SLOOPY'S BEACH CAFE

3416 Highland Ave.
Manhattan Beach

I've been trying to make it to Sloopy's ever since my friend Danny told me that Luke Walton (click to watch, under NBA Life: Luke Walton) of the Lakers named this place his best place for shakes. With a name that I had a hard time remembering, months passed by with no visit in sight. Finally, on a bright sunny weekend afternoon a group of us headed West on Rosecrans and made our way to Sloopy's Beach Cafe.

Sloopy's is located on busyass Highland Ave. where you have to deal with the usual shitty beach parking. With no parking in site, we had to park in the structure and walk down to Sloopy's. Just because of the location I expected it to have waiters, but to my surprise you just place your order and pay then they would call out your name when it's ready. It feels like your eating in someones patio or backyard. There was no roof, just an open ceiling with sun beams slapping you on the back of the neck.

I got up to the counter and ordered a peanut butter shake (of course I had to order a shake) and a mushroom & cheddar burger. The shake came in a smaller cup than what I had expected for $4 but when i tasted it, oooh boooy was it worth it. Peanut buttery goodness all up in my mouth. It had the perfect consistency where it took minimal effort to suck it through the straw. The burger was really good too. Their burger patties are made with Angus beef, so I guess this isn't you typical burger, it's definitely on another level. Add to it some crunchy fries and I had myself a great meal. The wraps and sandwiches that my friends had looked ordinary, so stick with the burgers.

I've been counting down the days to go back to Sloopy's for another shake. Remember how I was bitching about how small the shake came, well I couldn't even finish it! haha ~ Bootsi

AIMEE'S BISTRO

800 PCH
Redondo Beach
www.aimeesbistro.com

My aunt has never eaten at a French restaurant before so I decided to take her to Aimee's Bistro in Redondo. This is one of my favorite places to eat. It is a place that I can always count on for amazing food and good service. I've been here four or five times and each time was great. I took my picky ass dad here before too and he loved it. I took my brother and his wife here too and they fell in love with the place. This place ranks high on my "Da Shit" list.

We ordered Moules A La Thailandaise, black mussels in a spicy lemongrass, coconut milk and cilantro broth. This was hands down one of the best dishes that I have ever had. There were over a dozen mussels that were drenched in this amazing creamy broth. I could of easily made this an entree dish if I just would of brought some rice in a Ziploc bag with me from my rice cooker at home. I'm really gonna be considering it the next time, that's how good the mussels and broth were.

We shared (of course we managed to some how do it Chinese family style) an order of Risotto De St. Jacques Et Scampi, scallops and jumbo shrimp risotto with creamy saffron sauce. The risotto came with three large shrimp and three large scallops. The rice was perfectly cooked and the creamy saffron sauce was yes indeed cream and flavorful. I have ordered this dish couple of times before and every time, after the first bite, I always close my eyes and just smile.

We also shared the Boullabaisse, a famous French mix of shrimp, mussels, clams, scallops and salmon in a tomato-based saffron & herb-scented broth. This was the first time I ever tried boullabaisse. I never felt it was right to pay 20 plus dollars for soup but I was wrong, this dish was totally worth it. The tomato broth was excellent. I didn't know if I wanted to use a spoon for the broth or use the bread to sop up the broth, so my ass did both. It came with a mound full of seafood (shrimps, mussels, clams, scallops and salmon & halibut chunks.). It was a seafood party in that bitchin bowl.

For dessert we chose the creme brulee. It's a delicate vanilla flavored custard with a burnt sugar crust on top. It is a wonderful contrast of textures.

Plain and simple, this meal was amazing. Unfortunately we ate too damn much. I was slouching in the booth halfway through the meal with my spare tire firmly chilling over and suffocating my belt. My brain was telling me to stop but my taste buds and gut told me to go on, so I did. I can't wait to do this shit all over again! - BOOTSI

EL HAURACHE AZTECA #1

5225 York Blvd.
Highland Park

One of my friend sent me an email about a place that she saw in the dining section of the LA Weekly. It was called SOLE FOOD, written by Johnathan Gold, and he talked about this tiny restaurant in Highland Park that serves foot sized fried masa topped with all the fixings. So after a week or so we made a trip to Highland Park for some hauraches!


I ordered a haurache with carna asada and the works (onions, cilantro, crema,beans and grated cheese). The masa was freshly fried and crisp when we picked it up. It was so big that I had to cut it in half and eat it like a fat slice of pizza. The carna asada that I ordered on it was a tad dry, but balanced out with the crema and the fresh veggies. It was very satisfying.

My fatass also ordered the Wednesday special, chicken mole verde. I'm not a big mole fan, but this was really good. My plate came with a thigh and a drumstick smothered in green mole and really good whole beans and rice that was just as good. The chicken fell right off the bone and the mole was amazing. I wanted to lick up the plate when I was done, but remembered that I was not alone. ~ BOOTSI

MILK part II

After having a great meal at Loteria Grill we decided to get dessert at MILK. A quick seven minute trip down Beverly Blvd, we were hungry for some sweet action. After debating on what to get, Lieto picked the coffee toffee ice cream sandwich. She liked it a lot, but when I tried it I felt that the coffee flavor was too strong.

