Strike this
Thursday, November 8, 2007
I know that the Writer's Guild strike is merely news to many of my non-Angeleno counterparts. But here in LA, it's affecting everyone's day to day everything...The overall mood in Los Angeles is one of anxiety. There is tremendous unknown right now and I'm sure the prescriptions for Valium and Xanax at least doubled this past week.
Several people have asked me what the strike is about. I could break it down for you, but a blog called United Hollywood has done it way better than I ever could. Click here to understand and keep in mind this is from the writer's point of view.
When not picketing, my husband is making you tube videos that star my fabulous puppy, Thursday (among others...but she's the most important) Click below for some "strike"-ing entertainment. Wow. That was really bad...
But the thing that I'm really wondering as I have to drive through one of the milder picket lines every day is why can't this get worked out civilly? I'm sure many would say I'm naive - that if it could have, it would have. But I still wonder. The truth is - everyone fighting needs each other. The moguls would be nothing without the creativity of the writers. And the writers wouldn't have a commercial outlet if it weren't for the huge corporate conglomerates. (Sure, they can put on plays and create their own stuff...but they'd all be lying if they said they didn't care about the basics of health insurance and paychecks.) Everyone is so angry and people are lying and there are double standards going on all around.
All I'm saying is that it sucks. Plain and simply sucks.
Oh - and we ate at BLD last night. It was really good. It's actually gotten better than it used to be. And their fruit and nut bread that they serve with the cheese plate is amazing. They have a pretty amazing cheese plate. And I love cheese. LOVE. BLD was good. I like it. I approve. Over and out.
BLD, 7540 Beverly Blvd. 323-930-9744, open for breakfast (that's the B), lunch (that's the L) and dinner...you get it...7 days a week.
Posted byMeesh-elle my Belle at 2:00 PM 1 comments
Labels: food and drink, the industry
Osteria La Buca
Wednesday, November 7, 2007
Yum. My mouth was happy which is appropriate for a place named Buca which means mouth in Italian.
Last night we had a fabulously delicious dinner at a little Italian restaurant on Melrose. The pastas are all homemade and they are Divine. And I meant that capital D. We started with an arugula salad with mushrooms and shredded parmesan in a lemon vinaigrette. (My husband makes fun of me because I remember every single ingredient of the food that we eat...but you're happy about it, aren't you?) Arugula was my favorite food in Italy - it was so fresh and complex and spicy. And while this was no Italy, this arugula did NOT disappoint. The three of us shared our entrees - a margherita pizza, linguine carbonara, and ricotta and spinach ravioli in a butter and sage sauce. It took what felt like FOREVER for our entrees to arrive but thankfully, I was in company that I enjoy so I happily polished off my lovely glass of Montepulciano and ordered another one.
And the entrees were worth the wait. The pizza was my favorite- a perfectly thin crust with delicious tomato sauce and just the right amount of cheese. I wouldn't have minded it a little more crispy but we'd already waited long enough. The carbonara was rich and delicious although next time I would ask to have the pancetta well done - I love when it pops in my mouth. The ravioli was light and lovely- rather than the common ravioli filled with ricotta with a little spinach mixed in, this was chock-full of spinach and a nice change from the norm. I would have been happy ordering almost anything on the menu and I look forward to a return visit to try everything that I wasn't able to this go around.
While we had a reservation, we opted to sit at the bar because when we arrived, there weren't any tables downstairs available. The downstairs had a warm, cozy feeling with great energy and great light. But when we were taken upstairs to see if we wanted a table there, it was cold and empty and literally felt like a different restaurant. The mistake was in closing the upstairs off from the downstairs with a large pane of glass. You can see down, but the flow of energy is completely cut off - you can't hear the chatter or feel the warmth and while people who came after us opted to sit up there, I would highly recommend asking for a table downstairs or sitting at the bar.
A lovely evening was had by all. I'm sure you're happy that you don't have to hear me bitch and moan.
After reading my post yesterday, Tracey suggested Table 8 and I must say that I've had disappointing experiences at both Table 8 and at Jar. (and a fellow NY foodie friend ate at Table 8 on a visit and felt similarly...so maybe it's just us New Yorkers.) My feeling about both of these restaurants is that there's a lot of hype for little reason. The food is fine but it's quite expensive for just fine...There's nothing spectacular about the menu or the flavors (and I've found Jar to be sort of snooty if you ask me...Don't bring onion rings to the table next to me and then when we ask for them tell me they're for VIP's only. I worked for Danny Meyer and I will tell you that does not fall into the category of hospitality or soignee service!!!!) But I'm still on my quest to find those restaurants that put a glimmer of hope into the LA food scene. It gives me something to focus on other than the fact that I have to drive through a picket line every morning.
