Results tagged “seafood”

            

I get asked more often than I can handle for recommendations for where to eat in Los Angeles. And it's a hard question to answer because there are not only a staggering number of excellent options, but also it's so often a matter of personal taste and finding the right spot for the right occasion. For the past four or five years, however, if you ask me what my favorite special occasion restaurant in Los Angeles is (not counting the epic $500 sushi of Urasawa, mind you) I will without hesitation say The Water Grill.

This morning it was Vietnamese-fusion and now we're talking Japanese-fusion. After a soft-opening in October that ended last night, Grub Street gives a heads up to this Saturday's opening of Agura in West Hollywood.

Have you ever gone to the Monterey Bay Aquarium, walked around for hours and then afterwards, go out for dinner, you know, to get sushi? If so, maybe you used the aquarium's handy wallet-sized Seatfood Watch pocket guide.

The Hungry Cat in Hollywood has always been a great spot to sidle up to the bar and order a plate full of oysters and a delicious specialty cocktail (and the restaurant's signature blue cheese burger & fries, if you're really hungry). But the deals are getting better by the day at their Hollywood location: they've extended their happy hour so that you can booze it up on half-price cocktails and draft beers from 12p-6p.

     

Every weekend I say to myself, "I'm going to escape this cement jungle and go get out to somewhere green", which is easier said then done. Yet each weekend rolls by and I never seem to be able to leave my 10 mile bubble radius of Silver Lake. Feeling completely guilt ridden for not taking the advantage of the abundant nature that surrounds LA (within a thirty minute drive); I went out to Malibu. Allergy medicine loaded, water, and camera in hand I set out with friends to explore Corral Canyon Trail, Point Dume State Beach and indulge in some deep fried seafood at Malibu Seafood.

         

It was right after Chinese New Year that we came to Boiling Crab -- we were definitely in the mood for some steamin' cajun seafood. The slightly weird part of this, of course, is that we're in Alhambra, where Chinese food dominates. Yet despite -- or perhaps because -- Boiling Crab stands out from the glut of Chinese restaurants, it has garnered over 300 overwhelmingly positive reviews on yelp. The people here are similarly savvy hybrids. The staff and clientele are nearly all Asian, but everyone spoke perfect English.

Are hard economic times finally hitting the Los Angeles restaurant industry? Signs are pointing to yes: a press release just sent out this morning is announcing that Chef Joachim Splichal is closing his Beverly Hills seafood restaurant Paperfish. From the release: “It is with sadness that I made the decision to close Paperfish...Much time, effort and creativity went into the foundation of the restaurant, but we had an option in our lease to return the space to our landlord, and with the current economic climate, it did not make sense to continue to foster this new concept." Executive Chef Kevin Meehan will be moving to another venture in the Patina Group. Paperfish had been open since November 2007.

In a scathing review published today in the LA Times, restaurant critic Leslie Brenner takes on a seafood institution known mostly for it's foil animal-shaped doggie bags and it's Pacific Ocean views, and tries to figure out why Gladstone's in Malibu has earned the title of Southern California's top-grossing restaurant. At what is ostensibly a commercialized mini-chain offering very standard seafood fare (and, in the opinion of Brenner's server on one visit, even some sub-standard fare) you'll get "huge portions of bad food at astoundingly high prices." And while the customers seem to be happily conned, the establishment is laughing its way to the bank. But Brenner isn't laughing; she rates the place "poor" and gives the impression something is fishy with Gladstone's rampant popularity...and it isn't the clam chowder.

       

My search for hard core seafood at casual prices continues, we have a pretty solid place lined up for today. Captain Kidd's in Redondo Beach is half seafood market, half restaurant. It's a little confusing, but there are three lines. One line is for drinks -- they have a good selection of beers on tap. The line in the back is where you can order combo plates or most anything else you'd like -- if you don't want to pick out which piece of fish you want. The main line in the front left part of the restaurant is the seafood line, where you can pick your fish or crustacean from a grocery seafood display case -- they'll write up your order, take your money, and give you a number. They'll holler when your order is ready. So! Let me show you what we got tonight...

   

Neptune's Net Seafood Restaurant in Malibu is a biker hang. But that doesn't mean you have to be one to enjoy crab and fried scallops (unless, Malingering, who took these photos, is living a secret life as a biker).

Near the Burbank Airport, choices are slim. Luckily, one of those few options seem to be a tasty and popular one. LAist Featured Photos Contributer ~db~ headed to Costa Azul this weekend and snapped this shot of his Tostada de Ceviche (citrus-marinated seafood salad on a tostada). He called it "the perfect Sunday breakfast."

             

Cracked Crab is my seafood fantasy come true.

       

Morro Bay is a beach town about 200 miles northwest of Los Angeles. On a recent trip I had the pleasure of dining in the area, and the result is this quick back to back weekend series. Come back tomorrow for even more seafood as we head down the coast to Pismo Beach. Today, though, we're sticking to the beautiful town of Morro Bay. Known as a fishing port and a tourist town, Morro bay has a good selection of seafood restaurants and I've got my sight locked on this one. Giovanni's is one of those half-seafood-market, half restaurant places. It came highly recommended for their fish and chips, and while I'm game for fish and chips, what I'm really here for is their oysters and crabs.

I love Mexican food, and really who doesn’t? I’ve met few people who don’t love the flavors of our neighbors to the South. That being said, not everyone likes the same types of Mexican food. By types I don’t mean Tex-Mex or Oaxacan—I mean that there are several different culinary categories of Mexican food to be found here in our fair city. There’s taco truck Mexican food, which on a good day can be...

As a girl with little money and parents who love to dine out, I often find myself eating with them on a Friday night. And I often have to twist arms to get to go to place I want (cough cough: Paco’s Tacos or Hide Sushi). Well, last Friday I was unable to twist the arm that feeds me. My step dad headed out towards Marina Del Rey hoping to take us to CPK or Souplantation (God forbid) or Nichols. I wasn’t in the mood for any of these establishments and begged to be taken to a waterfront-dining establishment. Being a good step dad, he obliged. The choices down at Fisherman’s Village—the waterfront “restaurant row” of Marina Del Rey—are sparse; there’s Shanghai Red’s, El Torrito, some Italian place, and Angler’s Choice, a seafood restaurant. Being a seafood lover and being a person of logic (a seafood restaurant by the sea should have great, fresh seafood), my mom and I voted “Angler’s Choice! Angler’s Choice!” And, unfortunately so it was.