Just Say No to Las Vegas 'Value' Buffets

The 'Emperor's Buffet' in the Imperial Palace....




And another disturbing deterrent for good measure:




Visited Labor Day Weekend, 2007
Imperial Palace. Las Vegas, NV

Geisha for the Evening

The reputation of the Geisha House precedes this known celebrity hangout and hotspot on Hollywood Blvd. Luckily, the Geisha House meets and exceeds the high expectations.

I visited the Geisha House for Shirley’s birthday. We arrived an hour early for our 8pm reservations, though not for any special reason besides getting extremely lucky with the dreaded Friday Los Angeles traffic. This hour provided ample time to get the birthday girl sufficiently buzzed (thanks to Geisha House’s yummy yet extremely overpriced cocktails) and wait for our entire party.

The décor in the restaurant was beautiful and paralleled the characteristics of their cuisine nicely: traditional Japanese charm with a modern edge. All of the cocktail waitresses, servers, hostesses and even the male bartenders looked like models. Though dead when we arrived, around the time we were seated (8:30 pm) the place did seem to be picking up. We were seated upstairs in a semi private glass enclosed room.

The menu selection was interesting. The Geisha House has a variety of sushi, special sushi rolls, udon soup, chicken, steak, fish and traditional Japanese side dishs like tempura, miso soup and potstickers (gyoza.) The prices are high, but not ridiculously high. I’m guessing $30 a person would be the norm.

Shirley and I both got miso soup.



We decided to share two specialty rolls as well.


The Tempura covered is the Hollywood Roll (crap tempura, avocado, cucumber) the other is the “Call 911 Roll” (spicy tuna and cucumber). Both were good, especially the Hollywood Roll.

I really cannot remember what this is, some type of chicken dish, another in my party got it.


Lovely place, looking forward to returning :)


The Geisha House
Hollywood Blvd & Cherokee Hollywood, CA

The Latigo Kid

Cheese enchiladas have been my favorite food as far back as I can remember, so I have had quite a few in my years. The absolute best cheese enchiladas, in my (perhaps) seasoned opinion are at The Latigo Kid in Agoura Hills, CA.

The Latigo Kid was yet another spot recommended to me by Shirley. Though slightly out of the way for a quick lunch break from the office, we have indulged in a long lunch and some EXCELLENT cheese enchiladas from this place several times within the past year.

The ambience at The Latigo Kid is absolutely charming and just the way I like Mexican restaurants. Dark lighting with plenty of big, comfy booths compliment quaint decorating and a distinguishable location in the Whizin’s Center off the Kanan exit of the 101 freeway. The staff is exceptionally curteous and friendly, not to mention speedy and effective.

Chips and salsa are delivered to your table promptly, the salsa is quite delicious, a bit zing to it then most places. Shirley and I decided to get a side of fresh guacamole on this particular visit.



The guacamole is delicious…though rarely I come across anything made from avocadoes that is not. The several times I have visited were during the lunch hour. The lunch combination meals are affordable (around $7.50 will get you an entrée with choice of soup or salad.) and extremely filling.




Albondigas soup.


This place is an absolutely perfect lunch spot for office workers like myself-the service is so quick. I wasn’t able to finish the soup before the enchiladas were brought out.



This is only the single enchilada combination. Everything on this plate is exceptional. The beans are cooked to perfection and smothered with cheese. The rice is flavorful, not bland like some Mexican rice. The enchilada sauce is what really makes this dish special. The enchilada sauce has a distinct cinnamon flavoring that compliments the richness of the meal and the other spices incredibly well.

The Latigo Kid’s unique recipes on traditional Mexican foods, along with a great atmosphere make this one of my new favorites.

The Latigo Kid
Agoura Hills, CA
Last date of visit: Early August 2007

Roscoe's House of Chicken and Waffles

After several years of meaning to visit this well known Hollywood hole-in-the-wall on Gower street, I decided that my 22nd birthday was the perfect occasion to drag myself and a few friends to try what always sounded like an odd combination: chicken and waffles.


