Happy Easter! Happy Spring.. Speaking of new beginnings and all that..
Yesterday was a day of Firsts (actually last weekend was too.. but that's later) Since the cat woke us up around 4am, we stayed awake and had breakfast at LA Cafe on Spring. It was ok.
The real surprise came later.. we were headed out to run errands and SeanYoda recalled a place I've been wanting to go with him for a while but the timing was always off (I always seem to remember when they were closed on Sundays and often our plans don't work out otherwise). Langer's.
We went to Langer's!!!
I've eaten at Langer's a couple times while assisting in Blogging support a year or so ago. While SeanYoda reminded me he has had Langer's before (he recalled my bringing home leftovers from an event one time), he had yet to visit the location for lunch. So here we are!!
We waited to be seated.. and it helped we came in already knowing what we wanted.. (hint is in photo) It was just a matter if we were going to split an order, or get our own...
We ended up splitting of course!
my half of the #19 Our server kindly put our halves on our own plate and I'm not sure, but think she may have given us an extra pickle..
Sean bites into his half..
We also got a side order of potato salad just in case the 1/2 wasn't enough.. (it was though as I ended up offering the remnant of my 2nd pickle half to Sean and left very full!)
One order of the #19 (pastrami w/ swiss & slaw), a side of potato salad & 2 iced teas came to $25 plus tip..
We parked at the Langer's lot at 7th & Westlake.. (and they do validate at Langer's)
Langer's is the BEST pastrami sandwich in LA (if not the world..) with Canter's being 2nd... You can take the Red Line out there to MacArthur Park if you don't have a car.. and if you do have a car.. like we happened to have this Easter weekend, then you now know where to park! =)
While my Easter egg hunting days are pretty much over, I don't begrudge someone else's little one a chance to have a run in the grass..
New City Church
It seems that there's going to be a bit of a festival atmosphere at Grand Hope Park (that's that green area where dogs aren't allowed despite the sculptures hinting otherwise) near the FIDM at 9th & Hope in South Park.
Next Sunday New City Church is hosting an "Easter Fest" with an Easter egg hunt, arts & craft-y stuff and the ubiquitous bounce house.
Easter falls on the 4th of April and the fest will run from 12-3pm. I don't know much else so you'll want to contact the folks at New City Church with any questions.
Easter@newcitychurchla.com or 213-471-2415
I'm not active in any churches at the moment so I have no personal agenda with this, just figuring with the uptick of folks with little ones, they'd want to know about this.
Our Lady of the Angels
For a less boisterous and not-so-kid-friendly way to spend Easter the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels is hosting (with advanced reservation required) an Easter Champagne Brunch.
The Champagne Brunch is after Mass and is prepared by the chefs at the Center at Cathedral Plaza.. Adults $30, Children (2-12) $20 plus tax.; For more information & reservations please call (213) 680-5271.
J Restaurant & Lounge
Can't make up your mind?? J Restaurant and Lounge will be hosting a family friendly Easter Sunday Brunch from 11:00 AM - 3:00 PM Easter Sunday at 1119 S. Olive Street in South Park. Brunch will be served on the outdoor patio and an Easter egg hunt will be held for the kids.
There's plenty of churches around downtown and they may also have some Easter Sunday activities.. The ones I listed are the ones I knew about.. I'm not suggesting you go to any of these but if you want to there you go..
As for me, I'll probably end up at Disneyland. Unless Botegga Louie is open.. mmmmm Botegga Louie. For me the holidays are about food of course.
What ended up being a false alarm, had the LAFD making a run to the Rossyln late Tuesday night/ Wednesday morning. A prankster residents had pulled the alarm.
Meet Toni Duarte of Pet's Concierge.. Toni out walking her clients' dogs..
I don't think Toni dresses up like this every day! =) I caught up with her on St Patrick's Day walking a couple dogs. Toni has an event coordinator business as well a pet care service.. Toni watched our cats, Kiki & Alexander while we were recently in New Orleans.
Toni lives and works downtown, supporting other downtown dwellers. She's super friendly and easy to work with.. She walks dogs, does petcare visits, as well day & overnight care (if available). While a lot of her clients are dog owners, she has plenty of small animal and cat owner clients as well.
As briefly mentioned in my previous post, I was running errands yesterday in South Park. Walking up Flower and meandering back towards the Historic Core I noticed a couple new places.. (I may not be the first but I haven't noticed it blogged yet)..
The first was at the Gas Company Lofts..
Evy According to Evy of California's website they are "manufacturers of sportswear and occasional dresses for girls sizes newborn to junior." While it's not something I'm in the market for, I'm sure there are plenty of New Downtowners with children of a certain age that will be so happy to have a fashion place for their families.
Also noted on Evy's site is a Hello Kitty line! I know a particular someone that might be keen on that.. (assuming it's something more than just little kids' clothes).
