Feeling Happy in Venice: Chaya Venice Happy Hour

I really like Chaya Venice's menu during their regular hours, and have been wanting to check out their 5-7pm sushi happy hour menu--when both their prices and wait for a table are significantly reduced--for a while.

A couple weeks ago, after working up an appetite biking around the Venice canals, my friend Andrew suggested to bike north to Chaya Venice. While not stuffy, the restaurant and bar--located on the Venice/S.M. border of Main Street & Navy--is definitely more Santa Monica stylie than Venice boho, but happy hour inherently has a level of casualness about it and we felt totally comfortable bursting into the restaurant at 6:55pm dressed in our casual hoodies and shorts. We got lucky with two seats at the sushi bar with 4 more happy hour minutes to take advantage of.

The happy hour menu is concise (a dozen roll and appetizer options) and super-cheap (nothing is over $4). We ordered spicy tuna tartar, edamame, albacore sashimi salad, chef's special roll (salmon and asparagus inside-out roll, which was ok but would have been better if it was raw salmon instead of baked) and Andrew recommended the potato leek miso soup. I wouldn't have normally picked out the soup from the menu, but it ended up being my surprise favorite. Filled with chunky starchy japanese potatoes and leeks, the flavorful soup was both hearty and refreshing. And the spicy tuna tartar was also tasty enough (enough kick, not too mayonaise-y) to warrant another order.

(Both dishes are way more appetizing-looking than how I captured them with my poor camera skills)

Our entire meal plus a bottle of hot sake ($12) cost $36 inc. tip for the both of us (...that's maybe the cost of one appetizer and one main during regular hours.) Happy Hour indeed! The only complaint is that it could be an even happier hour if Chaya Venice also included drink specials to go along with the discounted sushi.

Cheap high quality sushi--needless to say, I'm hooked. My only problem is finding other non-office minded friends to enjoy happy hour with at a time when you'd still normally be just leaving work....enter my felllow freelancer friend, Carrie. Although we've each managed to fit in a multi-week overseas vacation with some extra carefree weeks at home to spare, we still fear that constant tick of the office clock lifestyle looming closer, so our current plan is to take advantage of early happy hours while we still can.

We each got a raspberry mojito ($9) while we waited for a seat. We got pretty much the same as what I ordered with Andrew, minus the chef special and plus the spicy tuna rolls and I also introduced her to the potato-leek soup (which also pleasantly surprised her).

While there aren't happy hour dessert specials, their Banana, Banana, Banana ($9) is worth ordering regardless. Consisting of three different forms of sweet banana (chocolate-dipped frozen banana sitting on homemade banana ice-cream with fresh berries on top of a warmed banana tart), the dessert really is three times the pleasure without crossing over to banana overload.


This time, our non-HH additions (raspberry-mojito's and triple banana sensation) added happiness to our happy hour at a still very reasonable $60. Mmm, so much good eatin' to be had before 7pm!

Chaya Venice
110 Navy St, Venice
310/396-1179
Happy Hour: Everyday 5-7PM
www.thechaya.com

Independence Day S'mores: 4th of July Bonfire'n'Fireworks at Dockweiler Beach

4th of July really is all about BBQ's, beachtime and fireworks right? Having s'more's around a bonfire doesn't hurt either.

Beach-bunny buds, El and Jess and myself were highly prepped for our bonfire'n'fireworks plans at Dockweiler Beach by LAX. Armed with our backpacks full of marshmallow's, graham crackers, skewers and a thermos of cranberry-vodka, we skated our way north from Manhattan Beach boardwalk at sunset to meet our friends who had already secured a prime firework-viewing fire-pit spot at the beach.

Ahh, toasting marshmallows by the glow of a blazing beach fire while watching fireworks--even forgetting the all-important chocolate for the s'mores didn't put a damper to our night. Well, not too much of a damper for us dessert-perfectionists.

(To busy watching them to take good firework pics)

As the fireworks and supply of cranberry-vodka ended at 10PM, we came to the sobering realization that we had no way to get home. The unlit path was too dark for us not to eat it on our wheeled transportation (skates, blades and skateboard) on the way back, so we walked. And walked. And consoled ourselves that all this unexpected exercise (or 'death mile' as Jess called it) more than negated the multiple s'mores we had inhaled earlier. Oh, then we walked some more.

