Monthly Archives: February 2009

February 27, 2009

L.A. Bloggers: What’s Your Blog Name’s Backstory?

Written by Caroline on Crack in Los Angeles
14 Comments

So I was sitting here all bored and stuff when I started thinking about blog names. Actually I was reading this piece about Choosing Domain Names and that made me wonder how all the bloggers I know came up with their names for themselves/their blogs.

It’s tough naming your blog. Tougher than naming your kid, I imagine. With a blog it has to be catchy enough to attract readers and something that you can live with. And it helps if it has something to do with the topic of your blog.

Anyway, so I asked some friends/L.A. bloggers how they got their names and here are their interesting answers in case you’ve always wondered, too.

Ask Fashion Kitty: Stylish Westsider (of ThisNext) who is the go-to girl for all your fashion-related questions.
I guess it’s pretty simple. I wanted to be the Dear Abby of the fashion world…so that’s where we got the Ask. FashionKitty was just this dumb name that I came up with while I was sitting around drinking beer and watching football (the Steelers) with boyfriend at the time. I said “I’m gonna call myself FashionKitty.” He said “No, you’re not.” So since I was challenged, I clearly had to do it.

Dig Lounge: Blogger Matt covers Los Angeles events, reviews, etc. Yes, it’s just one guy doing all that!
My blog name is pretty simple. It was a place for all my friends to go and see what new places (or old) I had gone to and really liked. I generally only post about things that I dig. Well, and lounge because digmag, digonline, and dig.com were all taken already!

estarLA: Esther’s site is the thoughtful insights of a cool, snowboarding, arty Angeleno.
The “LA” part is obvious, I think — I live in Los Angeles and the characteristics of the city are infused into almost every blog post I write. It could be about an event, a restaurant or even just musings about the city itself. My daily interactions with the people of L.A., too, are a constant source of inspiration and frustration. I was named after the Biblical Queen Esther… I used to be embarrassed of my dad’s accent…so my domain name is an embrace and acceptance of a recollection of this time where I had a hard time appreciating my ancestral culture. The way my dad pronounces my name is “e-star.” I like it now.

More stories, including mine, after the jump….

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February 26, 2009

This Weekend: ArtCycle, Farmer’s Market Food Tour, Designer Sales

Written by Caroline on Crack in Art, Beauty & Fashion, Dining, Los Angeles, Nightlife, Recreation, Shopping & Sales
5 Comments

I actually really enjoyed the opening number to last Sunday’s Oscars. Wolverine can dance!

Looks like it’s going to be another lovely weekend in SoCal so there are some outdoorsy things to do in this roundup.

Friday, February 27

Foley + Corinna Sample Sale
OK, this sale sounds like one of those $200-sale-price sales but my roommate really wants to check it out after finding out about it on Daily Candy so that’s what we’re doing. I guess browsing gorgeous vintage and ready-to-wear designer wear that’s marked down to 75% off can’t be too bad.

  • Friday and Saturday, 11am-7pm; Sunday, 12pm-6pm. 8117 Melrose Avenue, Los Angeles (map). (323) 944-0169.

Farmers’ Market and West 3rd Street Food Tasting Tour
When I was up in Seattle one of the things I really wanted to do was go on a food tour of Pike Place Market.  Imagine my utter joy in finding out that there’s a food tour for our own Farmer’s Market and West 3rd Street! Considering all the wonderful eateries along that route, there will be lots to enjoy: ethnic food, handmade candy, tea shop, deli, bakeries. And the best part is you get to work off some of those calories on this leisurely one-mile stroll. OK, not really but still fun! There are only two tickets left for this Saturday’s stroll but you can still pick up discounted tickets for tomorrow’s.

  • 9:30am-1pm Fridays and Saturdays. $49 regular, $30 (service charge not included on Goldstar). Start off at Farmer’s Market on 3rd and Fairfax (map).

Saturday, February 28

Premier Shopping Soiree Sample Sale
This Premier Shopping Soiree Sample Sale sounds like a bunch-o-fun for any budget fashionista. Not only do you get to enjoy 50-80% off the likes of La Perla, Diane Von Furstenberg, Lauren Conrad Collection and LA Buzz Shop Jewelry but there’s also free waxing, massage, wine tasting along with a gift bag. Sounds crazy good, right? Cash and credit card only.

  • 12pm-7pm. 1020 Studios, 1020 N. Sycamore, Los Angeles (map).

