aliris's Profile
Balboa Park: Good, Cheap, Fast?
Hey everyone -- thanks! I thought about all these suggestions but ended up opting for the Japanese tea house. It was good-enough. Not great by any means, and not really cheap either, but not outrageous. And it was pleasant in the sun, overlooking the cherry blossoms, listening to a concert.
We'll try the rest of these next time.
And gosh, were all those people at the park not tourists then? What are the tourists all doing downtown?
Balboa Park: Good, Cheap, Fast?
Hi yall -- I can't believe this isn't what 85% of visitors want to know: where to go in Balboa park (Sunday for us) that's decent, cheap and fast please! We're swooping in from very far away to hit one museum and don't want to spend much time eating; but we don't want to have wretched food either.
Any hints please?
Many thanks SD!
Key lime pie on the Westside?
I agree that key lime pie is mostly whipped cream. But if you go for it understanding that, it's yummy. Sometimes it's cream you want, like a banana cream pie. This is a key-lime version of banana cream, if you follow. Good, but maybe not classic. I like it, in agreement with another poster. But I can't wait to try Dolce Isola - thanks for that tip!
Recommendation for inexpensive but good dinner for 8 in West LA on a Monday night
Wow; that's great to know. thanks.
They were *so* helpful a month or so ago when we found ourselves with 2 youngish children arriving back in town, very hungry, very tired, really very, very - dangerously tired (long story) -- I steered us over there, plonked into a table and they fed us in very short order so that we could roll out and get this day behind us. It was the next best thing to having a mother around; very helpful. Very appreciated. And the food is cheap even without that lunch special option and very tasty too. I really appreciate their presence.
Recommendation for inexpensive but good dinner for 8 in West LA on a Monday night
Seconded (thirded?) ... and there's a $20 for $10 coupon on yipit today. Don't know how long these things are available. I love Tara's food - very authentic for that general region.
Thai Boom on the same block is also very good, but a little less atmospheric.
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Thai Boom
10863 Venice Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90034
Antica Pizzeria
Do both these places still exist? Are they comparable? It sounds as if they're both excellent in their own right, though different. Is that fair enough?
Honestly, so confusing....
A child just ate with friends at the SM one and loved it and I thought the family might go, but I'm wondering whether either would be just fine, even if different establishments?!
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Pizza Antica
395 Santa Monica Pl #304, Santa Monica, CA 90401
Great Dim Sum == Great Dinner??
Thanks all -- I was rarely in that neighborhood and thought I'd like to have what it does so well - Chinese food. At first I wondered whether the famous dim sum places might be similarly impressive for menu items. I gather sometimes, sometimes-not.
Unfortunately none of the places mentioned for non-dim sum dinner would take a take-away order over the phone. They needed us to arrive and place the order which they would pack up. Fair enough, but not possible for us yesterday, so sadly, we had to leave with no Chinese Food. Another day. Thanks for the recommendations.
Great Dim Sum == Great Dinner??
Grrr... 4 tries to reply and counting; pls excuse brevity! Any particular place to recommend for takeaway dinner on Atlantic? Plans have changed! Many thanks....
Great Dim Sum == Great Dinner??
Thanks ipsedixit! We tried Elite at long last and it seemed practically dinner-plated, so that's part of the reason I figured... appreciate the suggestions.
Great Dim Sum == Great Dinner??
Thank you cartbaby -- that's what I meant. Sorry for the confusion!
Is there good bread to be had in the West LA area?
Not sure if you're willing to include bagels in the mix. I like the Bagel Factory's bagels, especially hot from the oven. They have a branch on Nat'l and Pico as well as on Robertson south of Pico.
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Bagel Factory
2320 S Robertson Blvd, Los Angeles, CA
Bagel Factory
3004 S Sepulveda Blvd, Los Angeles, CA
Great Dim Sum == Great Dinner??
The family and I (2 &2) will be in the Monterey Park area for dinner Saturday night. Is it a safe bet to head for the highly recommended Dim Sum places in Monterey Park or is there some other restaurant that might be better once the sun sets please?
TIA
Fresh fish market in Portland?
