Cucina Paradiso and The Palmer Room – Los Angeles

Posted and filed under Los Angeles, music.

Last week my girlfriend and I had dinner at Cucina Paradiso. It’s a great little Italian restaurant that shares a building with The Palmer Room on Motor Ave. The Palmer Room is a bar / club with a tiny stage for live music; Their website is fairly bland, but the bar itself is quite cozy… Read more »

How is this a mystery?

Posted and filed under College Football, Los Angeles, News.

You have to get out of bed pretty early to pull one over on the local coroner in Los Angeles. Southern California kicker Mario Danelo was drunk when he plunged over a cliff to his death, but the cause of his death was “undetermined,” according to a coroner’s report released Monday. He’s a football player… Read more »

Memphis Hollywood

Posted and filed under Los Angeles, My Life.

We found yet another fabulous restaurant last night: Memphis. (map). This “Southern Style Dining” establishment is located in Hollywood in “the last remaining residential house … left on this highly commercialized street.” It’s quirky and fun to eat in a restaurant that used to be a house. The lighting is very romantic and the food… Read more »

Shotgun Blast – Von Cotton

Posted and filed under Los Angeles, music.

Last night was another crazy cool one in Los Angeles. The fun began with dinner on the Sunset strip: Ron Jeremy was at the table on our left and Scott Baio was at the table on our right. The service was uncharacteristically craptacular, but the food was excellent. (You can’t do much better than the… Read more »

Speeding in Los Angeles

Posted and filed under Los Angeles, My Life.

On May 20, 2006 I was tagged for speeding on the 405 while returning from my friend’s wedding in Valencia. This was one of the (rare) instances when I felt I was undeserving of a speeding ticket. There were cars on either side of me and a guy was coming up my rear like a… Read more »

Von Cotton – LA Music

Posted and filed under Los Angeles, music.

Got plans for January 24th? Of course you don’t. Now you do. Mark it down. Von Cotton will be live at Molly Malone’s next Wednesday. These guys are excellent. You must be there. Come see them now before they sign a multi-record contract for millions of dollars. That way you’ll get to say, “I saw… Read more »

What happens here …

Posted and filed under Los Angeles, sports.

“What happens here, happens in the rest of the country a decade later.” We’re talking about Los Angeles, folks. This excellent quote is from a stupendous essay on why there will never be an NFL team in LA. It only took me a few months to realize that this place wasn’t going to be able… Read more »

Pastina Trattoria – Westwood

Posted and filed under Los Angeles.

Last night my girlfriend and her stepmother went to a wine-tasting class at The Wine House in Westwood. They recruited me as a designated driver and after I picked them up we went to Pastina Trattoria for a late dinner. Pastina has quickly become my favorite Italian place in Los Angeles. It is almost sacrilegiously… Read more »

Ago Restaurant – Los Angeles

Posted and filed under Los Angeles.

To celebrate straight As on her report card, I took my girlfriend to Robert De Niro‘s Ago Restaurant Friday night. This lovely little Italian eatery is on Melrose Avenue in West Hollywood. We didn’t have reservations, but after a few glasses of wine at the very crowded bar, the maître d’ managed to squeeze us… Read more »

Panini Cafe – Marina Del Rey

Posted and filed under Los Angeles.

Their website is craptacular and looks like it hasn’t been updated since last June, but the Panini Cafe in Marina Del Rey is a damn good place to have lunch. I’ve eaten there probably two dozen times since my company moved into our current building several years ago. I’d go there more often but there… Read more »