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As Jake is in L.A. for a few weeks, Gothamist thought it would be a great opportunity to meet some L.A. readers and fellow bloggers and find out more about our big city rival, like where to find really good tri-color cookies or cool bathrooms.
Drop us a line (email Jake and cc Jen - she just wants to feel included) and we'll get back to you. Or write to us if you're heading out to NY. You don't even need to be in L.A. to write us - Gothamist loves its reader mail.
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Jake, be sure to eat at Tommy's while you're there.
Gothamist should come to San Francisco instead! West Coaster smiles through her teeth and refrains from stating how she truly feels about LA........ :-D
your wish is granted! i'm driving up the coast to SF starting in one hour- should be there on saturday. Then back to LA for two weeks on Tuesday.
Beh! West Coaster is thrown aback and feels the need to clean her house and wash her dogs. She regrets that this weekend is a hectic one, but hopes Gothamist has a fantastic drive up the coast and takes neat photos. Load up on Mexican and Asian food, by the way. :-)
Depends on what you'd like to do in this fine city I've called home for the last nine years:
For great "take-out" food: Joan's on Third. Scarf down fantastic foods like their delicately-flavored Chinese Chicken Salad while watching celebrities like Molly Simms and Mena Suvari stare intently at food, perhaps hoping to absorb calories. If you're a cookbook aficionado, head down the street to The Cook's Library. Also good, if hanging Westside: Clementine's.
For camera crap: Samy's Camera has it all, albeit not at a discount and not often with a smile.
For a mall that's not a mall: The Grove. What is Disney did a shopping center? What if it had a trolley running through it, water shows every hour to songs like "That's Amore," and its own concierge? If it sounds awful, it's spectacularly not -- including the stadium-like seating at the movie theater, the largest Barnes & Noble in California, and an Apple store that suspiciously looks like Heaven.
For culture: Strange Days, the '60's photography show at the Getty. Arbus, Winogrand, Eggleston. And, on a clear day with deep blue skies, it's hard not to love Richard Meier's cut-stone masterpiece.
For trendy eatery, complete with star spotting: Dolce. Ashton Kutcher's restaurant is hot, hot, hot -- but pass on all the little appetizers but the dried figs and prosciutto. Better, but also pricier: Alex. A.O.C. Bastide. And still the granddaddy of L.A. celebrity restaurants, the Beverly Hills Spago. Best kept secret: Cobras & Matadors, on Beverly. Buy your wine next door (they don't have a liquor license) and order a bunch of Argentinian tapas -- particularly the lentils.
Gosh, Jake, I could go on forever: any questions, let me know. And do not leave San Francisco without a visit to House of Nan King. Go early; the line starts 30-45 minutes before this cheap Chinese hole-in-the-wall opens. I swear they lace it all with heroin. Also good: Fog City Diner.
i hear that they don't tip in LA, so you might save yourself some cash out there.
NetizenKane, you are better than that poor excuse of a City Search! What is your favorite restaurant (casual) near the grove?? I'm trying to avoid farmer's market for a simu-date (see gothamist posting)
Again, depends on what you're looking for, and how close you need it to be.
Cobras and Matadors is very close to the Grove. But it's less a simu-date stop and more of an "eight friends and a disatrous break-up story" type place.
Angelini Osteria is universally praised, but we haven't been back since they made us wait more than an hour. With a reservation. On a birthday.
Genghis Cohen is good, decently-priced Chinese food and good atmosphere (if you don't mind the live music in the bar area, which is later in the evening). The Queen Chicken is a must; the drinks (esp. the Genghis Coma) will keep you smiling even when your simu-date informs you they have a simu-job and can't pick up the tab. Also good, but spendier: Mandarette.
Woodfire Grill right there at the Grove is okay, depending on what you order, but your best bet on premises is probably The Farm. Good salads and sandwiches.
Maybe better: meet for a drink at Tahiti. If you hit it off, stay for dinner.
If you don't mind dining in a seeming collision of Bravo hit shows, Marix on Santa Monica is tasty, healthy Mexican and a true "kick-ass" margarita. Their sister restaurant next door, Basix, is quieter and more bistro-esque. If you're boy-girl, though, it can be a bit of an unwanted scene. If you're boy-boy or girl-girl, congratulations - your waiter can be your next date.
Best kept Thai secret: Tuk Tuk Thai on Pico (not so close, but Harrison and Calista evidently agree with me that this little, one-room Thai place is worth the drive). The Bangkok Steak Combination dinner is a steal, and if they're in season, the mangos with sticky rice are sinfully good. For those willing to set their bowels on fire, the spicy crab noodles or spicy pear salad (julienned green pears with shrimp, peanuts, and cherry tomatoes) are delicious. But when they ask, in their adorable Thai accent, "How spicy?" do *not* say "spicy." You've been warned.