East Hollywood ArtCycle
I always love a good bike ride/art show tour. And East Hollywood’s ArtCycle sounds like a fun one. Melrose at Heliotrope will close to allow artists to take over and show off their work. Silkscreen a t-shirt, take in some salsa dancing and enjoy live music while you’re at it. There are two Sunset Junction rides and two Hollywood Boulevard ones, each lasts an hour and a half. Or you can go on your own by using this map.

  • 2-10pm. Various East Hollywood galleries on Heliotrope and Melrose (map).

Hilltop Co-op Nursery School Silent Auction & Luau ’09
Don’t be fooled by the name of this event. There won’t be toddlers running around in grass skirts. This is adult fun so leave the scrapsters at home. Here, you’ll have access to a full tiki bar and a free drink plus exotic food and live music. Hundreds of items will be available to bid on for the silent auction, like clothes, designer jewelry, restaurant gift certificates and artwork. All proceeds obviously go to the Hilltop Nursery.

  • 6-10pm. $10. Artshare LA, 326 S. Hewitt Street, Downtown (map).

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February 25, 2009

Huckleberry Cafe & Bakery: Homemade Done Right

Written by Caroline on Crack in Dining, Los Angeles, Sweets
5 Comments


What is going on with Santa Monica lately? It’s the recession and it seems like there are new restaurants popping up everywhere in the seaside republic — Riva, The Fig, Santa Monica Seafood. And add to that Huckleberry Cafe and Bakery, brought to you by Josh Loeb and Zoe Nathan, the folks behind Rustic Canyon Wine Bar and Seasonal Kitchen.

The week-old cafe/bakery, in the former Pick-Up Stix space on Wilshire Boulevard, is perfect for those who can’t get enough of Rustic Canyon quality food as the wine bar is only open for dinner. (It used to have Saturday breakfast hours but no longer.)

Now you can enjoy Chef Zoe Nathan’s baked goods — tea cakes, Valrhona chocolate croissants, savory bread pudding, layer cakes, Niman Ranch maple-bacon biscuits — for breakfast, lunch or the 3 o’clock snack attack. And every morning at 8am, fresh doughnuts!

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February 24, 2009

The Ultimate Foodie Event for Cheap: LA Weekly’s Gold Standard on Goldstar

Written by Caroline on Crack in Dining, Los Angeles
4 Comments

goldstandard-022309-v2.jpg

Jonathan Gold, the king of all foodies and LA Weekly‘s Pulitzer Prize-winning food critic, has handpicked 30 of his favorite Los Angeles restaurants for a very special food event on March 8 at Smashbox Studios in West Hollywood.

It’s called the 2009 LA Weekly Gold Standard and will feature the likes of Animal, Hungry Cat, Jitlada, the two Mozzas, Palate Food and Wine and Providence to name the blessed few. There will also be a dj and wine and beer tastings.

I sooo wanted to go to this but that $60 ticket price scared me away. Thankfully, eagle-eye blogger estarLA spotted the Goldstar discount where you can buy the ticket for $36 (not including service cost)! Awesomeness! So I got my ticket! estarLA and H.C. from L.A. and O.C Foodventures will be there, too. Better get yours before it sells out. Word is already spreading like wild fire on Twitter.

EVENT: SUNDAY, MARCH 8 from 3 to 7pm

Smashbox Studios
1011 Fuller Avenue
West Hollywood, California 90046 (map)

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February 24, 2009

The Lek’s BottleRock Wine Tasting for Singletons

Written by Caroline on Crack in Los Angeles, Nightlife
1 Comment

LEKWineOuting.jpg

I don’t know how many times I’ve heard how badly it sucks to date in Los Angeles. Believe me, I already know. I was there once, too. I did online dating, friend setups, speed dating and even forced myself to go out during those alcoholidays in the hopes of meeting that special, albeit drunk, someone. Blech! And now I have several friends who are doing Match and eharmony to limited success…ok, to no success. What’s a singleton to do?

Fortunately, L.A. dating site/city guide, The Lek, has regular events for its nightlife-savvy singles. No sleazy bar scene here. Just fun folks who are as into exploring the city as you are.

The Lek’s upcoming event is a wine tasting at BottleRock in Culver City. For $25 you get 12 samplings of premium “Twins” (same varietal but different countries). And to make things really interesting (and get you to step out of your comfortable bubble), you can participate in a blind tasting contest where the top three teams will get BottleRock prizes!

Signing up on the site is easy. No stupid long-ass questionnaire to fill out. Just input your stats, post a photo of yourself and then do a search by your favorite hangouts. You’ll be able to see who else goes there and maybe schedule a premeditated run-in with that certain cutie.

