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I thought I would make the most of this wasted post and upload one of the songs I’m listening to now! Press play and scroll through the rest of my blog! This song is sure to put you in a good mood!
Happy Blockheads employee
The machine that shaves the ice cream down. You can see the Sweet Cream Snow Cream in the machine right now!
My order: Sweet cream snow cream with strawberries and chocolate sauce (it’s hard to capture the many layers of the ice cream with the iphone)
Margrit’s order: Sweet cream snow cream with rainbow sprinkles and chocolate sauce
Paige’s Order: sweet cream snow cream with Oreos and chocolate sauce
You can kind of see the many layers in just one bite!
I have never had a dessert experience quite like my recent jaunt to Blockhead Shavery. In the heart of little Tokyo on Sawtelle in between Santa Monica and Olympic sits this original ice cream shop dolling out shaved ice cream to the lucky individuals who are “in the know.” It’s called Blockheads because the ice cream starts as a large block/brick that is then inserted into a special machine that creates hundreds of shavings layered on top of one another. According to its website, they describe the texture as “Hawaiian shave ice with the creamy goodness of ice cream.” What it really looks like is ice cream lasagna, but don’t let the pictures on yelp lead you astray; it is a treat for your taste buds all the way around.
I ordered the sweet vanilla snow cream (that’s what they call their shaved ice cream invention) with strawberries and chocolate sauce. There are a range of flavors you can order such as green tea, strawberry and black sesame. The sweet vanilla snow cream was the sweetest most flavorful vanilla ice cream I have ever tasted. It has all the flavor of regular ice cream but it is light and flakey like Filo Dough mixed with Dippen Dots!
The toppings range from traditional Japanese rice cakes (similar to mochi balls) and sweet red beans to fresh fruit, heath bar pieces and chocolate chips. Each topping costs an extra $0.50, not too bad but starts to add up when you get a lot of them. What Blockheads does offer are pre-conceived concoctions with multiple toppings that are a great option if you want a lot of junk on your snow cream. Whatever you choose make sure to top your snow cream off with a complimentary chocolate, caramel, strawberry puree or condensed milk syrup. They coat the top layer with the syrup of your choice and once it melts in between the crevices of the flakey ice cream it enhances every bite.
I hate to admit that I played it a little safe with my ice cream and topping choices, regardless it was delicious, so no apologies. Next time I go, (and there will definitely be a next time) I will order all of the traditional Japanese toppings and see what happens (I will be sure to report back on the blog if you’re interested). Blockheads Shavery you get Two Forks Up!
800 Degrees Pizza assembly line
My pizza creation: artichokes, whole roasted cloves of garlic, Kalamata Olives and Feta cheese on top of mozzarella
Chopped salad: too many hidden garbanzo beans
Eric’s pizza creation: sopressata (spicy salami), sausage, mushrooms and marinated onions
Interior of Milo and Olive
Housemade Pork Belly Sausage with braised greens, tomato, fresh mozzarella
Nettles with rosemary cream, and, mozzarella
Crispy pepperoni
Beautiful ranunculus on the table at Milo and Olive
For today’s post I decided to do something different. After being recommended these two particular restaurants a countless amount of times, I wanted to conduct a little experiment pitting the high end pizza of Milo and Olive against the more budget friendly pizza of 800 Degrees to see if there truly was weight to the saying “you get what you pay for.”
800 Degrees Neapolitan Pizzeria on Lindbrook Drive in Westwood
800 Degrees is in the heart of Westwood Village, an absolutely perfect location for the students of UCLA. Evidenced by the line of patient patrons out the door and down the street this restaurant has taken off and achieved a cruising altitude since its grand opening in January, (Note: the line is relatively quick and completely worth the wait). 800 Degrees is the Chipotle of pizza. You choose a base and then decide on toppings for your pizza. The base pizzas start at $5.15 with every additional topping (proteins, cheese and veggies) costing $1.00 each.
The base pizzas aka “the classics” are the Pizza Margherita, the Pizza Bianca and the Pizza Marinara. Since almost every pizza at 800 Degrees is different I can only talk about the constants most notably, the crust. As stated in its name 800 Degrees serves neopolitan style pizzas, where the crust is thin and the pizza is soft and chewy. The thin crust helps to bring out the flavor of your toppings as each bite is not overpowered with bread. All this is achieved in a wood buring oven after only being cooked for about a minute and a half!
