Category Archives: Restaurants

Eastside Afternoon

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Today I am blogging at 9:15 from my living room because I have an unexpected day off. Thanks law clerks for all taking today off! My plans for today include yoga, reading, and just all around doing nothing. Right now I am enjoying peanut butter Ezekiel bread with a small amount of strawberry jam. Plus, French Press coffee. Love lazy Friday.

Yesterday I went to an event hosted by the National Lawyering Guild. It didn’t start til 6 so I had some time to kill after work. Molly suggested that I hang out in Los Feliz on Vermont, so I did. I spent most of my time in Skyline Books.

Look what I found:

I want it!

Then I made my way to the Echo Country Outpost for the event.

The event was at this great little store/gallery in Echo Park. I really liked the space, except so many people showed up it was a little hot. There was Fat Tire, Pinot Noir and good eats…

This potato thing was delicious! It had hoisen sauce which was so good.

I also sampled these:

The spring roll was pretty good. The bean cake on the right was ok but a bit heavy and cakey.

The best thing I had at the event I didn’t actually get a picture of… it was a carrot cake cupcake with a ginger icing. So good! The cake was moist and the frosting was really good. Sadly, I was networking and didn’t want to be “that girl” with the camera out. I knowwww I have to man up and just take the pics. It was good though.

Now I have another Big Announcement!

Yesterday I signed up for the Malibu 1/2 marathon in Malibu on November 14th! My friend had invited me to run with her in April and I was unsure about whether I could do it. I knew that while David was in town, when I was in Boston and home and I wouldn’t be running as much. I also wasn’t sure what I would be like training this summer. I wasn’t sure if I would be able to commit to it like I wanted to. But, I’ve been feeling good about my runs and after reading tons of race recaps on various blogs I decided to bite the bullet and sign up for my first half marathon! I’m actually feeling really excited and energized about it!

Off to the water room for a long stretch!

Happy Hour at Hudson

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Tonight I met up with Jill for dinner happy hour at Hudson in West Hollywood. Hudson has some great happy hour specials and Jill’s co worker recommended it so I was pretty excited to try it. I love a good happy hour special.

So, I drove to the address and I was kinda confused. See, its off of Santa Monica Blvd in West Hollywood which is a pretty commercial area, but you turn on Crescent Heights and its all residential. I didn’t see a sign or anything so I double checked the address in my phone and I was correct. I finally found it. Guess this, it didn’t have a sign. How LA, right?

Finally something with name of the restaurant on it…

And that tree on the cover? Actually growing in the middle of the restaurant. Who says you can’t see nature in this city?

I love the jar of water that we were served. Jill and I quickly settled on having red wine. At happy hour the daily wine special is only $3, today the selection was a Cabernet. Happy hour vino Wednesdays for the win! Classy, delicious, and full bodied. I am a fan.

We ordered a total of three appetizers which we split including:

Ahi Tuna Tar Tar. The sweet sauce was really good and the combo of that and the tuna was well balanced out by the avocado. Very good.

Short Rib Tacos. I know, I’ve had a ton of tacos this week. These were good. Short rib is delicious. Seasoned but not too seasoned. The cool dressing was also good.

Heirloom Tomato Caprese. Love the heirlooms and balsamic vinegar. This salad was fresh and summer like. The tomato was perfectly ripe which made the salad even better.

Overall, I really liked Hudson. The prices on the dinner menu were a bit steep for me but the happy hour is a great deal. We both ate for $15 and had wine with our meal which normally makes a meal more expensive. Plus, the decor is really trendy and chic. They had the windows open making Hudson a great place to enjoy an after work drink in the summer. Definitely highly recommended!

The Best Fish Tacos in Ensenada

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Today was Taco Tuesday, and by taco Tuesday I mean that its Tuesday and the clerks sat through a long training which was basically discrimination on parade. After we treated ourselves to The Best Fish Tacos in Ensenada!

So you will notice in the picture below that the menu hangs above the register and only contains 3 items: fish, shrimp, and drink. I enjoyed all 3!

Although, this was a bit of a picture fail. Although if it weren’t for the other clerks I would have totally forgotten. So basically, you get plain tacos and then can add a variety of toppings including cabbage, sour cream AND salsas. The salsa are mild, two kinds of mango, pineapple, and radish. Obviously, I tried all of them.

The one on the left has radish and I can’t remember what was on the one on the right, but they were GOOD! Lightly fried and well spiced. Delicious.

Guys, seriously, I had 4 of these. Not kidding. I was really hungry because it was almost 1:30 when we finally got lunch. I knew 3 was going to be enough but I got 4 anyways. Impulse control… I don’t have it.

But how can you say no to a little shrimp taco all alone??

This one has spicy guac!

Yummy! So are they really the Best Fish Tacos in Ensenada? Well, I’ve never been to Ensenada, but these were damn good! Hands down, best fish tacos I’ve had in LA thus far. What do you think Angelinos… Are they the best??