From Thrillist:

Simply click ‘find matches based on my favorite LEKs’ to get a list of profiles also containing your choices, or widen your net by searching for your soulmate under broader locale categories, from ‘bars and clubs’ to ‘museums and art galleries’ to ‘non-profit organizations’…

BTW, sign up on The Lek is free but to email a new person it’s usually 99 cents for first contact, not for every email sent to that person. Co-founder David B. Kurtz says to think of it as an “iTunes of dating.”

But if that still doesn’t work for you, as a special through April 1, if you sign up and post a picture of yourself on the site, you get Founding Lekkers status which means no email charges FOREVER.

If you sign up after April 1, shoot me an email. I may have a special code for you so that you can get your first five contacts for free.

EVENT: WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 25 from 8 to 10pm

BottleRock
3847 Main Street
Culver City, California 90232 (map)
(310) 836-9463

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February 23, 2009

My dineLA Dinners: Taste on Melrose

Written by Caroline on Crack in Cocktails, Dining, Los Angeles, Nightlife
4 Comments

Pork loin with mac & cheese
Taste on Melrose — $34 dinner

It’s no secret that I love Taste on Melrose. I’ve celebrated birthdays here, my own anniversary and just the simple pleasure of dinner. Yummy comfort food, thoroughly satisfying. So this year, I arranged to celebrate my brother’s birthday here. It was a small dinner for four — me, my bro G., his husband Chris and their friend Jerry. But the thing is, I was the only one who was into the dineLA menu. “If you order an appetizer and entrée, you still save more money than if you get the prix fixe,” Chris said. He’s good at math though while I usually flee anything having to do with numbers…and putting them together and stuff so I just took his word for it.

The restaurant was packed with people and even though there was a perfectly vacant booth across the way, they stuck us in this weird crammed corner up against the wall. Suffice it to say, we’re not a bunch of skinny model types so this just seemed like a mean thing to do. Even meaner that they put a slender couple in that roomy booth that actually had seating for four. WTF? Well, at least our server was extra smiley and well intentioned. She seemed to have forgotten about us a couple of times, though. But no harm.

Oh, the good news is that Taste just recently got its liquor license so it now has a new specialty cocktail menu that was created by the restaurant owners and the head bartender. On the server’s recommendation I ordered the Gingerita — a margarita with Canton ginger liqueur — which tasted strongly of tequila but not so much the ginger.

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February 21, 2009

Kogi BBQ Takes Over Alibi Room’s Kitchen

Written by Caroline on Crack in Dining, Los Angeles
4 Comments

From Kogi BBQ site

From the Kogi BBQ site

For those who STILL haven’t tried Kogi BBQ yet, whether you’re scared away by the long lines or…are scared away by the long lines (OK that’s me), you’ll be happy to know that it looks like Kogi BBQ has acquired a “semi-permanent” location in Culver City. Yay! Westsiiide!

Yup, according to the Korean barbecue taco truck’s Web site, their Chef Roy will be taking over the kitchen at the Alibi Room. They say this starts February 24, which also happens to be Chef Roy’s birthday, but their Twitter this evening mentions something about pork belly specials tonight at 8pm. Hmmm, will have to check it out.

The prices will be a bit more than they are usually due to the location but apparently Chef Roy will be experimenting and creating goodies that he normally doesn’t get to on the truck.

Here’s the anticipated menu as listed on the site:

  • Kogi 3 taco platter ($7): choice of short rib, spicy pork, bbq chicken, or tofu with salsa roja, cilantro-onion relish, green onion-cabbage slaw
  • Kogi burrito ($6): the same way as a taco but with hash browns, eggs, and cheese
  • Kimchi-sesame quesadilla ($5)
  • Kogi dog ($6): kimchi sauerkraut, sesame mayonnaise, Korean spicy ketchup, and melted cheese
  • Vegan sesame leaf taco platter ($5): Asian pear, tofu, and green onions and salsa roja
  • Tofu and Citrus salad ($7): seasonal fruit, Korean herbs and sesame
  • Daily torta ($9): could be egg and cheese, could be Kogi Hogi, could be pork belly, check with chef
  • Kogi sliders ($5): your choice of meat on two soft buns with sesame mayonnaise
  • Korean chili spiced fries ($5)
  • Sesame salt dusted taro and lotus root chips ($5)

All I can say is thank goodness, cuz the last time I was at the Alibi Room their tacos were…welll, pretty sad. Now I can’t wait to knock back a Czechvar while enjoying the Kogi taco platter!

Alibi Room
12236 Washington Boulevard
Los Angeles, California 90066 (map)
(310) 390-9300
Hours: Monday-Saturday 6pm-12am

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