great eating BradFord
The Carnevale and Diavola from DeSano last night. Diavola is my usual order and it was great as usual. First time trying the Carnevale. Oh man, can I just live in the ricotta filled pockets… And that amazing sausage! 
Wish I got to try it during the pop-up, just for comparison’s sake.
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EK VALLEY (Culver City)
http://ekvalleyrestaurante.com/
Many thanks to the likes of @bulavinaka & @Dommy for the good word on this place. Very comfortable, relaxing atmosphere with super friendly staff. Loved trying the Clayuda. Also had some bites of the chicken mole, which was pretty good. Will be back to try the Oaxacan taco that @ipsedixit mentioned.
LODGE BREAD (Culver City)
Boy this place was heaving mid-day Saturday. I’d never seen it like that. No problem getting a table after snaking your way up to place your order, though. The ham & gruyere sandwich that @Bookwich first posted about is really awesome. Delicious. They also serve beer & wine now.
ZAM ZAM MARKET (Hawthorne)
https://www.yelp.com/biz/zam-zam-market-hawthorne
Didn’t realize that the biryani is only available at certain times of day. Showed up at 2pm and was told there wouldn’t be anything to order until 3pm. Luckily I had to go get a new windshield wiper and the parking lot installation took me way longer than it should have, so I was heading back past Zam Zam again at 3pm. I loved the chicken biryani. It’s a heaping serving for $10. And it seems to taste better the longer you let is all sit and meld together.
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Is the Carnevale everyday/night or just sometimes?
It’s a “special”, but I believe it’s been there every night recently. Maybe someone who goes to DeSano more often can correct me if I’m wrong.
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Thanks, all! On the plane ride back, I already planned my next LA trip 
I’ll definitely report back on New York first (and I’ll definitely be gaining some weight that week).
I think this usually matters a lot at high-end sushi restaurants! Anyawy, this is my second time at Q, and both times I’ve been served by Chef Hiro-san, but for whatever reason (perhaps because the rice just came out and we had basically an empty bar) we enjoyed this lunch more. His rice is quite firm, but the packing and formation were uniformly excellent.
[quote=“Chowseeker1999, post:57, topic:5642”]
I’ll keep an eye out for the Minato Tsuchizaki Yamahai[/quote]
It worked well because the pork is aged in koji for a week, and the high-alcohol nama genshu stood up to the sweetness of the amazake daikon. The pork itself reminded us strongly of prosciutto. Though it’s grilled, it’s rather medium-rare and the kojizuke gives it those secondary aged flavors, for lack of a better word.
I think Shibumi has an interesting drink program, and I’d return specifically to try more of their drinks.
I don’t think so. I’m not well-versed in Thai food, but I googled “moo ping” and that seems to be on a skewer. Ours was just the grilled marinated pork on the plate as shown. It was delicious, though, nice smokey char and a very addictive lime fish sauce. I will have to get the moo ping next time?
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Hi @CiaoBob,
It’s pretty much every night according to our server. I’ve been on 2 weeknights recently and 2 weekends and it’s always written as “Special” but it’s offered.
To be safe, call them first to confirm, but it should be there. 
It is delicious.
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So glad you liked the Carnevale! It has become our favorite ever since the pop-up! Now I’m hungry for DeSano’s darn it! 
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Headed down to the Museum of Latin American Art in Long Beach for the Frank Romero retrospective and Frida Kahlo photos. It was a good excuse to finally hit Robert Earl’s bbq on Artesia even though Big Mista was calling. But one must do their houndly duties. We ordered half pound of brisket, half a rack of pork ribs and half a rack of beef. Sadly despite some good write ups from different sources, we were underwhelmed. The brisket was more like steamed meat with no bark or smoke ring. Both types of ribs were on the dry side and slightly overcooked. We did enjoy the rub on the beef ribs, that was the highlight. Overall, it’s not destination worthy, if I lived in the area, possibly the ribs would be worth trying a few more times. For bbq, it was on the inexpensive side. All that food and two canned sodas for only $44 and change after tax. The brisket was only $10 for a half pound, but I’d gladly pay double for the Maple Block quality.
