second weekend in August

You know, it was a nice weekend.  And an easy one.  Isn't that lovely when those two things coincide?

As I did the Friday before, I started out my day with a good and lengthy walk from Van's place. 

No, not nearly so long as the week before, but a respectable distance just the same.  It was a work from home day, and that allowed me to shift hours around and go pick up Conrad from LAX in the middle of the day before getting back to the laptop.  Come 5:00, or a few minutes thereafter, he and I were seated at the bar at Maestro for a regular Friday night.  A cherry-tomato cocktail for me,

some oysters to start,

followed by the roasted beet salad we've been enjoying a lot lately,

and then the shortrib burritas. 

We were home fairly early and settled down to a bit of television and then music and reading before bed.

Saturday was lazier.  A shorter walk that culminated in a satisfying breakfast at Amara. 

A bunch of laundry, some reading, and I'm pretty sure I recall there being a nap in there somewhere.  Van picked us up that evening,

and we headed to Little Beast

over in Eagle Rock for dinner with Mitch and Ted.  Nice evening, too.  The biscuits with ham were a good starter to share,

and I also enjoyed the salad that Van, Conrad, and I split. 

My salmon dish was good although I thought the salmon was a little overcooked. 

Still, the curry sauce and the chickpea cake were terrific accompaniments.  Oh, and the cocktail, the Dark Til Dawn, was a success. 

None of us were wowed by the dessert menu, alas, so we headed home, and I had a little Amaro Breva as we wound down.

If Saturday was lazy, well, Sunday outdid it.  An even shorter walk, no laundry, more reading, and again some napping.  The highlight was a nice FaceTime chat with Courtney and Robert.  We had plans for leftovers for dinner, so there really wasn't any cooking save for a bit of rice.  Conrad started making a little pre-dinner set-up for us, and he did get the food plated, but I shook up the cocktails, and that was a great little pre-dinner treat, sitting at the counter and chatting. 

We watched some television, then I hopped online to buy things I think will make nice little party favours/guest goody bag fillers for Conrad's big birthday party later this year.  That brought Sunday and the weekend to an end.

The days ahead may be a little mild for me in terms of posting.  Conrad and Van are heading on a road trip, and I will be taking care of Olive.  I have few plans during my week with her.  Still, if I throw together something halfway edible, it may just get posted here. 

Manuela

While Conrad was out of town, Van

and I took advantage of some gift cards he had on hand and got ourselves to DTLA for dinner at Manuela, a place I've been a few times now.  And you know, I think it was a better experience this time than last time.  So, let's jump back to a week ago yesterday and talk a little about that meal.

Our waiter, whose name I've forgotten now (sorry!) was great.  Maybe a little extra, but certainly attentive enough and helpful with advice on the food and drinks.  That was one big point in favour of the place.  It was on to cocktails from there,

with me opting for the I'm Your Huckleberry (it went down nice and easy) and Van for the Florida Man. 

I also had a glass of a British wine, a rose, with my dinner, but no photo.  Ah well.  Cheers to us.  We sipped and awaited food.

The food?  Terrific.  A delightful salad to share,

a nice piece of halibut for my main. 

The okra side dish was very good, too.  But really, what do we go to Manuela for?  The biscuits and ham. 

The last time I was at Manuela, I thought the biscuits were lacking.  This time?  So good.  I'd still rank them below Everson Royce Bar, but I cheerily, greedily, shoveled back my share of them.

We did get a dessert as well, but no photo of it.  Fig leaf gelato, and it was really superb, but it was also too much food at that point.  Bellies full, we brought date night downtown to a close and headed home.  Yep, we'll be back! 

fried chicken and Champagne

It's funny how it can sometimes take a long time to try something out.  No, not fried chicken, or Champagne.  Please!  I've had them each plenty of times.  I don't think I've had them together, but the combination absolutely makes sense to me.

