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monkeymay

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Posts posted by monkeymay

  1. If you stay in Santa Monica, you could try the Viceroy, the new, chic, British colonial motif inspired hotel. Very boutique, with some wacky/wonderful design elements and candelight dining in the cabanas surrounding the pool.The restaurant there is run by Tim Goodell of Aubergine, and I've heard some interesting things. It certainly could be fun, the eye candy at the hotel bar fetching, and it would certainly put you within distance of MJT.

    www.viceroysantamonica.com

    I find Beverly Hills totally boring unless you're staying at either the pink palace that is the Beverly Hills Hotel or the Regent Beverly Wishire Hotel.

    For a dose of old school, why not stay at the Chateau Marmont? It puts you on the Strip in the center of things, with easy access to B.H. via taxi.

    They have a great garden area for evening cocktails as the famous and ghosts of the famous float by.

    (I love the Chateau) If you decide to do Balboa, it's an easy walk down the street. Of course I would love to have you visit CineSpace. The menu Hollywood has so kindly provided is not entirely implemented, and I have been changing things around a bit as we have been open just 3 weeks. But I think things are going well, so if you want to stop by let me know - it would be my pleasure (and the invitation is extended to everyone). :smile:

    Monkey

    p.s. the Roosevelt is also completely wonderful. Lots of great ghosts banging around those doors too.

  2. I have a memory hazily floating to the surface of my consciousness of some guy who could open a beer bottle with his eye socket. Am I completely insane, or did I see this on TV somewhere?

    No, you're not completely insane -

    I have a friend, a big raw boned girl from Canada, whose father came to town for a visit, and that's how he opened his beer bottles, much to the amusement of the rest of the drunks I was hosting that evening.

    It was freaky, kinda disgusting, and funnier than shit. :biggrin:

  3. The tahini and garlic paste are two separate items.

    Their tahini is very tangy, which is making my mouth water just thinking about it. As for the garlic paste, which is served on the side with the chicken, it might be bound with bread, along with the olive oil. A Greek friend of mind gave me a recipe years ago very similar to the Zankou paste, and soft white bread was a key ingredient.(Along with copious amounts of garlic).

    Anyway, whenever I go there, I always order extra it's so damn good.

  4. Truly, truly terrible and sad.

    Zankou has been a major addiction for years now - I always buy

    2 whole chickens to take home, in addition to a side of stuffed grape leaves (wonderfully rich and spicy) that I consume in my car on the drive back. The tabbouleh is my favorite in town - pungent with parsley and lemon, their tahini sauce and hommous fabulous foils to the garlic and chicken.

    I only eat at the one on Sunset because these items aren't available at the other locations. They've always been incredibly kind to me at Zankou/Sunset , and it hurts to think things have ended so tragically for a really great family.

    My heart goes out to them.

  5. Don't forget La Luz del Dia at the end of the Plaza on Olvera St.

    Great carnitas, nopales salad, with fresh tortillas you can watch being made as you wait for your order.

    For a great tequila bar, try El Carmen on Third St., W. Hollywood. They offer a small selection of antojitos, a large selection of tequila, in a room decorated with Mexican wrestler pics and paraphenalia.

    La Indiana has the best tamales in town, imho. :smile:

  6. My MIL never throws ANYTHING out. Though she lives by herself, she has a fully packed kitchen with quite a few things that haven't been touched in years. The last time I was allowed to cook in her space, I attempted to make polenta with some cornmeal she had in the fridge. It tasted terrible, and I couldn't figure out why. Then I looked at the expiration date - it was

    over five years old.

    I now clean things out pretty regularly at my house.

    I also buy new stuff to cook with when I go to visit her. :smile:

  7. I'm a sucker for Pink's after a hard nite of running around- chili/kraut dog with mustard is my poison, washed down with a black cherry soda.

    There's always a line, you always gotta wait, but imho the *snap* is worth it.

    And it's the least of my many guilty pleasures. :wink:

  8. The windows have been frosted now. :biggrin:

    CineSpace will be opening Jan. 4. 2002 with a screening of the documentary,"American Pimp" by the Hughes Brothers.

    Reservations for dining in the theater are required, screenings will start

    at 7:30.

    Call 323.817.3456 for more info.

    Thanks, everyone.

    Gotta run.

    Monkey

    p.s. the new egullet looks very groovy indeed!

  9. My friend Ruth in LA, a consummate gourmet if I know one.... has trees of avocadoes ( I am very jealous for my tree only seems to grow more leaves.. no fruit yet.. 6 years later) and she got me used to spreading avocado with sel de mer on toast for breakfast.  I add some lime juice and cayenne.  It is better than butter on toast... :smile:

    Growing up in LA we always ate avocados on sourdough toast for breakfast - one of the favorite memories of my childhood :smile: It's also one of the first foods I ever fed my babies.

    My current indulgence: mashed avocado on garlic naan with shaved ricotta salata, a drizzle of evoo, and the last of the heirloom tomatoes from my garden.

    S&P. crushed chili pepper. Divine.

    Trader Joe's generally sells a 4 count of Hass for about $3.89.