Lazy Saturday

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Today was a lazy Saturday and boy did I need it. My apartment was beginning to resemble Grey Gardens and I had a book to finish.

First I went to Coral Tree Cafe for brunch. I have been to Coral Tree Cafe before but have never blogged about it before. As usual it was a wonderful experience.

I ordered at the counter and sat down with my book “Commencement”, which I just finished and was excellent. It comes highly recommended from me, especially if you went to a woman’s college, in which case it is a MUST READ!

I ordered frittata for my breakfast. I am not a huge egg fan normally but I always have loved frittata. It’s the exception to my rule. This one had veggies, cheddar, and a side of potatoes.

Deliciousness. Unfortch, I was unable to finish this because it was a big portion. I did manage to choke down about 2/3 of it. I love frittata. There was a good amount of cheese but it wasn’t over powering and the veg was super fresh. Nice and not too eggey, because I’m not a huge fan of eggs. Plus, I love breakfast potatoes all the time. No issues there.

Naturally, it was an iced tea to drink.

Love a lazy brunch with an amazing book. There is nothing like it.

Dinner of Champions!!

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Tonight I met up with friends for happy hour at The York. Dinner was:

Truffle Grilled Cheese with

Obviously it was a dirty Hendricks martini with extra olives. It was good although there was a small amount of ice in it.

Truffle grilled cheese with a gin martini, clearly the dinner of champions.

Less healthy, more healthy

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So unless you live in the fly over states and don’t follow basketball you know that the Lakers and Celtics had a massive showdown last night for the NBA championship. By now we know that the Lakers won. I haven’t been following basketball this season but I have lived in Boston and I do live in LA now, so I had a decision to make. I was leaning Celtics but honestly, its so awesome for the team that lives in your city to win, I had to cheer for the Lakers. Also, I’ve lived in three major cities and all the NBA teams have won championship while I’ve lived there! Clearly, I am the lucky charm.

I met up with some friends at Q’s Billiard Club in Brentwood. I’d been there before for “bar review”. We waited on line for the first half but it was fun once we got in.

I had garlic fries and artichoke dip with a side of this (underneath the foam its a Blue Moon):

Every question I had about how 20 somethings gain weight has been answered. No nutritional value in this meal. Although, I suppose I was ok with the artichoke dip.

Now that I have been eating healthy for a while I have cravings for greens. Today was Farmers Market Friday so the law clerks hit the farmers market. I got Hawaiian grilled chicken and I substituted white rice for salad. Excellent choice! The chicken was super flavorful and thus, the salad didn’t even need dressing.

I also had a small side of macaroni salad..

Much better, although still not an ideal level of health but eh, can’t win them all.

Now I am chilling on the couch with Isala watching “An Affair to Remember”. I love this movie. Carey Grant and Deborah Kerr have great chemistry and Carey Grant is a fox. More to come later!

go to The Kitchen!

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Happy Tuesday!

I am so full right now! I met up with my uncle Joe and my uncle Danny for dinner in Silver Lake after work. Silver lake is the silver lining of my job location. I work only 15 mins away! Tonight went to Kitchen and had an amazing dinner.

Cool wall, huh? The inside of the restaurant is very minimal and they have this awesome round red booth that we got to sit in. There is a great menu featuring a mixture of appies, entrees (lots of delicious fish! I had to say no to salmon, I’ve been a bit of a salmon monster recently with the smoked salmon sandwich’s and stuffed salmon) and sandwiches.

So cool. This turned out to be a truly epic meal. We started with calamari. The calamari was chewy and just crispy enough.

For my entree I ordered a favorite of mine: Mussels with garlic, roasted red pepper and basil.

Holy moley do I love my mussels! I had no problem polishing these babies off. They were light, summery, garlicy and delightful! I also had a treat off of Joe’s plate, goat cheese latkes!!

and here is the money shot…

I mean, do I need to use words to describe this? Goat cheese, check! Potato, check! Fried, check! I love it.

And just when you think the meal is over…

flourless chocolate cake. and if that was not enough…

strawberry. shortcake. I mean… do I even need to leave a comment here? So delish. I love an extravagant meal. And I haven’t worked out today so this is just a calorie wash which is completely fine with me. Today I weighed myself and realized that I have lost 15 lbs since the beginning of the year. I can’t complain. I have races and healthy eats in my future… its all good. Oh, and btw- The Kitchen comes highly recommended from me!

Farmer's Market Friday

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Happy weekend everyone!

Every Friday there is a small farmer’s market near my office. Yesterday some friends and I met up for lunch.

Please not the “certified organic here” sign. Welcome to LA, where we love our organic produce. I was planning on buying all of my fruits and veggies for the week Saturday so I bypassed the food stands and got a treat.

Roasted almonds were a sweet treat.

I haven’t a treat like this in a while. I mostly eat raw almonds which are so healthy and wonderful, but my sweet tooth definitely liked these better. And then I had this forgettable burrito:

The burrito was ok. I think when I consume this many calories in one sitting I want them to be epic and totally worth it. Was this worth it? Eh. Not really. I didn’t finish it.