Oh my - you *are* making me happy, just by the suggestion! I'm about to hop in the car right now... (kidding). Thanks for that terrific other information. Portland sounds like so much fun to explore -- and live in. sigh.
Fresh fish market in Portland?
Terrific -- thank you very much! For the record this appears to be their website (which is great): http://www.harborfish.com/ and their hours are M/Sa: 8:30-5:30; Su: 9-3. It appears you just get off the hiway at Franklin and turn right, briefly, at the water. Even I might be able to handle that. Hopefully it will be clear where to stash the car. Thanks again.
Fisherman's Catch in Wells?
In Wells, Captn Hooks Fish Market was just mentioned in another thread. I can't comment on any of the above, just wanting to link commentary on the same locale. G'luck.
Fresh fish market in Portland?
Hi yall -- where do you buy fresh, local (unprepared) fish in Portland? Is there a good local "fishmonger", or whatever, who sells fisherman's wares? Everyone always tells me "Hannaford", but they mostly only have stuff frozen in Norway, or whatever ... so I'm wondering if there's a local market people actually can get good off-the-boat fish?
Actually, it doesn't have to be from Portland, just something mid-coast even. I know of Simpson's up the road near the Hannaford outside of Wiscasset. I haven't actually been enormously impressed with them lately either. I'm looking for something that's actually quite active with boats coming and going, but selling something other than the ubiquitous lobster - haddock or cod or hake or, geesh, stripers smelt? or whatever happens to be hopping at the moment. I only mentioned Portland because, being a large coastal town, I would guess it would have the largest chance of finding the most active dock-side place, but if there's another I'd love to hear of it too.
p.s. puuulllleeeeze don't tell me "Whole Foods" as I was recently pointed to. I guess if that's really where it's at I'd be curious to hear that, but it's *really* not what I'm hoping to learn about!! Mostly, because even so, I don't think I could possibly go there.
Boothbay Harbor: Baker's Way (Maine)
There has been some mention of this restaurant elsewhere and questions about BBH too (summer, 2011). This place isn't new, but I think it needs its own-headed entry. It's run now by Vietnamese in BBH. Someone mentioned finding the baked goods not appetizing-looking. I want to just say I thought their molasses donut was as good as any I've had (and I've had far too many in various locales). I don't really think these sort of donuts are judge-able by appearance alone, in general. They often look non-descript, but the taste, IMHO, was perfect, to my mind, on a recent visit.
So perfect that I actually turned around and returned and got a breakfast sandwich of egg and bacon and cheese on a croissant. Now I've been thinking about that thing for weeks. It was absolutely delicious. The croissant was fantastic too. In general, I think putting such flavorful food on a croissant is a waste so I've been wondering what the croissant actually tastes like on its own; haven't been back to find out, but it's on my list. It seemed really very buttery and flakey. If you're looking for just that non-sweet breakfast, I would recommend it though I can't confirm its being great.
I've had in the past and liked the vietnamese food at Baker's Way as well though can't comment on it recently. The ambience of the place is zero, still, after several years. If you're willing to put up with styrofoam plates (and I often am not and am not sure why people on vacation would want to, frankly), then I recommend the place. I think it's the best food I've had in BBH this summer. Even the ice cream this summer seemed off; not so this breakfast fare!
If you're looking for good food, served quickly but not particularly graciously, in BBH, I can recommend Baker's Way. If you're looking for take-away breakfast fare I *highly* recommend this place!
When Pigs Fly Pizzeria In Kittery-- any thoughts?
Well ... I must say, the bathrooms (women's) had the neatest sinks I've ever seen. The were attached to the wall with little mini I-beams that held up cement blocks into which were set glass tiles in a sort of 'eyebrow'-shaped curve. I wouldn't want to clean that zero-radius myself, but hey -- for industrial-cheapo it was really nice. And the stalls definitely gave a taste of prison for those of us curious about the experience out here.
