gingergrass

What to say about Gingergrass that hasn't already been said. It's definately one of the up and comers in the Silverlake dining scene. It isn't as good as some of the more basic pho places out in Monterey Park. Much closer and much better atmosphere than those places out in MP. Quite a bit more expensive than those places in MP too.
That's whats already been said that I wholeheartedly believe to be true.
My favorite vietnamese place is still Pho 79, its amazing food and the prices make me feel like that Donald guy.
With that said, Gingergrass is a really nice place to sit down and enjoy a meal with friends. The room is loud but not too loud, and the buzz of a busy restaurant without too much attitude is also a nice built in feature of Ginger. The staff has ranged from friendly and competent to rude and incompetent (even on the same night). Get great service for wine across the street at the silverlake wine shop.
Overall most dishes tend to be a nice mix of traditional flavors with a modern twist. On our last visit, I ordered the salt and pepper shrimp. I generally dont like shrimp fried in the shell, since it makes for a very messy evening and most of the taste is lost during the peeling process. Also on this particular night the shrimp were fried way past their prime. Crispy noodles with vegetables was delicious but reminded me more of chinese than Vietnamese. Fresh rolls are always good for apps here. Not sure how I felt about the desserts. Perhaps writing a review less than 2 months after eating there would make for better reading next time.


gingergrass
2396 Glendale Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90039

el conquistador

First, a note about mexican restaurant reviews... When the review starts off with "great chips and margaritas" you should be very leery of the rest of the review. I've found that drunk people do not make good critics.

The chips and margaritas at el conquistador are great! the rest of the food was not so good. Actually the margaritas were quite good. Not that overly artificial tart/sweet mix thing you get at lots of places these days. Definately loaded with plenty of tequilla. Don't you hate drinking 3 margs and not even feeling drunk? Not the case here. Now, really I should not comment about the rest of the food and just let the pictures describe it. Chile verde, biggest disappointment of the night, was sweet and almost mole like. The pork was kind of dry, which should really worry me since it was in a verde sauce. The rest of the typical mexican "americanized" fair was sub par even for the genre. Crisp taco just needs to be crisp to get at least a 7. These tacos were most likely crisp at 5pm, unfortunately we ate them at 9pm. Enchiladas verde were also strange. The verde was "creamy" for lack of a better word and also had met the working end of a heat lamp for several minutes or more. Anyway, the chips and salsa hit the spot and the drinks are good (if not kind of expensive). Perhaps fill up on chips and salsa and skip dinner. or possibly just go to a better restaurant. la parilla comes to mind.




better for you that pics are blurry.


worst chile verde ever.