50 minutes, 2 miles, and 3 pairs of tired and dirty flip-flopped feet later, we finally made it to the northern edge of Manhattan Beach. We spotted a cab and blissfully watched the 30 more blocks of walking we didn't have to do go by as we rode back to my apt.

Ah, the end of a lovely beachy, bonfirey 4th of July. Well, not quite. We bust out the forgot chocolate along with the other ingreidents and fire up my gas stove so we could finish off the night properly with proper chocolately s'mores. mmmm....

Marshmallows: $3.35
Skewers: $1.99
Cadbury Roasted Almond chocolate (a little thick but tastier than Hershey's and the nuts add a twist): $1.68
Honey Graham Crackers: $2.98
Cab Ride Home: $6

Ah, lovely beachy, bonfirey night for $16 even.

Beck...& Bugolgi: Finding Post-Concert Eats Near the Wiltern

Chrissy and I went to see Beck at the historic Wiltern on Wednesday night. Several weeks ago, I had logged on ticketmaster at exactly 4.00pm with multiple windows open desperately trying to score precious pre-sale tickets before they sold out. After 7 carpel tunnel-syndrome inducing minutes of hitting the 'best available' button over and over again, I got through and got the tix.

That was the easy part.

The hard part was now that I'd acquired the tix for the 8pm show, where, oh where to have dinner walking distance to middle-of-nowhere Wiltern along Mid-Wilshire?

Sure, there's Denny's next door. Ha! Never! (yes, I freely admit to being an anti-Denny's snob) and on the other spectrum, the operatically snazzy Opus attached to the Wiltern (but really, which Wiltern concert-goers want to pep up for a concert with dignified, white-tableclothed, 4-star eats beforehand?) Being thisclose to Korea Town, we decided we should take advantage of some kim-chee'd delights. There are scores of potentially really yummy Korean restaurants nearby, however, to unintiated K-Towners such as myself and Chrissy, who knew if 'Young Dong' or 'Bok Duk Bong Bakery' (restaurants that came up on citysearch.com with no additional helpful descriptions) were good choices or not?

Our hemming-and-hawing resulted in us switching to post-concert dinner plans instead me and me having to buy a white peach at the Ralphs next door (which I snuck in for a healthy concert snack) before rushing into the concert. Late-night dinners usually isn't a prob since many K-Town spots are open 24hrs or at least until 2am. We decided on BCD Tofu House, a proven spot post-clubbing spot we've tested before at 2am, a couple blocks away. In addition to their bbq'ed meat dishes, they have this tasty tofu, veggie and meat filled spicy kim-chee soup so hot you're given a raw egg to drop in (which cooks in a second).

Alas, for some reason it was closed, we wandered into a random spot called Speedy Zone, a random tented late-night spot about 5 blocks W of the Wiltern, north side. (Clean and good food but hole-in-a-wall enough that I can't find any more exact info listed on google, yellowpages or 411 on it). Each table came with a 'cook-it-yourself' bbq grill. We ordered the bugolgi (grilled garlic beef) we asked if the waitress could cook it for us, then felt immediately guilty at our laziness while watching her grill our meat for us. One order of the heaping plate of raw beef accompanied with a bowl of rice and the usual sidedish suspects (glass noodles, pickled cabbage, seaweed, friend tofu) was more than enough for the both of us. $17 for everything.

The remains of our 1am dinner. (I had my camera to take pic's of the delicious-looking food but we were too busy eating and forgot until we were done.)

BCD Tofu House (with their great tofu side dishes, tender beef and hot kimchee soup) would still be my top pic for my next Wiltern outing. but Speedy Zone was good, and while not amazing, still a solid choice over the corner Dennys for pre or post-concert noshing.

Oh, and Beck? His awesomeness doesn't need a concert review, I've seen him 3 times and he always puts on amazing live performances; Beck's show involved elaborate mini-Beck dancing puppets, bear costumes, a honky-tonk version of Travolta/Newton-John hit, "All That I Want' with Cia and two encores covering everything from 'Loser' to 'Lost Cause' to Guero's 'Girl'...in other words, a perfect combo of crowd-pleasing favorites, melancholy acoustic solos and dance-happy new tunes.

Thanks again for the Beck concert birthday present Chrissy!

