hungry hippo. no hungry cat.

Jumping on the bandwagon, we decided to check out the Hungry Cat over at the shopping center on Sunset across from the Arclight. I've been a big fan of AOC for quite some time, so I suppose any restaurant opened by Suzanne Goin deserves a try. A glowing review in the Times cemented our resolve to check this place out. Reservations are pretty much required now, although on a Thursday night we were seated within 15 minutes. all shots taken with my new sony dsc-t7 camera. please read on for a brief rant on this beautiful piece of photographic equipment.


The wine list has some reasonably priced offerings, but this one seemed a little bit like a dessert wine. A little bit sweet for our dinner but still pretty decent.


Scallop Tartare was served with chili oil and mandarine slices. Both combine to form an interesting contrast with the scallops. Pretty tasty.


Pug Burger. This burger is amazing. Just as at AOC, the attention to quality ingredients really makes a big difference. Bacon, blue cheese, and avacoado were all top notch. The bun was from La brea baking company and also quite delicious. The fries arrived luke warm and not very crispy. A minor complaint, but at $14 everything should be pretty close to perfect.



Soft shell crab. Another extremly indulgent item, this was served fried with a nice batter and covered with some sort of delicious mayonaisse based sauce and resting on a bed of corn with big pieces of pork belly. perhaps the highest calorie density of any dish on the face of the earth. So delicious.


Blue cheese ordered on the side of the burger. No skimping here.

sony dsc-t7

Well, I was trying to avoid any tech blogging, but the nerd in me has come out. I thought I had found my new blogging camera with the new Sony DSC-t7.

Unfortunately, the sony is very poor performing in low-light situations. Sometimes taking pics of food is pretty conspicuous so the flash is out. But getting a picture in focus with this sony can be quite challenging. A small tripod might help but there's no tripod mount built into the camera. nor is there a 2 second timer mode which helps keep camera shake down. All in all, the canon sd200,300 or 400 is probably a much better choice for food blogging. Although I am tempted to try the new fuji z1, which touts its low-light abilities and higher sensitivity settings.

Osteria Nonni

Edit: this was written 2 months ago. Not that that matters.

We've been going to this little neighborhood for a few years now. Amazingly we still only order one dish. Last night was no exception, the lemon chicken special at Nonni is pretty much the only dish worth mentioning at this place. I know that sounds harsh, and in a way it is. The pizzas are passable, the bolognese was bland beyond compare, admittedly we were tempted by a meatball lasagna looking thing at the table next to us last night but we stayed the course. I'm not really sure how a place can get one dish so right but every single other item on the menu not quite right. Perplexing to say the least.
Sadly last night I was disappointed by even the lemon chicken. The creamy lemon sauce was neither very creamy nor very lemony. More of a buttery garlic concoction. Don't get me wrong, butter and garlic is a great combo... but any variation on this dish is cause for alarm. Its been the same for all the years we've been going. Another disturbing complaint I had was the chopping of the garlic, it looked as though it had been done by a 6 year old. Very large pieces, coursely chopped. Not good. And in a somewhat ironic display, the oglio and aglio was not very garlicy or tasty. The pasta was al dente (sometime last week) but when served was very mushy and not delicious at all.

the perfect dumpling.

stop and take a number.


stop and try the appetizer. no, its called the appetizer.


stop and admire its perfectness.

another pho cafe sign entry

This was emailed to us a while back. just getting around to posting it.



anyway, Andrew from hereinvannuys.blogspot.com was kind enough to send that entry in. check out his blog...