All of the toppings offered at 800 Degrees are local when available and extremely high quality. I ordered artichokes, whole roasted garlic, kalamata olives and feta on mine. Check out their menu for a full list of toppings. One tip I should note that came after talking about my dining experience with an experienced 800 Degree’s go-er is, ordering the whole roasted garlic on my pizza was an amateur hour mistake. Apparently, there are several toppings that are complimentary however, you have to specifically ask for them to get them on your pie. They are oregano, chilies and garlic. Regardless, all of the toppings I chose for my pizza created a salty, Greek masterpiece that I thoroughly enjoyed. Each individual pizza is a single serving and while that may seem like a lot for one person, because of the thin crust the pizza isn’t as heavy and starchy as delivery style pizza.
There are other items on the menu in addition to the pizza and they look just as scrumptious. I ordered the chopped salad, not something I would order again though, the garbanzo beans were bitter and a little too abundant in the salad. However, I would definitely order from the burrata bar next time. They offer several ingredients like beets and balsamic, cherry tomatoes and pesto, or caponata (eggplant seasoned with herbs) and pinenuts that you can get with your burrata for only $5.00!
Milo and Olive
Milo and Olive sits on the complete opposite side of the pizza spectrum from 800 Degrees. While this neighborhood bakery and pizzeria also has a line out the door, its prices, ambiance and pizza differ greatly from 800 Degrees.
This high end pizza restaurant resides in a small storefront on Wilshire. With only 14 seats among two communal tables and about 10 others split between the stand up counter and the bar facing the kitchen you have to try your luck to get a spot here. On the menu there are 10 pizza’s to choose from as well as other items such as salad and pasta. For this particular experience I decided to stick with the pizza however, the Fusili Pasta wafting over from the other side of the communal table did look enticing. We ordered the Nettles Pizza, the Housemade Pork Belly Sausage Pizza and the Crispy Pepperoni Pizza. Of which I preferred both the meat pizzas to the nettle.
The Housemade Pork Belly Sausage with braised greens, tomato, and fresh mozzarella was my personal favorite. The pizza was juicy, chewy and flavorful. The sausage was salty and spicy (no sexual innuendo intended) and with the tomato and greens it was easy to fold and eat as one big delicious pizza roll up.
The Crispy Peperroni pizza with tomato, and fresh mozzarella was the table favorite and as a result of enjoying the sausage pizza got to this one a little late in the game. Regrettably only half a slice was left. The peperoni was crispy and spicy and practically covered the entire surface area of the pizza!
Nettles are similar to spinach, only more flavorful; also on the pizza was rosemary cream, and mozzarella. The pizza itself was elementary. It lacked the complex flavor of the other two and the crust was a little too blackened and crispy for me. Initially excited about the rosemary cream on the pizza I could barely taste it. What I did like about this pizza was that it provided a mellow balance to the other two meat pizzas. However, next time I will order the Buratta pizza with La Quercia prosciutto, tomato, arugula, olive oil, sea salt for my “balanced” portion of the meal.
The real difference between 800 Degrees and Milo and Olive lies in the ambiance of the two restaurants. 800 Degrees is large and in charge with the main goal of its interior to accommodate the large volume of customers that shuffle through the many tables. It’s great that you can get a glass of wine with your meal but the tables are so packed in that you might have to worry about hitting the elbows of a sniffly freshman while you drink it. On the other hand, you could tell walking in that Milo and Olive is a gourmet pizza place. The lack of seating was particularly shocking and made me question if their business is primarily delivery. However, the few tables they do have are beautifully decorated with fresh ranunculus and has a nice overall feel.
All in all, both 800 Degrees and Milo and Olive served delightful and original pizza. What I’ve learned from this experience is that it’s kind of difficult to screw up pizza! I would return to both restaurants but can’t get over the fact that I got just as delicious pizza for a fraction of the price at 800 Degrees. The winner of this pizza battle is 800 Degrees! But Two Forks Up for both restaurants.
