), including a pie buffet for dessert. All dessert courses should be buffets! But I digress.

Starter options include winter squash soup, a salad with persimmon, pomegranate and goat cheese and an assortment of biscuits. Entrees include slow-roasted turkey, pomegranate-jalapeno jelly glazed ham, and wild peppercorn and sage-roasted tofu. The pie buffet includes class pumpkin pie, sweet potato pie with candied pecans, spiced pumpkin cheesecake with gingersnap crust, and pear and cranberry tart with cinnamon crumble. There’s much more; take a look at the Web site for the menu.

Joe’s Restaurant: This veritable Venice Beach institution is serving up a $52 per person, four-course meal ($20 for the kiddos). You’ll start with sunchoke soup, then move on to your choice of a greens and squash salad, Swiss chard ravioli, sweetbreads, mussels, or diver scallops. Main dish options include turkey with all the fixings, lamb with a pumpkin risotto, monk fish and shrimp, or vegetables with quinoa. The dessert course includes your choice of pumpkin pie, persimmon and pomegranate bread pudding, apple pie, or chocolate marquise.

Campanile: Mark Peel’s Mid-City mainstay has a $65 per person, five-course meal ($39 for kids) on the menu. You really can’t go wrong at Campanile. To start, there’s a mushroom barley soup. Then it’s on to your choice of a bibb lettuce salad, chicken liver crostini, or warm roasted vegetable salad. Then comes turkey for your main and another course of savory bread pudding, sweet corn succotash, mashed potatoes, cranberry chutney, and Blue Lake beans. Last is a dessert of either pumpkin ice cream, spiced apple bundle, or mixed nut tart.

If none of those hit the spot, also check The Rundown‘s list of Thanksgiving dinners, including Anisette, Henry’s Hat, Jar, The Langham and Whist.

Marni (left), Jewell Rae Jeffers (center), me (right).

Last Friday, Marni of Happy Go Marni, my boyfriend, Rory, and I went see a comedy/live cooking/Johnny Cash tribute show at The Actors’ Gang theater in the Ivy Substation in Culver City. Now, you may be wondering, what the heck is a comedy/live cooking/Johnny Cash tribute show? Well, until we saw the show ourselves, we didn’t really know, either!

Marni saw the show listed on Goldstar, and she wrote me an email: “Please say yes. I want to go to this event. I think we should go together. What do you think???? It’s crazy and bizarre sounding and that’s why I’m so drawn to it! What the heck is it!” Well, how could I say no to that?

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I have never been to the original Fraiche in Culver City, though I had heard good things. So when Marshal and Will of FoodDigger invited me and other foodies to a “mini” tasting event at the new Santa Monica location, which recently replaced Riva, a small-plates concept that shared owners, it sounded like a great way to compare the old Riva to the new Fraiche.

I’ve been to Riva once, but it was right before the announcement was made to convert the space into Fraiche, so I didn’t blog about it. I enjoyed my meal there, though I did feel it was a bit overpriced, which may have contributed to the restaurant’s demise. No matter; the new Fraiche under Chef de Cuisine Sydney Hunter (who was also with Riva) is elegant yet accessible, a great combination.

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I’ve been to Rush Street a few times before, but I had never been for brunch. So when I was invited to try out the Chicago-themed restaurant’s weekend menu, I figured, Why not? There’s a bloody mary bar, after all, and even though I’m not a big bloody mary fan, I like the idea. So I went to see what else Rush Street had to offer.

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• Rush Street’s Christmas in August: On Friday (that’s today!) and Saturday, Aug. 14 and 15, the restaurant that is a little bit of Chicago in Culver City is holding a Christmas celebration. Why? They say it’s an homage to a summer camp tradition, but I wouldn’t know anything about that since I’ve never been to summer camp. Sounds like the restaurant is trying to capitalize on recession spenders’ nostalgia, eh? Anyhoo, expect nights full of holiday food and cheer, including Christmas tree decorating and Santa on Friday, and a white elephant gift exchange on Saturday. Dinner will feature holiday favorites such as maple-roasted turkey breast with cider gravy, mashed potatoes, stuffing and glazed brussels sprouts. Friday night’s festivities start at 5:00 p.m., and Saturday’s start at 7:00 p.m. Drink specials on Saturday, too.