No, I mean, it's funny that a restaurant can open in your neighbourhood, and you can walk by it dozens of times, and yet, it takes a couple of years to go in.  So, my apologies to Holy Saints! for taking so long.

In fact, Conrad and Van had dined there once when I was out of town, and they did enjoy it.  And I have tried twice to go but found myself stymied by something or another.  So it took me a while.  We have our favourites, as you should know from this blog, and we try to keep up with them instead.  Just the same, it is nice to try some place new.  Van was on their mailing list and learned about them doing a special dinner tonight, so we went.

The good:  the fried chicken was excellent.  A half chicken between the two of us, and with the hot sauce on the side. 

Can I confess?  I don't get having something crispy fried and then dousing it or drizzling it with something wet.  Makes no sense to me.  The cacio e pepe mac and cheese was tasty, too. 

I liked the radicchio and fennel slaw as well - a nice little bite of mustard in the vinaigrette. 

And the biscuits

were nicely baked but perhaps not as fresh out of the oven as I would have wanted so as to make the barbecue butter melt into them.  Oh, and the Champagne was fine.

The bad:  nothing.  Nope.  Great service, no protracted wait for food, all of it was good.  OK, one small thing - we needed a bigger table!

Van and I had a lovely evening, and I will want to go back there to try their regular fare.  My summer of eating well continues! 

fried chicken

So good, we went twice!

I'll blog other Sonoma meals soon enough, but this was lunch on the day we left Sonoma and headed to the coast.  Van and Conrad had been to Lou's Luncheonette

on a previous trip, and Van

was keen to take me there.  The fried chicken was pretty darn good, hot out of the fryer. 

The biscuits? 

God, yes!  Mmmmmm...

We went back for lunch two days later on our way to the airport.  A fried chicken sandwich for me that day.  I may have liked it even better.  Honestly?  I hope I get back there again some time.

first weekend in March

By the time this goes live, I'll be enjoying the second weekend of March, in San Francisco.  So that means that this is grossly overdue.  Ah well.  Better late than something something.  I love cliches!  😜

Some of last weekend will be rinse and repeat.  Friday night sitting at an end of the bar

at Maestro, enjoying cocktails

(sorry, Conrad, but I couldn't resist this photo of you and a margarita!)

and a light meal of queso fundido

and fried quesadillas. 

Cheese was our watchword that night, it seems.  Van didn't join us, but we had his company for a lot of the rest of the weekend.

Saturday morning? 

Amara Cafe and our usual favourites. 

Always welcome!  I headed out for a haircut

and errands after breakfast, and it was a moderately productive day.

Saturday night was a nice evening. 

We met up with Heath and Nicole for dinner in DTLA.  In among the taller buildings,

a film shoot going on a block away,

we dined at Settecento, a new restaurant in a space on one end of the central LAPL building.  It was mild enough to sit outside with only a little assistance from a heater.  The company was great - Heath and Nicole are such lovely people, and it's been good getting to know them since, in a sense, they are Van's family.  The restaurant was fine.  I liked the food (I only got a shot of my appetizer, a deep-fried egg on spinach with a Parmesan cream),

but it needs a little more oomph and refinement, I think.  Service was friendly enough, but the gaps in service were noticeable.  No matter.  We had a nice time with Heath and Nicole, and the restaurant is fairly new and deserves time to find its footing more solidly and a return visit then.

Sunday came, and it was over to Van's that evening.  The Oscars, y'all, Gay Superbowl!  I joke, but I do like seeing the dresses.  I made us some oven-braised chicken in a tomatillo sauce

and a batch of perhaps the best biscuits I have ever made. 

I was pleased with those.  For dessert I had put together a walnut gateau breton

and served it with some cheese.  We snacked, we cocktailed, we ate dinner, we watched the spectacle on television.  Olive got some early attention and otherwise only paid us heed when we ate. 

It was a nice evening all in all.

Alright, I am surely in SF and at our hotel now, soon heading for a first dinner in the city.  Happy second weekend!