A few times shyed away by the long wait times for a late night Hollywood meal, we decided to play up the experience by dressing in our clubbing attire and going to Roscoe's House of Chicken and Waffles first. Arriving at 7pm almost completely avoided the crowd, as we only had to wait about 15 minutes to sit down in the surprisingly small (but quaint) restaurant.

A few proud 'I finally made it here' pictures later, my entire party and I ordered some type of combination of fried chicken and waffles


Though the prices were a bit higher than anticipated ($8-$15/person.) Since we were splitting we chose the larger meal (1/4 "Chix" and two waffles) which allowed us to order all white meat chicken.



Not the world's biggest fried chicken fan, but by no means unfriendly to the traditional Southern food, I appreciated that it was better than KFC. Against my better caloric judgment I ate most of the usable skin off the chicken because the batter was excellent. The meat itself was good quality as well. The waffles were good, nothing that stood out as outstanding. Still a little unsure how the chicken and waffles tie in together in any other way than a one-way ticket to post dinner greasy regret, but it certainly didn't taste bad. The cornbread which we ordered on the side was a bit dry and disappointing.

A fun Hollywood landmark that I may return to if I don't have to wait an hour for a table and with a big group of people after a ravenous night of heavy drinking. Otherwise, not on my immediate to-do list.

Visited July 14,2007
1514 N Gower St Hollywood, CA 90028

Lots of complaining=free dessert!

For my birthday dinner celebration with my family I chose to take them to California Pizza Kitchen. My first visit to CPK was only late last year and I was eager to show them how good it was since they had still not taken up my suggestion of trying it. I suppose that was a mistake because my mom did her usual nagging about the experience: wait time for seating, atmosphere and food. Though I did not think there was much (anything) to complain about, at least her complaining scored us two tasty free desserts!


Caribbean Sunset Sangria. I came looking for the Appleberry Sangria but I guess that is a seasonal beverage for the winter. This one was still good but not as good!

CPK's spinach and artichoke dip is by far my favorite rendition of this popular appetizer.


My Tequila chicken Fettuccine. It was a recommendation from Shirley that I am glad I accepted! The bell papers, lime, creamy sauce and tequila flavor all tasted marvelous together! Yum!


My sister's Mediterranean Salad. I didn't try any (she's greedy!) but she said it was good and it certainly looks tasty. "A chilled salad of cucumbers, red onions, fresh tomatoes and Greek olives tossed with crisp Romaine leaves and lemon-herb vinaigrette, served on a bed of hummus. Topped with Feta cheese, sun-dried tomatoes and our homemade Tzatziki sauce. Served with pita bread. Add grilled rosemary chicken breast, grilled shrimp, or sautéed salmon."

Not so much a complaint, but rather just amusing: that pita bread was definitely just pizza crust. That I tried :)

Free desserts! THANKS MOM!



Chocolate Souffle Cake


White Chocolate Peanut Butter Cheesecake


Can't wait to go back...next time minus complainers :-P, even if it means free desserts!

"Firing up" an old favorite.

Another late-morning sitting sitting in our boring office and listening to our tummies grumble...Prompted by advertisements on the web, my coworker and I decided to save our typical microwave diet meals and go all-out with a lunchtime feast at one of our favorite casual restaurants, Chili's, to try some new items from their "Fired Up" menu.


Of course we weren't ready to get "fired up" until after we had secured a tasty beverage to wash it down with:

Her Presidente Margarita



My Hefeweizen Pyramid...which the server I suggested get served with an organge slice instead of lemon (good!!):


Chili's was out of one the items we wanted, the honey chipotle chicken crispers, but it worked out because we also wanted to try the Texas Cheese Fries.

Chili's describes them as "Homestyle fries topped with melted cheese, jalapeños,applewood smoked bacon & jalapeño-ranch dipping sauce." Here they are!!

So good...


The rest of our [huge] meal:

My coworkers Chicken Soft Tacos:



These were not bad, not super tasty either. Rather plain. Reminded me of Del Taco chicken soft tacos.

