Rincon Criollo

4361 Sepulveda Blvd.
Culver City, CA 90232
(310) 391-4478
Open Everyday 11AM -10PM

Let me first off say sorry for the delay in posts. I want to continue to give each post something special at least pics or maybe even some movies or a magic short to give each one some pizazz. The delay mainly happened cause I like to have at least pics of all the places I talk about and well my camera was down for a little bit. I will try a lot harder to continue on. And hey, if you like what you read and enjoy the witty reparte' let others know. That being said...

RINCON CRIOLLO...I have taken all my friends here and if I you're one of my friends and I haven't taken you...I will soon! This place has got what you crave and I mean that with every ounce of my being. A small sampling for your perusal:

Some of the juiciest and leanest Lechon (equivalent of pulled pork) I've ever had in my life. The chicken is mythical in quality...always taste consistently the same...FANTASTIC! The rice and beans are top notch and they have an incredible selection of Cuban sodas and alcoholic beverages. The also have fresh home made Sangria which is very refreshing and fresh fruit juices. One of the secrets to their many plates is the mojo de ajo or garlic sauce that finds it's way into many of the plates. What's also great is if you want to try your hand at it they sell the sauce! To round out the rest of the menu, they also have superb fish plates and desserts that are nothing short of simple pleasure. Just for reference be sure not to miss the flan con coco...so insanely good especially with one of their amazing lattes!

I can't say enough about this place except that everything here is great. I come here often and it's always a fail safe for amazing food when I can't decide. Yet another restaurant doing the right thing and giving you generous portions of it for the right price!

Free Drink Refills: Yes
Entree Price Range: Meat and Chicken plates are about $8 while fish plates come to about $13 average.

Valentine's Day Countdown 3 Parter: (pt.1) Ocean Ave. Seafood

1401 Ocean Ave.
Santa Monica, CA 90401
(310)394-5669
Lunch: Sunday - Saturday: 11:30am - 4:00pm
Dinner: Sunday - Thursday: 4:00pm - 10:00pm, Friday - Saturday: 4:00pm - 11:00pm
Saturday and Sunday Brunch: 11:30am - 3:00pm

Okay so I don't have any pictures for you this time around...I know...sometimes I'm just lazy. But what I'm doing right now is a 3 day countdown to Valentine's Day featuring much nicer and romantic places in mind. These places will cost more but they are worth every penny. With that said...

Ocean Avenue Seafood is one of my favorite simple spots to hit as it's located right across the street from the ocean and has excellent seafood. Now I want you to know that when I say excellent seafood I mean superb! What's difficult to say is what's on there menu right now as it's always changing! Rest assured everytime I've gone I have been floored with whatever I have gotten. One thing I know they consistently have and is noted as a specialty is their lobster taquitos...mother of god...they're addicting!

To make it really nice, try and grab a spot on the outside covered patio area especially if you're going there during sunset times. It's absloutlely stunning. The inside is very elegant as well but the outside is for staring into each others eyes.

So make reservations, eat then walk on the beach barefoot with the one you love or the one you want to love or the one you want them to love you or the one you secretly want to breakup with then push in the cold water. Ahhhh Valentine's day is so romantic!

Free Drink Refills: Yes
Meal average per person: $22 to $50 (I know that's a huge price range but don't be intimidated by it, most of the REALLY expensive plates you probably wouldn't order anyway as it's a lot of food)

As a bonus: on normal days catch their happy hour where their wonderful array of appetizers and mini plates are all 1/2 off...this is a fantastic deal and their happy hour last quite a long time!

**Happy Hours are Monday - Friday 4:00pm - 6:30pm and Saturday - Sunday 3:00pm - 6:00pm; also available at the Bar only on Saturdays and Sundays from 11:30am - 6:00pm.**

Kung Pao Bistro

7853 Santa Monica Blvd
West Hollywood, CA 90046
Sun-Thurs 11AM-10:30PM
Fri-Sat 11AM-11:30PM

I am attacking this little post with great ferocity. Kung Pao Bistro, though a small chain (a third one is supposed to be opening soon) is worth a post for a couple reasons.

1) Obviously the food is worth a mention. It's pretty healthy...meaning healthier then most Asian spots. We started our meal with their spicy wontons that were more like huge dumplings mixed in a spicy chili sauce with spinach...very tasty. We then noticed that we could get half orders of quite a few of their dishes. For you our readers (and for our pockets) we ordered 3 half dishes to get the most of our dining experience. Orange Chicken, Moo Shu vegetable, and Kung Pao Shrimp came out quickly and with a smile. The half sizes were very good size. In fact they were so big that we kept on thinking they didn't hear us when we ordered the half size and brought out the full size by mistake...not so. One thing, if you get the Moo Shu, tell them not to stuff the crepes totally and to leave some on the side...yes there was that much. I would recommend going there and eating family style where you all share, cause the half sizes were plenty. Everything tasted fresh and you felt good afterwards (unlike many Asian meals where you feel like you ate a lot of oil).

