OLYMPIC BLVD — Stefan’s at L.A. Farm screams aristocratic eatery with every detail of its composition, starting with the rampant bulls with smouldering red eyes at the street entrance and following through to the richly appointed tomes that sit adjacent to the host desk.
We used to sail out of Marina del Rey. After a cold, rough sail, with Spencer seasick and Bonnie bored, we would return to the marina looking for a good dinner.
When Jean Francois Meteigner, one of the great French chefs in town, moved his restaurant from Santa Monica Boulevard in Century City to Ocean Avenue in Santa Monica, many of his clients eagerly followed.
Groucho Marx used to say, “I’m a person of high principles, and if you don’t like them … I have others.” I too have high principles, including what kind of restaurant I like to go to.
We’re so lucky in Santa Monica to have a number of extraordinary chefs trained in France by the greatest of the great. Michael McCarty has been around the longest I guess, and has maintained a top quality restaurant for years.
CITY HALL — Restaurants may see their rents rise on outdoor dining facilities in two years after the City Council voted to increase rent on city sidewalks to bring them in line with improved property values.
What’s the difference between a Jewish deli and an Italian deli? It sounds like the first line of a joke. But it’s not: this is serious business. Each kind of deli has its own specialties, and the food is quite different.
For me, not every meal has to be a gourmet sensation. Sometimes I like fast food, snacks, an occasional donut when my wife’s not looking, and all kinds of fried food.
BROADWAY — Whenever a new restaurant opens, my sister says, “Not another Italian restaurant!” A friend who works at Cal Tech claims that when man finally gets to Mars, he or she will find a Starbucks on one corner and an Italian restaurant on the other.
I have often heard of Michael’s in Santa Monica and have walked by it many times but never had a chance to visit until recently and was pleasantly surprised.
The best way to get a response to an article is to say something is the “best,” or create a list of the “best,” like the best Italian restaurant, or the best hamburger.
How do you live to be a 103, look like you’re 75 and still have your wits about you? I want to know. So I’ve been asking the only person I know who fits this description.
