Jewelz, What Are We Doing Today?

17May/1016

Eleven + One at Eleven Madison Park

Actually, it was more like twenty, but who's counting?

22Apr/109

Sapp Coffee Shop – Thai Boat Noodles

There comes that moment when you eat something for the first time, the moment where everything just makes sense, a "moment of clarity" if you will.

I had that moment of clarity at Sapp Coffee Shop.

Tagged as: 99 essential, canon, canon s90, dining out, djjewelz, eating out, hollywood, jonathan gold, LA, los angeles, noodles, sapp coffee shop, thai, thai boat noodles, thai food, thailand Continue reading

11Apr/107

The Double Down Sandwich by Kentucky Fried Chicken

Being the big fried chicken fan that I am, it was with great pleasure that I received an email from KFC inviting me to sample the Double Down before it made its preview on April 12, 2010. Granted, I had to sign a million waivers, primarily around liability issues from any health problems that might arise from eating the Double Down, but as a fried chicken man, how could I pass up on the opportunity?

You can guess exactly when I took this picture from KFC's website.

8Apr/1018

Ludobites 4.0 – Gram and Papas

Everyone has an opinion about Ludo and his pop up restaurant Ludobites. Whether it's love, hate, or apathy, it's hard to ignore the guy. He is a marketing machine. Ludo is everywhere: he's on Top Chef Masters, he's frying chicken out of a truck at the LA Street Food Festival, or he's frying chicken with Eric Greenspan and Akasha Richmond. Love him or hate him, he's a constant topic in the LA restaurant scene. With all the hype around Ludo, it's no surprise that his next pop up location, a two month stint at Gram and Papa's in downtown Los Angeles, was fully booked within ~~72 hours~~ (correction, make that 18 hours, thanks Krissy) of the reservation lines opening up.

Gram and Papas, home of Ludobites 4.0

7Apr/108

Nozomi Sushi – Omakase

The beauty of living in LA/Southern California is that you're never farther than 20 minutes from a decent sushi restaurant. Gen, R23, Zo, Toshi, Urasawa, Nozawa, SugarFish, Mori, Kiyokawa, Kawa, Kiriko, Famima, Ralphs, Gelsons, the list NEVER ends. There is just no shortage of sushi in this city. It's a good thing for us sushi lovers as there are options galore when you have sushi on the brain.

While I don't find myself in the South Bay often, I was impressed enough with Nozomi Sushi that I would definitely take another drive down to experience the omakase there.

Tagged as: canon s90, dining out, djjewelz, eating out, food, japan, japanese, japanese food, los angeles, nozomi, nozomi sushi, omakase, restaurants, sashimi, seafood, sushi, torrance Continue reading

29Mar/107

Santa Monica Farmers’ Market

I don't cook. It's not that I can't or that I suck at it, I just don't. I can make a killer spam and eggs with rice, but then again, I'm sure everyone else can too. Cooking for one is especially challenging. Do you REALLY want to eat the same thing over and over again? As a result, I've had very little incentive to ever go to a farmer's market. Yeah, sure, there's lots of tasty things to enjoy at a farmers' market, but really, it's the produce that everyone goes for. Or is it?

BBQ Chicken

Tagged as: canno s90, carlsbad aquafarm, djjewelz, farmers' market, market fresh, organic, santa monica, santa monica farmers' market, vegetables Continue reading

15Mar/104

The LA Live JW Marriott and LA Market by Kerry Simon

I love big hotels. It's a place where people converge, convene, and interact. For an avid people watcher like me, it's perfect because it's a world full of strange and amusing characters.

3Mar/104

Battle of the Coqs: Eric Greenspan v. Ludo Lefebvre at The Foundry on Melrose

Anyone who wonders about the power of Twitter needs only to trace the roots of how this night came about.

- Ludo visits The Foundry last week, tweeting that Chef Eric Greenspan wasn't around and that "maybe" he should take over the kitchen.
- Eric responds by tweeting him to join him in the kitchen on Tuesday for Bluesy Tuesday at the Foundry for fried chicken night.
- Eric tweets out an APB for more deep fryers, with Akasha Richmond of Akasha Restaurant tweeting in for the rescue.

And as a result, diners had a chance to enjoy fried chicken prepared two ways a la Chef Ludo and Chef Eric.

Tagged as: bluesy tuesday, canon s90, eating out, Eric Greenspan, fried chicken, iron chef america, los angeles, ludo lefebvre, restaurants, soul food, top chef masters, west hollywood Continue reading

19Feb/1012

Small Plating My Way Through Los Angeles

I'm way too distracted these days to write something meaningful, so instead I'll just present you with some of my favorite small plates of the moment around the city.

Charcuterie Plate at Drago Centro

A survey – Lobster Bisque at Checkers Downtown in Los Angeles (Phototasting)

It's hard for me to believe, but I've managed to keep this blog up for over four months. I'm pleasantly surprised because my attention span usually maxes out at 20 minutes, so this blog should have died back in...October. What keeps me going is not so much the writing, but the pictures. Between the two activities, I'd rather spend my time developing my foodtography skills than my writing skills. Ironic, since I started this blog to improve my writing, but that's another post for another day.

Lobster Bisque