Is there a better way to end a weekend than with Sangria Sunday? I don’t think so! My friend Kelly feels the same way so we decided to finally try out Primitivo last Sunday.

Primitivo is a tapas restaurant and bar located on Abbott Kinney in Venice (one of my favorite spots in Los Angeles). Sangria Sunday is essentially their happy hour menu. Kelly and I tried items off the happy hour menu and the regular price menu. We go all out.

The decor in Primitivo is eclectic and they have a great bar that appears to have a wonderful wine list.

There is also this interesting painting of a glittery tiger drinking from a pool. Good eye Kelly.

But lets focus!

We were here for two things:

Sangria:

So good. It was somewhat fruity and had a distinct red wine flavor. It was pretty strong, but I’m also kind of a cheap date.

Aside from sangria, we also came to Primitivo for delicious tapas. We were not disappointed. We ordered several items off the Sangria Sunday menu and one special item off the full price menu. One of the many reasons that I love tapas is that you can order a few dishes and then add more throughout the meal.

First we tried one of my favorite dishes, bacon wrapped dates with chorizo.

Sweet and smokey. Can’t go wrong with bacon wrapped dates.

We also had heard good things about the sliders:

Moroccan Lamb with pine nuts and tzatziki (def the favorite of the two) and BBQ Short Ribs with cabbage. The short ribs were also very good. These sliders were some of the best sliders that I have had in recent memory.

Because the short ribs were so good we decided to order short ribs with cheddar mashed potato. It was so good that I dug right in and forgot to take a picture until it was half gone. Whoops.

Blogger fail!

Moving on. We decided at this point that we were still hungry. We got more sliders, another round of sangria and our favorite tapas dish of the entire meal: Tiger Shrimp with garlic, lemon, white wine and chili flakes.

Lets take another glamor shot:

So yummy! The shrimp was sauteed to perfection but the real star of the dish was the sauce. It was so good that we refused to give up the broth after the shrimp was gone. The waitress clearly has seen this kind of hording of sauce before and brought us a bread basket to use as a mechanism for eating the rest of the sauce. The buser than tried to take it away and we had to stop him. He gave us a raised eyebrow, quasi judgmental look but it was totally worth it for the rest of the sauce.

Last we ordered calamari. It was pretty good. The standout of this dish was the pesto aioli. It would also have been great on the bread.

Overall, Primitivo was fantastic! Definitely try and go during Sangria Sunday. It isn’t that busy and lots of the best dishes are marked down. The only downside is finding parking, but its Venice and isn’t $4 sangria worth it? I think so.

As the grand finale of my birthday weekend my family plus Catie and Joe headed out to Tavern in Brentwood. I have been wanting to try Tavern for months and it did not disappoint. This was likely the best meal I have had in LA thus far. Get excited people.

Hey everyone, its my birthday! Thanks to Joe for the image.

Side note: I was under the weather on my birthday because I had a stomach bug the night before. All I ate all day was a small amount of water and 3/4 of a plain bagel. Let me tell you, I focused all my energy on being able to consume this meal and it was totally worth it.

First, may I comment on the space, because it is awesome. There is a sandwich, cheese, bread and treat area at the front of the restaurant which I will be frequenting in the future (or at the end of the meal). Then there is an awesome bar with great modern arm chairs. The bar is dark and low key. A great place to get a fantastic cocktail and relax. The dining room its self is light and airy. Basically it is like a conservatory. When we arrived it was light outside but as the night went on the room darken which was really cool. The light was spectacular throughout the evening. It would be an awesome place for a party (like a wedding reception). Also, the light makes for great pictures!

Source

Of course I started with a glass of prosecco to celebrate my 23rd birthday!

Cheers!

I decided to start with tomato tart with eggplant, saffron onions, goat cheese and tapanade. I knew I had to order it when I read the menu and Catie and I both sighed, “MMM Goat Cheese”.

Words cannot express. The olives and the tomato were very flavorful but were well balanced by the sweetness of the onions. I mean, it had goat cheese. The crust was flaky and amazing. I would like another please.

