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Drago Centro charcuterie plate. From Dig Lounge.

Whether you plan on celebrating Valentine’s Day or not — or just haven’t made up your mind yet — here are some special meals that will be happening around Los Angeles.

To Celebrate

Drago Centro: From Feb. 12 to 14, Drago Centro is offering a four-course dinner for $55, with wine pairings for an additional $35. (Limited à la carte menu items will be available, too.) Here are the menu choices:

First course — beef carpaccio, hearts of palm and candied almonds, or antipasto plate

Second course — butternut squash ravioli with lemon brown butter, or shrimp and scallop agnolotti with cioppino foam

Third course — roasted lamb with artichoke hearts, brown butter pomme purée and rapini, or Dover sole, baby vegetable ragoût and lemon beurre blanc

Fourth course — strawberry semifreddo with basil and white chocolate, or chocolate cake, candied Marcona almonds and raspberries

Also, on Feb. 14 the restaurant will be hosting a masquerade carnival with live music, and guests are encouraged to dress up, too.

Cecconi’s: The West Hollywood eatery is offering its full à la carte menu, a tasting menu for $85, and an optional wine pairing for an additional $45. The tasting menu includes wild mushroom cappuccino; dungeness crab, ahi tuna and avocado; winter black truffle and ricotta ravioli; chateaubriand for two, winter root vegetables and a peppercorn sauce; and a layered chocolate cake, kirsh cherries and whipped cream.

Pourtal: The Santa Monica wine bar is offering two-for-one glasses of bubbly on Feb. 14 from 6:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. Choose from the featured selection of Marquis de Perlade Blanc de Blanc or a Kir Royale. Cupid will be there to pass out secret Valentines to guests who purchase bubbly or a tasting card; they will receive a free pour ranging from on Pourtal’s Enomatic machines.

Cube: Head over to Cube Marketplace’s cafe on Feb. 13 for a fondue party. Ok, not really, but you can get the fondue special and make it your own party! For $35, you can get prosecco, cheese fondue, roasted farmers market vegetables and fresh fruit, house-baked bread, Meyer lemon coeur a la crème, farmers market berries, citrus cookies — and house-made dark chocolate truffles and confections to take home.

Not To Celebrate

Charlie’s Malibu: On Feb. 13, Charlie’s will host “Bitter, Party of 1” for singles (or as its press release says, “couples welcome, but we may mock them”) with tunes from DJ Kid Wycked from 9:00 p.m. to close. And on both Feb. 13 and 14, the restaurant will offer a four-course chef’s tasting menu for $75, with a $20 wine pairing, along with the regular à la carte and lounge menus. The tasting menu includes dishes such as poached pear with herbed goat cheese and candied walnuts, filet mignon, and lobster tail. You don’t have to eat with a Valentine, you know.

Rush Street: On Feb. 13, the Culver City bar and restaurant will host a Meet Your Valentine party with specialty cocktails and artisanal chocolates. There will be no prix fixe menu. On Feb. 14, diners can enjoy half-off featured wine and champagne all day long.

Akasha: Take home a box of 12 mini cupcakes for $20 from the Culver City restaurant’s bakery to serve at your anti-Vday party — or eat them yourself, I don’t judge. Flavors include chocolate and vanilla cakes with different frosting and icing. The chocolate with Gianduja (that’s a chocolate/hazelnut combo) filling, chocolate glaze and fleur de sel sounds awesome!

Steak at Morels

What, you still don’t know what you’re going to eat for Christmas? Well, don’t worry — check out some of these Christmas Eve and Christmas Day meals in Los Angeles and Orange County. (Note: I have not checked if these places still have available reservations, but I’m sure there will be last-minute cancellations in any case.)

Los Angeles

Christmas Eve

Marino Ristorante: This Hollywood eatery is offering a Feast of the Seven Fishes dinner, a common custom in southern Italy. This 10-course feast will be offered during both lunch and dinner. The menu features traditional dishes such as Insalata di Rinforzo, a pickled cauliflower and vegetable salad that is typically eaten on Christmas Eve; Baccala Fritto and Baccala in Umido, two preparations of salt cod; and Italian dessert Souffle di Panettone.

