Lovin’ this….oysters on the westside!

Classic Tables: Water Grill  

A downtown institution for seafood comes to Santa Monica  

Long before a fascination with retro seafood dishes rolled over the city like a salty wave, Downtown’s Water Grill was the hands-down favorite for elegant surf-and-turf: chilled shrimp Louie salad ($26), bowls of garlicky cioppino ($32) brimming with shellfish and an impeccably fried plate of fish and chips ($26).

It’s no coincidence that L.A.’s two most prominent seafood chefs, Michael Cimarusti and David LeFevre, both spent time running Water Grill’s kitchen over the years before opening their own projects (Damon Gordon is currently at the helm).

Twenty-four years after its original debut, Water Grill has added a ritzy second location along Santa Monica’s Ocean Avenue, complete with panoramic seaside views, a burnished copper raw bar, puffy leather booths and schooner-inspired wall hangings.

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Fun from Eater!

Watch the Teaser Trailer for Next’s Bocuse d’Or Menu

Here’s the teaser for the new Bocuse d’Or menu at the ever-changing Next in Chicago. Like past trailers for the elBulli menu and the Hunt menu, the Bocuse d’Or teaser is super-intense and serious. The video features dramatic music and high speed plating in front of a black backdrop.

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(Source: https://www.youtube.com/)

I made this Sangria on Saturday and everyone loved it!  It took a little longer to grill the fruit than they said but I had fun doing it.  AND my pictures (the bottom two) look awfully similar to the professional one above/on the top!!  

Grilled Citrus and Grape Sangria

Fantastic Labor Day Cocktail: To add a wonderful, subtle smokiness to sangria, Michael Chiarello grills oranges, lemons and grapes. If you grill twice as much fruit as the recipe calls for, you’ll be all ready to make a second batch. READ MORE

RECIPE

I’m seriously thinking of checking this place out this afternoon.  Anyone else want to come?  :)

South Hospitality: Abbot Kinney Pizza from a Mozza Vet

You’re in Venice. The LA one.

Thinking about Venice. The Italian one.

And how there’s a lot of pizza there, but none from a Mozza vet…

(And incidentally, the Florida Venice never crossed your mind.)

Meet South End, an intimate wine bar with pizza from the man who was recently running the kitchen at Pizzeria Mozza, now soft-open on Abbot Kinney.

The keyword above was “Mozza.” Which means next time you feel like getting close to someone who appreciates the significance of said keyword, you’ll squeeze into this dark little box of wood slats. It’s got a giant mural of some girl’s face, and that’s about it, decor-wise.

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South End
2805 Abbot Kinney Blvd
Venice, CA 90291
424-228-4736
official website

I wrote about Wolvesmouth over 6 months ago when Craig Thornton was featured in the New Yorker and Tasting Table.  Well now Craig is at it again and created a two week artist residency called CUT YOUR TEETH with Matthew Bone at the Santa Monica Museum of Art.  After reading about Wolvesmouth, I dreamed up the Eat+Drink Supper Club - we will hold our 5th dinner next month!  I wonder what this will make me come up with?  

Animal Instinct: A Secret Dinner in a Forest. (In a Museum.)

You’re deep inside a dark forest.

You stumble across some animals. They appear to be stuffed.

You look up to see a dangling chandelier—weird. Also, it appears to be made out of teeth.

Behind you, something clatters.

You’re either at an astoundingly mysterious new dinner party inside a museum, or something pretty bad is about to happen…

Prepare your game face for Cut Your Teeth, in which LA’s hottest underground dinner party, Wolvesmouth, steps into a museum exhibit that’s basically a full-on creepy forest—tickets go on sale Friday at 9am.

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Cut Your Teeth
at Santa Monica Museum of Art
2525 Michigan Ave
Santa Monica, CA 90404
310-586-6488
official website

https://chill.com/project/5ae9307def43470b98e7c88372f9a9c9/embed

I’m sure many of you here in Los Angeles saw last week that the first LA Diner en Blanc took place on Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills.  1300 people showed up dressed in white for dinner.  It looked amazing!

The Eat+Drink Supper Club had our own mini diner en blanc a couple weeks ago with our french David Feau dinner.  It WAS amazing!

Well now there is a documentary about this phenomenon called “Diner en Blanc: The World’s Largest Dinner Party”.  I don’t know what it is about this trailer but it made me cry.  Maybe it’s the collective goal of everyone coming together to have an amazing dinner.  Maybe it’s that my lovely friend from France, Jacqueline, told me about this months and months ago.  I don’t know.  But I love it.

“Diner en Blanc: The World’s Largest Dinner Party”

(Source: https://chill.com/)

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32545640

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Brazilliant!!!  I LOVE Marilyn!!

Marilyn Hagerty Reviews a Cronut: “It’s Very Chewy”

Viral Grand Forks Herald restaurant critic Marilyn Hagerty tasted one of chef Dominique Ansel’s mania-inducing Cronuts on Today this morning. In the segment, Today had “trendy New York items” like Ramen Burgers and Bantam bagel holes on hand, though Hagerty only had time to review the Cronut. It wasn’t clear whether she knew the backstory of the pastry when she gave her assessment: “Well, it’s very chewy, it’s very good. I think that I would like it with a cup of coffee, maybe in the afternoon … in the afternoon you can eat more.” Unfortunately for Hagerty, afternoon Cronut eating isn’t a possibility since the pastries sell out quickly to the people waiting in the epic line at Ansel’s SoHo bakery every morning.

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(Source: http://download.macromedia.com/)

I SWEAR this phenomenon is also happening here in Los Angeles.  It’s driving me insane because I keep thinking I’m turning into an old curmudgeon (I’m not, I swear!).  I hope Eater LA does a similar test here in LA.  Here are my top picks for noise: Bestia and Salt Air.

Decibel Levels in New York’s Hottest Restaurants

Critics, bloggers, and Eater readers frequently complain about noise levels in New York restaurants these days. Adam Platt wrote about the “Great Noise Boom” last month, and before that Robert Sietsema offered his own take on the noise problem. With this issue in mind, Eater set out to collect hard data on some of the worst offenders. Here, now, are peak decibel levels recorded at 19 of the city’s hottest restaurants in order of loud to loudest:

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This is by far my favorite cronuts post ever.  Clearly not all fake cronuts are made alike.

The Ultimate Food Emporium Fake Cronut Taste Test

Following the news that Food Emporium had jumped on the Cronut bandwagon, Eater headed out to try to obtain some of the so-called “creme filled croissant donuts.” The Hell’s Kitchen Food Emporium apparently sold out of their supply yesterday, but at 12:30 p.m. the Union Square Food Emporium had a counter full of fake Cronuts in four different flavors and absolutely no line. Maria, the friendly woman behind the pastry counter, reported that the knockoffs were a hit, and that just today they’d already sold around 100. So how do these croissant donuts hold up to the real deal? 

Check out what Eater had to say!