In case you needed another excuse to make the smooth drive to Pasadena, StreetGourmetLA just revealed, "Drumroll. ONE of the Manzanilla surprises from @benitoysolange? Abalone!abalone, sea urchin, oysters +clams at Baja booths @lafoodfest"

LA Street Food Fest at the Rose Bowl!

According to StreetGourmetLA, La Guerrerense from Baja will be at the LA Street Food Fest (www.lastreetfoodfest.com) tomorrow (Sat 7/16) at the Rose Bowl with uni tostada's topped with pismo clams. I've never had it, but it sounds amazing!

Skipping the drive to Ensenada to try that may alone be worth the price of admission (and the possible carmageddon woes.)

I live on the Westside, but am definitely hitting the LA Street Food Fest.

There are more food vendors at the Rose Bowl event. They range from crazy carts and mom and pops to some serious chefs like Ricardo Zarate. The variety of street food -- not trucks, but real street food -- is great and includes stuff that I would probably never find normally (Baja chefs!)

I get to try all sorts of things without worrying about how much I'm spending for each taste. And, without feeling like I've got to finish something that sucked because I just paid for it.

Drinks -- tequila tasting and beer gardens -- included.

All that said, I might try Eat Real on Sunday (it's 2 days) since it's nearby.

I spent my 40th at Rivera. Fantastic. Great cocktails.

I agree. My wife and I went a couple weeks ago. We love Joe's and enjoy Upstairs. This was a total miss. The food was not-authentic. It just didn't have the balance (or the low price) of an actual tapas bar. The items just had no balance. The bread was cut way to thick. We had a few items recommended by the waitress. I can't believe it, but we actually left half of each of the items -- tortilla, various tapas -- on the plate. They just didn't taste good. The only thing that we finished was the jamon iberico -- not because it was stunning (cut was really done poorly) -- but because it was so expensive. Oh, the wine was good, and we finished that because we needed something to wash down the bad taste...

(And the bill came to a over $100 for nothing, the jamon iberico was only part of it)

Pastina has been very accomodating to toddlers and the food is good.

I really wanted to like this place but was largely unimpressed, especially with the "just like Rome" reviews. I too had the amatriciana. Way oversauced. Nothing like what I had in Rome. Really, it wasn't much different from an average "American-Italian" spaghetti with meat sauce. The cauliflower soup was a very thin soup -- we were hoping for a thicker, heartier soup -- with decent but not wonderful flavor. The suppli, "only available here", were just large arancini that are available elsewhere. And, I didn't see a cacio e pepe or tripe dish anywhere either.

The staff is very friendly. It's fine if you live around the corner but certainly not worth a drive. (Oh, and no liquor license yet, so bring your own wine.)

Looking for the best sushi in Orange County -- Irvine/Newport areas preferred, but willing to drive. Suggestions?

My wife and I went over the weekend. While the ingredients were good, the food had no soul. The burger was made with quality beef -- just dull and flavorless. The winter vegetable pot pie seemed to be very well prepared, but was missing that comfort-factor.

Wasn't all that impressed with the wine list. For a wine bar, they had a pretty short list of wines by the glass.

And, my wife's biggest peeve. We sat at the bar. Two other spaces opened at the end a little while after we sat down. They we were served well before us. In fact, they were served before the couple next to us who were there before we were.

Beautiful space. Quality ingredients. Probably won't be back.

Despite the reputation, Spago's not stuffy. I've certainly seen people fully dressed up there (with lots of attitude), but I've also seen jeans. Khaki's and a collared shirt would be fine. Great choice, and open for lunch.

As far as other choices, I think Koreatown has some of the best Korean food choices second to Seoul. Soot Bul Jeep for Korean BBQ is a great choice.

Mexican is excellent -- my current favorite is Tacos Baja Ensenada, but that's probably a little out of your way.

And for your basic California/American, Clementine is a casual and delicious lunch place.

Orris makes great sweetbreads.

Actually, Chef Eric used to own China Bistro in south Laguna. Good stuff.

their roast pork is pretty tasty.

Sunny Grill on Venice near Inglewood has a pretty good breakfast burrito.

Huh. I was there on Tuesday night and had the lardo pizza. It was good, but I think that the sausage is best. That sausage and the dusting of fennel pollen makes it.