Fettuccine Alfredo at Musso & Frank

I vowed to return to Musso & Frank not just for the Beef Grenadine with the wonderful Bearnaise sauce but to try the so called "Original Fettuccine Alfredo". For those of you who have not tried the original in Rome, you will have to add this to your bucket list since it is unlike any other Alfredo you have had.

My friend Mary has never been to Musso & Frank so I thought it was a good place to celebrate her birthday. We ordered a bottle of Montepulciano wine which was quite good. The sourdough bread was a hit. Mary loved it and even commented on the butter which was very good.

Since I already knew that the Beef Grenadine was delicious and knowing Mary loves her steak, I thought it would be good to share an order of beef and split an order of the Fettuccine Alfredo. That way, we wouldn't be overloading on our carbs (like I really care). We were very happy with our beef; the extra Bearnaise I asked for made it even better. This dish is so good that I don't think I can order anything else next time. The Alfredo looked like the original and I must say was close to the one we have had in Rome but not quite. It was was nice and light. The flavor was very good and had an additional ingredient I couldn't identify. Erick, our server told us it had chicken stock. If you can't get to Roma to sample the real thing. This is second best. I would definitely order it again.

I strongly suggest you have both the Beef Grenadine and the Fettuccine Alfredo. This was a perfect combination.

Mary was presented with a Brownie that had dulce de leche and caramel with vanilla ice cream on top. She was nice enough to share it with me...this was sinful and just plain yummy!

Musso & Frank is located at 6667 Hollywood Blvd. in Hollywood California. They are open for lunch and dinner Tuesday to Saturday. Closed on Mondays and open at 4pm on Sundays.

The Whale & Ale

The Whale & Ale at 327 W.7th St. in San Pedro opened in 1988. This English Pub is known for their Fish & Chips among other English specialties. It is in the same block as Mishi's Strudel. They have happy hour aka "adult tea time" with $5.00 glasses of wine and various draft beers. They have entertainment; live piano music on Fridays and several musicians on different nights. We did not experience any of that since we got there too early.

Sandi and I could not decide what to order from the menu. We decided to concentrate of the "British Pub Specials". The English Fish & Chips had to be one of our entrees. The Steak & Mushroom Pie looked intriguing; diced filet mignon with fresh mushrooms in a rich beef gravy under puff pastry square with a side of English peas. It was either that or the Shepherd's Pie; ground filet mignon & ground roast leg of lamb seasoned and simmered with beef gravy topped with mashed potatoes then baked brown served with a side of English peas. We asked our server which she would recommend and she suggested the Shepherd's Pie.

The Fish and Chips were indeed very good; the chips were superb. The Shepherd's pie was also very good but I must say, it could have been better. I expected and hoped it would be better than the one I make. It was not better. The peas were absolutely tasteless and was better off in the pie rather than standing solo. The mashed potatoes could have been browner. That being said, we were still happy with the food.

Dessert had to be the Cumberland Sticky Toffee Pudding; caramel, ground dates in a warm cake topped with molten English toffees and vanilla ice cream. This was as good as pictured below. I don't think any other dessert can top this one.

I was pleasantly full and Sandi was stuffed. We both are planning to go back and try the other specialties and experience some of their entertainment.

"The" Viewing Party

The second best thing to attending the Oscars is attending the Viewing Party hosted by non other than Sir Elton John. The venue was a giant tent at the West Hollywood Park next to the Pacific Design Center. My date was not Richard Gere or Jeffrey Dean Morgan....it was my brother Gary.

We got there at 4:00 p.m. and enjoyed hors d'oeuvres and martinis with 3 olives which is how I like my martini. The olives were stuffed with blue cheese...yum! As we mingled with the crowd, we saw Tim Allen, Steven Tyler, Carson Kressley and probably many more we did not recognize.

I was in owe as we entered the dining room. It was hard to believe that this was a tent. It felt more like an elaborate ballroom in a hotel. Red tulips were the centerpiece of each table that had exquisite table settings complete with name plates. Everyone had 2 books and an autographed CD of Elton John's latest CD "Wonderful Crazy Night."

We all had red wine, white wine plus whatever your heart desired. Mine desired some champagne. The dinner menu was designed by Chef Gordon Ramsay. We were all impressed with the 5 course meal. Everything was perfect; from presentation to service. Food was delicious. The Celeriac-Apple Soup was one of the best soups I have had. It tasted like it could have had a bit of curry.

The highlight of the evening was not so much seeing stars but witnessing Elton John perform. I have never seen him in concert and this was an unbelievable treat. By 1:00 a.m. we were about ready to head home. It was back to normal life.

The Roof on Wilshire

Sometimes it pays to subscribe to various emails for deals especially when it comes to restaurants. I get the "Blackboard Eats/LA".  They offer discounts on restaurants; some familiar to me and others I have never heard of. If this is the case, I immediately look at the menu and the ambiance.

Sandi and I had an appointment in Beverly Hills at 10:30 a.m. last Tuesday, so rather than have lunch after, I decided to try their breakfast. The Roof on Wilshire is located on the roof of the Hotel Wilshire, not to be confused with the Beverly Wilshire. It's a small boutique hotel that has a wonderful view from it's roof. It was a beautiful day with the California sun shining at 8:45 a.m. and a constant temperature of 73 degrees. On the background were songs of Norah Jones, Astrud Gilberto and guitar music. It was a perfect setting. I could also imagine the ambiance at night!