Ginger’s ice cream in Mar Vista, across the street from Hachet Hall. They’ve been opened for a while. Standard high end ice cream place with true vegetarian flavors in the selection. Overall, we liked them a lot. Certainly we liked them much better than Sweet Lucie’s on Venice or Van Leewen at the Platform in Culver City. Two scoop medium $4.75. They also have homemade cookies that looked good. We’ll return to them regularly unlike the other two places.
Late night snack at the taco truck El Taco Toro, located on Slauson and Culver blvd. $1.50 tacos, choice of chorizo, asada, al pastor or chicken. No trompo, this is not a destination truck but it’s a very good neighborhood spot. Generous portions, a solid salsa bar, the meats are cooked well, not greasy. The owner is super friendly, easy parking at the laundromat. For a neighborhood late night snack option, I like them a lot better than the truck near the library on Venice and Inglewood.
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That looks like a starfish had a baby with a pizza .
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Heading to the Getty today, stopped by…Pann’s
Medium with a side of greens and something sweet
Sock It 2 Me Cake
Off to see Irises
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Great shots. Patty melt looks 
.
[quote=“JeetKuneBao, post:71, topic:5642”]
Off to see Irises
[/quote]I love that one.
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Continue…
My UCLA friends would go here sometimes…
OB Bear! Always fun. Those chicken wings are wonderful. Full house today with Ryu pitching. Left at the 4th, score was 10-0 Rockies lol
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Looks like a very nice weekend… so far.
I 
OB Bear wings too.
We were in the area so decided to try Holbox even though we had just eaten at a friend’s place. Didn’t order much but loved everything that we did get, especially the coctel de camaron and its mango-y (I think) sauce. Looking forward to going back soon and trying everything else!
Coctel de camaron:
Tacos de pulpo:
Wood grilled yellowtail tacos:
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After visiting five UCs in the last two months, I can definitively say UCLA has the best grab n’ go sushi.
A bacon-wrapped hotdog, and Santa
Maria BBQ ribs at the Culver City Car Show.
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We might have been at Holbox at the same time! I was eyeing that coctel but couldn’t steer away from the uni + yellowtail ceviche tostada, which @PorkyBelly @frommtron @A5KOBE will be happy to know included four pieces of uni. I saw a couple others go out, and they all had four, so many they’ve worked out that consistency kink. I also had the scallop aguachile, and it was friggin awesome. Bright, acidic, chronicles of ridic. This is quickly becoming one of my favorite places.
Other places I went on my magical mystery weekend tour…
AWASH
https://www.yelp.com/biz/awash-restaurant-los-angeles
The vegetarian combo is such a wheel of a deal. $13 for ~7 dipping lentils/dips and big pieces of injera. Definitely enough for two and definitely delicious. There was a fun atmosphere on a Friday night, too. Looked forward to going back as soon as I left.
Before the aforementioned Holbox opened, I got a chicken mole tamala & horchata from that little Oaxacan beverage stand in Mercado La Paloma. I probably wouldn’t get either again.
After, I did a Holbox Bang Bang Remix – instead of taking the Chichen Itza alley-oop, I kicked it out for the three and headed over to REVOLUTIONARIO for a falafel taco. Their accoutrement bar is really top notch. Pickled onions/radishes/carrots, pinneapple kimchi, homemade pico. Plus all of their great sauces. I pilled that taco high with the lot and it worked a treat. Whatever happened with their GoFundMe/Kickstarter thing?
http://revolutionario.com/
BELCAMPO (GCM)
http://www.belcampo.com/
Pro tip: if you go just to buy sausage to make at home, but then decide to also get a Chicago Hot Link Dog for what is effectively your third lunch, they only charge you the full, normal price for the hot link!
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