Food? I was surprisingly underwhelmed. I say surprisingly because I personally absolutely adore their bread. I would consider this, and in fact treat their bakery, as a destination in and of itself. I have and do go to great lengths to acquire their bread. So I presumed the pizza would be similarly spectacular. IMO: nope. The dough they use was actually, IMO, too tough. And underneath the fillings it was thin and/or just plain too soggy. Maybe the ovens aren't hot enough? But what happened was, there were some sort of interesting, if trendy, toppings atop goey, actually even somewhat tasteless "bread" -- it was so soggy you couldn't even pick up the pizza; this is strictly a knife and fork meal. But even once you got to the bread rind it wasn't even all that good -- not bad, but considering I can and do eat an entire loaf of their perfect-crumb bread regularly, how is it that this pizza dough is so uninspiring? I was so surprised!
They still haven't gotten in their salt shakers, which is OK as far as I'm concerned; I'd rather have bland food and taste what little there is to taste. What we tasted was a lamb pizza, a broccolini and a artichoke one. The artichoke, I thought, was the most flavorful. Others in my party disagreed. The broccolini had a lot of cheese - it was tasty, and obviously of good quality. Again, IMO completely marred by the essential absence of anything but soggy flour underneath. yuck. The lamb was, at least, not greasy. And surprisingly unflavorful. I didn't not like it, just wasn't very thrilled about it. I imagine it was fancy and/or local. I think it could have been better-highlighted in a different "setting", is my only real point. On top of the problematic pizza dough I think what must have been a pretty special piece of meat was just kind of lost.
I must say the service was perfect. We arrived at what must have been the end of a slam-packed lunchtime in the rain. I had no idea this is essentially an extension of the Kittery outlet-madness. There were actually *tour busses* there. This is the Maine analog of a mall pizzeria. And in comparison with that, it's really excellent. It's just in comparison with a bakery that puts out that unbelievably scrumptious bread, that this place comes up way short. Or in comparison with a local slow-food carefully-prepared gourmanderie, well, IMO it's short on that stick too.
I went out of my way to make space for this place, but I won't do so again. I will for the bakery -- that bread pudding they make is worth traveling, IMO, about 3-400 miles for! Not to mention the potato bread and harvest bread and the cranberry bread and the spinach and on and on ... I would just be the happiest clam on the block locked in their bread factory for a whole night. But IMO, the pizza place was just a mix of tourist-slammed and trendoidal-thoughlessness. Not worth travelling out of one's way for. In fact, if in Kittery again I probably wouldn't even go there for lunch again; dunno. It was fast-enough, just not very cheap -- a real damper in putting up with crowds, IMO. Maybe in November.... but that industrial-scape is hardly warm and friendly. I bet that will not be a very welcoming place come cold weather.
Maine Lobster Rolls
In re: the wait - Tuesday night, in the rain, 7pm: ZERO people in line! I'm pretty sure I've hardly ever seen that in mid-August. Course, you have to sit in the rain too, but they do have umbrellas. Or your car. I believe the report of massive amounts of lobster in the roll; that's my memory or several years ago at least. Which is to say, I do believe the hype is not groundless; again, it's a cost:benefit question and at the end of the day that's personal. And for the record, I bought 1 lb picked lobster meat from an admittedly expensive place recently (Aug2011) for $36/lb. I've little doubt it can be gotten for a bit cheaper elsewhere; how much so is probably a function of latitude and distance from tourists. :) ($36/lb was ground zero for both, as is Red's, so it's a good comparison, I think).
Lunch in Portland ME near the train station?
I'm not from Portland or the Chamber of Commerce, but I agree to avoid slogging along that icky stretch near the bus station. Rereading the OP it seems you'll arrive at the bus station but then get picked up by car a couple hours later ... any chance of just asking that car to collect you from intown? That way you could skip the round-trip part and wind up with more time. You certainly *can* walk 15 minutes, but why spend your limited time in that waste land, wind up in a non-memorable part of town and miss out on what's unique about Portland? Every city has a stretch populated with "homeless people, drunks, and lost ... players", but only Portland has its waterfront. G'luck! I sure wish they'd put those transportation hubs closer to the center of things. Maybe someone from the chamber of commerce *will* read this. Free shuttle?
Maine Lobster Rolls
Yup. Not sure when they close up shop altogether but it could be before then.
I love Sarah's!
Note that the map stuck the lobster dock on Southport island instead of Georgetown, which is incorrect ... the lobster dock is on the west side of the Sheepscot, not the east side.
