When a "Best of" restaurant kind of isn't

Bon Appetit magazine named Baco Mercat one of the "Hot 10" best new restaurants of 2012.  It was a "Best New Restaurant" in LA Weekly, covered in Esquire and made the cover of Angeleno. Not going would be like making some sort of statement, like the people who don't join Facebook. 

Book a table before 6:30 if you want to eat this year!

Baco Mercat was good. But it was also a lesson to me; a lesson I'd already learned in film. I used to think that if a movie was good enough to be nominated for an Oscar, it must be life-changing. But after years of cramming in the nominees' films during awards season, I realized that was false. Sometimes films are nominated because they happened to be the non-comedies that sucked the least. They were all good, just like Baco Mercat was good. But the earth did not rumble beneath me after my first bite, and I'd have to concede that expectations can ruin a perfectly good meal.

Hammered metal plateware classes up the joint

I also have to remember that this is Josef Centeno, the chef that every critic in Los Angeles goes gaga over. He opened The Lazy Oz Canteen to mucho fanfare, but I left disappointed. Critics are going to love whatever Centeno does, just like film critics will always love Spielberg, even if he made that Indiana Jones Crystal Skull film thingie in 2008. Oh, you missed that one?

Julie and Dayna, hotties who make me wish my hair were yellow

I wish Ricardo Zarate could get the credit that Centeno receives. Their menus are so similar, but the Picca Peru chef's food just tastes better. That's what should matter the most. Baco is worth the trip, but it's more of a People's Choice Award than Oscar-worthy.

having fun with friends even if I am a brunette

southern fried chicken and a biscuit - what could be better?

oxtail sandwich

Caroline on Crack

Update: Caroline has informed me she does not wish for me to publish her list in its entirety. Legally, I can expert but not publish the whole list.

So I will only provide excepts.

Thanks Caroline.

Fellow Los Angeles blogger Caroline on Crack wrote a popular post titled 100 things to try in L.A. before you die. I won't lie, I was quite pleased with myself to discover just how many things on that list I have already experienced.

Then again, maybe it's not because we're in the know so much as we are avid followers of Thrillist and L.A. Weekly's Annual "Best of" issue, where a huge percentage of these random and obscure references obviously come from.

In the end, it doesn't matter whether or not these are the true gems of Los Angeles. What matters is that we had the chutzpah to go out and try them. So if anyone out there has a suggestion of a must-do in Los Angeles, I'm ready for it.

Caroline on Crack's 100 things to try in L.A. before you die - notches on my belt are highlighted in purple!

1) Number one has been removed


2) Number two, gone

3) Rattlesnake and rabbit with jalapeno at Wurstkuche

4) Korean short ribs taco from Kogi BBQ taco truck

5-7 have been removed

8) Red velvet cupcake from Sprinkles

9) Singing Elvis at Palms Thai

10) Something from Disneyland but I can't say

11) Junk food dessert platter at Simon LA

12-17 have been removed

18) Mulholland Drive from 405 to 101

19) Medicina Latina at Malo

20) Father’s Office burger

21) Maple bacon doughnut at Nickel Diner


22) Mashti Malone’s lavender ice cream

23) Red Line Metro barhop

24) Live music at Spaceland

25-31 have been removed

32) High Tea at Royal/T


33-35 - See ya

36) Ride the mechanical bull at Saddle Ranch and have a premium SR AMF

 37-42 - gone.

43) Bartender’s Choice at Comme Ca

44-48 have been removed

49) Blood & Sand cocktail at Tiki Ti

50) Tea and a stroll through Huntington Gardens


51) Drive Sunset Boulevard from Echo Park to PCH in a convertible

52) Double chocolate croissant pudding with Jack Daniels sauce at Milk

53) Hike from Fern Dell Drive to Mt. Hollywood, stopping at Griffith Observatory

54-62 gone

63) LA Phil concert at Walt Disney Concert Hall

64) Pool party at Standard Rooftop Bar
65) Quarter chicken with side of garlic sauce at Zankou Chicken

66-67 buh-bye

69) Los Angeles Marathon
70) Marty & Elayne at Dresden Room

71) Coleslaw and sourdough toast at Original Pantry

72-81 have been removed
82) Box seats at Hollywood Bowl summer concert

83) Dodger Dog at Dodger Stadium

84-86 - Adios!