2) The price was super cheap when you eat the half orders. Once again I would highly recommend this.

3) Parking is great there due to the fact that it shares the same parking with Whole Foods.

4) This location is great...it's in the middle of a lot of shopping areas (walking Santa Monica boulevard) and is just outside enough that you don't feel cramped in getting to where ever you're trying to get to.

The place is healthy and has a good vibe and when we went we saw a bunch of actors just eating and talking shop and the staff really didn't seem to mind them just kind of camping and taking there time. I may bring a tent next time I want some local Asian food.

Free Drink Refills: Yes
Entree Price Range:half plate average about $6 to $8 while regular plates and specialties $9 to $13

Merkato...I agree with everyone else in LA

1036 1/2 Fairfax Ave.

Los Angeles, California 90019

(323) 935-1775

Everyday 11AM-11PM

Here's some cheap, amazing Ethiopian food in Little Ethiopia. If you haven't eaten Ethiopian you're in for a real treat. No utensils. You eat with your hands by tearing off a piece of buckwheat spongey bread called injera. The meal also comes out family style on a huge piece of injera. Lots of savory meats flavored in ways you forgot your mouth could taste.

Merkato is located in Little Ethiopia just south of Olympic on Fairfax. I'd have to recommend you trying the Tibbs (cubes of beef with onion, tomatoes and green chillies), the lentils which are seasoned to be a little spicy and tenderly flavorful, the Yedoro Wot (chicken stewed in red pepper sauce with an assortment of spices served with hard boiled egg), and the Yebeg Alicha Wot (mild lamb stew, delicately spiced with garlic, ginger and other assorted spices). These dishes are absolutely to die for and are healthy servings as well! Before I forget, they also have some great vegetarian dishes (of note are the cabbage dish and the collard greens dish both flavored on the mild side) that also satisfy the vegan in you who loves cows but not the way McDonald's does.

A story, if you will, about the first time we went to have Ethiopian goes like this... One day coming home from work we just up and decided to go have Ethiopian. We had passed by the area plenty of times on our way home and thought now's as good a time as any. We picked out Merkato just cause it looked friendly and was open. We went in, got our table and started looking over the menus that were... if you'll excuse the pun, very foreign to us. We ordered a couple of items, some veggie and some carnivore, to get the full experience. After a couple of minutes we see another table's dinner coming out... and the plate was basically what appeared to be large cubes of uncooked beef! We got a little worried cause we realized that we didn't check to see that our food was cooked... we just assumed it would be. It was nice that some of the people at the table saw us getting worried and laughed it up a bit as they chomped down on the cow flesh. Come to find out later that they were eating a dish called Tere-sega. If I'm ever bold enough to buy it I'll let you know my thoughts on it.

In the end I remind you that this place is cheap... really cheap. You can have a bunch of your friends out for family dining and all eat off the same plate with your hands just like when you were a kid and spent the night at your friends place.

Free Drink Refills: No (but once again I'll say try the Ethiopian beer with it...they pair very well together and I do beleieve they have their food in mind when they are creating it).

Entree Price Range: $7 to $10

P.S. They are attached to their own market so if you want to attempt such delicasies yourself you can buy the ingredients right there!

Anarkali

7013 Melrose Ave.
Los Angeles, CA 90038
(323) 934-6488
Everyday 11AM-11PM

Last night I returned to a favorite spot of mine called Anarkali for some Indian food. This traditonal restaurant has FANTASTIC Chicken Tikka Masala (thanks Jax for sharing) and mouth watering lamb biryani. Anarkali is not on the cheap side but more on the average price for a plate in LA.

This place has the hominess I've come to associate with Indian dining. Slightly dim place with hanging fabric that separates the booths, good waiters who smile when you don't pronounce the plate correctly, a flicker from the chandelier, and just loads of flavor in the air. When I show up here I just feel like "Yeah...this is right".

Like I said, the place is not 100% cheap like I normally post but here are two plusses. One, is that if you get the entertainment book (with all the restaurant coupons in it) Anarkali is in there and has a great discount that is reusable! Two, is that on there website (which you can link to up above) they have a coupon that you can print out to get $10 off your meal total which is yet another great hookup.

I also love this area cause it's right at the end of the shopping area of Melrose. So go shopping on Saturday and when you've spent yourself shopping, go spend some more on some darn good Indian food. Another great thing is they have really great deals on lunch specials.

