In my on-going search for new favorite breakfast places on the Westside, I decided to give Amandine Patisserie, located in Santa Monica/Brentwood, a go. It’s just a couple of blocks west of my current fave, Literati Cafe, and it’s gotten a ton of decent reviews on Yelp, The Delicious Life, and Chowhound. I read their online menu and with French toast and omelette specialties and yummy-sounding French pastries galore, how could I go wrong?

Well, turns out I could go a lot wrong. My problem wasn’t so much with the food as it was the entire experience — from counter service to finding a seat to table service to finishing my meal.

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Shot of Afternoon Tea at the Biltmore (not under $20)

I love it when my friends ask me for advice. This one came via IM.

New Mama: Advice, Ms. Crack? (Yes, my friends still refer to me as “Ms. Crack.”)

Me: k

New Mama: My sister is throwing me a baby shower. I wanted something tea-like. small hotel garden or some shit like that. But my sister just moved here and knows of zero, so i’m trying to help her out (although technically i’m not supposed to, but who cares). About 15-20 people.

Me: Well there’s Huntington Library ($24.95), Biltmore ($28 Victorian Tea; $32 with sherry, Kir or sparkling wine; $48 with Laurent Perrier champagne). But let me dig around.

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Thanks to Crazy Andy for pointing this out via tweet but, look! Free shipping off some of the best wines in the world — each rated 90 points or more by Wine Advocate, International Wine Cellar and Wine Spectator. And I’m not just talking expensivo $100 wines. There are actually some bottles for less than $25.

Mas De La Barben Les Sabines 2003 - $24.98
“The dense ruby/purple-tinged 2003 Les Sabines (a blend of 80% Syrah and 20% Grenache) offers up smoky, ripe cassis, melted licorice, chocolate, dried herb, and bacon fat characteristics. Spicy, rich, medium-bodied, and moderately tannic, it should drink well for 5-7 years.”

Bodegas Balcona Partal 1 2001 - $16.98
“The 2001 Partal I is a blend of 60% Monastrell, 15% Syrah, 10% Tempranillo, 10% Cabernet Sauvignon, and 5% Merlot aged 12 months in French oak. Dark ruby-colored, it offers up an excellent nose of forest floor, mushroom, pepper, black currant, and blackberry. Full-bodied, the wine has gobs of fruit, well-concealed ripe tannin, and is seamless on the palate. Enjoy this forward wine over the next 4-6 years.”

Menguante Garnacha Seleccion 2004 - $16.98
“The 2004 Menguante Garnacha Seleccion raises the bar a bit. It spent 8 months in a mixture of used French and American oak. Dark ruby in color, it is a bit more sophisticated than the two previous wines with its complex nose of vanilla, smoke, cedar, red currants and kirsch. It also offers more structure with ripe tannins nicely concealed by generous quantities of red and blue fruits. There is very good concentration and depth through to the pure finish. Give this outstanding wine several years in bottle for further evolution and drink it over the following 6-8 years. Kudos to the Pablo family!”

But place your orders now as this offer expires tomorrow at 11am.

Now that the marathon is over and done with, I’m ready to sign up for a half marathon! And the Nike Women’s Half Marathon in San Francisco in October has caught my eye. Unfortunately the event is so popular that they do a random lottery picking who gets to participate.

Anyway, I’m rounding up a group of people together so that we can register as a team since we’ll be Angelenos in a foreign land and it’ll be nice to know people there. So if you guys are looking to run with other SoCal folks (we don’t have to run the same pace or really run for that matter), you can always sign up under my email address carolineoncrack at gmail.com to be part of Team Crackhead. The only thing is that if our team doesn’t get picked then none of us run.

So why is this the half marathon I want to run (in addition to the City of Angels in December)? Because not only do we get to run through beautiful San Francisco (avoiding the steep, cable car hills thank gawd) but we also get the Tiffany’s version of a finisher’s medal handed to us at the finish line by a fireman dressed in a tux. Haayyy!