I love Sarah's!
Thanks all for the improvements: whoops on forgetting to note even the state. I think I've added a link to the location but if I've messed up, someone please add it who is less technically challenged! It's just south of the bridge in Wiscasset (Maine), at the bottom of the hill. You'll want to pull off to park *before* you hit the bridge (that is Sheepscot River - as in large body of water) if you're driving northward.
Sarah's son also opened a lobster dock on Georgetown (Maine) that I'll link. It's not, to my mind, as special as Sarah's. Just sort of the standard fry-everything stuff, at least when he opened a couple years ago. I was hopeful for some more imaginative treatment of the same-old but I was disappointed. It's not bad, just not different. And the dock is harder to land on than the popular five-islands, fwiw. But it's closer by car from the mainland if that's your goal. Not sure of prices or relative quality. I had Sarah's lobster roll a few years ago (it was cheaper than Red's and faster) and the roll was, well, too good! There's something about eating lobster rolls that is sort of slumming it nutritionally - those dirty supermarket spacey white-bread thingies are kind of de rigeur. Sort of; I use Hannaford's whole wheat long hotdog buns nowadays, a good compromise between disgusting and too-good (a la Sarah's)).
Evidently Sarah's stopped serving breakfast which is a real blow! Their cinnamon rolls were ridiculously good; I imagine a whole day's calories were contained therein. You can special-order them but not happen upon them, which is probably much better for the waistline. Sarah's being closed for breakfast makes it easier to forge ahead to Ship's Chow Hall for breakfast near Huber's Market (the bus depot) on rte 1 south of town. That's a pretty nifty place too; breakfast and lunch only. (I'll link it as well). With Sarah's open it often beckoned larger, in part just because it is so present on the wharf there. Ship's is very much of a hole-in-the-wall. Blink and it's gone; turning around on rte 1 is no mean feat (why doesn't anyone factor that in when pondering the bypass question as it relates to business?).
Sarah's closes at 8pm during the week; not sure about weekend hours - likely they're different. And she's open year-round but I imagine the hours change again once the summer madness dissipates. I agree with shooley - the place is a beacon of warmth, friendliness -- in winter especially, when calling ahead for a pizza is a really sustaining action.
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Sarah's Cafe
45 Water St, Wiscasset, ME 04578
Sarah's Dockside
80 Moore's Turnpike Rd, Georgetown, ME 04548
Ship's Chow Hall
277 Bath Rd, Wiscasset, ME 04578
I love Sarah's!
...can I tell you why? This is really my favorite restaurant all across the United States. I haven't a ton of money to go to the wonderful, fancy places I read about here. But occasionally I've been to some top-ranked places but I've never really enjoyed myself as much as I have at this restaurant.
The cost:benefit matters, so that's some of the reason. I just love it that they seem to have chef/cooks who actually execute some imagination and sense - for example, when I order a garden salad there I believe it often comes with some leftover veggies from, say, lunch or even yesterday? Never have I had anything that didn't seem fresh, but I often get something different from last time, something seemingly seasonal. That is, it seems like someone was a little imaginative and creative and tossed in a different vegetable than they did last time. That's kinda amazing to me.
Their soup/bread bar is a ton of fun, plus delicious and reasonably priced. Very reasonably priced, still. For $5 you get a big bowl of soup and 3 breads - and these breads are just wonderful. Thick, heavy, flavorful. Some are sweet, some have meat and cheese or veggies inside; cheese, herbs - desert, savory, plain or hearty. Etc. Different all the time, almost always fantastic - and those that aren't are what make the rest so, iykwim. You get to do the whole thing all over again a second time for another buck.
The haddock chowder is just fantastic. Some of the other soups are sometimes a little dicey but the variety is great.
There is a huge list of salads other than the afore-mentioned fantastic "garden" salad. Very delicious all.
The "whaleboats" are, as they sound, absolutely huge and very tasty - they're essentially calzones, a two-crusted (folded-over) pizza.
They have absolutely delicious pizza dough, and they make it in whole wheat too. And the whole wheat really is - tasty, rich in flavor. Just delicious.
