MochiGirl's Profile
French Laundry on a holiday
I'll be traveling to Napa for the first time on Memorial Day and have made reservations for dinner at French Laundry that day. However, I'm worried that the quality of the meal will subpar (e.g. the ingredients not as fresh) as it is a holiday weekend. Has anyone ever dined there on a holiday and able to comment on their experience? Thanks!
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The French Laundry
6640 Washington Street, Yountville, CA 94599
Blue Ocean Seafood: New, cheap dim sum / Chinese in Alhambra
sure, the charge tea at dim sum restaurants is pretty excessive at $1.50-2, but i can't imagine having dim sum without tea. to me, it would just seem like something was missing. plus, the tea helps to cut all the greasiness of the food.
Graduation dinner for 20-30 people
I'm graduating from grad school in May and am planning a graduation dinner for some of my friends and their families. The group is going to be fairly big, so I just wanted to get a head start! Does anyone know of a restaurant with good food and a space large enough to accomodate 20-30 people? Some of my friends are picky eaters, so we'd probably stay away from Chinese or Japanese, and other cuisines that some people may think are too "weird"...
Location: Anywhere in Manhattan, but not too far up on the upper west/east sides.
Price range: $30-40 per person, not including drinks. Would a prix fixe or set menu (with a few appetizer/entree choices) be possible in this price range?
Thanks!
Girls night out dinner...
My friends and I are planning a girls-night out to celebrate a few milestones in our careers, and we're looking for a restaurant for dinner before we go bar hopping afterwards! We're looking for a fun, relatively inexpensive place (under $35-40 per person, including drinks) with good eats/drinks and a semi-trendy scene (but also kind of chill). The group is going to be about 10-15 friends in their early/mid-20's. Any type of food is fine. We don't really want to be in a private room as we'd like to experience the atmosphere of the restaruant. But, a place with an outdoor patio would be great too!
Places we've been thinking about: Luna Park, Citizen Smith, Village Idiot, Bar Marmount, and Cobras y Matadors. (Don't really want to go to places like Geisha House, Dolce, Katana, Asia de Cuba)
Location: Around WeHo/Hollywood/Los Feliz/downtown...
Any other suggestions or experiences with the above places? Thanks!
Brunch below the 20's
I'm looking for a low-key brunch spot in the 20's and below. Somewhere in the village/soho/LES would be great, but also looking for great spots in the chelsea/gramercy area. I've been to Prune (which I really enjoyed), Stanton Social, Balthazar (too busy), and Jane but am looking to try somewhere new that's preferably not so busy!
How are Clinton St Baking Co (I've tried to go before but there always seems to be a long wait... is it worth it?), Public, and Essex?
I'd really appreciate any other suggestions too! Thanks!
Pasadena Whole Foods - wow!
I went there last night and they ran out of grocery bags! So disappointing... I asked the cashier if I qualified for one and a manager (? or some kind of a higher up) standing behind her seemed annoyed and wasn't even apologetic about it. That experience in itself kind of turned me off to the entire store...
Anyway, this Whole Foods is a cute, gimmicky store and very similar to the ones I've been to in NYC in terms of how it's arranged (multi-storied, cart escaltor, pre-cooked meals stations-- though not as extensive as back East, in-store dining). Plus, it totally reminds me of NYC, with its crowds and frenzied experience! It's very urban for a suburban place like Pasadena... It'd be perfect for the new developments in downtown LA!
Ce Fiore in Arcadia
Has anyone been to the Ce fiore in the Santa Anita mall? It's been open for about a month or two. I've been there multiple times and although I love their creamy yogurt (especially their green tea/blackberry swirl!!!), I've had a couple bad experiences with the staff. They seem a little inexperienced in their "swirling," as the people at Pinkberry like to call it. Their servings are pretty small (the yogurt doesn't even reach the top of the cup!), especially when you consider the price 3.50 for a small, 6.75 for a large. One time I even called one of the servers out and the response I got was, "I would've given you more if you had told me you didn't want toppings." Right... Even worse, I was served by the owner/manager today and he gave me even less froyo than usual!!! This makes me think... dude, they're cheap!!! Unfortunately, even with their poor service, I like their froyo too much to stop going. :( Has anyone else had the similar experiences at this branch?
Yakimochi and other Japanese pastries in LA?
I was in NYC this week and came across a Japanese bakery called Cafe Zaiya. They had amazing pastries that I haven't come across anywhere in LA before. My favorite was something called yakimochi, which was a chewy, disc-shaped, baked pastry made of glutinous rice dough, flecked with black sesame seeds, and filled with red bean. It was so good that I can't stop thinking about it! They also had a few other tasty things, like mochi and an (red bean) donuts. Has anyone come across a bakery/market/other place in Jtown or Torrance/Gardena that has stuff like this?