Osteria La Buca, 5210 1/1 Melrose Avenue, Hollywood, CA (323) 462-1900
open for lunch Monday through Friday and dinner seven nights a week
Posted byMeesh-elle my Belle at 4:32 PM 0 comments
Labels: food and drink
Eh - like a disgruntled old Jewish man
Tuesday, November 6, 2007
I've noticed a lot of new restaurant facades popping up around these parts. I'm very curious to see what becomes of these places. As of late, I've had more than my fair share of conversations regarding the Los Angeles restaurant scene. As a lover of food and wine, I've found the dining experience in Los Angeles to be mostly mediocre at best. I suppose it's inspired me to spend more time in the kitchen but when you work from 9-7 and even later on some days, it's nice to have an old standby of a restaurant that you can rely on to serve you really good, cheap food with a glass of wine. I had several of those in NYC but alas, I've yet to find my Malatesta Trattoria, my Tartine, my Cafes Habana and Gitane... In recent conversations with Los Angeles transplants, I've found that I'm not alone in my feelings. There seems to be a general feeling that the cities of New York, Chicago, San Fransisco - even Boston - are more cutting edge, have far finer service (even in the holes in the walls), have better value and plain and simply just have better food than Los Angeles.
That said, we have parents in town for the next several days and I'll be eating at some of the places I've been wanting to try as well as a few of my old favorites. I suppose I'll be having a "restaurant week" of my own for the next several days...Tonight we're dining at Osteria La Buca - an Italian place that's fairly far east on Melrose and I'll report back in full tomorrow.
But before we deal with tonight, I need to discuss my disappointing dinner last night. Pane e Vino in Los Angeles is just plain bad. I've been to Pane e Vino in Montecito and it's delicious - although I suppose when Oprah frequents your place, you need to step it up a notch. (Although I believe that they started out under the same owner but aren't owned by the same people any longer.)
Not only is the food at Pane e Vino LA mediocre, it's also expensive! If you're going to charge $10 for a mixed green salad with Parmesan, it damned-well better be Parmigiano-Reggiano freshly shaved on the top of my mixed greens...not a spoonful of grated Parmesan that looks like it came fresh out of the green metallic Kraft canister. I probably don't need to elaborate anymore but I will, lest you should think that this is only one item on the menu and the rest must be good...
I tasted everything ordered at the table. I, myself, got a mixed greens salad with smoked chicken in a gorgonzola vinaigrette. The nicest thing I can say about this special is that it was fine. I believe the waitress told me the chicken was grilled because I'm not a huge fan of the smoked chicken but it's possible my mind was in other places. Still - it was literally mixed greens with smoked chicken and gorgonzola. There are SO many delicious things that go with gorgonzola in a salad. They failed to include even one of them. It seems to me that if you're going to have a "special" on the menu then you should probably try to make it SPECIAL.
One of our friends ordered the mixed vegetables cooked in the clay pot. After a few bites, she added several fistfuls of Parmesan cheese hoping to add a flavor- any flavor. My husband asked them to refill the Parmesan cheese so that he could add a bit of flavor to his rigatoni al pomodoro e basilico. If an Italian restaurant can't make a good pasta in a tomato and basil sauce, you know you're in trouble. Showering his pasta in a bowl of Parmesan and red pepper flakes didn't make up for the fact that the pasta was sort of mushy and the sauce lacked any sort of fresh taste. I could have made a box of Bertelli and thrown on some Trader Joe's Pomodoro sauce with some freshly shredded Parmesan and it would have tasted better. (I probably could have dropped it on the floor and it would have tasted better...)
I sat in the pretty garden (essentially the one and only thing going for this place) and thought about how it would have never lasted in NYC. I thought longingly about Malatesta Trattoria and Piadina and Frank where I could get the same thing for half the price and ten thousand times more deliciousness. I wonder why anyone in their right mind goes to Pane e Vino. It should be called Pane eh Vino.
Posted byMeesh-elle my Belle at 2:07 PM 1 comments
Labels: food and drink
A place where you don't need to get validated
Monday, November 5, 2007
I had breakfast with a good friend from NYC last week. Her husband was here for business and she and her son tagged along to see some friends and get some fall sun. We had breakfast at their hotel and on the way out, I got my parking validated. Thinking in my normal "New York or LA" manner, I laughed. "Of course I have to get validated in LA."
She pointed out that you need to get validated for parking in many cities...but she echoed the sentiment moments later. She mentioned that her husband had been looking at some potential jobs in Los Angeles while they were here this week - but after spending the week here, she just felt like she wouldn't be happy in LA.