You can call and order your pizza ahead of time and then sit down to eat it at the restaurant - no waiting! It's so nice that they let you do that, lots of places won't. Their pizza is so delicious too.
Sometimes the food is has been slow coming out of the restaurant but I've never failed to have a server apologize and offer us free bread from the soup bar in those circumstances. Given how wonderful the bread is, it's almost worth the slow service!
But even when slow, I've never had a cranky or ornery or poor server. OK, of course some are better than others but I've never felt miffed about service there even on the busiest of days.
It is so much fun to sit and watch people inch up the line across the street at Red's while you ponder the menu in air conditioned comfort, order, wait for food delivery, eat, pay and depart -- all while your unfortunate dining counterparts outside remain clotted within Red's line, yet to arrive at the ordering window. Smugness is a real appetite enhancer! Cheaper than Red's too (but possibly not as generous in the lobster department; it's OK, just don't order lobster stuff).
I like Sarah's pasta and ravioli too though I can't imagine that they make these themselves. They are very delicious though -- wonder where they get them from?
Just wanted to toss this out as a general accolade. I don't think of Sarah's as really remarkable or special in some way that tends to get note from this board. But as an enjoyable place to grab a meal, it is in a class of its own to me. I really recommend it.
Maine Lobster Rolls
Truthfully, lobster rolls consist of lobster, minimally cut up, mayonnaise, the less the better, and something to put it in. A plate would work at least as well as inedible doughy preservative-laden "bread", but YMMV.
Given this recipe, even if traveling, why not just stop in any lobster pound and buy a pound of picked meat? Most will have some on hand I believe. Stop at any grocery store and pick up some plastic bowls and mayonnaise, whip out your swiss army knife and you're done. For a fraction the price.
That said, I agree that Red's is good, but not worth the wait. And note that the thing about the wait is it includes mind-bogglingly inefficient service. Don't be fooled by the seemingly "short" line. A mere 30 people in line can take an hour for them to serve for some unfathomable reason. Note further that tonight, a Monday, at 7pm there were: *6 people in line*. I was astonished. And I asked (since it wasn't posted): $15.75 for a roll. Don't know what fraction of a pound that roll amounts to, but I can't believe it's more than a half pound. If not, it's cheaper to follow my recipe above, and even on vacation, you can do that.
BTW, if you do use your swiss army knife on a bag of picked meat (Simpson's is a fish market on rte 1 near the Shaw's, I think, south of Wiscasset, e.g.), don't cut the meat up too much. What people like about Red's, apart from there being a lot of meat stuffed into the sandwich and minimal mayonnaise, is that they really don't cut the lobster up very much (less labor = more profit, BTW!). So part of the winning Red's recipe is *big* chunks of lobster. Again, that's really not terribly difficult to replicate.
When Pigs Fly Pizzeria In Kittery-- any thoughts?
I'm eager to try the restaurant as well. I would feast on their bread for breakfast lunch and dinner, all courses if permitted. Turning the bread into pizza sounds like the next best thing.
Persian in Westwood for lunch that won't bury us
Thanks all -- Shamshiri may have been less volumetric than dinner, but it still served two of us for a huge, delicious lunch, two kids for grand after-school snack and dinner as well!
Thanks....
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Shamshiri Restaurant
19249 Roscoe Blvd, Northridge, CA 91324
Persian in Westwood for lunch that won't bury us
I'm taking an out-of-town friend for exotic Persian food in Westwood tomorrow, but I'm worried the scope of dishes at, say, Shamshiri will require that I load a wheelbarrow in the back of the car for our deparure.
Is lunch at Shamshiri as voluminous as dinner? Is there anywhere to recommend for good Persian food (in Westwood) that won't overwhelm our ordinary-sized stomachs?
TIA
Venice/MDR Cheap &/Or Unique Eats
What a lyrical homage to your fair city. I have found it is not true that "everyone is from somewhere else" here. In fact, those I have most liked over the years, now, have been "from here". I think some of this has to do with as you say, honoring what is this place and not looking to recreate somewhere else here. Chicagoans don't go to NYC looking for Chicago, for example; it's incumbant upon you to figure out what Rome is when you're there (so to speak).
Good luck exploring authentically!
