Glutton Tuesdays :: Gary Danko

Have you been following on Instagram or on Twitter?? If so, then you've been seeing me in all my fatness, prancing around the city of San Francisco, eating my way through.

We started our trip with QUITE the dinner. Gary Danko.It currently has a one Michelin star rating. It has been one of the restaurants on my "to dine" list! We were lucky enough to get a reservation however, it was VERY late. The last of the evening... at 10PM.

My girlfriend C and I were very ambitious and decided to each get a 4 course meal. We're thinking, "Eh... the plates are probably small. It'll be fine." You have the option of going from 3 to 5 courses. The friendboy opted to go with 5. Of course, we studied the menu before going too. BUT, we didn't notice til later that everyone's dishes around us were HUGE! Well, huge as in, it's a lot of food for 4-5 courses to eat in one sitting.

Here's a peak at some of our dishes...

Seared Sea Scallops with Beluga Lentils, Red Peppers, Madras Curry Vinaigrette and Mint

Made the right choice by going with this dish. Great start to a over-fulfilling ending.

 Roast Maine Lobster with Potato Pur©e, Chanterelle Mushrooms, Corn and Tarragon

This Maine lobster was QUITE tasty and buttery! Melted in our mouths!

Lemon Pepper Duck Breast with Duck Hash, Bacon Braised Endive and Huckleberry Sauce

Not a huge duck fan but this was REALLY good! May even be my fave of the dishes we all ordered.

Seared Filet of Beef with Yukon Potatoes, Swiss Chard, Tomato-Corn Relish and Basil Butter

So full that I maybe had two bites and I was down for the count!

Roasted Pork Belly and Tenderloin with Bacon and Pea Stew, Roasted Peppers and Maple Cider Glaze

We were quite full when this dish came out. It was one of C's last dishes. We were so full, we couldn't taste some of our food anymore! We overworked our taste buds!

Strawberry Souffle with Strawberry Sauce and Strawberry Sorbet

I thought this was different. We thought to try this one since we've never had a strawberry flavored souffle. Quite tasty but not overly sweet.

Baked Chocolate Souffle with Two Sauces

I've always got to try everyone's souffles. This one had both the vanilla bean sauce and a dark chocolatey cocoa sauce poured into the center. It was also an airier cake... almost like a light mousse.

Assorted Cookies

So cute! I couldn't even try them because I was so full. :(

Pineapple Cake for the Ladies

Nice touch! A gift for the ladies to take home with them after dinner.

The cool thing about their course menu is that you get to choose your own courses. They don't even have to be from each category (appetizer, main, dessert). You can pick 5 entrees if you wanted to. You can pick all appetizers OR desserts. It's your choice.

Go if you have a chance! :)

Until later... have a great day! I'll be rollin' around ;)

Glutton Tuesdays :: Plums Cafe

One of my favorite brunch spots so far has been Plums Cafe down in Costa Mesa. I really enjoy their eggs benedict dishes.

SANTA FE EGGS BENEDICT
Poached Eggs over Peppered Ham & Fresh Baguette Chipotle-Cilantro Hollandaise, Served with Plums Potatoes

Here it is, my favorite dish. I've never really enjoyed eggs this way until a friend of mine that teaches cooking, made poached eggs for us. I really have to learn how to do this (well) at home.

ALDERWOOD SMOKED SALMON HASH
Red Potato, Onion & Pepper Hash, Poached Eggs
Dill Hollandaise, Served with Organic Nine Grain Toast

Very colorful arrangement. I was impressed with the poached eggs on top. Really adds that pop (literally) to the dish.

PLUMS FAMOUS DUTCH BABY
A Deep Dish Pancake Skillet Baked, Powdered Sugar & Lemon

Everything there was delicious! I'm glad someone in our party opted to get the Dutch Baby Pancake. I really enjoy it but can't eat a sweet breakfast by itself. I have to have my savory items. I've got to have my eggs.

What's nice about the Dutch Baby is that the lemon sprinkled on it really makes it refreshing. It takes a bit longer to make, but as they say at Plum's, it's well worth the wait. And I can attest to that!

Not pictured:

CHOCOLATE COCOA BANANA WAFFLE 

Salty Caramel, Oregon Hazelnuts & Whipping Cream

Forgot. Sorry. It was good though. But I still prefer my savory breakfast foods (even with me being the choc-o-holic that I am).

What are you favorite breakfast foods? If you're from Los Angeles and have a favorite breakfast/brunch spot, please share!!

Glutton Tuesdays :: Make Shoppe Goodness

Make Shoppe is a blog that one of my good friends started. She posts about DIYs, recipes, crafts, and much more. If you enjoy cooking and/or crafting, I highly recommend that you check her blog out.

Of course being friends with someone that knows how to cook well always ends up in my favor :P She allowed me to snap some photos of her making dinner.

