Cofax Hannukah night
Regular Latka, gravlax, ugly drum pastrami
Insane matzah ball soup best I’ve had
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Went to Republique Wednesday night for our anniversary. Love the food, but we’ve been a couple times now and just aren’t impressed with the service, which is a shame.
Started with the potato leek beignets and charcuterie board, which were both amazing. Moved on to the scallops with sun chokes and truffle for me and the bone marrow for hubby. The scallops were probably one of my top 3 scallop dishes ever. They brought the black truffle over and shaved it on the dish at the table. Bone marrow,was great, with a nice bite from the capers.
We ordered the pork chop, belly and sausage as our main. Our server was barely paying attention to us to begin with (he seemed overwhelmed) but our main was taking forever to come out, and he was avoiding making eye contact with us, and he didn’t come by and let us know the food was on its way, kitchen was backed up, or anything. After about 25 minutes of waiting after our appetizer dishes had been picked up, he shows up at the table with a plate of butternut squash agnolotti and says “here’s some pasta on the house since your entree is taking so long.” The pasta was delicious (if we had ordered pasta, this was the one we were planned to get). Finally, about 15 minutes after they brought out the pasta, our pork showed up. Truly delicious, but what a wait! The sausage was delicious, and the pork belly was good but could have used another couple minutes in the pan. We were pretty full by then, so we only ate half and brought the other half home (and crisped up the pork belly a bit more the next day).
Skipped dessert because,we were so full. When we went for my birthday, the server had brought out a scoop of sorbet for me, but even though we noted this was a milestone anniversary, our server didn’t even wish us, which was a little disappointing.
Had a nice glass of wine and hubby had a couple cocktails. A nice meal food wise, but the service was a downer, and I really wish they’d turn the music down a notch!
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Late lunch at Olsons Scandinavian Deli on Pico, midway between Fairfax and Hauser. Sold out for the day of my top two choices (gravlax; Swedish meatball). Ended up ordering the shrimp skagen. Delicious toasted and buttered brioche bun generously stuffed with creamy, dill inflected shrimp with salty notes from the golden caviar. A large leaf of lettuce separated the filling from the bun, warding off sogginess and adding a little crunch. Served with a small side of pickled cucumbers. I split a side order of beet salad with my dining companion. Tangy and a little sweet (I think there were diced apples
in the salad), with a creamy dressing. The special spiced Jul latte was delicious, and paired well with the Napoleon hat cookie I purchased at the deli counter (the cafe and deli are two separate counters). Bustling but pleasant lunch spot.
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Christmas morning is coconut water, V8 juice, more coconut water, and much cursing at all the bagel stores that aren’t open.
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Merry Christmas! Western Bagels is open (Santa Monica & Federal).
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Fcuk yes.
I really miss me some good skagen.
Love this place.
Sea Harbor, this afternoon. Only a 25 min wait for a party of 2. Everything was very good.
Fish roe & scallop dumplings:
Baked BBQ pork buns:
Siu mai with truffle:
Har gow:
Salt & pepper fried smelt:
Poached spinach with minced beef:
Baked mixed mushroom custard tarts:
Lobster stir fried with oats:
After all that, I got an iced coffee at Saigon Bakery and couldn’t resist getting an egg banh mi as well. So I guess it was sort of a bang-bang. 
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Master Ha
Thanks to @cdub for the rec!
The standard banchan at any soup place, daikon and cabbage kimchi. Solid, not too funky if that is what you like.
Ox Bone Soup, just water and bones said the Owner. Other places will add chicken bones, msg, or a little bean paste but this is as pure as you can get. Added salt, pepper, green onion, and kimchi juice to taste. And a bit of purple rice. This hit the spot for a winter day.
Generous pieces of tender brisket as well.
The Marinated Crab Rice Bowl!! Comes with…
Some pickles and sauce which is added into the bowl and mixed. Grab a sheet of seaweed
Wrap up and enjoy! This was a tasty bite. The marinated crab brought on some really good umami flavors with a slight natural sweetness from the crab. I can see some people maybe put off by the texture but I enjoyed the flavor.
It also came with some marinated shrimps
Speaking to the owner they also have a Uni Rice Bowl, with this the rice is marinated and from what he shown me some generous amounts of uni. Will have to come back and try that.
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Leo’s
Before the spit didn’t come out until weekend nights, and here on a weekday it is up and firing. I think by now they are considered an LA classic for cheap eats, al pastor tacos at $1.25.
Still very tasty! This was the Hollywood truck at Sunset x Western, IMO the best for parking compared to Mid City and Echo Park. A very convenient location for post shenanigans in KTown, Hollywood, Thai Town, and Hipster Eastside.
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With my brother, eating and drinking our Christmas gifts while watching Wisconsin at Miami.
It is a cold, foggy night, and we have a fire. Happy holidays, Los Angeles. 
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Langers
Go with a friend, half of yours and half of theirs
#19
Plain with mustard
Don’t forget Langers can also make an egg cream, cream soda, and they carry Dr Browns
Space Shuttle in LA!!
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Nice day!
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I like your style @Bookwich! Tonight we are doing a fondue to use lots of our Christmas stuff. Champagne is chilling 
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As usual, totally haven’t been following the thread (aside from seeing the pretty sunsets!). Sorry for the big pic size; I’m uploading from my phone and am too lazy to resize.
Tried Lonzo’s Bread. Delicious.
NYE at Belle Vie. Yum. Although I don’t think the food was better than their regular menu. Lots of French-speaking folks there (but not us).
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Nice meal at Belle Vie! What are the potatoes?
Gratin dauphinois. I had no idea what that translated to at the time, so I was surprised when there wasn’t any cheese (and apparently there isn’t supposed to be any cheese in that type of prep).
The menu was (IIRC)
- Lox, horseradish cream (exceedingly mildly), sweet and sour beets
- Foie gras (terrine style), toasted brioche, poached pear
- Braised short rib, gratin dauphinois
- Mesclun, picked veggies, and brie w/ the tiniest amount of truffles (delicious!!!)
- Assorted petit fours
- A small bowl of jelly beans and sour gummy bears
- A small sip of champagne
Not bad for $75, IMHO. I thought everything was at least very good, although the connective tissue in the short rib hasn’t quite fully broken down (and we had just had an exemplary version at Wilshire Restaurant a few days earlier, which didn’t help; that was amazing).
Partner and I had the causa trio at Lonzo’s (my fav was the chicken, although all 3 were very good) and then I had the arroz con marsicos on my own. Partner had the lamb. Our dinner guests had the other dishes pictured; I didn’t taste them. What I did taste was fantastic (my rice came w/ a much appreciated small side of picked onions to cut the richness), and if the rest of the menu is that good consistently, then this place is a neighborhood gem. Tiny, tiny on the inside, but no wait at 6PM on Sat. Full by the time we left.
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Not technically a weekend, but New Year’s Day brunch at Lao Tao. The beef broth that we received after this (not pictured) was amazing.
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We tried Lonzo’s a couple years back and thought it was pretty subpar. Both tries were during lunch. With FTCers having positive experiwnces, we tried Lonzo’s again - this time for dinner.
Everyone in our family gave it big shrug. The food at dinner is more of a baseline in our opinion but definitely edible compared to our previous tries. And the portions are pretty small as well. Maybe it’s just a matter of taste, but we will continue going to the SFV or the South Bay for Peruvian.