Category Archives: 2) Frequent Destinations

March 11, 2014 · 12:54 am

Farmer and the cook/Ojai and Tallyrand/Burbank

beautiful downtown ojaiThese two restaurants could not be more different but we enjoyed both. Farmer and the Cook is a vegetarian hippie dippie outpost in Ojai, a laid back town about 1.5 hours northwest of LA where we had a hip version of huevos rancheros. At the Tallyrand restaurant, a 1959 institution in Burbank, we had a fresh roasted turkey sandwich slathered with yellow gravy, served with all the fixins — mashed potatoes, dressing and homemade cranberry sauce.

On Saturday night! we had very good takeout from Seoul Korean BBQ in downtown Burbank. Needless to say, we are sad to be leaving LA and our adorable 21 month old niece, my brother and sister in law. On yet another glorious day — sun, breeze, blah, blah, blah —  we walked over to the Rancheros neighborhood where people actually board horses in their backyards (and ride down city streets to nearby Griffith Park) and found a perfect playground where my niece quickly mastered the toddler slide!

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March 8, 2014 · 3:07 pm

Tuna Canyon Road, Malibu! Rose Avenue/Venice Beach, Silver lake

great day exploring places old and new:
– Topanga Canyon farmers market, small, good produce, baked goods, Indian food
– after coffee at Cafe Mimosa with scruffy alternative types with fancy laptops, we took a right apup,fern wood Canyon road which turned into spectacular one way Tuna Canyon Road which would down through a wild canyon to the Pacific Cost highway. Wow.
– visited some discoveries from last November! Los Pescatores beach! Malibu seafood.
– Drove south along the coast past Santa Monica to Venice , where explored emerging hip shopping area Rose Avenue, shopped at great store Golden State. must try restaurant superba.
– walked along the beach, soft sand, sun, breeze, pounding drums in the distance from the strange folks in the board walk. Window shopped on Abbott Kinney ave. (couldn’t afford to do anything but)
– dinner at cousin Scott’s in Silver lake. pretty, hilly, reminded us of San Francisco. Excellent masala chai, iced and cheese board at LA mill coffee.

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March 2, 2014 · 9:01 pm

Coronado cafe, Biltmore Hotel – Phoenix

finally got a chance to see a little more of Phoenix after many years of whizzing past the city to Tucson (and occasionally Scottsdale). we were in the area around the Heard Museum, driving down straight flat residential roads lined with way tall Palm trees, past lovely old stucco bungalows and Spanish mini villas. we had an excellent lunch at the funky Coronado Cafe, which oozed low key charm and served a fabulous crabcake(the owner proudly revealed her Baltimore roots). also excellent key lime pie and fres lemonade. we did a quick drive through the Roosevelt arts district which had some promising looking galleries and boutiques and along 7th street and the Coronado historic district.

Also visited the famous Biltmore hotel, with frank Lloyd wright-like architecture, lovely gardens and a way cool pool.

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February 22, 2014 · 11:14 pm

Blue Tomato Kitchen in West Des Moines

Blue Tomato Kitchen

Tried out Blue Tomato Kitchen, a casual Italian restaurant operated by Baru 66’s french chef David Baruthio. It opened in  January a former coffee shop in what I guess is West Des Moine’s Valley Junction. It was hopping on a Friday night and we found one open table. Service was swift and we were in and out in an hour or so (although not in any particular rush.) The food was fine  – didn’t bowl us over. We had a thin crust pizza with anchovies (on my side at least, my husband doesn’t like them) olives, chilis, tomatoes. Good. Salty. Light. And spaghetti bolognese which didn’t have the long-cooked meat flavor of my version – more tomato-ey. Good enough.  We also shared a little piece of lemon ricotta cheese cake topped with gooey dark cherry sauce. Good too. We’ll give it another go and nice to have as an easy option.

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February 17, 2014 · 4:53 am

World Food Prize Headquarters and Howard Buffett photo exhibit in Des Moines: worth a visit

I finally got to walk around the renovated downtown library in Des Moines that is now the headquarters for the World Food Prize and was blown away by the restoration/renovation effort. It was always an elegant 19th century building but it got pretty shabby in the mid 1990s when my children visited the library there regularly as Downtown School students. With all its stain glassed windows and murals and wood it always hinted of a previous, more elegant life. Now it’s back to its former glory and well worth a walk around. The restored WPA murals on the bottom floor are particularly interesting, tracing the history do Des Moines from prehistoric era to 1941. And the Howard Buffett photos of people from across the world facing hunger issues is mesmerizing. So visit when
You can. (There was an open house last weekend.)

THE WORLD FOOD PRIZE HALL OF LAUREATES is open to the public for tours from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., free of charge, on most Tuesdays and Saturdays. Please call 515-247-2222 for open house dates. Click here for more information.

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February 9, 2014 · 4:38 pm

When in LA – maybe visit Chef Roy Choi’s Kogi or Pot

About KogiChef Roy Choi made a big splash on this season’s “Top Chef” by being remarkably candid and foul-mouthed about how much he did not like the food the poor frazzled chefs had cooked up for him. Padma looked aghast. But apparently HIS food is worth a try so maybe we will give it a go when we’re visiting my brother in LA next month. Maybe he’ll prove to me that Korean food is worth all the hype. Our options appear to be Kogi, kogi website which the NYTimes travel section dubbed “the city’s hottest food truck, selling his now classic Korean taco” and Pot,  “a veritable Korean market, at the Line hotel in Los Angeles’s Koreatown.”