"Forget the fact that it's so spread out. Everything - I mean everything - just feels so material. Everyone is in their fancy cars with their insanely big houses. And I can't imagine sending my kids to school here. And it's all about seeing and being seen. I'd feel so much pressure here. And I have some great, great, girlfriends here...but I still don't think I'd be happy."
This was her impression after a mere 5 days in this place. She, too, felt that inherent to Los Angeles is the need to feel validated in a way that doesn't exist in New York or Chicago or many other cities.
Perhaps this is not true for everyone who lives here. And I think there are probably many who enjoy this aspect of Los Angeles. But there does seem to be this constant buzz of who you know, what you do, where you were last night and with whom and it sort of makes you want to crawl into a hole and hide and remind everyone that it's the journey, not the destination...that there's nothing more valuable than love and kindness. And I know I sound cliche, but I think a lot of people out here forget the importance in just being warm and loving and kind.
Why does everyone out here care so much about everyone else? And you could turn around and point this question directly back at me. You could tell me that the issue is my own. You could ask me why I feel like I need to be validated. You could say to me, "But Michelle...if you don't care, then why does this bother you so much?" You could tell me that if I'm truly secure in who I am, then outside validation is bunk anyhow.
And you'd be right on all accounts. These are all good and true points. They are questions that I have often asked myself since I settled down in this City of Angels. And I did occasionally have these feelings when I lived in New York. I think the need for occasional validation is human. But since I moved to Los Angeles, I have felt it more and more - at times to an uncomfortable extent. And I've searched more and more for my own sense of peace, my own validation...so that when I feel something other than that from someone I know or someone I meet, I can simply brush it off without paying it any heed. I haven't gotten there yet - but I'm working on it.
My friend that I had this conversation with - she is one of the most confident and grounded young women I know. I have often admired her self-assuredness. And so in that moment, it felt good that another confident, secure young woman saw exactly what I see and knew that she would struggle with exactly what I struggle with here in LA. In that moment, I felt validated.
Posted byMeesh-elle my Belle at 4:05 PM 0 comments
Labels: life lessons, moving to LA
Random thoughts
Sunday, November 4, 2007
I've now started (and not finished) three posts. My mind is in several other places and none of them are here, in Los Angeles, sitting in front of the computer. I'm scattered and I'm going to go with it...
Tomorrow morning I'll have to drive through a picket line. I'm not sure if the picketer's signs will say anything because, after all, they're not supposed to write.
I had far too much wine last night at a gluttonous dinner and woke up with a bit of a hangover. For a long time I felt upset that my body couldn't handle what it used to because it was a function of getting older. But now I feel grateful that my body is older...older and wiser. But I wouldn't have done anything differently last night - how do you turn down wine pairings with an outrageous nine course tasting menu - at a friend's HOME? You don't.
Village Pizza's not as good as it used to be.
I am sort of happy about daylight savings although it felt like it was 10 PM at 6 PM tonight. But I am looking forward to the sun coming up at 6 AM making it easier for me to get out of bed and get to my newly found spinning classes.
The pumpkin scones at Starbucks are really good.
This place should be called Lost Angeles.
I met some really cool people yesterday at lunch. Rachel is thinking of moving here from NYC...reminded me to take this blog back to my first year of ups and downs and searching and learning. Ryan lives in Chicago...he's writing a book. Do you know that Native Americans plan based on how it will effect the next 7 generations? Ryan is in urban planning and they use that theory. Pretty cool.
No one's life is exactly what it seems.
We all need to be a little gentler with each other. I find that the most judgmental people are being equally as judgmental of themselves. When you're upset with someone, communicate it to them. But don't freak out over every little thing...if someone is in your life and you love them and they love you, then chances are that more often than not, they would never intentionally hurt you. And remember that you have unintentionally hurt others in your life. None of us are perfect. Learn to forgive. Don't hold grudges.
I have heartburn.
I've been having some really crazy dreams...about my grandmother, my dog, my wedding bands, and forests. Not all together.
I'm absolutely exhausted. Tomorrow is a new day...a day where I have to drive through a picket line. Oy.
Posted byMeesh-elle my Belle at 7:47 PM 0 comments
Labels: random thoughts
Get used to repeats, baby.
Friday, November 2, 2007
I remember showing up to a dinner party in tears in the spring of 2003 because of the musician's strike on Broadway. I had to stand in the lobby of the Broadway theater and explain to people that there would be no performance that evening of Baz Luhrmann's La Boheme on Broadway. I had to tell them that they could either get their money back or get tickets for another performance down the line, but that March evening, the lights would not shine on Broadway. People actually cried. They begged me to make the show happen. They were in NYC for their yearly vacation and they always saw a Broadway show - and besides...the show must go on!