Price: $59 per person
Address: 6001 Melrose Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90038
Reservations: (323) 466-8812 or online

Patina: This downtown mainstay will be offering a special four-course prix fixe menu featuring Maine lobster salad, a fall glazed-vegetable mosaic, foie gras ravioli, and a choice of Pennsylvania roasted duck in huckleberry jus or Colorado rack of lamb with baby artichokes. Dessert options are a chestnut Mont Blanc with French meringue or macerated raspberries with chocolate gratin and milk emulsion. Menu here.

Price: $95 per person; $25 for additional artisanal cheeses; a la carte menu also available
Address: 141 S. Grand Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90012
Reservations: (213) 972-3331

More Patina Group restaurants, including Café Pinot, Pinot Bistro, Zucca Ristorante, Nick & Stef’s Steakhouse and Kendall’s, will be having special dinners for Christmas Eve, too.

Christmas Day

Morels French Steakhouse & Bistro: This fancy-but-not restaurant at The Grove is offering two different meals, one at the more casual bistro with a seasonal soup or salad, choice of Chilean sea bass or filet mignon, and choice of a flourless chocolate cake or black & white chocolate mousse. The other meal will be served in the upstairs steakhouse with choice of lobster bisque or spiced butternut squash soup, choice of seared jumbo scallops or a beet and goat cheese napoleon, main courses of filet mignon and Maine lobster tail or roasted duck, and dessert of either molten chocolate cake or Mont Blanc sundaes.

Price: $35 in the bistro; $65 in the steakhouse
Address: 189 The Grove Drive, Los Angeles, CA 90036
Reservations: (323) 965-9595

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Eat My Blog: On Saturday, Dec. 5, from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. at Zeke’s Smokehouse in West Hollywood, a whole bunch of food bloggers are getting together to sell their homemade baked goods to benefit the Los Angeles Regional Foodbank. Enjoy everything from macarons and carrot cake cookies to mini bundt cakes and bacon brownies with bourbon caramel sauce for $1 to $3 each. Participating bloggers include Diana of Diana Takes a Bite, Anjali of Delicious Coma, H.C. of L.A. and O.C. Foodventures, Anisha of Food is My Nish, Liz of Food, She Thought and Jo of My Last Bite, among many others. Check out the menu here.

Space 15 Twenty One Year Anniversary: Get your shop on Saturday at the hiptastic Space 15 Twenty in Hollywood, where you’ll get 20 percent off at all stores from 7:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. There’s also a party of sorts, with DJ Ana Calderon, a “very special guest band,” giveaways, raffles and hors d’oeuvres from Umami Burger. For some reason you have to RSVP, so do that to rsvp@space15twenty.com.

Unique Los Angeles: This is a two-fer event. On Saturday and Sunday, from 11:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., pay $10 and get entry for both days to this shopping event featuring independent designers — and a free tote bag, drink ticket and access to workshops. There will be clothing, accessories, stationery, housewares, artwork, screenprints and more. New this year is a special “green” room with more than 50 eco-friendly designers. Unique will be at the California Market Center downtown, and parking will be $6 with validation (a steal, considering I’ve paid $20 to park here for fashion shows!).

Oh, Water Grill. I’ve only been there twice, but what two awesomely lovely meals they were. Every restaurant should strive to be described as “awesomely lovely,” and Water Grill lives up to this term that I just coined.

This downtown mainstay is classic, elegant dining at its best, but without the pretentiousness that can easily accompany such a description. So what you get is a consistently great meal with an inviting, friendly atmosphere that’s hard to beat.

My first meal at Water Grill took place a couple of years ago in the form of a business lunch (‘cuz that’s how I roll). I remember having a vegetarian dish with eggplant, and while it probably wasn’t what I was “supposed” to order at a place that specializes in seafood, it was delicious. I cleaned my plate!

This second trip to Water Grill came at the invitation of the restaurant to try out its Sunday clam bake dinner. Based on my first experience, I expected great things, and I wasn’t disappointed.