Free Drink Refills: No (but I would recommend the Yeti or the King beer) Entree Price Range: $10 to $13 (but I would recommend the dinner plates to get more bang for your buck)

Sultani Restaurant

1535 N. La Brea Blvd.

Hollywood, CA 90028

(323)876-3389

Mon-Sat 11-11PM

Sun 12-10PM

I was going to a study last night when I decided that we should go to a new place all together. We happened upon this little hidden treasure that is tucked away in a little strip mall just North of Sunset on La Brea. Sultani Restaurant has been in the same location since the mid 70's and must be doing something right for being there that long! The place is a humble little spot tucked away so that you could blink and miss it but if you do miss it you'll be missing a great deal on some down home Persian food (for those shying away from Middle Eastern cuisine, please don't...you'll thank me later). The menu had tasty perfect size plates that satisfied that spot in your mouth for something a little off the beaten path. We had the Mini Koobideh plate and the Chicken Shawerma plate and both were just delightful. The Koobideh meat was absolutely to die for. Let's not forget the prices which were aimed at people who don't spend more than $35 for a pair of jeans.

The guy running the place who gave me some background on the restaurant seemed happy to see new people in there who weren't ummm...Middle Eastern. Great service and by the way they deliver (mini. $10.00 order for free deliver)! While dining, we heard more to go orders than in store orders which just goes to show you that you can't judge an empty restaurant by it's in-house customer volume.

This is the kind of place that you can walk to after taking a stroll down Hollywood Blvd. and don't desire all the chain restaurants that litter the area.

Free Drink Refills: No

Entree Price Range: $7 to $8

Buddha's Belly

7475 Beverly Blvd

Los Angeles, CA 90036

ph: 323-931-8588

M-Th 12-10pm

Fri-Sat 12-11pm

Sun 3pm-10pm

This is precisely what I'm talking about! Last night I drove around for about an hour and a half in LA looking for a place to eat! I have driven by this place countless times in search of food and thought..."hmmm, looks a little pricey for me right now. For this part of town and having valet...yeah has to be expensive. Maybe I'll catch it some other time." I WAS WRONG!

Let me start by saying the prices are shockingly affordable! The food, which is glorious Pan-Asian, was dynamite! The service was exceptional! This place is deceptively excellent. We had these Albacore andAvocado Spring Rolls that were crafted by masters!

(Had to take a pic with the camera phone)

The Har Gow (steamed dumplings with chinese hot mustard soy dipping sauce) was large and well balanced. Celeste had the Wok tossed vegetables and I had the Ahi Tuna Burger with Sweet Potato Fries. Everything was just great. We'll DEFINITELY be returning there for more of there amazing food.

The staff was friendly and the cooks looked like they love what they were doing:

By the way, we parked on the street and didn't do valet though valet is cheap enough if you want to use it (as can be seen by the top picture).

Free Drink Refills: Yes

Entree Prince Range: $8 to $16 (only one dish was $16 most were way less)

Alfredo's Grill

8310 West 3rd Street
Los Angeles, California 90048-4311
ph: 323.782.4922
7:00am-9:00pm 7 days a week


When searching for a place on Sunday for brunch or breakfast you will often come across two things; too many people and typical breakfast food.

Alfredo's is a safe haven against this. Typically I run there with my wife Celeste on Sundays. Why is this place so special? Quite simply, the food is different...in the best kind of way. The breakfast enchiladas are to die for and the meals come with delicious bread served with fresh strawberry slices in a sauce. I can't tell you enough how good it tastes. You just have to try it for yourself. The food is generally on the healthy side, but that does not mean that it's lacking in the flavor department... in fact it's quite the opposite. I love their Arnold Palmers...they use a different type of iced tea that makes a world of difference. They've got fast attentive service, which makes sense since the place is not on the big side. Street parking is usually available and there is, like I said before, almost never ever a wait which is unusal for this part of town on the weekend. If you like to shop and look at stuff that can be laughably expensive this is also the area to do it!

I'll now introduce something that matters to me at restaurants... the matter of refills. Free refills used to be pretty standard...now many places have adopted using either canned soda or charging per soda (bars excluded cause I understand that's how they operate). Why be so cheap...I don't even want to hear it! Ok, but enough about that. So look at the end of my posts for this important factor. This is also where you can find the price ranges. Sooooo...

Free Drink Refills: Yes (and fast)
Price Range: $8 to $13

I'm here to ease the pain

In a vast sea of affordable delicasies I am here to act as your guide to keep you from fighting with others on the decision of what to eat in the battlefield we call L.A. I'll be covering a plethora of eateries designed to not break your bank, plus a FEW that will (but are worth it on those special occasions or evenings that you wish to appear richer than you are).

What is my expertise you may ask? I eat out...a lot, not to mention I recommend places to eat...a lot. No cuisine is too daring for me but let's be honest I won't be recommending a lovely cow tongue sandwich cause I'm sure I can't sway you towards something that exotic. I am a young, married musician with a dayjob (this will tell you the kind of money I make and also the price ranges I'll be covering). Please don't disclude anything about me due to anything I've told you about myself as I eat inexpensive but on a regular basis I also eat on the pricier.

I'll be updating this page regularly as I'm sure you'll be hanging on the edge of your seat to see where I'm saying is a place that you should salivate over. Just remember everything will be fine.

I think of what people settle on and this bit of painfulness comes to mind.