Right.
There were people from Australia. There were people that had finally won the lottery for the $20 tickets after waiting in line for three months straight. There was a lot of disappointment for the few nights that Broadway went dark during the musician's strike. It broke my heart to see how devastated people were that they weren't going to get to see theater. I had come to take it for granted because I got to see almost every show that existed for free during previews. I had forgotten that for most people, the theater was truly a special treat. That evening, I remembered.
The musician's strike only lasted a few days - Mayor Bloomberg stepped in because the city was losing millions and it was fixed in a matter of hours. That strike effected a lot of people...but it was nothing compared to what Hollywood is about to experience.
So on Monday the writers will walk out. No more SNL, Letterman or Leno effective immediately. Your favorite shows will last for another couple of months with more repeats in between so you'll see a new episode every so often...but come January, things will change.
Here in TV Network land, we've already been told there's no more overtime, no more expense accounts, no more birthdays. (It's the Grinch who stole fun!) When we drive to work on Monday, we've been told to keep our windows up, lest a picketer should throw something through a window or shout things that we'd feel inclined to want to respond to. Meanwhile, some of these picketers could very possibly be my friends.
There are all the crew people who are just victims of this disagreement and are totally out of work because of it. Big deal if I don't get a birthday cake...
Then there's the rest of LA. I thought about getting a second job waiting tables to make up for the lack of overtime that I'll be getting. But everyone that eats out in this town does so on an expense account. If they don't have one, will they still eat out? Definitely not as often...There will be fewer car services taking people places. People will cancel dog walkers, cleaning ladies, waxing, facials. Starbucks and Coffee Bean are going to see some serious hits (although there will probably be more out of work people hanging out because it's too depressing to just sit at home all day. But I bet you there are fewer lattes ordered and more plain ol' coffees...) Liquor sales may increase but bars won't be so packed.
For a few nights, Broadway disappointed several hundred thousand people and the shows lost some money. But this is going to last for more than a few nights. Repeats are the least of our worries.
Posted byMeesh-elle my Belle at 4:57 PM 0 comments
Labels: the industry
Hallo-whine
Thursday, November 1, 2007
Halloween in LA has officially turned me into a Grinch. I should begin by explaining that I am not a fan of the adult celebration of Halloween. I can't wait to get my kids dressed up one day and take them trick or treating...but as an adult, I'm completely averse to the requirement of dressing up. So NY or LA, I've never been a huge fan of the Halloween party. I know, I know. People love dressing up and being someone else for a night - they can be a superhero or a slut or a pretty, pretty princess for a night. But it's just not for me.
Last night, I reluctantly went to a Halloween party because a good friend had planned it (and she planned fabulously, I might add...). Her fabulous party did not change my feeling. But we had a perfectly lovely time for the hour or so that we were there - just enough time to look around, see some great costumes, get a hot dog on a stick, see a few friends and be in bed early enough on a school night.
I left around 11 and expected to be in my bed about 20 minutes later. My dreams of sugarplum fairies were dashed when, about 10 minutes into my trip home, I hit traffic at every turn I took. The Halloween parade on Santa Monica Blvd. had ended and there were people flooding to their cars in a mass exodus. I sat in my car and cursed - cursed driving, cursed LA, cursed the Merry Hallo-weiners. In NYC, while the streets are flooded with people after the West Village parade, you can cut down any number of side streets at any point in time to avoid the masses and get to your destination. Not so here. I sat through traffic light change after traffic light change and slowly went insane as I prayed to the gods to puh-leeeeeeeeeeeease allow me to just cross La Cienega Avenue. After 20 minutes at a virtual stand-still, I crossed to the other side - the land of Moses - and drove home mostly uninterrupted. I crawled into bed and declared that I wish that I could end adult Halloween. "I could be the Grinch who stole Halloween!" I declared giddily! (But lest you think I'm some absolutely horribly person - know that I am referring to adults only here. I would never, EVER think about removing the joy of dressing up and trick or treating from children. I'm just making sure we're all clear here...) After I reveled in my thought for a brief moment, I came back to earth and realized, as the Grinch did, that there's no need for me to force my feelings upon the entire universe. But I can safely say that Halloween in LA has effectively ruined any minuscule desire that I ever had to participate in Halloween on Halloween in this city again.
Boo Humbug.
Posted byMeesh-elle my Belle at 12:28 PM 0 comments
