Taste Across the Mediterranean at Georgie (Montage Beverly Hills)

Last year, Geoffrey Zakarian took over the restaurant space at Montage Hotel in Beverly Hills, now known as Georgie. The chef restaurateur hired Wilfrid Hocquet as Executive Chef. Chef Hocquet has worked for French restaurants like Le Louis XV by Alain Ducasse, then at Daniel in New York City.

Being the classy establishment that this Beverly Hills restaurant is, Georgie has tableside martinis, which you should definitely consider if you like martinis. I had to get mine with the flamed lemon peel.

Since it was my first visit, I got the tasting menu to get a good feel for the whole menu. The tasting menu is $85 per person for six courses plus amuse bouche. The amuse bouche was a smoked salmon tostada that night.

There are two levels of wine pairings. The classic wine pairing is $55 while the reserve wine pairing is $75. We started off with a glass of Fantinel prosecco.

First course: Corn soup, corn waffle, goat cheese mousse

I did say I wanted to eat all the sweet corn while it's still in season, and this was one of the best corn dishes I had this summer.

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Wagamama Seaport (Boston, MA)

Wagamama is a chain of restaurants serving Asian food - primarily Japanese - which started in UK. I wasn't familiar until I moved to Boston 3 years ago, and I actually only tried it for the first time recently. Wagamama had opened a new location in the Boston Seaport district and invited some bloggers and instagrammers to try them out.

We started with a plate of Chili squid (crispy fried squid, shichimi, chili cilantro dipping sauce, $9)

For calamari lovers, this squid dish is a great variation. It's crispy but tasted light and spiced just right. I couldn't start eating them.

We also had some dumplings, both steamed and fried. Our favorite was the fried duck gyoza ($8)


The drinks at Wagamama are better than I would've expected from a chain restaurant. While a lot of them tended on the sweet and fruity side, they're not overly sweet and fairly well balanced. What I like most is the fact that they use spirits from Asia as much as possible.

For example, the Wagamama Mai Tai is made with Tanduay rum which is from the Philippines. They also use Iwai Whisky from Japan

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15 Years of Ono Hawaiian BBQ (+ Freebies on Oct 17!)

Did you know that Ono Hawaiian BBQ celebrates their 15th anniversary this year?
When you go to an Ono Hawaiian BBQ on the anniversary day (Tuesday, October 17), you can get $15 Ono Bucks after spending $15 on food and drinks. They're also giving away a free tote bag with $15 purchase while supplies last.

I remember going to Ono quite a bit during my time as a UCLA undergraduate, and I recently paid them a visit when I was in LA, because it's hard to find spam musubi in Boston!

Just two of these would probably make me full already, but how can I say no to spam musubi? Such a perfect snack.

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