Mango Salsa

Pretty yet simple decor in her home. You can totally snag the same idea by saving all your corks from your wine bottles and toss them in a nice vase. Also, placing some simple yet elegant faux flowers into a vase works too... but you may have known this already ;)

Rice Pilaf

Mango Salsa

Pan Fried Chicken Breasts topped with Mango Salsa

Dinner time!

Gin & Tonic w/ a splash of Grenadine

Can I just say publicly over the internet that my friend's husband makes the BEST G&Ts ever? I'm not a huge fan of gin but let's just say I've been turned around ever since having my first sip of his famous G&Ts.

For more recipes, please follow Make Shoppe via her blog, Facebook, pinterest, and twitter!

Glutton Tuesdays :: Scoops

Summer. Great time to enjoy ice cream. Scoops is by far one of my favorite ice cream places to visit. AND, it's friendboy approved (he's lactose intolerant... don't tell him I told you). Why? Because they actually make some ice cream flavors with soy! So, we can both enjoy the treat! Before, it would just be me that was the ice cream gorger and he'd be the lonely bystander watching me chow down all by myself.

Scoops is located just off of Melrose on the 101 freeway on Heliotrope. It's totally a hipster area just outside of Silverlake, bordering Hollywood. If you remember my post on Cat Eye Vintage Spectacles, they're right next door to Scoops.

Kind of cute. Hanging from the ceiling is a "Scoops" mobile with their little spoons!

They have a decent number of flavors to choose from. Normal flavors such as cookies and cream to red velvet oreo to brown bread. I personally have not tried brown bread but it is their number one flavor and many people's favorites. I always gravitate to chocolate. Old habits die hard.

You get two scoops of ice cream in your cup. So that means you can get two flavors!

Pictured above is the friendboy's soy-based chocolate & maple oreo ice cream flavors.

I opted to go for coffee peanut butter and red velvet oreo! For once I did not do chocolate (that's because I leeched off the friendboy -- muahaha :P ).

You can even suggest flavors to them... however, some people have some odd taste in ice cream... I won't point any one particular "flavor" out...

What's your favorite ice cream flavor?

Tuesday Tastings :: The Pie Hole

Totally found this place by chance. We weren't looking for this place but I did hear about this place from Vivian of Diamonds & Tulle. Actually a friend and I were across the street getting Wurstkuche to go! We were waiting around outside and looked across the street. And there it was. The Pie Hole.

Of course, we decided to walk in and check it out. We had time.

Inside is a small area with chairs and tables. Very limited seating. At first we weren't sure where the pies were... then we turned to our left.

Sweet displayed out front and savory ones made in the back. We didn't know what to do with ourselves. We were already two sausages and one large Belgian fry order in and were then tempted with PIE!

They even have The Pie Hole swag!

Needless to say, we ordered two chicken pot pies and one Crostata to go. We figured we'd eat it... later.... Hey, don't judge.

We actually saved our goodies for lunch the next day. The person who helped us at the counter gave ours to us slightly undercooked so we could complete the cooking process at home. She gave us some great heating instructions and we were set.

After heating it in our toaster oven for about 15-20 minutes it was ready to eat... and piping hot! We were instructed to heat it at 400 degrees in the regular oven for 7 minutes but I don't think the woman who helped us knew we would be fridging it. In any case, really nice and flaky crust. I love pie crust! Pretty juicy on the inside with fresh chicken tender meat.

And we sure didn't forget dessert! The Crostata was a very decadent and rich chocolate, caramel, and sea salt slice of sweetness. I warn you, it is VERY rich! Almost too rich for this chocoholic. Hard to believe right? It was a toss up between this one and the Mexican Chocolate pie. Next time... I. Will. Eat. You.

Will we be back? Probably.

What are some of the food adventures you've had? Any of you in LA? If so, please share your favorite spots with me :)

Glutton Tuesdays :: Com Tam (Broken Rice)

I'm sure you're all very aware of my love for food. Well, that's probably never going to change. Sometimes I wonder why I just didn't start a food blog only. But then, I think I would expose too much of what a real fatty I am. One food post a week (unless I'm on vacation) is probably a good moderator for me.

Anyway, this post is for the Vietnamese cuisine lovers. The friendboy and I love to go to Garden Grove/Westminster area because well, that's where the legit Vietnamese food is. Some of our favorite dishes include (but are not limited to) Pho (Rice Noodle Soup with flank steak in a beef broth), Banh Mi (French baguette sandwich filled with BBQ Pork - or at least mine is), Cha Gio (deep friend egg rolls), and Com Tam (Broken rice dishes served with various items).

Going to Westminster always feels a wee bit like we're no longer in SoCal. There is one specific area that is very concentrated in all kinds of Vietnamese foods and shops.

I would have never found this place on my own if it weren't for the friendboy who already knew about this place from before, through other friends. But like all other places in the area, it is what it is, a "hole-in-the-wall" restaurant.