Two things stood out on their menu. This was perfect since 90% of the time, Sandi and I split 2 entrees to get the best of both worlds. The first entree was called Pancake Lasagna. We were both intrigued with the name and I couldn't contain my excitement when I read the description. It had bacon, sausage, cheddar and a maple Bechamel. What's there not to like? The other other entree was a Brioche French Toast; orange compote and dulce de leche. I loved how they served it on the dark side (can't stand pale French Toasts) and the orange compote was perfect. The dulce the leche was not overwhelmingly sweet. After we placed our order, we realized that this was not going to be a dietetic breakfast. Both were excellent choices. It would be too rich and too much for 1 person so half of both was truly perfect for me. Sandi didn't even finish hers as she was too full.

I was really fascinated with the Pancake Lasagna that I had to call and speak to the Chef the following day. Chef Chris Mendoza explained how the lasagna was made. They make a big sheet of pancake and they layer the ground sausage, aerated scrambled eggs, chopped bacon with the fat and incorporate it with the Bechamel sauce. I normally do not like breakfast sausage but this was different. All the ingredients came together like a beautiful symphony. Who would have known? Just make sure you take an extra dose of Lipitor to keep your cholesterol from spiking up.

The Roof on Wilshire is located at 6317 Wilshire Blvd. in Los Angeles.

Corned Beef Hash

Not all breakfast places serve Corned Beef Hash and if they do, you sometimes don't get very good meat or it may be to greasy. The Corned Beef Hash at the Original Pancake House is something you should try.

It consists of homemade hash and a blend of Kosher beef, potatoes, onions and cream. It is served with 2 eggs, any style you want though in my opinion it should only be served with fried eggs, and the best side you could possibly want......potato pancakes. These are not your ordinary potato pancakes you might have had elsewhere. These are truly the best as they are thin and light. They usually serve them with apple sauce and sour cream. When you get them with the corned beef hash, they don't come with anything so DO NO FORGET to ask for some apple sauce.

I have to inform you that one order of this is good for 2 very hungry people. I gave some of mine to 2 people to try and I still had enough left over for another breakfast!

My friend Nako had the pancakes. In my opinion, they have the best pancakes compared to IHOP, Denny's or Norm's. I am excluding gourmet pancakes from fancy places. This is strictly comparing apples with apples or should I say pancakes with pancakes.

The Original Pancake House has numerous locations from coast to coast. There are over 100 franchises, some with a different name; the one in Chicago is called Walker Brothers.  Fortunately there's one close to me at 1756 S. Pacific Coast Hwy. in Redondo Beach California.

Trader Joe's Lasagna

It's a good idea to have some frozen dinners in your freezer in case you're not in the mood to cook or go out for dinner. I tried Trader Joe's Lasagna the other night and was very surprised.

It serves 2-3 people. In my case, I divided it into three. I baked is as instructed, let it rest and sliced them up. I served it with French bread. I should have had a salad to balance all that carbohydrates but I got lazy and thought I would dispense of the extra calories from the salad.

The lasagna was quite good that I really enjoyed it. The pasta was not as thin and aldente as you would get in a real Italian restaurant but it was not bad. It was salty enough that I didn't even think of Parmesan cheese.

Not all frozen dinners are created equal. This one is good especially on a cold night; it is perfect served with a salad and your favorite red wine.

Maccheroni Republic

We had tickets to see the play "An Act of God" with Sean Hayes the other night at the Ahmanson Theater. The question was where to eat around the vicinity.  Maccheroni Republic's menu looked good. I asked my brother if he had been there before and the answer was yes and he further told me he has been there twice. I called to make a reservation. They do not take reservations so we planned to be there when they opened at 5:30 p.m. There were 3 parties of two already waiting!

This hip restaurant is not big; you have a choice of sitting inside or on the patio. We chose to be inside.  We already decided to get the Fried Calamari for our appetizer.  It was a Friday (Lent) so we could not order any meat. The question was which pasta to order so we asked our cute Italian girl who waited on us which Rigatoni to order since there were several on the menu. She suggested the Rigatoni Pom' Amore which had a creamy tomato sauce topped with Burrata. The other dish we were to split was the  Linguine con Polpo e Gamberoni which was pasta with octopus, jumbo shrimps, garlic, asparagus in a typical Mediterranean flavor. Meantime, we enjoyed the French bread which was a good start with the olive oil and balsamic vinegar.

The Calamari was disappointing. It had no flavor. Even the sauce which they call vegetable dipping was very bland. I had to sprinkle quite a bit of salt on the calamari and the sauce. It was nice and light but absolutely tasteless. We were afraid of the the following dishes being tasteless as well.

The Rigatoni arrived with a big scoop of Burrata and the Linguine came with beautiful jumbo shrimps. We both got excited. The Rigatoni was cooked aldente and the sauce, when mixed with the Burrata was very good. The Linguine was just as delicious. Sandi didn't eat the octopus. It's funny because I forgot it had octopus. It looked like little scallops to me and told her they were scallops. She thought they tasted "fishy". I loved them!

We still had time to have dessert as we ate fast. We decided to split Luisa's Olive Cake. The cake was orange blueberry served with whipped cream. We both inhaled that rather large piece of cake. It was good.

Maccheroni Republic is located at 332 S. Broadway in Los Angeles. It is opposite the Grand Central Market.

BTW, the play "Act of God" is sinfully funny. It's a one man show aside from the 2 angels. It always amazes me how someone can memorize lines and talk for 90 minutes! Sean Hayes was delightfully funny.