my life through my lens

Oct 9, 2010

The Foundry on Melrose

Last Sunday, we celebrated a friend's birthday and dineLA Restaurant Week at The Founry on Melrose.

It was a prefix dinner course for $44 per person (the menu is on their website).

Appetizer: Butternut Squash Soup with Maple Black Pepper Bacon & Three Cheese Hazelnut Crepe

This was more of a main dish rather than an appetizer. The soup was good, but only for the first three scoops because it was super creamy and heavy. The size could have been easily cut in half (or even less). Not to mention the rich crepes that the soup is poured on to.

Mid Course: Celery Risotto with Orange & Gruyere Cheese

This was also good and the Risotto had great texutre, but this was also very rich and the portion was large.

Entree: Miso Honey Glazed Duck with Pears, Eggplants & Red Peppers

This was really tasty and the portion was perfect. The duck was very tender with a hint of sweetness from the honey.

Dessert: Apple Raisin Cobbler with Mascarpone/Honey Ice Cream

I really liked this dessert, the apples were tart which went really well with the ice cream. The crumbles were crunchy too!

We were seated on the nicely heated patio which was dimly lit and the atmosphere was amazing (sorry for the lack of pictures). The food.. a little heavy but good, but the quantity was way too much. I must mention though, their service was superb. Never once had to ask for more water, coffee, wine pours... super friendly waiters. Oh! and most importantly, they have free corkage (& free cutting fee for cake) which is amazing, especially in LA. They also brought out a cake for the birthday girl which was nice of them. Overall a great dining experience.

Sep 29, 2010

Drago Ristorante

Groupon is such a brilliant idea. For the people who are not familiar with groupon, it has great daily deals for all kinds of things in major cities.

Anyways, my sister had bought a Groupon worth $60 for Drago Ristorante in Santa Monica so we went for lunch.

Exterior.

They start you off with this appetizer. It was like a rice croquette. It was okay, but the thought was nice.

We each ordered a glass of wine and a main dish.

My sister's order: Risotto con Asparagi (Asparagus, Pancetta & Parmesan)

You can't go wrong with these three ingredients but the risotto was way over cooked, it was almost a porridge. Boo.

My order: Pappardelle al Sugo di Fagiano e Morelle

(Pappardelle with Roasted Pheasant and Morells Mushroom)

This was good. The portion was quite large and I got tired of the flavor towards the end.

Why the thumbs down?

When the bill came, I thought that we were charged more than what I had expected. Because I blog about restaurants, I always take a picture of the menu. When I checked the menu and the price marked on the bill, he jacked up the prices for both of our dishes. Maybe it was because we had a Groupon, but after asking him about it, he goes and changes the price but it was still off (and only about $1... cheap!) and gave us a HUGE attitude.

Thank you Groupon, we were able to try a new place for half the price. No thank you Drago, won't be returning.

Sep 28, 2010

Heat Wave

It has been INSANELY hot the last couple of days here in Southern California. Yesterday was 110 degrees... totally melted.

Sep 20, 2010

Seattle Flowers

One of the things we noticed walking around Seattle was the beautiful flowers on display all over the city.

Lavender at Pike Place Market

They smelled so good, I couldn't resist buying some home. I love Lavender!

Dhalias in Seattle were gorgeous!

This was my favorite.

They are locally grown and come in a variety of colors. I noticed so much Dahlias that I came home and googled it to find out they are the official city flower of Seattle.

Flower Pots like this are all over the city and beautifully maintained.

I did some research to find out that in 1942, Seattle was established as the City of Flowers. The resolution requested and urged citizens to plant and cultivate a wide variety of flowers to further beautify the city. Awesome.

Sep 19, 2010

Top Pot Doughnuts

Our tour guide had recommended Top Pot Doughnuts for good coffee and"hand-forged" donuts.

Exterior.

Really cool interior. Never seen such a fancy donut shop.

Blueberry Cake

This was actually a very good donut. That gross, fatty aftertaste you get after eating donuts were non-existent. I checked the website and it says that their donuts are free of trans-fat. Their lattes were good too.

Sep 18, 2010

Seatown Snackbar

We realized that we hadn't had any seafood in Seattle. My mom wanted to eat crab so we went to Seatown Snackbar, another Tom Douglas restaurant. It's more a tapas place, with very light small dishes.

Exterior.

Nice, open interior.

I guess they opened about 2 weeks prior to our visit.

So my mom of course orders crab, the Local Dungeness Crab and it was a MAJOR disappointment to say the least. It had no taste (gross!) and was served ICE cold. More than half of this dish was the empty shell covering about 3 legs and cost $22. Rip off.

My sister ordered the Rabbit Terrine.

This was pretty good but I'm not used to eating rabbits.

My order: Smoked Trout on Buckwheat Blini

This was okay.

We shared a bottle of Efeste Feral Sauvignon Blanc which was the best thing we had here, aside from an order of the Dahlia bread. Pretty sad.

Maybe it was because they just recently opened or we ordered wrong but I definitely would NOT be recommending this place to friends. Thumbs down.

Sep 17, 2010

Dahlia Bakery

Continuing with... Tom Douglas.

We went for a drink at Palace Kitchen, which was literally a block away from our hotel. We originally went in for one cocktail, but we wanted to try some of their artisan cheeses, and ended up opening a bottle of wine. Both cheeses and the Novelty Hill Merlot were fantastic. (Sorry I didn't take any pictures, the restaurant was pretty dark and nothing came out.)

But what really impressed us was their bread. They serve generous portions of their house bread with really fine Olive Oil and Balsamic Vinegar. We asked about the bread and the waiter told us that they actually have a bakery that sells it a couple blocks away.

So the next morning we headed to,

Dahlia Bakery

(which is around the corner from Serious Pie)

Apricot Bluberry Cupcake

We tried more stuff, but before I could take pictures, they were devoured.. I also really liked the Oatmeal Apricot cookie and Fruit Bar (which had tons of dried fruits and nuts). Zion seemed to enjoy the doggy biscuits we got for him too.

Sep 16, 2010

Snoqualmie Falls & Winery Day Trip

We took a bus day tour from our hotel to the Snoqualmie Falls and to 2 wineries.

Snoqualmie Falls Park.

It was actually a bigger waterfall than what I had imagined at 268 feet (82 meters).

The other side of the fall.

Our guide stopped the bus so that we could pick wild blackberries. I am not a huge fan of blackberries, but these were the sweetest I've ever had.

First winery: Novelty Hill/Januik.

Tasting menu, we were able to choose 5.

I liked the Novelty Hill Cabernet, but the others were mediocre.

Very modern interior.

Second Winery: Columbia Winery

Tasting menu. This place was cool because we got a little tutorial from a wine expert while we tasted. I really liked their 2004 Cabernet and 2003 Syrah.

The fireplace was nice because it was rainy and cold.

This is also a note to myself but the instructor taught us that it is truly rare if we ever stumble upon a wine with a "David Lake" signature. He was the first master of wine in America.

Sep 15, 2010

Serious Pie

Serious Pie is a pizzeria owned by Tom Douglas. I had never heard of him until this trip, but he pretty much built a restaurant empire in downtown Seattle. Luckily, we were staying right by Serious Pie and when we saw the line on the night of our arrival, it was definitely on our list to try.