Here is Lieto showing us here MUNCHIE FACE!

I chose the caramel banana nut ice cream bar. This was packed with an extreme banana flavor and laced with a stream of caramel down the middle of the bar. I really liked this one and would like to try this as an ice cream sandwich.
Here is my MUNCHE FACE! Looks like I'm super excited, huh?~ Bootsi

LOTERIA GRILL part II

Farmers Market LA
6333 W. 3rd ST.
Los Angeles, CA 90036
www.lafarmersmarket.com

Loteria is easily one of my favorite Mexican places. I went here with a friend the other day and this place never seems to disappoint. Of course I got my usual huevos rancheros. It was so good that my damn fork broke and I could push myself to leave the huevos alone and get another one, but my fat ass finally did. For some reason, I still cannot stray away from the huevos. I just have to order it every time. It will be a big heart breaker if I get something else and it didn't satisfy me. OUCH!!! That would hurt. When I was done, I realized that they never gave me my freshly made tortills!

So my friend got the chilaquiles. She and I were just talking about chilaquiles the other day. We were discussing how hard it is to find chilaquiles on menus. BAAAM, biatch, just what the doctor ordered!!!! Right in our faces! This my friends is chilaquiles the way its supposed to be done. Fried chips smothered in home-made red chile guajillo sauce (rojo), sprinkled with queso fresco and topped off with a good helping of crema. It came on a big ass plate and it was so good that she finished every last bite! That's how we roll, playas! ~ BOOTSI

Ruth Chris

2961 Michelson Drive
Irvine, CA 92612
www.ruthschris.com

Here I am for a birthday dinner at Ruth Chris. There is something special about sizzling butter that brings a tear to my eye. The Irvine Ruth Chris that we went to on this day is located in a big strip mall, so there is plenty of parking unless you want to boost your ego and valet your car. The service was nothing great. We asked for butter four times and finally received it when the food came out.
I ordered a side of French fried onion rings and boy oh boy, these things were marvelous. This is by far the best onion ring that I have ever had. Everything about these rings were perfect. I hate it when you bite into an onion ring and the whole slice of onion comes out with it. You get a fat slice of onion hanging from your mouth and fried breading in your hand. That's bullshit! That's not how an onion ring should be, damn it. I call these "the ring that dominates all rings!"

For the main course, I ordered the filet and added a bleu cheese crust for a little extra $$$. On the website it says that it's the moist tender cut of corn fed Midwestern beef. I'm gonna have to agree with it. Steaks are seared at 1800 degrees and comes out on a hot ass blistering plate with sizzling butter."Oohhhs" and "ahhhhhs" came from our table. The filet was really tender but lacked that beefy flavor that other steaks have. Thank goodness for the butter because we all know butter makes things happen.

Everybody really enjoyed thier dinner. There was really no complaints as far as the food goes. Service wise, that's another story. ~Bootsi

SIMON LA

8555 W. Beverly Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90048
www.sofitella.com
My friend and I have had Simon LA on our to do list for a while now, ever since we found out that they served cotton candy for dessert. Located right next to the Beverly Center, in the Sofitel Hotel, this place breathes hip and elegance, so we fitted right in. haha

I could not recall what we ordered, but it was like a prefixed lunch. We ordered two different lunches, at $25 each, so we could have a taste of each other's goodies. The lunch came altogether on one big plate with little plates on top. My friend's lunch consisted of roasted tomato gauzpachio soup. I really liked how refreshing the cold soup was, but my friend did not. It tasted like cold tortilla soup. Heirloom tomato and burrata cheese with first pressed olive oil and basil. She said this was really good. The main dish was the surf and turf tacos. The surf was lobster and the turf was beef tenderlion. She really enjoyed them, too. They were really small though. For dessert, it came with a slice of key lime pie. That was really good, but not as good as the lemon gelato pie from Pizza Mozza.

My lunch consisted of a Belgian endive and watercress salad with caramelized walnuts, Fuji apples and point reyes bleu cheese. It came in one of those Chinese togo boxes. This was a refreshing salad. My appetizer was the bluefin tuna tartar with lemongrass oil and ginger rice crisps. The tuna tasted fresh and the lemongrass oil went really well with it. My main dish was the roasted halibut with quinoa, currants and pine nuts. The halibut had a little fishy smell to it, but was still good. The fish had a crunch on the outside and just flaked right up when I stabbed it with my fork. For dessert, it came with peanut butter fudge sundae. This was OK because by the time I was ready to eat the ice cream it was almost half melted! It did pack a mean peanut butter flavor.

This place was cool but next time I would just order off thier regular menu. The waiters were cool, too and I really liked the interior.