Panini Cafe on 3rd & Crescent Heights

The other day before I headed off to work I asked Cam if she’d be up for grabbing something to eat. I was thinking of going to Toast, but the last time we tried it was super packed and we ended up going to At Bangkok. She mentioned that Panini Café on 3rd and Crescent Heights had opened. She had been to the downtown location before and said it was good. She has the good taste so we headed there. I got the #6 which was a chicken sandwich, chicken soup, and an Arnold Palmer. The sandwich was amazing. The bell peppers were perfectly grilled and so damned good. The chicken soup was real chicken soup and not some canned nonsense.

Cam got a salad, this rice with carrots that was good, and chicken kabobs. Both of us enjoyed the hell out of our meals. The staff there was really nice and the food came in minutes. I was shocked when I saw a waiter with plates and it was our meals. The way its set up is really open and people aren’t on top of each other. There’s also outside seating available. The only problem you may have is parking since 3rd street is not made for people to park easily on. Between both our meals it was less than $25 which is a great deal. If you get a chance to go here you really should. I cant wait to head back here and get some more meals.

Kettle Corn Leveled Up

A couple of weeks ago Cam made some kettle corn for some of her salsa hooligans. Yes, that is the name I have given them. She made the sugar kind which is always good and then made one that had seasonings on them. Not sure which kinds because I don’t pay attention when I am eating things I like. I know it had pepper and was slightly spicy. Damn, it was good! When I came home I was all set to make some of my own. Sugar? Check. Oil? Check. Popcorn? Nope! How in the hell did I run out of popcorn? I guess I made more than I thought the last time I was all about kettle corn. I’ll make some this weekend and let you all know how it turned out.

Lemon Pepper Chicken & Garlic Fries

I told myself that starting this year I was gonna start cooking at home more often. I like to make simple yet good meals that don’t require a lot of preparation or ingredients. If you live near a Trader Joe’s there’s no reason for you not to make your own meals. If you have $20 you have dinner for a week. I bought the bag of chicken breasts for $6.99. I season it with lemon pepper that cost $1.99 and a little garlic salt that you can buy anywhere for cheap. I put it in the oven for forty minutes, turning and seasoning it once. Afterwards I slice it to make it look pretty. I’ve been working on Hell’s Kitchen for too long…

The garlic fries cost around four bucks. You are supposed to season and bake these but that takes way too long and I tend to wait until I am very hungry and incredibly impatient. There’s a pack of garlic sauce that comes in the bag. I suggest you thaw it in a cup of warm water while you cook. I ended up frying the fries which cuts the cooking time but a fourth of the time. I put it in a large plastic container and shook it like it owed me money. In less than an hour I had a delicious dinner that makes about four meals for around ten dollars.

Pinche's Tacos Again

In between seeing Amour and Rust And Bone me and Cam went to Pinche’s on Sunset. Its right near the Sundance Theater and she had never been there. I had been there once before and it was really good. I’ve talked before about how hard it is to get good Mexican food where I live which makes no sense to me. I rarely get to suggest a food place to Cam that 1. We can both eat at and 2. One I think she’ll like. So I was happy as hell that she really liked her dishes. I got the chips and salsa to start. I love these kind of chips since they are super crunchy.

At Bangkok

A couple of weeks ago Cam and I went to King & I again. They have changed their name but its in the same spot. I don’t know what its called now. I should probably check. Okay. Its called At Bangkok. I first went here years ago with Cam and we’ve gone once in a while ever since. They’ve changed the way the place has looked and some of the dishes. I got this lemon sauce and chicken dish while she got a soup and papaya salad that was really good. I also got the cream cheese wontons but they were a bit too sweet. It tasted like they were made me strawberry cream cheese. A bit too sweet when combined with the sauce. Next time I go here I’ll try a new dish in my small attempts at expanding my horizons. Its located on La Cienega just past Wilshire.

Mendocino Farms Firsties

Last week I went to Mendocino Farms with South Paw who had never been there before. I love this place for the fact that their food is good, they have dozens of choices, and the staff there is cool. South Paw pointed out that no one would even know what I ate since I had flattened it and taken a bite out of it. I got the blue cow something or other. Its chicken and spicy and great.

THE New Year's Party

Every year Cam has a tradition of having a lunch/dinner at her place on New Year’s Day. I look forward to it months in advance. Its not some crazy drunken party nor is it something where everyone eats and sits around staring at people. Each year there are different people and familiar faces. I get to meet new friends of hers and friends of her friends. People arrive at different times and we talk about so many topics and personal experiences and its just too damned fun.

Food At The End Of 2012

In the past couple of weeks I have been spending time watching movies, hanging out with folks, and enjoying the holidays. Yeah, there’s been more but if you wanna read/hear all that nonsense check out my other blogs. I’ve eaten at a few places and tried some new things and they have been building so I’ve decided to just cram the into a blog about the last places I ate at in 2012.

First up is this chip exhibit I went to with Cam. She writes about beer and potato chips and someone mentioned this to her so we went. It was at this place called 8 Bit in Echo Park. Or Silverlake. I seriously mix the two up.

They had chips from all over the world so me and Cam decided to buy fifteen bags of them. Sounds like a lot but damn it we’re dedicated! By the time we got there, days after the exhibit started, so many crazy ass flavors were already gone.