  10. You're right.  Rick Caruso couldn't resist.  He's on the Police Commission.  And Park La Brea is doing that expansion thing to add to the mess.  I find it's often easier (relatively speaking) to park at the Grove lot, get a free 1 hour validation at Barnes & Noble and then go to Farmer's Market.  Producewise, there's more at the Hollywood Farmer's market on Sundays.  Sigh.

    Yeah, sometimes it's really hard to live here :sad:

    As for the market on Ivar, you'll find me there every Sunday. I love it- people really seem to dress (or undress) to shop! Not only is the produce great, but the people watching even better.

    As of Jan. 4th, you'll find me at Hollywood and Ivar all the time. The restaurant project I have been working on for over a year will finally be open.( I am still sacrificing to the kitchen gods). Called Cinespace, we will be a 200 seat restaurant with a digital movie theater, featuring independent films, documentaries, shorts and video art.

    I'll keep you posted as things get closer.

  11. Dunno. What's happened to all of it is what I say.

    Had a frightening experience there the other day, tried to find parking on a crowded Sat. morning, and got into a huge altercation with some one who INSISTED that I stole his space in an already hot, overcrowded lot. It got really ugly and physically threatening. I've never had that type of situation there ever, and I blame the greedy developers who've convoluted the whole nature of the area.

    Gone is all that open space, and the luxury of spending the day socializing and shopping without worrying about a parking validation. Farmer's Market was the closest thing LA had to a community, a lively, garish mix of writers, actors, musicians, weirdos and tourists that suported the entire scene. The inability of this city to tolerate or respect it's cultural and civic icons has always been LA's biggest folly. The grace and charm of the original structure has been destroyed, surrounded with ugly buildings, and a frentic enviornment created where there once was a center of calm. The fact that corporate chains (Starbuck's and Johnny Rockets) were allowed entrance to compete and eventually overtake local independent vendors shows the little value placed on small business. All that open land made developers nuts. Now another overly congested, poorly designed area has been created, impacted a community and for what? 'Cause I need another Banana Republic T-shirt.

    Thanks for takin' care of me LA. :angry:

  12. I still love going to the Gumbo Pot and chat with my friend Clay who makes me chicory coffee and fresh beignets.  There's a  picture of my daughter as a baby and I  hanging on the wall at Kokomo's after all these years (she's 16 now). I always go by just to make sure it's still up.   :smile:

    Is the guy with the blue beard still working there?

    I haven't seen him in a while.

    My friend's the big black guy with the gold tooth. :smile:

  13. I've only been the occasional visitor,but miss Tiny Naylor's,and hope that DuPar,in Burbank ,is still there...

    There's a DuPar's in Studio City. Don't know about one in Burbank. The best one is at Farmer's Market in West Hollywood.

    The DuPar's in Studio City is where David Lynch would hang out when he was writing Twin Peaks... all that coffee and pie ...

    Tiny Naylor's was the last great drive-in /Googie style coffeeshop in Hollywood. It was on the corner of Sunset and La Brea, which now houses one of the ugliest malls around (save for the one in front of the old Hollywood Cemetery).

    I'm having real issues with the Farmer's Mrkt. on Third and Fairfax. Nightmare parking, mediocre rennovations and that monstrous behemoth of ANOTHER MALL (really, how many fucking Gap and Banana Republic stores do we need in this town ! the Beverly Center 3 miles down too far for your SUV to drive?) have made going there tedious and painful at times :angry:

    Fortunately, the places I shop - Huntington Meats and my poultry guy are still there.

    (Lopez Farms has sadly departed). I still love going to the Gumbo Pot and chat with my friend Clay who makes me chicory coffee and fresh beignets. There's a picture of my daughter as a baby and I hanging on the wall at Kokomo's after all these years (she's 16 now). I always go by just to make sure it's still up. :smile:

  14. Hey, what ever happened to Mezzaluna?!? :shock:

    Home of Nicole Simpson's last supper? It turned into something called Fuzios when last I heard. Don't know if it's changed or not.

    The noteriety caused by bad things happening in/or near your restaurant works I think only for a little bit. I live near Vitello's, the restaurant where Bobby Blake alledgedly shot his wife on a nearby side street. You couldn't get close to the place, it was so packed with the same morbid curiosity seekers that flocked to Mezzaluna in droves.

    I'd heard it's finally quieted down a bit, although I'm sure when Blake goes to trial, things wiil probably pick up again. :hmmm:

  15. There was a place--on Santa Monica, I think--called the Studio Grill that had red leather booths with a phone jack in each booth.  Then you could ask the waiter and he'd ceremoniously bring you a phone to plug in so you could call somebody.  I guess that's what big shots did before cell phones.

    I remember the Studio Grill - it's been gone a long time. Hubby was one of the people who helped remodel it into something else, also long gone...

    They used to (maybe still do) phone service poolside at the Polo Lounge at the B.H. Hotel. I remember sitting with some tacky tv director at a cabana while he made his calls with a phone that had been brought to him with great flourish.They also still had the whole paging thing going on. Truly the life before cell phones.

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