Sandy Downdogging: Aaron Reed's Sunset Beach Yoga Class

I have been in quite the vacation mode for the last month...first literally, for just over 2 weeks adventuring among Mayan ruins and Caribbean waters (Belize and Guatemala) at the beginning of the month, and then spending the last 2 weeks accomplishing the mellow mindset of a prolonged, post-vacation high--but not accomplishing much else (ahem, hence the one month blog break)

Anyway, today I did my part to cling onto that after-vacation buzz by taking a free sunset beach yoga class. I found the flyer after my flow yoga class with music (more Jack Johnson and Sade, less New Agey gong & sitar music) at exhale spa earlier in the week (Monday's activity to simulate a vacation mindset).

The idea of downdogging while watching the sunset sounded lovely. So did the $0 cost. (Vacationing more than working has its price)

View While Downdog'ing

Kristy and I arrived to the yoga 'studio' at the patch of sand where Rose Ave meets the ocean in Venice at 7:30pm. Taking advantage of the beachy elements, instructor Aaron Reed had our 30 person group of beachside yoga'ers start with light stretching on our beach towels, folowed by back and forth pacing along the water's edge while inhaling and exhaling to the rhythm of the waves' ebb and flow, practicing basic poses such as pigeon and triangle pose while utilizing the incline of the sand to help aid our postures and picking up sand and dribbling it between our fingertips while performing sun salutations.

At the mercy of Mother Nature, a few of us got our legs wet when caught out in downdog pose by a big, fast-moving wave and the class ended prematurely just before 8:30pm when the fading last light disappeared after sundown.

Although you can choose to cool down with a night ocean swim, since we didn't exactly work up a sweat during the class--it's more a scenic mental break with body movements for an hour than a tough workout session--Kristy and I skipped out on the post-yoga skinny-dipping session and grabbed dinner instead (Musha--yummy Japanese pub-style food on Santa Monica & 5th).

The beachy environment was a beautiful way to enjoy yoga, and the class definitely gave me enough of a mental holiday to stretch out my waning vacation high for one more day.

You too can enjoy practicing sun salutations to the actual sun while watching it sink into the Pacific! There are two more classes this summer for Aaron's 5th annual Beach Yoga summer series.

Thursday, June 29th, 7:30pm-last light
Wednesday, July 19th, 7:30pm-last light

Just show up at the water's edge at the intersection of Rose Ave and the Pacific Ocean in Venice. No yoga mats necessary, bring a beach towel to sit on so sand doesn't go in uncomfy places as you stretch, a hoodie to counteract the chilly beach breeze and an optional bathing suit underneath your regular yoga outfit--prepare or go bare.

For more info, you can contact www.exhalespa.com

Help Please! I Need '30 Things To Do Before I'm 30'

I know only about 2 of you (woo-hoo LK & CK!) regularly skim through sunny days a la mode, but I need your input. Lots of input. Yes, even from you, "random web-surfer who accidently landed on my page while googling for 'korean ladies in black underwear spa treatments'" person. (I know, it's really weird that my blog shows up first on google ahead of lots of asian porn for that particular search, and if that's what you were expecting, I'm sorry to disappoint).

Anyway, it's my 29th birthday in about three weeks. I'm not feeling anxiously old despite being only 365 + 21 or so days away from the big three-oh.

Especially as I feel in the last year or so that I've definitely regressed to acting more like a 22yr old than when I actually was 22yrs old; I like to think I'm finally mature enough to handle having dyed blue-tipped hair, a disregard for the 9-6 corporate world, a schedule of bar-hopping on multiple 'school nights' and finding nothing wrong with ordering Papa John's two large pizza specials all to myself and eating slices of hawaiian pizza for breakfast, lunch and dinner all week to prolong going on a grocery run.

However, 30 is still considered a milestone of sorts. A milestone that should be marked by a yearlong pre-partying celebration of doing things I want to do.

Inspired by my friend Meriam, already a 29'er--who has 4 more months to accomplish her list--I want to make a '30 Things To Do Before I'm 30' List.

Now, these 30 things are supposed to be a LESS 'Open an IRA Because What Irresponsible 30yr Old Wouldn't Have Done That' and MORE 'Good Excuse To Buy Hot Red Stiletto's Because It's On My List Of Things To Do' (one of Meriam's 30 things to cross off) type of list.

I don't know if it's because I'm faced with so many possibilities--or that I live a pretty hedonistic (yet tame) life...the things I find hedonistically fun just happen to be pretty mild...already full of travel, food, the beach and memories of sky-diving, sleeping over in a french castle, spending a day at MJ's Neverland Ranch and other dubious 'once in a lifetime' things--but I'm finding it surprisingly hard to come up with 'things'.