87) Summer movie at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery

88) History Walk from Mission San Gabriel to Olvera Street

89) Taro ice cream at Fosselman’s
90) Galco’s Soda Pop Shop

91-95 have been removed

96) Karaoke at Brass Monkey

97) Yee-Mee-Lu “blue drink” at Good Luck Bar

98) Sunset dinner and horseback riding with Sunset Ranch

99-100 have been removed.

He Stacks Rocks, People!

Last week, L.A. Weekly released their special edition, People 2009. Cover to cover it's filled with people who make Los Angeles the sick mecca it is. Most of the entries I agree with. Cutting-edge vaudeville circus troupe Lucent Dossier? But of course. Drew Barrymore? Why she's our homecoming queen!

Then there's um, Kevin Morgan. He's concerned about drugs and violence in Venice Beach, which is changing the scene, making it a darker place. So what does he do about it? He doesn't provide counseling. He didn't open a rehab center. He doesn't volunteer. He...stacks rocks. That's right folks, he takes rocks and puts them on top of one another.

They call him "The Rock Star."He quotes,"It's a memorial to 89 lives. They came from all over the world, [but] lost their lives to bad influence choices. They are the forgotten souls of Venice Beach." Of course they are forgotten! Meth heads roam around like zombies, engaging in petty theft for their next fix, and Mr. Morgan is playing with stones!

I appreciate the art he's providing takes patience. It looks fantastic. I even appreciate the man's fine bone structure. But how can L.A. Weekly praise him as a man of the people, someone who's giving back? How is a drug-crazed gangster going to see a pile of rocks and think, "Sh** yo, I better quit this bidness." Um, no. In fact, calling him a "Rock Star" and tagging him as a philanthropist makes me want to take drugs.

Better Than The Best of L.A. Weekly

LA Weekly's "Best of" issue was unleashed last weekend - an event I look forward to every year. I devour page after page with a hot cup of coffee and a pair of scissors. When I first moved here from the East Coast, I clung to the "Best of" issue to try and pick up the vibe of Los Angeles. The following two years I studied each entry and wrote down addresses, determined to make myself like this place. These days, I use it to explore and uncover. And now that I know this town, I can see where the entries are lacking.

For instance, the "Best View from Money" piece urges people to see the Los Angeles skyline from a spot in the swanky hills of La Canada. But the price of gas combined with an addiction to T.V. can hardly pull people off the couch these days. Make it worth the trip and stop at DISH on Foothill Boulevard in La Canada. Inside there are roaring fireplaces, hardwood floors and gorgeous vintage woodwork. When you settle into the dining room, look up at the old bones, painted white and looking like a Hamptons throwback. And the food - oh, the food. The juicy hangar steaks, crisp salads topped with goat cheese and fresh sliced fruit, the tangy apple chutney on sizzling pork chops and the warm chocolate bread pudding a la mode are to die for.
Everything is painstakingly homemade and the warmth exuding from the place stays with you as you drive downhill, back to the smoggy, congested flatlands.

Some Angelenos may fear dining more than six miles off the Sunset strip, as it may disrupt their carefully-crafted idea of cool. Allow me to draw some comparisons. On the strip, girls who have come to the sad realization that they'll never be smart enough to be rich on their own, (or not smart enough to realize they can), squeeze their wares into shiny tube tops and haunt the bars looking for people with money. For those who have seen the rolling green estates of La Canada, you would know that the place is moneyed, and not peppered with UCLA frat boys. The men at DISH go for Hefewiesen, not Heineken, and nobody would ever yell the formidable, "Whooh!"

On Sunset, people gain a slight sense of achievement looking down at the glittering lights of Los Angeles from the heights of the strip. Especially when gripping an overpriced cocktail after standing in line for an hour to get in. The view from La Canada? Higher. We're talking a few exits away from the Mt. Wilson Observatory, which makes Griffith Park look like a high school planetarium. Here's their link: http://www.dishbreakfastlunchanddinner.com/

I'm inspired now, and feel morally obligated to do my own "Best of" blogs when the event arises. In the meantime, put down the remote, get in your car and start exploring. Here's LA Weekly's link: http://www.laweekly.com/bestOf