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From Looka!/Gumbo Pages.

Normally I wouldn’t dedicate a whole post to just one cocktail, but the Blood Sugar Sex Magic is like nothing I’ve ever tasted. I’ve been thinking about it, on and off, since first trying it a couple weeks ago before heading over to Rosa Mexicano’s par-tay. And then at a dinner last week, Matt of Dig Lounge brought it up, and now I’m thinking about it a lot again. So now I have to blog about it, plain and simple.

I had some time to kill before Rosa Mexicano, so Caroline of Caroline on Crack met me for some pre-party drinks at Rivera, which is conveniently within walking distance of L.A. Live downtown. After perusing the cocktail menu, my eye landed on the Blood Sugar Sex Magic: a perfect combination of rye whiskey, agave nectar, basil and red bell pepper. Yes, you read correctly. Since Caroline, who knows her whiskey, said she’d had the cocktail and liked it, I though I’d give it a try. And I’m sure glad I did. It’s absolutely amazing: fragrant, well-balanced, intriguing even.

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Photo by Caroline on Crack

To celebrate its Best New Bars issue, Los Angeles magazine threw a party at Rosa Mexicano, a New York import that recently opened its doors at L.A. Live in downtown Los Angeles. The party was happening, and along with fellow bloggers Caroline of Caroline on Crack, Esther of e*starLA, Liz of Food, She Thought, H.C. of L.A. and O.C. Foodventures, Josh of FoodGPS, and Wesley and Evelina of Two Hungry Pandas, I had a great time. The food, I wasn’t so much impressed with, though there were some good items.

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First off, I’d like to say that The Edison is one of the most gorgeous and inventive spaces I have seen in a long time. A bar in a former boiler room doesn’t sound so great, but it really, really is. And the food and drink are good, too, thank goodness, because one can only go so far with just a pretty face.

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Feeling frazzled already, and it’s only Tuesday? If you’re looking to take a load off after work or just like to enjoy a drink on a weeknight (because who doesn’t, really?), there are specials aside from a normal happy hour that you can partake in.

If you’re in downtown Los Angeles, you can head over to The Association for its Twitter Tuesdays special, which I recently told you about. And if you’re clear on the other side of town, try out Viceroy Santa Monica’s Taste of Tuesday, which I’ve also mentioned before.

But there’s more!

The Westside Pavilion mall in West Los Angeles has a $20 Tuesdays event every week. For $20, you can get a Landmark Theater movie ticket, a  glass of wine and an appetizer. And there are $20 deals at select retailers throughout the mall. But hurry; the deals are done at the end of August.

There’s also an evening-into-night happy hour at Shutters on the Beach in Santa Monica. Tapas Tuesdays in the lobby lounge features live music, and $7 tapas and wines from 5:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. And with a view of the ocean, how can you go wrong?

Know of more Tuesday goings-on? Let us know if the comments.

Update: Just saw another Tuesday deal, this time from Daily Grill. Say “Twitter” to your server after 4:00 p.m. on Twitter Tuesdays and receive 20 percent off your dinner check.

I checked out downtown Los Angeles’ The Association bar last week for the first time, and I was pleasantly surprised at finding this hidden gem (just about literally — it’s right next door to Cole’s, but I’ve never noticed it before and passed it by this time because there’s no sign!). Esther of e*starLA and I stopped by the bar for its Twitter Tuesday special: $2 off cocktails from 5:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. and a free plate of cheese, crackers and grapes from 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. I love free bar food!

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So I finally made it to Cole’s downtown. After having had Philippe’s French dip sandwiches, I had to wind up here eventually to compare, right? Unfortunately, I haven’t been to Philippe’s in more than a year, so I can’t really accurately compare in terms of flavor. But let’s get on to Cole’s, shall we?

First off, Cole’s has a great old-school feel to it, much like other Cedd Moses establishments.  The restaurant is seat-yourself, the lighting is dark, and the floor is appropriately scuffed up — but that’s because it’s the original floor. The sandwiches are carved and assembled right in front, so you can see your food being made. It’s a fun place.

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