So far, I only have 7 things on my list.


So, from the practical (go out and buy 3 new outfits so I'll be ever ready for a last-minute interview, cocktail party--and most importantly--a hot date), mundane (get a group of friends to go to a cemetery screening this summer), random (successfully convince a friend to visit South Dakota with me to check out Mt. Rushmore and the state's annual mashed potato wrestling contest!), ambitious (run from Manhattan Pier to Hermosa Pier and back again within 45 mins) and very ambitious (host a dinner party for friends with actual edible food that I cooked), any suggestions are WELCOME, WANTED, NEEDED!

So, if you have a moment, and a random idea, please leave me a comment and let me know! '7 Things To Do Before I'm 30' just doesn't sound as catchy. THANK YOU!

Social Hollywood: Lights! Camera! Eat!

Last night I had the pleasure of dining at the new Social Hollywood. Like my Geisha House entry, there really isn’t anything budg. about this new restaurant, bar and private club but, also like Geisha House, it was another dining experience that was well worth the moolah spent. (Well, last night I was lucky enough to attend a dinner for press so in this case, it was well worth the theoretical moolah spent).

Occupying the former space of the Hollywood Athletic Club, the downstairs bar and restaurant have been given a sophisticated Moroccan makeover—including exposing the original, 1920’s fresco ceilings, carved wooden doors refinished as dining tables, seating accented with mosaic tiles and knotted rugs, all imported from Morocco.

The dark, very adult bar to the right of the lobby—filled with deep leather chaises, 15ft long draping red curtains, hanging Moroccan glass lanterns and etched glass walls—makes me want acquire a secret lovah (or any lovah for that matter, but I’m going on a tangent) just so I can plan multiple clandestine rendez-vous in this sexy lounge.

They have golden aged, la-di-da champagne cocktails and mint juleps but I opted for the juicy Lycheewood martini followed by a pomegranate-vodka with a floating edible orchid. Lychee. Pomegranate. Floating Edible Flower. I totally got sold just by those fun-sounding words but the cocktails lived up to their enticing ingredients and were very drinkable, too drinkable….I was nearly done with both before we moved over to the dining room for dinner.

I was lucky enough to be able to invite three guests and armed with my fellow foodie friends Chrissy, Chaya and Jess, I was confident we’d pretty much explore everything on the menu.

Appetizers included the often overplayed (but not in this case) crab cakes—this ubiquitous starter stood out for its meaty density and accompanying ‘gazpacho shooter’, a shot glass of refreshing tomato/cilantro-lime infused water—beet salad (ok, but not outstanding), fancy foie gras with ‘peanut brittle’ and tasty seared scallops over ‘rabo encendido’ (oxtail stew) which sounded like an odd combo but ended up being our table’s favorite.

Portions are small (I got two scallops) but not in a bad way—they were perfectly sized so we could each order an appetizer, entrée and dessert (oh, and a side of mac and manchego cheese) to share without feeling (too) gluttonous…although we did notice the waitstaff discreetly switched out our normal-sized plates for smaller ones so all our dishes we ordered could fit on the table.

Our entrée picks included the Loup de Mer filled with fennel-leek ‘fondue’ wrapped in grape leaves, wild salmon tagine with artichokes, sunchokes and truffles, short rib tagine with Oaxacan Mole, almond-crusted pumpkin and cous-cous, and pomegranate-glazed lamb rack over creamy polenta.

Both the salmon and loup de mer were cooked just right (not overcooked at all) and flavorful without overwhelming the fish. But the meats are where its at; the lamb was super tender and was well complemented by the polenta and although all of us skipped over the short ribs on the menu and only ordered it based on the high recommendation of our waiter/skipper, Chris, the able-to-pull-apart-with-a-fork tender short ribs was another unanimous favorite. The ribs were rich and super-flavorful without being too heavy.

Since our waiter did a dead-on job with the appetizer and entrée recommendations, we had him help pick out our desserts; we settled on the Social Chocolate, a complex and dense devils food cake dessert baked with banana and nuts, a weightless almond panna cotta capped with a sliver of chocolate, baked Alaskan Pie and another pomegranate appearance, this time a Parfait with fizzy pomegranate ‘essence’ layered with crème anglais.

The food presentation was beautiful (I had my camera but was too caught up with eating to remember taking pictures) and unlike some other shi-shi spots, the quality of the food equaled the visuals.