Ink Sack Menu
Bahn Mi Sandwich -Pork butt, pork belly, chicharrones and pickled veggies
Close up of the Bahn Mi
Pastrami – Short rib pastrami, horseradish cream sauce, Dijon and Swiss cheese
Maryland Crab Chips
Maryland Crab Chips for the car ride back to the West side
Mexican Chocolate Chip Cookie on the counter at Ink Sack
Upon attempting to go to the Urban Outfitters sample sale and seeing a line around the block in the pouring rain, my friend Heather and I quickly gave up our dreams for buying cheap clothes and decided to drive back to work. Feeling dejected for having driven across town in Friday rainy traffic we wanted to make the most of our sacrifice. We passed Ink Sack on our way home and promptly “flipped a bitch” in the middle of Melrose after seeing that there was no line at Ink Sack.
The interior of Ink Sack is simple and is standing room only with a chalkboard menu and a chain link fence separating the kitchen from the register. The sandwiches were innovative and exciting, I wish I could have ordered one of everything on the menu. The prices are amazing for a Top Chef restaurant which is great because it makes the food of Top Chef winner Michael Voltaggio accessible to the general public without a reservation. The sandwich prices range from $4 to $7 with sides ranging from $3 to $7. With so many choices we asked and ordered the most popular and newest sandwiches, the Bahn Mi and the Pastrami respectively.
The bread is home made and extremely crunchy, flakey, chewy and soft all at the same time. The Banh Mi, a traditional Vietnamese sandwich, contained pork butt, pork belly, chicharrones and pickled veggies. The light picked veggies were the perfect contrast to the heavy meat. While I would have preferred them more evenly spread throughout the sandwich, the sandwiches are on the smaller side and I was able to handle this task myself (tough life, I know).
The pastrami was the perfect sandwich on a rainy day like Friday. The bread and the meat were warm and the horseradish helped clear out my runny nose (TMI?) The sandwich was a perfect blend of short rib pastrami, horseradish cream sauce, Dijon and Swiss cheese. The warm meat helped to tone town the bitterness of the horseradish leaving only the best of the flavor. It oozed out the sides and I was able to dip the sandwich in the excess sauce.
After Heather and I finished our sandwiches we decided to try the Maryland Crab potato chips and the Mexican chocolate cookie. Upon first bite of our potato chips (which do not contain crab) we quickly kicked ourselves after realizing that the chips would have gone perfectly with the ‘wiches. They were large, thin, flaky potato chips sprinkled with seasoned salt and what we guessed to be cayenne because they also had a nice a little kick at the end.
The Mexican chocolate cookie wasn’t too sweet it had all the elements of a great cookie. The center was doughy and the outside was crunchy and in the middle were tons of HUUUUGE chunks of Mexican chocolate which on the bitter sweet scale is a little more bitter than it is sweet. A perfect close to the meal.
Ink Sack is great for a quick perfectly sized sandwich, filled with original ingredients, from a Top Chef! Definite Two Forks Up for this one!
Paige taking the first bite of the truffle chips.
Five alarm chicken wings
Heirloom tomato, chickpea puree, burrata, roasted hazelnuts, chickpea pesto
Smoked brisket taquitos with avocado dipping sauce
Fishy and Holtzman waiting patiently while I take pictures of the food
Flat iron steak, brown butter mashed potatoes, chickpea puree, hedgehog mushrooms and pea tendrils
Mac and cheese with ham hock and fresno chili
Flattened chicken with fennel, chickpea puree and shitake mushroom broth
Ford’s Filling Station has been a staple of Culver City since before the gentrification of the area. I’d like to say that with confidence but I’m pretty sure I just made that up. What I do know for sure is that it has been around over 7 years and has been consistently Zagat rated throughout that time!
We decided to eat at Ford’s for the celebration of my friend Jessica’s 25th birthday, Happy Birthday Fishyyy. We all had heard a lot about the restaurant but had never eaten there. My crew decided to tackle meal like a tasting menu and order a bunch of dishes (my favorite way to order). We started off the meal with the five alarm chicken wings, burrata with heirloom tomatoes (I’m starting to get on a burratta tour of Los Angeles), truffle chips and smoked brisket taquitos.
