Moby Dick, Stearn’ Wharf | Santa Barbara, CA
So I finally got a desire to leave LA for a little while and ventured up to Santa Barbara for the day. Its about a 2 hours drive from where I live, straight up the 134 west and continuing on the 101 north. People have been telling me to get up here for several months now, and the one day I come… FOG. Although Im a little disappointed, its just over the water, and the views from where I am sitting is still not bad.
Anyway, Im sitting at one of the touristy spots in town called the Moby Dick Restaurant, located right on the pier. Just like everything else on this pier, it has a nautical theme. And the cheesiest honky tonk kind of piano music. But I digress..
Like any respectable foodie sitting on the pier, I cant leave without trying some seafood, so I started out with their mussel appetizer. This was served in a classic white wine sauce and is really nothing special. Mussels tasted ok, nice, tender, and clean, but the texture when you got to the heart of it was a little chalky. I dont know how else to put it.. .gritty? The sauce is a little thin and there is nothing for the mussels to hold on to, so the taste of the broth doesnt really stick.
After some mediocre mussels, I was greeted with the biggest, sloppiest open
Read MoreViva Madrid | Claremont, CA
After a long short day of skiing, my friend Adam and I decided to meet up with one of his friends on the way home to LA, so we stopped in Claremont. Down town Claremont is very nice, clean, and quaint, but just down this hallway, before the bathrooms, and next to the confessional, there is a set of doors that leads you into a small and very intimate space. She was right when she said that this place was a local hangout and not too many “outsiders” knew about it. I tend not to disagree with her on this one.
When you walk into this one room space, all you notice is tables, tables, tables; pushed into every corner of the restaurant with just enough room for one person to walk through or get in and out of your seat without hitting the person behind you. I tend to like places like this, where they can concentrate on each customer without being overloaded. Needless to say, when we were hungry, our server was right there.
Coming from an Italian family with many italian friends, I have never been a fan of sangria, but I have learned to get into it since I have moved out here, and I would highly recommend their red sangria.
Overall, this place had many tasty things on the menu, such as the bacon wrapped dates.
Bacon wrapped dates
Cmon, we all know everything is better wrapped in bacon!
Their muscles…
Muscles
Terroni | Los Angeles
Before I went on a 2 week cleanse, I wanted get a little dressed up and have a nice meal. So a friend of min suggested a little place in Los Angeles called Terroni, just east of the Grove on Beverly Blvd. This is one of those places that you could miss if you were not paying attention. As you walk in, you notice the tight quarters of all of the two tops and larger tables along with the open kitchen and wine bar. You would think that this would be a louder place than it is. But the conversation that I had with my friend was was really easy. But I did notice that the couple next to us stopped many times to listen to what we had to say. The menu is a little confusing, all of the dishes are in italian and can be overwhelming, but there are explanations of each dish under the names. The wine list is rather limited in wine types, but the variety rather impressive from vintage to vineyard and region.
Piatto a Stutare
We started with the Piatto
Read MoreWeekend Foodie on Instagr.am