That’s not to say there wasn’t some of the shi-shi pretensiousness present; half the menu required an international cookbook glossary—the aforementioned almond-crusted pumpkin was referred to as a ‘Calabaza’ on the menu, and thank god we didn’t want the lobster bisque en croute with Jerez and lobster knuckles or I would have had to second-guessed myself whether I should know if lobsters have knuckles before asking the waiter, or if ‘knuckles’ is just ‘fancy’ for ‘chunks of lobster meat’. We were also assigned a ‘captain’ for the night—dressed in a very Fantasy Island white jacket—which I presume whose job was to oversee our waiter and busboy and entertain us with his Fantasy Island get-up. He did a good job keeping things shipshape as our personable waiter was very knowledgeable and accurate with his recommended picks. The pricey menu would also typically set you back over $60 per person for a 3-course meal before drinks.

Upstairs is restricted to members-only but we got a little tour of the upstairs private screening room, sleek, retro-styled game room with playing card tables, plasma screens for playstation playing as well as the original 1920’s billiards table once cued up by the likes of former screen legends Errol Flynn and Rudolph Valentino and adjacent (and appropriately named) avocado-green Green Room and lush, velvety Velvet Room available for private parties.

Our night at Social Hollywood was like experiencing an idealized version of retro Hollywood with the classy sophistication and glamour of that time but with a young and unstuffy vibe. Just like the Social is making a return visit to Old Hollywood glam, we’d definitely be down for making a return visit to the Social.

Social Hollywood
6525 Sunset Blvd
323/462-5222

Finding (Milkshake) Heaven at Lucky Devils

Last week I dropped by the new upscale late night diner, Lucky Devils to meet with the Lucky Devil himself--Lucky Vanous (for those who don't remember Lucky and his abs got their initial 15 minutes in those 90's Diet Coke commercials as the hot construction worker all the office ladies were drooling over).

I sat down with him with the initial plan to ask him a few questions for a profile I'm writing on his newly opened Hollywood Blvd spot but instead, ended up sampling several of his microbrews....and then tipsily sampling Lucky Devil's entire selection of homemade desserts with him (like 8 different sweet treats)...so, in this case, the devil really did make me do it.

The casual eatery serves up upscale classic American fare in an unpretentious, modern diner setting (ignore the cheesy Lucky Devils cartoon logo outside and enter into a minimalist interior with walnut counters and mod'ish white seating).

Although it's also open for lunch and dinner, the 3am closing time, alcohol-absorbing comfort food and convenient locale (stumbling distance to a bunch of clubs along Las Palmas and the Cahuenga corridor) makes Lucky Devil's a heaven-sent pit-stop to hit up after last call.

Although a tad pricey for post-clubbing grubbing--their signature bleu cheese Kobe burger is $16--hungry hipsters chowing down on the gourmet comfort food don’t seem to mind. The sinful, carb-heavy comfort food is gussied up with deluxe, organic-leaning ingredients so you can feel better about loading up on a 2:30am burger run.

There's also fancy-schmancy grilled cheese sandwiches with artisan cheddar, slow-cooked chili cheese fries and organic Cobb salad (which are more affordably priced, all between $5-10, and to be fair, you really should be splitting the substantial Kobe burger at that time of the night, which would make it a more reasonable $8).And if you come before last call, they've got a bunch of microbrews and organic wines to pick from.

Desserts are courtesy of former AOC pastry chef, Karla Lomeli--I tried everything, including Meyer lemon cupcakes, Kentucky buttermilk cake with cream cheese frosting, organic apple crumble and steamed chocolate cake with vanilla-cinnamon 'goo'--and they all taste as good as they look.

But if you only have $5 left in your pocket, forget spending it on fries ($4.95) or splitting the Kobe burger between three of you ($5.33 each)...or even saving it for drunken cab fare afterwards for that matter. Spend it on their amazing Toasted Pecan frozen custard shake with Madagascar-vanilla flecked frozen custard ($4.95)

Perfectly thick, not overly sweet, flavorfully pecan'y, mildly custardy and subtlely vanilla'y. If you blew your cab fare on my recommendation, I stand by it. The frozen custard shake is worth the walk.

Lucky whipped me up a shake on Monday night and I made a return visit with a girlfriend on Thursday night just to suck down more of that sublime-tasting shake. And I can't wait to party along Las Palmas just so we can end the night with a Toasted Pecan flavored nightcap afterwards. It's that good

Lucky Devils
6613 Hollywood Blvd
323.465.8259