Results tagged “lunapark”

Looking for a little holiday cheer in the frantic last days of frenzied mall crowds, last-minute shopping and party hopping? Well, today is your lucky day. Christmas in a cocktail glass at the following bars and even a little recipe to try at your holiday party!

Downtown Los Angeles has been going through a massive period of renewal and development over the last several years in what can be thought of as an attempt to revive what was once the true core of our city. From high rise high-end condos and lofts to the entertainment "campus" of LA Live, there are more reasons now than in recent memory to live or visit Downtown.

The meals are being offered at great prices -- only $15 for a three-course lunch at Luna Park, for instance, or dinner at Sushi Roku for $34 (prices vary according to restaurant and meal). American Express cardholders (yes, they're the event's major sponsor, along with the Los Angeles Convention and Visitors Bureau, aka LA INC.) can make their reservations now; the general public has to wait until January 16th to save their spots.

When we read New York Times' vacation on Ventura Blvd. last fall, we were happy the Valley got noticed with better geography skills than our local news outlets. And ever since La Di Da in West Hollywood closed (probably 'cause someone [see previous link] said its neighborhood was Miracle Mile), nothing in LA has been able to impress like Misti Chamkunthod's Brie mac and cheese (you can find Misti at The Backstage in Culver...

Stocking stuffer alert for the foodies on your list! When it comes time to make New Year's resolutions, oftentimes at the top of ours is "Try more restaurants!" And this is when "new" is a relative term; sometimes "new to us" is as good as new, if not better. But then as any given mealtime approaches, we find ourselves scrambling for ideas: Where should we go? How much of a dent in the wallet will...

We've just heard about a local event devoted to the perennial classic of American comfort food: Macaroni and cheese. Oregon-based Tillamook Cheese and the Pasadena location of the higher-end seafood chain eatery McCormick & Schmick’s are sponsoring the 2006 Macaroni and Cheese Recipe Contest. It's a cook-off for Angelenos who think they are the absolute cheesiest--when it comes to macaroni, that is. So what's the prize look like for this feather in your cap? It's $1,000, along with 25 pounds of Tillamook cheese and dinner for four at McCormick & Schmick’s. LA's winner will go on to a national competition in Portland, OR, where the grand prize is $5000 and, of course, all the glory that goes with it. Think you have what it takes? Recipes must be submitted to the website by May 2; the contest will be held on May 25. Got more than one way to make macaroni? You can enter up to three recipes.

Showcasing some of the delicious drinks we've had around town, we're inagurating this feature with Luna Park's very tasty "You're A Pepper Too!". This $9 drink comes served on a fancy little silver tray, complete with a tiny carafe full of Absolut Vanilia, another carafe full of organic vanilla syrup, a Dr. Pepper in the old style glass bottle, a tumbler full of ice, a whimsical animal swizzle stick (we scored a giraffe), and the tray is littered with Dr. Pepper flavored jelly beans. It's a Dr. Pepper lover's delight. And if you don't like Dr. Pepper, then you're just out of luck. You combine everything into the tumbler according to your own taste (our is full on vanilla syrup, all of the Absolut, and a top off from the Dr. Pepper). Stop by, have one, thank us later.

Although Halloween may inspire us to stay home and toast pumpkin seeds, drink Pumpkin Ale, and gorge ourselves on miniature candy bars, there are some dining-out alternatives in town that celebrate this spooky time of year. Here are a few of the restaurants in LA that are offering up specials and running events for kids big and grown in honor of Halloween.

We've been hearing murmurs on the internet about OpenTable.com, and decided recently to try it out for ourselves. The site's function is to allow you to make dining reservations online via their platform, which earns you points that can eventually be redeemed for dining certificates to any one of their featured restaurants. Currently they're listing 233 LA/OC area restaurants, including Luna Park, Asia de Cuba, and Madre's, which are listed among their top ten most often reserved spots. Many of the restaurants offer OpenTable patrons point bonuses for dining during off-peak hours. Our experience with OpenTable went rather well, when we made last-minute Mother's Day reservations for Villa Sorriso; the site is easy to navigate, and, as promised, a confirmation was emailed expediently when the reservation was confirmed. The downside to this was that we had no way of knowing that the restaurant was only offering a buffet brunch, and we wound up leaving the restaurant without eating there, only to wind up swimming to some delicious (but hotly contested) shores elsewhere in Pasadena. With hundreds, even thousands, of restaurants in LA, we're sure OpenTable won't be able to accomodate us all the time, but we're glad we're giving it a try. With the points slowly acumulating towards the reward, and the happy silence of the internet to replace a harried host or hostess on the phone, we're giving OpenTable.com a thumbs up.