Tag Archives: tasting

A Tasting And Theater Night (or Enjoying A Fun Night Out)

The current season for the Pantages has officially begun! Our first show of this current season was actually an add-on show, so this past weekend was the first show of the main season. And since this season is so close to the end of the last season, it does just feel like one long season. And that’s perfectly fine with me.

And just last the past few seasons, we are going to try to have dinner before the show to make it a full night out. And even before we started to plan what we would do for dinner before this show, I got an email from the manager at Wood & Vine. They have a new chef there and they wanted to see if we wanted to come in for a tasting! We all love Wood & Vine so there was no question that we would be coming in!

I had taken a look at the menu before we went in, and everything looked delicious! I knew it would be tough for us to decide what we wanted to get, but I had a feeling that anything we picked would be amazing.

When we got there, my friends ordered cocktails and we knew we wanted the French onion dip with chips so we got that ordered right away. Then we checked out the menu and I think we got a pretty good variety and selection of things to try.

For starters/side dishes we had the dip with chips, wedge salad, and asparagus.

For entrees we had the shrimp and grits, the 50/50 burger (we got it without a bun as one of my friends has a gluten allergy, scotch eggs, and pork shanks.

We also tried the pasta dishes. We got the mac and cheese and the vegan spaghetti and meatballs.

And we got 3 of the 4 desserts they had (one of them was already sold out so we couldn’t try the cobbler).

It really was a ton of food, but the portions aren’t ridiculously huge and almost everything was split among the 4 of us. So while we were all full, it wasn’t that bad. And everything was so good so it was so worth it!

There was nothing we tried that I wouldn’t get again. But there were a few standouts to me. We all loved the French onion dip and even asked for more chips so we could keep on eating it. Then when we got our burger we discovered that dipping the fries in the dip was even better! The pork shank was a favorite among the entire group and I know that I will be getting that every time I’m there and it’s on the menu! The shrimp and grits was a hit with my friends, but since I’m very sensitive to spicy foods I had to only have a little taste. But what I tried was delicious! And I think the mac and cheese was the best variation of it that we’ve had from all of the times we’ve ordered it at Wood & Vine (yes, even better than the lobster mac!).

All the desserts were delicious and we were happy to see they kept the butterscotch on the menu. This version was a bit lighter and had more air whipped into it, but I liked that. And the ice cream was the perfect thing to have with the butterscotch. But I think if we had to pick a favorite dessert, the donut holes were the winner! It came with a chocolate bacon sauce and a raspberry sauce, and they were both great dipping options.

We also got a chance to meet the new chef, Rick Sipovic. He has been the chef at restaurants all over the country, but he grew up in the south so a lot of his dishes are inspired by that. He was so friendly and fun to talk to! We enjoyed hearing about how he decided on certain things on the menu and how the crowds that come in for dinner before the show can be very different from show to show. We were enjoying talking with him so much that we were there until about 5 minutes before showtime! We quickly said goodbye and thank you to Rick and everyone else at Wood & Vine to go across the street to the Pantages.

The show we saw this time was “A Bronx Tale” and none of us knew really anything about the show. A few of us knew it was based on a movie which was based on real life, but we hadn’t seen the movie. But I’ve heard that sometimes when seeing a show based on another thing, it’s best to go in with limited knowledge. We didn’t have the movie to compare the musical to and that’s usually a good thing.

We enjoyed the show. It was an interesting journey about the life of the main character when he was a kid and as a teenager and the story was easy to follow (a worry I have when I don’t know anything about the story). There were several very catchy songs and a bunch of them reminded us of other musicals which was a fun surprise. I think it was a nice musical to have to officially start off the season and it’s one of the only shows this season I had no familiarity with before going in. I’ve said it before but it will be interesting this season when I know a majority of the shows we are seeing, since usually I only know one or two of them.

This really was the perfect night out! The show was fun and we had a truly incredible dinner! There was never a question before that we would keep going to Wood & Vine before several of our shows, but now I’m looking forward to it even more to try the other things on the menu and see how it changes as the menu is based on what is available that season. I’m sure the winter, spring, and summer menus will be just as good as this fall one is. And I am so excited to keep having the best dinners before seeing some of the best musicals!

Local Ice (or My New Valley Ice Cream Spot!)