Catie ordered roasted peaches with prosciutto and I had to snap a pic. Look how pretty:

Salty meat with a roast fruit and cheese? I love the flavor combos.

For my entree I asked for a recommendation from the  waitress. She said that the Devil’s Chicken is fantastic so that is what I ordered.

There were braised leeks, onion, potato, and mustard breadcrumbs.

The chicken was so moist and delicious. It literally can apart the moment I stuck my fork into it! The flavors were rich and delicious. I was only able to eat half since I was still queasy but it was incredible.  The mustard was flavorful and melted into the chicken and the leeks and the potato. It was insane. The braised leeks added a great flavor and the potatoes soaked up all the other flavors and they were reflected against the potatoes. Does that make sense?

Catie had halibut and, once again, I couldn’t resist snapping a shot:

Couscous with the best looking piece of fish I have ever seen.

For dessert I started with decaf coffee of course.

And for dessert the girls split warm plum clafoutis with poured almond cream.It had a candle in it and I blew it out and made a wish. It was a really good one, too 🙂

Dessert:

The dessert was thick and creamy and had delicious plums! I love me some plums. I had a small portion since it was the end of the meal and I was trying to keep the food consumption to a minimum.

My portion with the addition of almond creme. The almond cream was excellent. Cream on  the plums was a wonderful idea.

I was also intrigued by dessert that young David ordered.

It is basically a peach sherbet with bourbon whipped cream and mint.   Can’t you see how excited he was about it?

Overall, the meal at Tavern was exceptional. I loved the way that they matched the flavors within the dishes. I also thought that the ambiance was superb. This is the best meal that I have had in LA thus far and I will be back at least to grab a sandwich from time to time. Go to Tavern. It is my FAVORITE in LA.

The day before my birthday I had the breakfast I have been craving since Jenna posted about biscuits.  Of course I got my fix at Clementine.

Of course I devoured the delicious biscuit with white gold honey and topped with preserves.

Yum. So wonderful. White gold honey might be my new favorite thing ever.

I also grabbed a shot of my Dad’s egg sandwich which is a buttermilk biscuit with a poached egg, cheddar cheese and country ham.

So much biscuit-y goodness to be had! I always love a Clementine breakfast.

There was a great deal of treat eating this weekend. While I didn’t have an actual birthday cake, my mother and I made sure we hit Susie Cake’s (my favorite LA bakery) for cake!

I could salivate. Oh wait, I did. We decided to try their famous carrot cake and the tropical cake! I had the marble cake recently. You can read about it here.

First up is Carrot Cake. It is as good as they say! The cake is spicy, with the carrots and some nuts, and the filling has a praline layer. Words cannot even describe how good a praline layer in the carrot cake is. The frosting was light and reminiscent of cream cheese, without the heaviness. Overall, it was heavenly.

Next up was the tropical. I love a coconut cake. So light and delicious. It was truly tropical. I can always go for Susie Cakes. Any day or night.

Post hike we went to Gladstones in Malibu, which is like an LA institution. It is noted, mostly for the view.

I mean, who cares what the meal tastes like, right?

Then menu was what you would expect, tons of seafood. I was mostly excited about the raw bar. Its the New Englander in me, but I love a raw bar.

Ta da:

Oyster’s are always amazing and I haven’t had them since I left Boston. Far, far too long. They are clean and fresh. There were West Coast oysters which I suppose are different from East Coast oysters since they are from different coasts. I can’t tell the difference but I haven’t had a side by side comparison.

Soon the meal arrived:

As far as sides go, these were pretty good. The chips were warm (!) and the coleslaw was good, not too “slaw-ey”.

For an entree I had seared ahi tuna sandwich:

I love ahi tuna. This sandwich was good but not great. It had a flavorful Cajun rub which was only ok but the avocado was delicious. It would have been great with toasted bread.This whole sandwich would have been stellar if placed over a salad.

Overall, go to Gladstones for the warm chips, view, and raw bar. The prices were pretty high for the sandwich so I’d say go for the raw bar and the view.