Wishing all readers a joyous holiday filled with good food, family, and dear friends. I’m very grateful to all of you for giving me the inspiration and support to keep exploring the excitement of the LA food scene these past two years. Happy Thanksgiving from Toddrickallen!
Rojas Eatery recently opened in West LA. Serving breakfast, lunch, and dinner, the “Mexican infused” menu is designed to be fresh, healthy, locally sourced, and mostly organic. Everything is made from scratch daily and the food is prepared when ordered right in front of you. Look for healthy breakfast items, a variety of sandwiches, soups, salads and clever plates such as 3 potato tacos in corn tortillas with mozzarella, queso fresco, sauce, lettuce, and light sour cream, Even the desserts (such as flan tres leches, various cupcakes, and banana bread) are made on the premises.
Rojas Eatery, 11901 Santa Monica Blvd (at Armacost), LA 90025 (310) 477-7410 Open Monday-Saturday 7am-7pm, Sunday 10am-7pm
Manager Gricelda Peratta
Toddrickallen wishes everyone a joyful, prosperous, and delicious 2011! I’ll be toasting all my readers at midnight tonight as we look forward to a new year of fantastic eating, and perhaps a few changes at Toddrickallen as well… Cheers!
Susan Feniger’s Street is throwing a New Year’s Eve bash complete with a special menu that promises to “explode all five” of your senses… plus one more!? (Hmmm) Actually the sixth sense is a surprise to take home with you. Entitled Essence of the Senses, the themed night boasts a 5 course menu of exotic bites from around the globe including such enticing treasures as ear of corn tamale with fresh corn, roasted poblano chiles, pumpkin, and huitlacoche and Indian sev puri crisps with spiced potatoes, two chutneys, yogurt and cilantro water. See entire menu here http://www.eatatstreet.com/pdfs/nye10.pdf. And, you can soothe your aching head at their brunch the following day provided you can get out of bed. For more info or to make a rezzie, call 323.203.0500 or check out www.eatatstreet.com.
Toddrickallen is grateful to all who visit this blog and wishes all his readers a very Happy Christmas filled with laughter, joy, and of course, delicious food! (The diet can start Monday…)
Toddrickallen appreciates your patience. The rain had knocked out my phone lines and my internet. I was only able to communicate via iPhone. I felt as frustrated as Irene Virbila at Red Medicine. But things are remedied as of today, so you can expect more news and reviews…
If you’re a regular reader, you’ve probably noticed that I haven’t yet posted this week. That’s because the copious rain has knocked out all forms of communication at Toddrickallen. Repair crews are on their way and I should be back up and running soon…
Cut in Beverly Hills is listed as the first restaurant in a piece in the December issue of Bon Appétit magazine titled, “The Hot 10 Best Celebration Restaurants”. They appreciated the food, design, and the diners, all of which are described as “beautiful”. As many of you know, Cut is a favorite of mine for food, ambiance, and amazing staff. If you go, check out the incredible John Baldessari installation of photos from Studio 54 with the faces blanked out. The large images are mesmerizing and are guaranteed to stimulate conversation.
The back of the menu at Cut with an image from John Baldessari
Toddrickallen wishes a very Happy Thanksgiving to all my devoted readers. May your day be filled with joy, family and friends, and of course, wonderful food! I’m so very grateful for your support. Cheers!
Long gone is the Wolfgang Puck restaurant that inhabited the space where R&D now sits on Montana Ave. in Santa Monica. But I remember if fondly: The servers who knew us by name and remembered our favorite wines, the lovely manager who occasionally showed us racy photos of herself for a laugh, and the pizzas. Always perfectly crispy, masterfully made, divinely delicious. Of course you can still find a close facsimile to those pies at the Wolfgang Puck Express in the 3rd Street Promenade or at Gelson’s, but the lack of human interaction at assembly line-styled restaurants does not re-create the experience. How pleasantly surprised I was to discover, on a recent lay-over, the Wolfgang Puck Express at the Minneapolis Airport and its wise-cracking server, Jackie. Jackie’s deadpan jokes and “You think you got problems” sense of humor was comedy gold and kept us thoroughly entertained in the otherwise unremarkable airport. How nice to be reminded, in this unusual place, how memorable dinner can be when the right combination of good food and good people come together. Hats off to you and the others, Jackie. Oh, and the pizzas were as good as I remember.
