Larry’s – Good food at Venice Beach

When I think of food at Venice Beach, I think your typical stand food: Burgers, hot dogs, nachos, etc. until I stepped into Larry’s on Windward Avenue. It’s that street with the suspended letters spelling out Venice.

 

Great décor that gave a relaxed, yet polished vibe. It’s a very open space with mostly outdoor seating, yet you feel like you’re inside and not at Venice Beach proper. They have a wide variety of beer and wine available. The menu boasts a lot of delicious offerings. We started with Grilled Asparagus and Risotto Balls.

Every bite of the Grilled Asparagus was savory and full of complimentary flavors. I could eat this for breakfast! It was light and a great starter. It was a little tricky to split between a few people, but we made it work.

The Risotto Balls consist of beef Bolognese stuffed in a shell of risotto. These were absolutely incredible and a little heavier than I expected, but well worth it. I would definitely come back for this dish.

For my entrée, I ordered the Pea Ravioli. The bowl is deeper than it looks. The ravioli was filled with lightly puréed peas, which was light and not too strong. It was just right. The sauce it came in was a little heavy for me and the Parmesan cheese was a little much as well, but the dish was still yummy. There are definitely other items on the menu I would come back to try.

Truly, I must give compliments to the Chef as the entire meal was just amazing. Great food, great service, and a great atmosphere. This is a fantastic place for dinner, lunch, or stopping by for a drink.

By Jen Troy
Jen Troy is a Jill-Of-All-Trades.

Ugo: An Italian Cafe - Culver City

A wide selection of gelato—I’m there! Ugo: An Italian Cafe in downtown Culver City has classic Italian dishes and a variety of desserts. When you walk in, a classy and warm atmosphere greets you. Have a drink at the bar or grab a table for dinner. I’d suggest you go for dinner.

Ugo’s menu isn’t neither monstrous nor too specialized. It’s truly balanced. It has classic Italian dishes and some great takes on others. I decided to get their Rigatoni Bolognese. This dish is a staple to me. When I think about coming to Ugo, I am usually already thinking about the meat sauce.

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You know how leftover pasta dishes can sometimes be better than fresh? This is not the case with this dish. It’s great from the first bite to the last—you won’t have any leftovers. They use just the right amount of garnish. The sauce is what really makes this dish; it’s creamy and savory at the same time. The pasta soaks up just the right amount of it to really communicate all of the flavors.

Now on to the desserts! They have a few cases that display what they have to offer. Ugo has various cakes and tarts, but the dessert I must recommend is the gelato. They have so many different flavors to choose from. You can go either classic, creamy gelato or you can decide to do more of a lighter, fruit-based gelato. I find them all to be amazing and fresh, but I have to admit that the fruit flavors are my favorite. You just don’t see these everywhere. 

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Ugo is a great place to go for dinner in downtown Culver City. Parking is pretty easy with a number of nearby parking structures and street parking. Also, they have a wine bar next door. I’ll have to check it out!

By Jen Troy

Jen Troy is a Jill-Of-All-Trades.

Pizzeria Il Fico - Beverly Hills

Pizzeria Il Fico is what I call Italy in LA. This fancy Beverly Hills wood fire Pizzeria is delizioso, and perfect for a nice date night. Don’t let the hard to pronounce Italian menu scare you; everything is packed full of flavor and amazing textures that won’t disappoint, making you feel like you’re on a relaxing Italian holiday.

PizzeriailFico

I suggest you start with a glass of red wine and one of their meat and cheese plates. We tasted their Prosciutto crudo, Fichie Burrata (6) and found it to be our favorite appetizer among the many we tried. The thinly sliced Prosciutto tasted so fresh, it melted in your mouth. Paired with soft Burrata cheese and figs, we couldn’t stop eating it.

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Is The Olive Garden That Bad?

One of the people that I follow on Twitter (@fritesandfries) brought a recent Gawker blog post to my attention. Have you read it yet? The original post is about how sad and depressing it is, according to the author, that the opening of a new combination Red Lobster / Olive Garden (would that make it a Red Olive Gobster?) is being eagerly anticipated by the residents of a small Florida county — so much so that it is, apparently, newsworthy in that community.

A Gawker reader/commenter named StPatricksYear was offended by the author’s (Richard Lawson) tone and suggested that food snobbery has gone too far. Lawson responded by putting up a new post that contains surprisingly rational and balanced feedback. (I guess I’m too used to flame wars.) Here is the full text of the original comment:

The food at both of these places is usually good to excellent. I am so tired of food snob city-dwellers who think they can’t find anything worthy of their delicate palates outside Manhattan and Brooklyn. If Olive Garden existed not as a chain, but as one restaurant somewhere—in I dunno, Newport, Rhode Island let’s say—and it had the exact same menu, service and atmosphere as the chain does, locals and tourists would flock to it and come back to the city talking about this great Italian place they found in Rhode Island. My guess is 95 percent of people couldn’t tell the difference in a blind taste test between an Olive Garden entree and one from some overpriced, overhyped foodie mecca of the moment. The major difference in chain restaurants like these and some Michelin-rated place is price. Noodles are noodles. Some just cost food snobs $150. The real difference between chain restaurants and a favorite funky little diner no one knows about is mostly the attitude towards each of them.

What do you think about food blogger snobbery in Los Angeles? Personally, I think it’s not so bad. But maybe I have been desensitized by the sheer volume of content from all of the food blogs I read. The big difference between the small Florida town and here is that in Los Angeles, we have TONS of alternatives. Small town dwellers do not. Here is my take, specifically on both The Olive Garden and Red Lobster: They both suck. And I don’t think I’m a snob for saying so. I’m not going to comment on the economic impact that these new restaurants will have in Flagler County, FL. Perhaps it will help immensely. But the creation of new jobs doesn’t mean that these places serve good food. Lest you think that I’ve never been to either (I have), check out this early post from this very site. My opinion was then and is now that you can probably find something decent to eat just about anywhere. I ate at The Olive Garden a few times in college, and I remember that the bread sticks were just fine. I remember that the bread sticks are just fine at Fazoli’s too. But, of course, they were unlimited and free, and that appeals quite a bit to a poor college student. My point is that there is pretty much no difference between The Olive Garden and a fast food joint — which is what I consider The Olive Garden to be anyway.

Scarcity shouldn’t be confused with quality. And the commenter, StPatricksYear, is dead wrong. These are bad restaurants, and any person with culinary experience of any kind wouldn’t make the mistake of confusing them with a place that serves good food. What really bums me out is that StPatricksYear’s comments are indicative of how many, possibly most, people feel. If not, places like Red Lobster and The Olive Garden wouldn’t be so commonplace. Unfortunately, I think that calling out bad restaurants for what they are is often confused with snobbery, and it just isn’t. I will end by saying that I occasionally eat at Outback Steakhose, Joe’s Crab Shack, and other such chains. I have, on several occasions, gotten good food at all of them. Sometimes I am in the mood for a gigantic, greasy, blooming onion. But to suggest that you and I wouldn’t be able to tell the difference between The Olive Garden and a good Italian restaurant is pretty silly.