The Latch Gallery presents:
Blood In Blood Out III
Saturday, Aug 2 at 10pm
This is some hairy shit, but if you're a true urbanite, it shouldn't bother you. Fight Night is a real life fight club style event held at the Latch Gallery with the local Culver City 18th street Crips'. That's right gangsta fights. Get in the ring with any gansta you wanna jack-up or vice-versa. Three round matches with gloves. It might be best to just watch, but you never really know what may happen. Sketchy, but they have a bar.
5367 w. washington blvd. (@Hauser)
lost angels ca. 90016
$10 men, includes 1 complimentary drink
$5 ladies, includes 1 complimentary drink
See you in the ring
underground streetfights! restaurant recommendations! you guys are the best. in SF now but back in LA on tuesday night.
You guys really are the best. I want you to plan various pre-wedding activities for the J&K's big day next year - there will be a posse of NYers invading for that.
Anytime. It's the least L.A. readers can do for bringing us all the latest on Blair Hornstine, Conde Nastiness, and all things NYC-worthy.
Jen, a pre-big day must: Shutters on the Beach. Jackie Collins named it several years ago as the number one place in L.A. for a tryst. If that bit of cheese doesn't make you want to go, try a restaurant with a full ocean view and outlandishly good seafood (One Pico, also their address).
Did I say outlandishly good seafood and not mention downtown's Water Grill? Did I mention downtown and not mention Andre Balazs's new Standard, whose astroturfed, poolside, rooftop bar is hotter than Ashton Kutcher's microwaved nipple? Check out the downstairs lobby before ascending for cocktails, though -- they were previously the offices of Superior Oil, complete with a clock telling times around the world -- but only in "Oil Capitals," naturally. It's like "Down With Love" without all the annoying actors from it.
Thanks! I am totally down for trysting at Shutters on the Beach. I'll attempt to wisely use the next year to find a tryst partner.
if you go to l.a., don't go to the grove. i never understand why people in l.a. direct tourists to malls. and that's what the grove is. i will give it credit for having counters of how many spaces are available on each level of the parking garage... but that is just technology.
to see l.a. right, like someone who lives here- do the following:
1. monday night- go see 'metalshop' at the viper room. nothing funnier/cooler in town.
2. thursday night- go to the 'rainbow' on sunset and hang out with the last remnants of the 1987 metal rock scene.
3. any night- the 'powerhouse' on hw/highland. best ass-kicking hole-in-the-wall bar in town. the only beer they serve is natural light on tap. how rad is that?
4. park your car and do the hollywood/cahuenga/vine bar hop- start at 'the room', which you have to enter from the alley, go to 'the beaty bar', then pop across the street to 'the burgandy room', then round the corner east on hw to 'star shoes', the skip the lame crowd at 'ivar', maybe stop at 'cinnespace' b/c it is way cool and you can smoke in there, then go to vine and avoid 'deep' at all costs (they keep a crowd outside while there are a total of 17 people inside), and then pop into 'daddy's' to chill out. if you have the energy, have last call at 'the frolic room', which has the most ecletic blend of people i have ever seen.
i could go on, but i am seemingly long winded enough.
STAY away from white lotus b/c it is lame. if your are a guy and you have cia connections to actually get in- this place is your heaven- the ratio of chics to dudes is 20:1. no lie.
enjoy!
*k
RE: Cobras and Matadors.
I'm sorry but I can't stand this place. The food is incredibly mediocre and there's always a huge wait.
Yummy food NEAR the Grove (assuming you are catching a flick before or afterward). There are all just up 3rd Street, across Fairfax:
1) SURYA - excellent, high-end Indian food in a gorgeous setting
2) DOUGHBOYS - Casual, eat on the sidewalk salads, pizzas and sandwiches made with homemade bread.
3) CYNTHIA'S - Pretty good Cali cuisine. But the best part of the meal is the dessert -- cobbler that cannot be matched in LA.
For Jake: I agree with the Cahuenga corridor bar hop. Check out whose playing at the Hotel Cafe, too (next door to the Burg Room). Great little space to see a singer-songwriter.
I would probably skip Star Shoes which seems to attract the overflow from Ivar and head to Boardners on Cherokee (great dive bar) or even Daddy's on Vine (as long as it's not a Friday or Saturday).
Have a great time!
--Cinnamon