Tuesday, November 13, 2012

Thanksgiving Dinner With a Vietnamese Touch, To-Go from Tiato Cafe

Tiato Cafe is a market and cafe in the afternoons that turn into a private event venue in the evenings, with the catering branch of House of An (Crustacean, AnQi, etc) running from the kitchen in the back. I've never been here before but the venue looked beautiful at night- they have the largest patio in Santa Monica.

Tiato Cafe
Naturally the catering service will have turkey and all the other goods available for to-go orders for the upcoming Thanksgiving (you can order using this form)! To promote it, I was invited to try them at Tiato. You can order the herb-crusted turkey and select which sides you want, but I got to try almost all of them and more in Tiato's lovely private dining room.

The main attraction is of course the organic free range herb crusted turkey with garlic gravy

Saturday, November 10, 2012

Umami Burger, Now Open in Pasadena

Umami Burger has taken over the old Naga Naga Ramen space in Old Town Pasadena and line is already forming out the door for this walk-in only spot. After all, there aren't too many burger joints in Pasadena and Umami is inarguably an upgrade from nearby The Counter.

This location had a very different look than other Umami Burgers I have been to with its all-white interior and decoration and bright lights.
They have all the usual Umami burgers like the truffle burger ($12, pictured above), Port & Stilton, the Hatch burger with green chile, and a vegetarian burger. As an homage to the cooking school a stone's throw away, they have a special burger for this location only named Le Cordon Bleu Burger (created with the help of some people at the school -$13)

Wednesday, November 7, 2012

MESSHALL (Los Feliz)

Mess Hall sits in an unlikely spot next to bank buildings on Hillhurst and Los Feliz near Griffith Park, with a gorgeous large outdoor dining area.

IMG_1917

There's an oyster bar with rotating selections...
Oysters

..Fun appetizers like this Steak Tartar Taco in crispy parmesan shell, escabeche ($12)
Tuna Taco

Erik Lund has come up with a fun, solid cocktail menu. Can we judge a cocktail by its name? Either way I just had to try The Hallucinogenic Whimsies of Banana Man (Campo de Encanto pisco, absinthe, banana, lime, orgeat, Peychaud's - $11), the first whiff of which definitely screams "banana"
Banana Man

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