I would say that the most anticipated dish of the night were the brisket taquitos which I unfortunately have to report were also the biggest let down. They provided no differentiation from your typical taquito at a Mexican restaurant. The meat was overcooked on the ends and in the middle you couldn’t appreciate it because the meat was overshadowed by the fried exterior. The burrata and heirloom salad was a departure from the last two burata dishes I have eaten because of the toasted hazelnuts that gave a nice texture to the dish. It also had a chickpea purée that tasted like pesto but with a creamier texture. The five alarm wings were a clear crowd favorite. They were just how I like my wings, saucy and spicy. The blue cheese sauce on the side provided a nice balance to the heat of the wings. The truffle chips, oh my gosh the truffle chips, they were A-MAAHZING! I hate when restaurants advertise a dish that has truffle oil and then you can barely taste it. Well, no shortage here! The truffle oil was flowing and the essence filled the whole table!
As for our main course, we ordered ANOTHER five alarm chicken wings, flank steak, flattened chicken and a side of mac and cheese. The flank steak was the favorite meal of the second course. I’ve had bad experiences with red wine reductions where it tastes exactly like red wine, but the reduction on the steak was perfection! The mashed potatoes that coated the bottom of the dish, soaked in the reduction were a wonderful combination of salty and savory that went brilliantly with the flank steak. The asparagus while also coated in the reduction sauce maintained a crispy-charred-ness that was a nice contrast to the creamy potatoes. The chicken was chicken (I need to stop ordering chicken). What elevated the chicken dish were the other elements surrounding the bird. It sat on a bed of marinated fennel and mushrooms in a deliciously fresh and flavorful broth. The mac and cheese was not the best I’ve ever tasted mostly because the cheese tasted processed. However, the ham hock and freno chili were a nice distraction from the cheese, which ended up making the dish taste great.
All in all, having this blog has led me to believe that I am a five star food critic and therefore I am tempted to judge every restaurant that doesn’t completely melt my mouth, I have to remember to rate restaurants based on what they are, instead of what they’re not. Ford’s Filling Station was a deliciously authentic gastro-pub with a great atmosphere and good food, and for that I give it One and Half Forks Up.
A wise woman once told me (Amburgey) that when a new restaurant opens, to get the full benefit of your dining experience you must go to that restaurant within the first 4-6 months of it being open.
To begin, I was with a group of 3 close friends who were all really looking forward to this meal, one (Paige) had even eaten at Rustic Canyon before and had nothing but good things to say. For starters we ordered the Burrata Panzanella, Crispy White Polenta and Confit Duck Leg. Of the three dishes I felt the Burrata was the best tasting (not as good as Tasting Kitchen’s though). The burata was fresh and the croutons were big and crispy, the arugala was a leeeetle awkard but by no means hindered the dish. As for the duck, while the reduction sauce under the duck was delicious, the duck itself was overcooked. The polenta, well, the egg on top was a melt in your mouth type moment and the mushrooms added an extra oomph. The polenta itself was nothing special, more a stage to showcase the other ingredients, which as the dish headliner isn’t what I expected.
For our main course we split two dishes among the 4 of us. We ordered the hand made ricotta gnocchi with bolognese sauce and the rustic canyon burger with confit bacon. The gnocchi while good (sorry for the lack of descriptive word here but I felt ambivalent towards the dish and couldn’t think of anything more creative) the meat in the bolognese sauce was overcooked. The burger was scrumptious and the bacon was a necessary addition but really lets be honest, how hard is it to make a good burger?
After having heard so many wonderful things about the food at Rustic Canyon my expectations were extremely high and I left the meal feeling disappointed. Even Paige also a discernable foodie shared my feelings and even remarked that her experience several months prior was far superior to the meal we just ate. While the food looked beautiful and the dishes were good, they overall lacked originality. We also couldn’t overlook the fact that we felt every dish had stayed under the heat lamp a little too long. For this I give Rustic Canyon One Fork Up.
Warning: pictures on this post are not as tasty that they appear.
I think if there is one restaurant that whenever mentioned I hear a resounding, “OMG I reeeeally want to try that place” or “OMG that place is sooooo good!” it is the Tasting Kitchen on Abbot Kinney.
This restaurant has been open for two years and it is still packed to the brim on a Monday night. While that is awesome for the restaurant it was NOT awesome for my dinner guests and I. It took us 40 minutes to get seated on a Monday night! Once we finally got seated it was 20 minutes before our waiter paid any attention to us. Keep in mind that it was already 10pm at this point. Needless to say he didn’t pay much attention to us throughout the rest of the meal. One thing I have realized about dining out is that a great meal can be tainted by horrible service, luckily I was with good company and the conversation was flowing!