I was recently invited to check out Local Ice, a new ice cream shop in Studio City. In full disclosure, a friend of mine from when I used to work at Universal Studios is the PR person there. She invited me as well as other bloggers to come and check out the fabulous offerings that they have (plus, I got to catch up with a friend who I hadn’t seen in years!).

The location is actually pretty awesome, even for a non-Valley person like me. It’s just off of Ventura Blvd. near the Sportsman’s Lodge (which for me means easy to get to from the freeway) and there is tons of free parking in the lot!

When I got there, the first thing I did was say hello to my friend. And since she is the PR person there, I asked her for her recommendations on what I should try. There were so many flavors to try (and the menu changes when the owner gets inspired to make a new flavor).

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I ended up trying Caramel Swirl, Pecan Praline, Cookie Monster, Chocolate Marshmallow, and Mmminty Chip (that one was a cream ice). They were seriously all so delicious! There were also regular Italian Ices to try as well as lots of toppings that you could put on your ice cream.

I had to stick with the little tastes for now, but trust me, as soon as I’m done with the cleanse I will be going back and having a small scoop!

I learned at the event how all the ice creams and Italian Ices are actually made on-site! There is a room right next to where customers are where everything is created from scratch. And all of the treats start with an organic dairy base, so some of the treats are completely organic! And everything is super fresh too. As soon as they run low on a flavor, a new one is made. They don’t make a ton and store it in a freezer somewhere.

Local Ice is seriously such a cute little shop! It’s nice and open and bright and the seating area is adorable.

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Local Ice also has a super cute little handcart for selling ice cream treats.

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It can be used to sell at events, birthday parties, and even just in front of their shop when it gets crowded. If I ever do a big birthday party, I think the idea of having an ice cream cart is super adorable and so much easier to handle than having to serve ice cream yourself. Even to have a birthday gathering at the shop would be super fun!

I got to hear about some really fun ideas that Local Ice will be doing in the near future, but I forgot to ask if I could share them with you all. Your best bet to find out about some of the events that they will be doing soon will be to “like” their Facebook page.

If you are in the Valley (or happen to be in the Valley), I highly recommend going to Local Ice for a sweet treat!

Aria V Wine Shop (or Another Living Social Win!)

I’ve had some good Living Social deals and some pretty awful ones. And over the summer, I had seen a deal for 12 wine tastings plus 2 appetizers at Aria V Wine Shop in Culver City. Seemed like a decent deal to me since it only cost me $25.

The deal was going to expire next week, so yesterday my friend Kate and I decided to finally test it out. It was located in a kind of weird area of Culver City (almost under the 405 and right next to a shut down hospital). But we managed to find some free street parking around the block and headed inside.

It’s actually located inside the Polentoni restaurant (so if you are going look for that sign), but inside a little private room. When Kate and I got there, we were the only ones in that room, but it quickly filled up.

We explained to our waiter that we were here for the Living Social deal and he explained that we could choose 2 appetizers that were priced at $12.50 or under and then 6 wines each to taste that were priced at $42 a bottle or under. Anything over that and we would just have to pay the difference.

We checked out the menus.

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I asked our waiter if I could get the Prosecco as 2 of my tastings and then pick 4 more and he was ok with that.

We got our food.

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(I ate lightly earlier in the day to save up for these calories).

And when our “tastings” arrived, we were shocked by how generous the pour was.

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I’m a pretty lightweight when it comes to alcohol, and there is no way I could do 6 tastings like that!

In the end, I had 2 glasses of Prosecco and one glass of a rose that the waiter had selected for me. And Kate had 3 glasses of Italian reds that the waiter had selected for her (one was called a Super Tuscan, but I don’t know the rest).

As we were brought the bill, the waiter also brought us glasses of their special holiday mulled wine.

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It looked and smelled delicious, but personally I didn’t like it very much.

And when our bill arrived, it proved that we got our moneys worth on this deal.

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We left a very nice tip.

I’ll totally go back to Aria V, even if I don’t have a deal for it. It was yummy, the atmosphere was fun, and it’s pretty close to my house.

And I’ve been in a bit of a funk the last few days (the work schedule and lack of sleep is getting to me a bit). But nothing can bust you out of a funk better than hanging out with your best friend and having moments where you are laughing so hard that you are crying.