Another place I spotted is the street level of Market Lofts.. on the Hope Street side.
YAS! ( Yoga and Spinning Center ) "Yoga for Athletes" proclaims a sign in their window.. The Yoga and Spinning spot should be open late April or early May.. YAS has other locations in Silverlake and Costa Mesa. They plan locations in Redondo and Manhattan Beach as well..
I was sort of keen on the place til I saw the "Yoga for Athletes" sign.. I am far from it.. and would love to try a spinning class sometime. I would love a place to go where I could be around other folks lumpy like me.. but until I lose the first 30lbs I'd still be wary of being around other exercising people.. Why are only skinny folks hanging out at the gym?? Where do the fat people go?? LOL
Ok. this wasn't supposed to get personal.. so something to look forward to in our ever evolving, and growing downtown.. Yay for new businesses!
Yesterday, I was walking back to the Historic Core from running errands in South Park. I was heading to Starry Kitchen for lunch and was about to turn off Broadway & Hill (the escalator was running up to Cal Plaza) when I spotted a most excellent reason to take the stairs up Angels Knoll..
Angels Flight Testing!!! Yes.. they were running the cars intermittently.. I video-taped it a few times but my cell phone did a pretty good job too...
Saturday night was an open mic night at Banquette Cafe & Wine Bar. While the spouse was under the weather, I went downstairs and checked out Richard McDowell and others performing in the small interior of Banquette..
Richard had advised me he'd be performing at 8pm. It was more near 9pm, since there was a couple musical groups that performed ahead of the poetry readings..
I caught the last number of this act when I first arrived..
This act performed quite a while.. they were alright, but I think having them perform some 8 or 9 songs (I lost count) in one set was a bit much.. I think they could have broken the sets up and let the poets perform in between. IMHO of course.. I mean I don't work at the Cafe so my opinion is pointless..
FINALLY.. Richard and a couple other folks got to perform..
I made a couple videos.. (I goofed w/ Richard's by holding the camera wrong, but righted it after a little bit.. ) I may link to those at some point.. sooner or later..
UPDATE: (*again, apologies for messing up the camera angle.. corrected in seconds 9/10) video1* "Life as a Poet"
video2 "Jiggsaw"
We even got treated to some comedy.. which went from weirdly uncomfortable to LOL funny and back again a couple times. I guess good comedy does that.
Although its website says "Opening Fall 2009," it was during last night's art walk the little shop soft opened.
Located on 8th between Broadway and Spring, (next door to Kelly's fudge) if you blink you might miss it.
The shop specializes on one thing: Mac & Cheese. It comes in some 4 different sizes from "Baby Mac" at $5 to "Mac Daddy" (which sounds like a family size portion) which runs about $25 and includes one additional item. Items like mushrooms, spinach, collard greens and meats like bacon or chorizo, or veggie sausage are $1 each.
Order at the counter, and it's made right in front of you.. Choose your size, what kind of mac (whether regular or rice) regular cheese or soy, any additions you want or if you want a toasted topping..
They make it to order and put it through their little oven..
"Baby Mac" w/ Spinach...
We got ours pretty quick and the container was HOT.. so be careful. It was also cheesy so we made a little mess taking the lid off.. They have Tapitio sauce to put on it so we got a packet of that.. (personally I like sriracha as it's a little hotter) and split it in half.. I'd say it's about a cup and a half serving.. Which technically is more than a serving. One person could definitely eat as a meal.
With the tapatio added and mixed up.. You can see the cheesiness and spinach..
HOW DID WE LIKE IT??
Well, for the price point it can't be beat.. I'm a big fan of mac & cheese.. This isn't my favorite mac & cheese.. I want to go back and try the chorizo or the collard greens.. anything that will give it a bit of a kick. The cheese blend is very mild and doesn't really add anything to the dish.. The spinach was good but again, there wasn't much flavor in ours.. It is what it is: Mac & Cheese.
Mac & Cheeza won't unseat my favorites: Royal Clayton for portion, price & creaminess.. or Nickel Diner's Smac & Cheese for zestiness.. even Pete's Cafe, which is somewhere between Royal Clayton's & Nickel Diner in portion, but has a 5 cheese blend that is cheesy.. but not zesty, would win out over this place.
Will I go back (I think I said I need to try more flavors!)? Yes.. not too often though.. after my art walk adventures (splitting a strawberry shortcake at Syrup Desserts and a couple minis from Big Man Bakes) I gotta pace myself.. I gained a pound overnight from all my food naughtiness... Also the Nickel being my favorite is a lot closer. ;P
Mac & Cheeza is soft opening over the next few days.. and then they'll have a Grand Opening the beginning of March. Check them out if you're in the area.. They're soy/ veggie friendly and again, they are very reasonably priced. CASH ONLY for now..