The Pot website lists only drinks (“only” isn’t quite the right word since the menu sports four pages of drinks!) but the Line Hotel plugs the food….

POT – COMING SOON

KOREATOWN AND KOREAN FOOD THROUGH THE EYES OF AN AMERICAN WITH KOREAN BLOOD. HOT POTS, BLOOD SOUPS, FRENETIC ENERGY, BBQ. IT’S THE LATE NIGHTS ON THE STREETS, IT’S A JOYOUS CELEBRATION OF LIFE. MOST OF ALL, IT’S GOOD TIMES AND GOOD FOOD IN THE HOOD.

WWW.EATATPOT.COM

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January 29, 2014 · 2:41 am

New Des Moines Art Center Restaurant

Des Moines Art Center
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Established 1948

Finally got a chance to check out the new restaurant at the Des Moines Art Center operated by the chef from Baru 66 – it remains a lovely place to dine, even on a cold winter Sunday. The food was good although I wasn’t bowled over.  The best entree was a special – a thick juicy hamburger topped with greens, a fried egg and prosciutto (I think.) My “artisan lettuce salad” had lots of fresh greens, with walnuts, croutons and yes, prosciutto (detect a theme?) which was good but it was underdressed and not much value for $11. My tomato bisque (for $3) was not as creamy, hot or substantially portioned as I’d hoped but good flavor and chopped texture. We also tried the La Quercia Melt , a toasted sandwich with prosciutto (La Quercia is the name of the award-winning, Iowa-produced prosciutto), brie, sweet mustard   and the presentation was pretty stark – small sandwich on white plate for $13 – but my niece seemed to enjoy.

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January 23, 2014 · 7:49 pm

The washington Post: “Why Iowa Rules”

Sally Field 1971.JPGGuess I’d agree with much of this (except the Machine Shed breakfasts which are a bit much)Washington Post story

but can’t help thinking of the famous Sally Field Oscars acceptance speech: “you like me right now. you like me!”

 

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January 20, 2014 · 5:18 pm

Wow and Norwegian airlines flights to london – cheaper?

This from airfarewatchdog on cheaper flight options to london:

How to Save: The big trick that will help in 2014 is finding affordable airfare; other than accommodations, this is going to be your largest expense. With new low-cost transatlantic airlines like Norwegian and WOW promising to undercut major carriers’ prices in the coming year, it will likely be easier to pick up an affordable plane ticket to the British capital this spring and summer.

WOW Air, the new Icelandic low-fare airline, announced it would start flying between Boston and London/Gatwick this spring. Similar to Icelandair’s long-term flying pattern, flights will be via Reykjavik: leaving Boston in the evening and arriving in London the following morning, with the morning departure, afternoon arrival reverse pattern.

So far, WOW hasn’t announced anything about Iceland stopovers, but I’ll be very surprised if the line doesn’t offer stopover packages.

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Flights will be in A320s, at a slightly below-average 30- to 31-inch pitch but average or better width. Although the airline is single class, you can reserve the extra-room exit-row seats and even guarantee an empty middle seat by paying extra.

Fares aren’t available yet, but the fare pattern will almost surely continue the carrier’s policy of offering very low fares to early buyers on at least some dates. Currently, for example, fares from London to Reykjavik are as low as £98 each way (about $157), including the onerous British passenger duty and a £6 “payment fee.” The only surprise is a very stiff charge of £19 for one checked bag.

Whether WOW flights will appeal to U.S. and Canadian travelers depends on one main factor: Will the fares be low enough to offset the increased flight time (compared to nonstops) and the hassle of an overnight stop? Back in the regulated days, low fares on Loftledir, the precursor to Icelandic, got a lot of budget travelers to accept those conditions, and many of them opted for a quick Iceland stopover. WOW seems to be hoping to replicate that formula.

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January 5, 2014 · 4:49 pm

Check out the Drake University Chamber Choir – in Des Moines and England!

The Drake University Chamber Choir performs at St. Martin-in-the-Fields in 2010.

The Drake University Chamber Choir performs at St. Martin-in-the-Fields in 2010.

For my music-loving friends in London, here’s a treat from Des Moines – Drake University’s Chamber Choir will perform free concerts at St. Paul’s Cathedral at 5 p.m. Jan. 20 and at St. Martin-in-the-fields (Trafalgar Square) at 1 p.m. Jan. 21,  as well as at Oxford and Cambridge during a 12-day concert tour January 10-22. These are some of the talented vocal students that my choir, the Drake University Community Chorus, sings with during our semester concerts. Closer to home (in Des Moines) the chamber choir will perform a free concert on Thursday Jan. 9 at 7:30 at Grace United Methodist Church. Here’s the scoop on the England tour from the Register: Drake choir to kick off series

While in England, the choir will to sing in the cathedrals of Gloucester, Coventry, and Ely, at both Cambridge and Oxford (St. John’s College Chapel, Cambridge; Merton College Chapel, Oxford), St. Martin-in-the-Fields and St. Paul’s Cathedral in London, and at Holy Trinity Church in Stratford-upon-Avon, and St. Nicholas Church in Witham.  The Chamber Choir was selected by the American Embassy in London to inaugurate its new series at St. Martin-in-the-Fields.

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