I tried the boneless "Blazin" buffalo strips with mango dipping sauce:


The mango dipping sauce was not very good, or at least a little too odd for my tastes. I preferred the ranch dressing :)

And we return to the office 34 pounds heavier...

"The World's Most Famous Restaurant"

"The World's Most Famous Restaurant" is what Benihana boastingly call themselves on front of the menu I looked at in their Encino, CA location. It was my long-awaiting first experience at the well known Japanese Teppanyaki steakhouse and after eating, I realized I wasn't quite sure what I expected to be so impressive there in comparison with other Japanese Teppanyaki restaurants. I have always loved Teppanyaki restaurants: consistently delicious at all places I have had it and always one of the more entertaining dining experiences I can think of.

The menu offered quite a large selection. Of course, I was only interested in the traditional steak, chicken and shrimp selections which all included soup, salad and dessert.. After a few minutes of indecisiveness, I decided to go with with the Benihana Excellence: shrimp with teriyaki beef and green onions.

After I got started on my hot sake (which is the guilty culprit behind my lack of pictures for this entry) we were brought out soup. I was expecting miso even though the menu said our dinner included 'Japanese Onion Soup.' Definitely not miso and not anything I had tried before. It tasted a lot like very thin french onion soup. Not bad. Almost too quickly after the soup they brought the salad. Plain iceberg lettuce with a few shredded radishes and carrots with my absolute favorite thick ginger dressing.

The chef came before I had finished my salad and began grilling the vegetables. Zucchini and the onion volcano were first, along with a small side of shrimp:



Soon after, the chef added sliced mushrooms to our plates. Next was the fried rice which unfortunately my boyfriend and I did not order. Watching the chef make the fresh fried rice (with chicken!) was probably my favorite part of the show.


Doesn't that look tasty?

At this point I was the only one distracted enough with my Sake that I hadn't finished more than half of my veggies by the time the chef got around to the meats.


My Teriyaki beef was the last thing to be finished up


My experience at Benihana defintely felt rushed and very commericalized in comparison with the few other similar places I had been. The food was excellent, however the dining experience was lacking in the 'flair' that Benihana brags about. A successful company, I could see that it was important part of their business model to turn customers in and out as quickly as possible, which for me hindered the dining experience. I would consider going back, but not after visiting at least a few more smaller non-chain Teppanyaki restaurant next time I am craving.

Not your mother's El Torito

It was nearly 8pm when my boyfriend and I finally chose a restaurant to eat at after a long day out in the sun and at the beach. Not having eaten a real meal all day I was ready to eat something filling and welcomed the suggestion of Mexican food with open arms. The first open Mexican food we found was El Torito Grill in Torrance, CA.

I loved the atmosphere at El Torito Grill and the service was excellent. We were politely greeted despite the fact we walked through the door only ten minutes before the place closed. Instead of the traditional chips and salsa, fresh warm flour tortillas were brought to our table promptly. With the tortillas were two types of salsa, both excellent, and sweet butter.






The menu at El Torito Grill was not the same menu I had been familiar with from numerous trips to my hometwon El Torito Restaurant: it included much more 'gourmet' cuisine and lots of seafood. My eyes were immediately fixed to the traditional "Mexican Classics" subtitle. I ordered cheese enchiladas and my boyfriend went with the chicken enchiladas.

I was yet again surprised when the food was brought out, for some reason still expecting to be served the well-known cheese enchiladas I typically got at El Torito.

My Cheese Enchiladas:





My boyfriend's chicken enchiladas:






Notice the sauces are different. The sauce in my cheese enchiladas was much more spicey than any typical ranchero or enchilada sauce. Very tasty. The sauce on my boyfriend's chicken enchiladas was a more mild and very cheesy orange colored sauce. Originally dissapointed when I saw black refried beans instead of pinto, I realized these black beans were quite good. Not impressed with the green rice, though I typically abandon the rice portion of the plate when I order this traditional Mexican combination.

El Torito Grill was a surprisingly good experience!