The preferred method of eating there is to order shared plates. For starters (what they call entrees) we ordered the broccolini with burrata and mushrooms, the beets with satumas and, the chicken wings. While the dishes and combinations were innovative I have to say I didn’t completely understand the pairings. Burrata and broccollini? While the burrata was the best, creamiest and freshest I have eaten and the broccolini was cooked to perfection, eating the two together didn’t make ANY sense to me. But really, who am I to say? The wings were so-so, I personally like mine drenched in buffalo sauce (a guilty pleasure of mine) and these were more of a maple teriyaki blend but in the end nothing to write home about. I should note that my friend Alex could tell that the chicken was high quality, I personally could not. As for the beets, yes they were fresh and yes they had a nice citrus dressing, but they weren’t special on their own however, eating them in conjunction with the burrata made them better.
The pasta’s at the tasting kitchen are all homemade, we ordered 3, the corzetti raviolo, tagliatelle with tesa and morels (not pictured), and the garganelli with tesa and pickled chile. FYI Tesa is a bacon is similar to pancetta. The pasta was good-ish, the corzetti was the most interesting because I had never had anything like it. It is one large ravioli with ricotta and an egg cooked into the center. As it was a new dish for me I don’t know how it compares to others, but I would definitely try ordering it again somewhere else. The tagliatelle was the table’s favorite of the three, the white sauce perfectly coated the al dente pasta while the tesa gave it a salty crunch that was a nice contrast to the creamy alfredo. The Garganelli was our least favorite, the pasta was a little too al dente and we felt that it did not have enough sauce. I should note for the record that I am lover of all condiments and sauce and too much sauce is never enough for me. The sauce on the garganelli was kind of sad it was the best part of the dish and there definitely wasn’t enough of it to cover the pasta’s bland taste (ouchie).
I don’t regret eating at The Tasting Kitchen but I won’t be going back any time soon. The ambiance is pleasantly comfortable once the crowd dies down however, it does not make up for the horrible service we experienced (does it ever?) Therefore, I give The Tasting Kitchen One Fork Up.
Colony Café has been one of my most favorite discoveries in the past couple months. I discovered it on a whim while craving a snack after shopping at the Westside Pavilion and was drawn to the Hampton’s-esque blue and white decor. It has since become my number one go to locale on the weekend when I want the PERFECT turkey sandwich. I don’t think I have mentioned yet that I am obsessed with a good turkey sandwich. So far, Colony Café has been my favorite turkey sandwich that I have come across in West LA.
Whenever I eat at Colony Café I always get the roast turkey sandwich, which comes with swiss, cranberry jelly, avocado, red leaf lettuce, dijon on whole grain bread. I’m a sucker for a turkey sandwich with cranberry sauce and almost always order it whenever it is on the menu. As a sandwich lover I appreciate when every single ingredient is fresh and distinguishable from the other, as it is on this sandwich. For the first time this weekend I was tempted to sway from my tried and true dish when I tasted my best friend Paige’s (who inspired me to start this blog) roast chicken Panini. She would like me to note for the record that when she offered me a bite I took 3 (but it was for the sake of research duh!) Her roast chicken Panini almost just about trumped my turkey. It consisted of the freshest ciabatta bread, avocado, roast red pepper, cheese and garlic aioli (I might be forgetting some ingredients since it was a special an not on their regular menu). As for the extras, their potato chips are homemade and amazing and their cookies are the perfect blend of chewy and crispy. Their sugar cookie was a step up from your typical sugar cookie because it contained the perfect amount of sea salt that elevated it to that next level.
Special of the day or not, you are always in for a fresh and delicious meal at Colony Café. Make sure to check out their iced tea if it’s a hot day as well! Colony Café, you get Two Forks Up from me!
I thought it would be funny to share my mom’s response to my About me section:
“Since all your meals were free, you shouldn’t complain. Also, since when did you become so unsatisfied? - MOM”
Mommy dearest, its because of you that I have such a sophisticated palate, you introduced me to so many wonderful foods. Thanks for not making me cook Thanksgiving dinner when I complained about your cooking last year! I love you!!!
