SoCal Eats

Since not all the food in the LA area is on Ventura, here's a review of some of the other places I've tried.

The Pizza Cookery: Good service, although I think I was older than the entire female wait staff, which was a little weird. I had a personal pizza with sausage, pepperoni, salami, and meatball slices. The sausage was ok, the pepperoni was on the bland side, and the salami and meatball slices weren't all that flavorfull either. The crust was good and the toppings were piled high, so overall the pizza was good but not something I would really recommend. However, the garlic rolls were really good. I love rolls already, and I love garlic, and they combined them into this wonderful pre-meal snack. The rolls are soft and flavourful and the roasted garlic baked into them just made them heavenly. I will go back for the rolls.

Kate Mantilini: I went at an off hour and decided to sit at the bar and watch the game on the TV. This is one of those places where you pay for a name and an atmosphere. I ordered a burger with side of fries and they were good, but not worth the price charged when I could get a better burger at Jonny Rocket's for half the price. The bartender was very helpful and the service was very good. It was also very obvious that the staff all liked each other and got along very well. And, despite the price, there wasn't a stuffy atmosphere and they didn't scoff at my jeans and t-shirt when I walked in. If you have money and you want to hang out somewhere casual but nice this is a good place to do it if all you're getting is drinks. But I don't think the food they offer is worth the prices they ask.

Ruby's Diner: I think this is a chain but I have yet to see another one and I've never heard of it elsewhere so I think it's a local chain if a chain it is. I'd equate this to Jonny Rockets. The food is good in the same way, although they offer a lot more choices. They do have uniforms, much more accurate to the time they're recreating than Jonny Rockets, which adds to the atmosphere. As for the service, it was pretty bad when I was there although given my observations I'm inclined to think it was my waitress specifically.

Aunt Rosa Lee's: Soul Food with soul. I haven't had soul food in years and Aunt Rosa Lee's was so spot on and so good it just made me happy. The staff were incredibly friendly and the whole place felt like a home dining room complete with Aunt Rosa Lee holding court in one corner. I had the smothered pork chops with a side of mac and cheese and hushpuppies. The pork chops were really, really good, and the gravy was really, really good too. There was so much food on the plate I ended up having to take some home and I threw a little rice from home in with it and the gravy on the rice was just sublime. The mac and cheese was good, not spectacular, although the hot sauce they had on the table really went with it really well. The hushpuppies were a very nice suprise. There was a little heat to them, not overpowering, but enough for you to notice. Some friends I'd gone with had never had soul food and one ordered the oxtails at my recommendation and really loved them, she polished them off completely. I will be trying them next time I go, and even though it's quite a drive away from me, I will be going to Aunt Rosa Lee's again.

East Japanese Restaurant: This place had a really nice look to it inside. It's what you'd expect from a long standing corner Japanese restaurant in the suburbs, even though it's in middle of Little Tokyo. The miso soup was good, even if it did lack tofu. I had the Katsu don which is my favourite Japanese dish and a dish I have been craving since I've been having difficulty finding it at all these sushi joints that have popped up to profit off the craze. The Katsu don was perfect. The rice was flavourful, the pork cutlet wasn't tough, the eggs were soft. The service was good and very friendly even if it was obvious English wasn't the waiter's first language. I will be trying other restaurants in Little Tokyo before going back here, but it's definitely worth going back.

I can't remember the name of the place since I'm not sure they actually had a name sign out, but I was recently on Olivera St and ate at one of the Mexican restaurants there. This was a semi-open air place and really more of a literal hole in the wall than an actual formal restaurant, but that didn't detract from it. The guy handling the sitting area and the take-out window did a good job of staying on top of things considering the only other guy there was in charge of cooking. The place was cleaner than you would expect given it's layout. I had the beef taquitos and they came in this light green sauce, I'm not sure what it was. A friend thought it might be guacamole mixed with sour cream and normally I don't like either but I liked this sauce. I also added a dash of the hot sauce available on the table which had a nice kick to it. The taquitos themselves were very good. It's hard to go back to the frozen in a box variety after having these. They were crisp and the beef was very flavourful. Next time I'm in that area I will be getting the taquitos as a snack again.