White Boy/White Dog Move To Skid Row

Certified Beach Dude Moves To Downtown Los Angeles

Just some comments on my food experiences the past 10 days- these will be a thing of the past for awhile as I settle into my pre-summer diet that started today (March 1st) and will run for 4 - 8 weeks until have the abs I want… see you later, sweet potato fries…

Pulley’s: The Pulley’s cart left the Downtown Independent Theater, I guess a couple of weeks ago. I hadn’t gone for awhile but then was craving some pulled-pork mini-sandwiches one day and found that I was out of luck. I’m bummed- does any one know where Captain Chuckie has parked his cart now? I felt bad for him as he was so close to a gold-mine; people line-up a block away on 2nd St. to get into Liliya’s and Pitfire Pizza at lunch time, and they had no idea of the tasty, value-priced sandwiches that awaited right around the corner. I hope he returns when the new LAPD HQ opens as that will bring tons of foot traffic with the parking structure right across the street from the theater.

Phillipe’s French Dip: I FINALLY went to this Los Angeles historic restaurant- 101 years in business says a lot for a restaurant. We arrived at about 1:30 pm and the wait was not as bad as I expected- 10 minutes max. My friend and I both ordered beef single-dipped, as I was afraid to get a soggy mess. It turns out the double-dipped probably would have been ok, as single was a little dry, but very tasty (they need more meet though, but at under $6 the sandwich is a good value). My friend was more impressed with the potato salad than the dip, and it was some tasty salad. Under $20 for 2 sandwiches, 2 potato salads, ice tea and a Beck’s beer was good value in my mind.

Fleming’s Steakhouse: Yan and I went to Fleming’s again- I love their filet mignon, and they had a 3-course, $34.99 special which was a great value, consider the steak alone is usually around that price. The food was excellent as usual, service perfect, and we lucked-out with a great booth (they do have some terrible table locations there, but I’ve always been lucky with large booth). To my surprise, we were give a $25 gift card that can be redeemed on ANYTHING, including booze, if used by 3/31/09. This makes the meal an amazing value. They now have a new special I think I’ll try with the gift card- Fillets and Scampi dinner for 2 for $89- I’ll have to have this after about 3 1/2 weeks of dieting as a reward…

La Golondrina: I have been craving good Mexican food, with a blended Margarita, for a LONG time… not the fancy, stylized menus of some of the Mexican places downtown, like Ciudad or some of the new places that feature rabbit tacos, etc. I asked Angelenic’s Rich Alossi for his recommendation, as I trust his food reviews, and he said I need to go to Olvera Street, which I had totally forgot about. I should frequent the place more often, as it is about 4 blocks away and kind of a fun destination. We went on a Friday night, expecting a long wait, as reviews on Yelp and Yahoo had promised. But no wait, and we had a nice seat on the enclosed outside patio. Although it seemed like a pretty authentic menu, we settled on splitting an order of steak and chicken fajitas, something I had wanted for awhile. A couple of good blended margaritas, and some excellent chips and salsa made for a memorable dinner. Our server, Rivero Manuel was exceptional and took good care of us “gringos”. I will return as soon as the diet permits.

Got Wings: I like this place as it is so dog-friendly I can order and sit at a table inside with White Dog; I think she has less fleas and is a less health-issue than some of the other customers, so I can see why management does not care (be warned- there are A LOT of panhandlers/homeless hanging out around the place- annoying but harmless). Everyone I have ever taken there loves the food- the fries are especially crispy, and my favorite now is the Chicken Tenders with garlic parmesan seasoning, with their cheeseburger being a close 2nd.

Cole’s French Dip: I decided I had to try this, after recently visiting Phillipe’s (they have an on-going feud as to which restaurant originated the French Dip- Cols’s is also 100+ years in business). Although the remodeled restaurant is very charming and much more upscale than Phillipe’s (with prices reflecting this) I have to give my nod to Phillipe’s for a tastier sandwhich. Servers take your order at the table in Co’e’s, and there are comfortable leather tufted booths with deep mahogany tables, but something just wasn’t right- maybe I was distracted that night and was not in the best mood. We did poke our head into the bar next door- The Varnish, which looks like a cool “speak-easy” bar but in no way gives The Edison a run for it’s money.

Ma Petite: Unfortunately, for a place that started out with a stellar, value-priced menu and ambitious hours, they are slipping fast. I’ve dined there 3 times in past 2 weeks- tried to make it 4, but now they are closed at 6pm daily, and Sunday too. They do not update their web-site so the menu and hours are irrelevant there. 2 times I asked for sweet potato fries and the counter server had to go to the back and returned with “we are out”. On 3rd time i asked they finally told me they don’t buy them anymore as no one orders them… Everytime we were there we were only customers eating food (a few people came to get pastries, but their selection is getting smaller and smaller). The food takes an incredible long time to arrive (and we did not order the hamburger, which the menu warns “allow 15 minutes for cooking”- our food took closer to 25 minutes, for crepes, eggs benedict, and sandwiches). I like the food, but my friend was less-than-impressed with the very dry turkey, avocado, and grilled onion sandwich and ordinary frozen french fries (the herbed-potatos that I had are tasty though). I give them another 6 weeks before they will be shuttered for good- too bad as they had potential.

So that’s the food reviews for awhile- I’m getting ready to open a packet of Albacore Tuna and a bottle of water right now, and dreaming of the good food I gorged myself on while getting mentally prepared to diet…