• L.A. Sake Festival: With a karaoke room, how can a sake event be bad? On Sunday, Aug. 16, taste from more than 100 sakes, including some in cocktail form, at the Renaissance Hollywood Hotel from 4:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. There’s also an introduction to sake class from a pro so you’ll understand what you’re tasting. Or just chug and sing, whatever.  Entrance fee is $50.

• Gnosh Pit at Verdugo Bar: This is where I’ll be Sunday, Aug. 16. The Glassell Park bar will be home to the vegan culinary stylings of Hot Knives, two former line cooks and current food bloggers who will be serving up “pulled pork” sandwiches, curry seitan bahn mi, homemade potato chips, cole slaw, and beer — yes, beer — popsicles. Get the food for about $4 each from 2:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. [Full disclosure: Evan George, one-half of Hot Knives, is a former colleague of mine. No, we didn't work at a restaurant together; we worked at a newspaper. Nuts, I know. So go to this event and support local journalism at the same time supporting local eats!]

Lovers of the campy (pun intended) Bigfoot Lodge in Atwater Village can now enjoy that campiness (again with the pun) in the Culver City/West LA area, though in a more grown-up, slightly more sophisticated setting than its Eastside counterpart. (The bar is soft-open now; the official opening is this Wednesday, July 22.)

Gone are the cartoonish stuffed animals. In their stead are actual taxidermied animals (stag heads and the like) and a totem pole featuring the likeness of Sasquatch itself. Of course the log cabin feel is still apparent, with the walls lined in wood taken from the “Yes Man” set replica of the bar. Oh, and there’s no sign outside, so look for the sizable wood-crafted patio just down Venice Boulevard from Saints & Sinners, also from the same owners, the 1933 Group.

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Still looking for something to do (or someplace to eat) this July 4 weekend? I’ll be in the Sacramento area for my best friend’s wedding (woo hoo! maid of honor time!), but here are some options for those of you sticking around in L.A.:

• Rush Street: Visit Chicago via Culver City this Independence Day weekend and partake in food and drink specials. Friday has $5 Jack Daniel’s drinks (from 10:00 p.m. to close); Saturday has specials on all domestic beers and hot dogs, lamb lollipops and spicy glazed ribs (all day!); and Sunday has $6 mojitos (from 9:00 p.m. to close).

• Le Merigot Hotel: In the courtyard of this JW Marriott in Santa Monica you’ll find upscale BBQ food, i.e., organic fingerling potato salad, kobe beef hot dogs, sweet white corn on the cob with ancho chili lime butter, etc., on July 4 from 11:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Cost is $35 for adults, $17.50 for kids 12 and under.

• The Resort at Pelican Hill: For a fancy way to celebrate our country’s birth, hit up Pelican Hill in Newport Beach. For $250 (yeah, I know) you can get a round of golf, either breakfast or lunch, and a $25 gift certificate for the resort’s golf shop. Fancy, indeed.

Caroline on Crack via LAist has a great list of places to eat and drink today for Cinco de Mayo. Rush Street in Culver City – a place I like on non-alcholidays (Caroline on Crack’s word!) – is selling $1 tacos from 5:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. tonight.  I love me some $1 tacos!

This one is for my San Francisco/Bay Area friends, or for those of you traveling up north in the near future.

Let's Be Frank in San Francisco. From inuyaki.com (Flickr).

Let’s Be Frank, purveyor of nitrate- and preservative-free grass-fed beef hot dogs and family-farmed pork sausages (and any other hyphenated modifier you can think of, apparently), is opening a storefront this week in the Marina district. ‘Til now, you could only get the ‘dogs fully prepared from the company’s cart, which parks at the Warming Hut at Crissy Field on weekends. Angelenos will still be able to find a cart at the Helms Bakery complex in Culver City and at Silver Lake Wine. And we’ll all be able to purchase Let’s Be Frank Devil Sauce at all locations, mobile and brick-and-mortar. From Tasting Table.