Very small space. Not the best decor (not matching anyway). You're simply there to eat.

Vietnamese people also display their good luck charms. The cat in the middle is always mistaken as a Chinese charm but it's actually Japanese. Asian business owners often display these statues to welcome luck and fortune.

Everyone gets a bowl of soup with pork and green onions. I like to think this helps cleanse the palette ;) I'm totally making up my own 3 course meal (we only had two dishes -including this bowl of soup - anyway).

I had the broken rice plate with the charbroiled pork chop, egg quiche (orange dyed steamed egg with miced pork and vermicelli noodles), and pickled vegetables (in the blurred distance). It also comes served with Nuoc Mam which is essentially fish sauce with lemon juice, pickled vegetables, and various herbs and spices. I like to add chili sauce into it too. I love spicy! You're probably thinking, "Oh gross. Fish sauce?" But it's really good! I also thought the same thing but realized how well it went with everything!!

I know it's not for everyone... but I encourage you to get out of your comfort zones once in awhile and try something new.

Happy Tuesday!

Tuesday Tastings :: Bottega Louie

Since we're in downtown Los Angeles a lot more visiting the den.m|bar shop a lot, we decided to have a nice meal at Bottega Louie. For those of you who haven't gone yet, let's just say it's a very "L.A." spot to go to. Don't get me wrong, I love the food there and the drinks and the desserts. But there is quite a wait if you don't go early enough. And it's the type of place where people go to "see or be seen".

I didn't bother with photos of people... or myself for that matter. I was very focused and concentrated on the food. Like my blog tag line says, "An optical fashionista with an appetite." And that's just what I am. A hungry optical nerd.

Bottega Louie has my favorite Black and Blue mojitos yet. I've ordered them at other places and they still hold a special place in my heart at Bottega. It's a mojito with fresh blackberries and blueberries muddled in the drink. I like eating the berries afterward.

Mache, frisée, bay leaf brined roasted chicken,
avocado, celery, scallions, julienned snap peas,
Meyer lemon & extra virgin olive oil

They have some really good salads. I ordered the Mache salad. It was very refreshing. Especially with the fresh Meyer lemon. I sprinkled that lemon juice all over my salad.

Toasted house made ciabatta, vine ripened
tomatoes, Persian cucumbers, lardons, bocconcini,
basil & creamy red wine vinaigrette

Friendboy ordered the Panzanella salad. His was REALLY good. It does not say it on the menu but his actually came with fresh mozarella in his salad. That was really good with the freshness of the greens.

Mozzarella, Grana parmesan, tomato sauce,
oregano & fennel sausage

I don't know about you but the friendboy and I enjoy having "gourmet pizza" from time to time. Some of our favorites include Pizzeria Mozza in Melrose and also Serious Pie in Seattle. Bottega Louie is also among one of those favorite gourmet pizza spots. The best part of it all is the gourmet toppings they use. And from what we've learned from Serious Pie in Seattle, the most important key to making a great pizza is laying a great foundation of pizza dough! Bottega also does just that.

Pan sautéed trenne pasta with braised
prime rib eye, Tuscan black kale & shaved
Grana parmesan

I ordered one of my favorite dishes. The Trenne pasta. It is probably one of the most unique pasta dishes I've had. And I'll tell you why. That pasta you see there... isn't your typical al dente style pasta. It's al dente AND some. They actually pan sautee the pasta so that one of the edges of it's triangular cylindrical shape is crispy! I love the texture that it gives when eating it. And the kale is cooked really well too. Sometimes kale can be a little bitter when cooked. But it was NOT in my pasta. As for the braised prime rib eye... well... I've always been a meat and potatoes gal. I had to have some meat in my dish. And yes, it was quite tasty.

Chocolate Souffle

Yes. We ordered dessert. We figured... we're here, we don't always come out to this restaurant, we'll just treat ourselves to Chocolate Souffle. Don't worry, we didn't eat everything. We had leftovers! We may be pigs but we're not as bad as you think!!

Anyway, it was delicious. It takes about 20-25 minutes to prepare and bake so we were very happy we ordered early enough. The server came over and brought this mouthwatering dish over. He punctured a hole in the center and poured in a vanilla bean creme sauce. It was amazing!

From top to bottom: Chocolate Salted Caramel, Vanilla, Dark Chocolate, Coffee, & Strawberry. Photo via Instagram @aneyeforfashion

Oh yeah... they also have a bakery at Bottega Louie. And they are known for their macarons also. While they are tasty, they are a bit on the sweet side. I prefer 'lette Macarons over Bottega Louie, just my personal preference. But it's worth a try. Bottega's macarons come in a pretty and fancy box with tissue paper. But, they are also kind of pricey.

So that ends my gluttony post for today. Stay tuned for more... we're always eating.