April 2010

2010/04/01 - Review sentences I will never use, Vol. 3
You have my permission to flagellate me with a rusty length of barbed wire if I ever condescend to claim that something, particularly a dessert, is "to die for."

October 2009

2009/10/29 - Review sentences I will never use, Vol. 2
I will always avoid saying, like an uncreative boor shilling for Pasadena Weekly:
"hits the spot"
... Although if I ever do write those three words, call me on it, and I will quietly remove it from the review and lie about it.

May 2009

2009/05/23 - Now this is an L.A. dive
Stopped by 107 Bar on 4th Street today, simply because we needed a little more alcohol to top off last night. I like it. We're talking black velvet paintings of boobage, mammal heads, a Hamm's Beer plaque with the black & white bear, vintage Schlitz knickknacks (which you'd expect would be for giggles only, but no, they can serve you cans of Schlitz), photos of Fernando Valenzuela next to the Virgin Mary, mildly alternative punk rock, and L.A. hipster prices.

May 2009

2009/05/09 - Review sentences I will never use, Vol. 1
In my reviews I will never, ever say, on pain of being a clichéd journalistic hack:
"If you're looking for a (insert specific good-time goal here), look no further."

December 2008

2008/12/09 - Missed out on the vegan twinkie
We never quite got around to trying the Vegan Philly Cheesesteak, the Sloppy Joe Tempeh, or the Vegan Twinkie over at the Vegan Spot on Sunset. A shame. It's now closed. It might, though, reopen as a vegan coffee shop. We'll see.

November 2008

2008/11/15 - Thoughts after a night at a goth-industrial club
I realize that thousand-island dressing is one of the more dubious substances on the planet, but on a turkey cheeseburger at Astro Diner at 2:00am, it suddenly becomes desirable and correct.

October 2008

2008/10/20 - This would be before I build the wine cellar
I'm thinking that if I lived in a cave, I would totally take the opportunity to age some Gruyère cheese in it, just so I could have cave-aged Gruyère cheese.

August 2008

2008/08/06 - Doughboys
Or rather, No-boys. Highland location is closed, too.

July 2008

2008/07/18 - Islands
Yeah, it's a chain. An utterly touristy, faux-Hawaiian decor chain. I don't care. The Kilauea burger (crusted with black pepper and jalapeño, with pepper jack cheese, a chipotle aioli sauce, and fried red onion strings) is completely awesome like Pele. Plus their fries have that whole zero-trans-fat thing going, and are crispy, which I like. There, I said it.

2008/07/01 - Kingston Cafe
Drove to Pasadena to try this place out... and it looks cloooosed. Some say for remodeling, but we know that's often a death knell when it comes to eateries. Dammit! Does anyone know if this place is dead and gone? There aren't that many Jamaican places to check out...

June 2008

2008/06/16 - Pinkberry
Don't care. Never did. Go to céfiore if you're in the mood for frozen yogurt. They're owned by Todai, yes I know, but I just can't get into Pinkberry.

Besides, I'm nearly always in the mood for gelato instead...

2008/06/04 - Takeshi Ramen
Used to be a nice place on Brand that played Japanese pop and had good lunch specials. Their ramen was always a bit salty, so I got the mabo tofu rice bowl and perhaps a side of black sausage with mustard. It seemed to have changed management; they were perpetually out of whatever drink you asked for, and the rice bowl became as salty as the ramen. Deeply unsatisfying. Now it's closed and is turning into a tofu house. That's what you get for betraying Dave.

2008/06/03 - Doughboys
Sigh. Steak soup. Smoky lentil & ham soup. Red velvet cake. No parking. Closed. But! A new location on Highland. We must go try.

2008/06/03 - Been a long time since we rocked and rolled
Lots of places over on the west side we haven't wandered into for a long time: Hirozen, Mishima, King's Road Cafe, Joan's on Third. Leave a comment if you know what's going on with those.