Last night I went to the Magic Castle with Danielle and Josh Y. to see my friend Mack’s dad, Doc Eason (an award winning magician) perform. I had no idea the Magic Castle was so fancy and exclusive. You actually need an invitation to get in, like at Bungalow 8 in NYC where you need a key! I wore my Barristers Ball dress which still fit, thank god. Most of the dresses I own are size 10, because this time last year (ie graduation, commencement ball) I was wearing a size 10 dress. Now I wear a 6 and so my beautiful commencement ball dress needs to be seriously taken in. I was glad to have something to wear that fit me. The good news? Before I wore my Barrister’s dress in February I fasted from soda for over a week before wearing it. Yesterday I wore it with a burrito food baby and it fit well.

Plus, we saw Ryan Gosling by the valet stand as we were leaving. He is very hot in person. It made me feel 16 again.

swoon.

(Source)

Katherine FTW!

So the Magic Castle was magical (sorry I couldn’t help myself). I had a Hendricks Dirty Gin  Martini with extra olives plus Danielle and I split a lobster mac and cheese. It was tasty. No pics though, the Castle has a strict no camera policy. But I will say that its an awesome way to spend a night and a very cool LA thing to do.

Farmer’s Market Friday

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Happy weekend everyone!

Every Friday there is a small farmer’s market near my office. Yesterday some friends and I met up for lunch.

Please not the “certified organic here” sign. Welcome to LA, where we love our organic produce. I was planning on buying all of my fruits and veggies for the week Saturday so I bypassed the food stands and got a treat.

Roasted almonds were a sweet treat.

I haven’t a treat like this in a while. I mostly eat raw almonds which are so healthy and wonderful, but my sweet tooth definitely liked these better. And then I had this forgettable burrito:

The burrito was ok. I think when I consume this many calories in one sitting I want them to be epic and totally worth it. Was this worth it? Eh. Not really. I didn’t finish it.

Last night I went to the Magic Castle with Danielle and Josh Y. to see my friend Mack’s dad, Doc Eason (an award winning magician) perform. I had no idea the Magic Castle was so fancy and exclusive. You actually need an invitation to get in, like at Bungalow 8 in NYC where you need a key! I wore my Barristers Ball dress which still fit, thank god. Most of the dresses I own are size 10, because this time last year (ie graduation, commencement ball) I was wearing a size 10 dress. Now I wear a 6 and so my beautiful commencement ball dress needs to be seriously taken in. I was glad to have something to wear that fit me. The good news? Before I wore my Barrister’s dress in February I fasted from soda for over a week before wearing it. Yesterday I wore it with a burrito food baby and it fit well.

Plus, we saw Ryan Gosling by the valet stand as we were leaving. He is very hot in person. It made me feel 16 again.

swoon.

(Source)

Katherine FTW!

So the Magic Castle was magical (sorry I couldn’t help myself). I had a Hendricks Dirty Gin  Martini with extra olives plus Danielle and I split a lobster mac and cheese. It was tasty. No pics though, the Castle has a strict no camera policy. But I will say that its an awesome way to spend a night and a very cool LA thing to do.

Power(flow) Hour

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Today I did my first Power Yoga class. Holy yoga! I left a pool of sweat on my mat. I know, gross but in an awesome way. The class was really intense and fast moving. Towards the end it slowed down and we did inversions. We even did pranayama breathing in the chair position. I’ve never done that breathing in a class that wasn’t Bikram. It was pretty interesting. I got a decent stretch from yoga including a long time in pigeon which I hope makes a difference in my running. I noticed my ankles were very stiff which made child’s pose a bit uncomfortable which is depressing since child’s pose is my favorite recovery poses. Anyways before yoga I went to Clementine and  had lunch. Much to my delight I was greeted by this wonderful sign…

Yes! A whole new menu with all types of new options!!! Some items are still the same, like the rare roast beef sandwich. I was momentarily upset because I couldn’t get my favorite egg plant sandwich but I soldiered on and ordered the local mozzarella sandwich. It had mozzarella, greens, and artichoke on whole grain bread.

And of course being at Clementine I had to treat myself to a cookie! I tried peanut butter sandwich cookie and it was delicious of course! I enjoyed it while driving to power yoga (where I promptly burned it off).

So delicious.

And now I have an announcement: I am going to run my first race! I have been playing with the idea of running a race for a while. I have been asked if I would like to run a half marathon and Carolyn just ran one recently so I got her input on it. I’ve decided to hold off on the half for now. However, thinking about running a half has made me consider racing seriously for the first time.  So I have decided to start racing. I will start with a 5k, then do a 10k, then a 15k and then reassess the half marathon. I want to start with a 5k because right now I am running 4.1 miles a couple times a week. I would like my first run to be a confidence booster and also not too intimidating. So my first race will be on July 11th. Of course, my training plan will be documented here!

Do any racers have any words of wisdom for me?