Mott Street.
Saying goodbye to an old friend, drinks only.
We hit Hummingbird for dinner. Love this place. Only one shot.
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Highland Park Brewery - lunch for three of us and this time with tater tots. We ordered HLP burger (no cheese) came with tater tots; house salad; fried chicken sandwich; large order of french fries; fried fish sandwich - with a pint of hops water and a glass of their barley wine came to approximately $95 with tax, before tip.
I ate the burger, tots, fries, and salad. I’ll come back to HLP for food/work and will definitely get the tots again, and will continue to try out new stuff. The house salad was as advertised - romaine lettuce, cucumber and cherry tomatoes for $9.50. I greatly preferred the kale salad I have previously had as a main entree.
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Curry Lounge (Artesia). Very good Punjabi. Worth the drive because there is nothing comparable in LA.
Chaak (Tustin). A sister restaurant of Gabbi’s in Orange that claims to be Yucatán influenced. The whole fish quality was excellent. Otherwise, I wasn’t impressed. Too salty, too generic, not spicy enough. I’ve preferred my meals at Gabbi’s.
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Chuuk or Chaak?
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Chaak, you’re right. I got confused because Chaak has a “Chuuk Trio” that consists of oversalted and stale chips, good guac, boring salsa, and too lemony Sikil Pak that made me miss the Sikil Pak that Chichen Itza took off the menu years ago.
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Ha, no worries! I was mostly wondering in case there was a new spot. 
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Shamshiri Grill
Missing from the pic: my soup bowl.
I went to Shamshiri many yrs ago and finding it really unexceptional. My wrap seemed very indifferently assembled, and I recall the flavor being pretty meh. Can’t recall if that was my first/only visit, but I remember being sufficiently turned off by the entire experience (incl the dining room being mainly empty) that I was a bit apprehensive from friend suggested the place.
Not sure which visit is/was the exception, but the food last wk was wonderful. I assume all the food had been stewing/simmering for awhile, but there still a freshness and brightness (at least to mine; didn’t have any my friend’s main).
The lunch specials are not cheap (both friend and I had one lunch special each), but each special is enough for 2 decently hungry people (I could barely finish my own special, even though I was starving and generally have a huge appetite).
I also really like their wheat pita (nice, nutty flavor).
Unrelated: saw this at Bristol Farms, but there was no label. What is this?
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Haut-Medoc. You had me at 12.5%. Do you recommend this wine?
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It was simple but good, the kind of lower-alcohol everyday Bordeaux I can’t find in California. Very nice with the Brie though I would prefer one a bit more rustic and raspy. It was the only 12.5% Bordeaux in the shop, La Cave du Canal. They had a few 13%, got one of those too and will probably try the rest.
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Oof, I like 12.5%, but not “simple.”
New York vs. Paris
New York: Monday lunch, Frenchette
Kind of ridiculous to have a French meal before getting on the plane to France, but it was close to the hotel and I knew we’d eat well.
With tip, came to $185.78.
Paris: Tuesday lunch, Bistrot Rougement
creme DuBarry (cauliflower potage)
free bread: not as good as Frenchette’s ($12), but good and had character
mackerel with chickpea and wheat berry saladish thing
parmentier de veau with polenta and salad
ile flotante
frangipane pear tart
$61.07 including a bottle of wine
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The mackerel dish sounds fascinating. How was it?
Good all together but there was way more chickpea-wheat stuff than I could eat
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thank you for the heads up about the Uovo price non-increase… we went the other day to the Pasadena location and told our server before that we’d been there before, and he said “well the menu is basically the same” … including the prices !!!
Honestly a huge relief to go somewhere and not worry about price increases on the menu relative to google pics from a few months ago.
Tried the vongole this time – it was really salty but my dining buddy said it was reasonably Roman salty (as the menu suggests). Sat by the pasta bar. It’s a whole operation. We watched someone train somebody new on the line. They were finishing the pasta and some flames shot up. I asked excitedly “is that supposed to happen? Dinner and a show?” the manager (or whoever) breaks the fourth wall to clarify that no it is not supposed to happen, something got too hot. The open kitchen pasta bar situation is a lot!
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