This food and wine extravaganza at the Saddle Peak Lodge was an evening of unparalleled hedonism. Twelve of us brought bottles of top shelf trophy wines and paired them with a host of meaty pleasures.
Finally, the Westside gets it’s very own top grade New wave Neapolitan pizza joint!
The Iron Lady and W.E. have more in common than being 2011 films about 20th Century Britain, both are well done historical biographies, and both have 21st Century “box stories” that attempt to frame the historical action. But why?
Il Grano was just as impressive on this second outing. Not as long (9 instead of 16 courses), but fantastic modern Italian all the same…
Life for the Barbarian in Diablo 3 Inferno mode is brutal. Close in, you have to take the hits, and the hits are hard…
The Foodie Club returns for the “Farewell to Foie” dinner. California is on the verge of banning that most delectable of duck livers due to debatable animal rights issues. Chef Ms. Niki Nakayama has whipped up an entirely foie meal to celebrate the last month of foie…
The Darkening Dream$0.99 sale and giveaway week is over and was a resounding success. It’s time to announce the winners: Grand Prize Winner: Amy Eye $100 Amazon Gift Card, a signed paperback copy of The Darkening Dream, a signed copy…
With my parents in town I couldn’t resist taking them back to A-Frame. This Westside hipster reinvented “picnic” food joint as some really tasty grub.
After a bit of a hiatus the Foodie Club returns to this amazing Omakase only Japanese haven. Talented young chef Ms. Niki Nakayama has whipped up…
This week, Monday June 25 through Friday June 29, the Kindle version of my novel The Darkening Dream is on sale for just 99 cents! To celebrate I’m running a cool giveaway…
I have to show off this bit of geekery: A truly amusing ode to George R. R. Martin our favorite writer of extraordinary talent but glacial slowness.
Three years in, still hip, chic, and largely unchallenged for the post of LA’s most theatrical great eats restaurant…
Watching John Carter got me to reread A Princess of Mars. This is some serious old school pulp adventure, but I used to love that kind of stuff as a kid…
A second trip to this Arcadian shrine to all things dumpling and noodle turned out to be just as good. I’ve compiled this all together such that it covers at least half the menu. A pretty amazing amount of incredibly cheap incredibly tasty Chinese!
When I first saw the trailer, I wondered: What is this? How do those late 19th century western images fit in with the “other world” and alien thing? I liked the music. Somehow I felt I was supposed to know who the hell John Carter was. It took me months to find out…
For my birthday I organized an epic fifteen course Italian tasting at Il Grano matched to twelve handpicked wines from my cellar. Chef/Owner Sal Marino really delivered with one of the best modern Italian meals I’ve had…
I have to admit that the trailer for this film had me cautiously excited. It exhibits a certain style of fantasy storytelling that appeared cool and unique. Serious, yet referential to the source material. Visually original, but not silly. Still, I was worried…
I played through all five classes in beta and decided to level the Barbarian first. Herein lies my detailed chronicle of the 1-60 level experience and thoughts on Normal, Nightmare, Hell, and Inferno…
E3 has bought us an extensive new gameplay video for Naughty Dog’s post-apocalyptic survival game, The Last of Us. Aside from the recently released Diablo III, this is my most anticipated upcoming game, and I suspect I’m not alone.
The day I took my Italian Wine Specialization exam a bunch of us went to lunch. One of the instructors, Diego, took us to Obika Mozzarella bar in the Century City mall. I usually loathe mall restaurants, and I detest the parking at CC for sure, but this place turned out to be a pleasant surprise.
