Il Piccolo Verde (Brentwood)

With the rise of inventive and off-the-wall menus these days, we sometimes forget how good how good old school cooking is - like classic Italian, for example. At Il Piccolo Verde, a cute, small, Italian place in Brentwood, I was recently reminded of it.

The Baked eggplant parmigiana is a bit different, since it is stuffed with zucchini ($12)

There's an old school wood fired pizza oven here.

We tried the Pizza Napoletana, topped with tomato sauce, fresh burrata, and basil

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Fickle's New Spring Menu + $100 Gift Certificate Giveaway!

Little Tokyo is not just for ramen and sushi. There's plenty of diversity in the restaurants that have popped up there recently.

At Fickle, you will find a range of items from shrimp cocktails to Vietnamese style noodles. From the new spring menu, I liked the Kampuchia Shrimp with Pickled Carrot and Cilantro, Black Pepper and Lime Vinaigrette. Dip them generously in the sauce.

I also knew I had to get Santa Barbara Uni Bún (Cold Vermicelli Noodles, Mint, Cucumber, Nuoc Mam)

Executive Chef James Ta played around with the basic components of the Vietnamese Bún (that means noodles, not "bun") by adding one of my favorite ingredients, sea urchin! It works quite well with refreshingly clean noodles and cucumber.

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Talking Tasting Menu Film Over Dinner at The Bazaar

Food has really penetrated reality TV, and it's making its way into films! After Jiro Dreams of Sushi, Magnolia Pictures is now releasing Tasting Menu, a Spanish film surrounding the last dinner at one of the world's best restaurant in Costa Brava. Sounds El Bulli-like? I had the privilege to dine with the director Roger Gual last week, and I asked him point blank if he was inspired by El Bulli's closing. Surprisingly, he was already working on the script when El Bulli's closing was announced! Funny how life works sometimes. The film will be in theatres this Friday, April 18.

What other dinner in Los Angeles would be more perfect to celebrate this film than a tasting menu at LA's most celebrated Spanish restaurant, The Bazaar? Roger had dined at El Bulli (research for his film. I was my research was as tasty) and immediately recognized Ferran Adria's olive spheres.

The main characters in the film are estranged husband and wife, Marc and Raquel, who happened to have reservation for the last dinner service at Chakula, the fictional best-restaurant-in-the-world. Neither of them is willing to give up the reservation (neither would I!), so they met again at the restaurant after a year of separation. There's comedic relief from the two potential Japanese investors who will make competing bids for the chef to open a restaurant in Japan, a countess and old friend of the restaurant who is attending dinner with her late husband's ashes, and other characters.
Raquel is played by Claudia Bassols, who also attended the dinner.

Some of you food lovers might recognize her from Spain On The Road Again with Mario Batali, Mark Bittman, and Gwyneth Paltrow.

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