It is a woman-dominated race (20-to-1) but men are welcome, too. So guys, if you want to join the team, you’re more than welcome to sign up with us. Open registration started on March 4 and ends March 18 so register asap.

FYI, if we do get picked then Nike will charge your credit card $90. Confirmations should be sent out in April 1 or you can look on the Nike Women’s Marathon site on April 1 to see if you/we got in.

Maybe we can arrange a group carbo load dinner in North Beach the night before the race!

EVENT: SUNDAY, OCTOBER 19 at 7am

I feel really guilty that I didn’t blog today or this past weekend for that matter considering that I took a Hipcooks cocktail class at the new Westside location, I tried the Sunday prix-fixe dinner at the “redesigned” Violet and sampled many new cocktails.

But since I’ve come down with an annoying cold/flu or whatever it is that’s preventing me from thinking clearly I’ll have to save those posts for another time. Sorry. I feel really guilty. I know, this has no bearing on your everyday life but it does on mine!

Flickr Shot by dotsara

All right, single ladies, you’ve got one week left (well, 4 1/2 days to be exact) to send me your submissions for the “Win a Date for Valentine’s Day — Caroline on Crack Style” contest. Crazy Andy would be the bachelor to show you a good time and I don’t mean that in a dirty way. He’s a blast to hang out with, always makes me laugh so hard til I’m crying and is always up for any adventure. The man traveled to Argentina all by himself, fer chrissakes! You would definitely not be bored on this date.

Of course I may be hiding in the bushes taking pictures paparazzi style of your date but that’s just so I’ll have photos to accompany my post for the post-date wrap-up.

To recap, you would have one of three fabulous Caroline on Crack-approved dates to pick from:

• Date #1: Date with a view. Stroll around the Observatory and take in the dreamy Planetarium show and then go for dinner and drinks afterward in Los Feliz. I’m thinking Figaro or Mes Amis and then the Good Luck Bar and Tiki Ti. I can vouch for this date as I did the same thing once. Twas v. romantic.

• Date #2: Hot time in the city. Salsa dancing lessons on a Wednesday night followed by an Argentinian dinner and exotic drinks. You’ll learn some new hot moves and then be able to take it out on the dance floor after. And yes, Andy is not afraid to dance.

• Date #3: Rock on! Either catch a live show at Safari Sam’s or El Cid and enjoy supper and cocktails there. Andy is always out and about checking the live music scene so a girl loves a good show would be ideal.

Send me your stats (you can use the format I did for Andy on the contest post), your contact info, a photo and which date you’d like to go on and we’ll set you on the way to a fab V-Day 2008.

Flickr Shot by streetpix

For Valentine’s Day, I thought I’d do something fun and different for my single girl readers out there. No singles mixer, no anti-Valentine party. Something even better: I’m going to send you out on a fab date with a wonderful guy. And I’m not talking the generic dinner and a movie, I’m talking actual fun activities to do around our fine city.

Why am I doing this? Well, like me (before bf that is), you’ve probably tried Internet dating (blah), blind dates (scary) and even speed dating (tiring) and you still can’t find that one special guy. For some reason, it’s really tough in this town. So I figure, why not help my single crackhead-istas out and set them up with a prescreened guy on Caroline on Crack-approved dates? Sounds good, huh?

Well, the eligible bachelor who has agreed to submit to this fun lil’ Valentine experiment is none other than my good friend, Crazy Andy of LAist. He, too, is also finding it difficult to meet that one special lady. And my blog attracts fun, hip gals in the know who are up for anything and love L.A., so what better group to pull from?

And, don’t worry, I can personally vouch for Andy. Not that we dated but he’s been my partner in crime in hitting fun spots around town as well as my drinking buddy and he is a blast to hang out with. I’ll give you the lowdown on him later.

First, how this works is, you (single girl living within a 12-mile radius of Hollywood) pick one of the date options listed below and email me your stats and contact info and we’ll contact you, have a little chat and set things up. Easy-peasy.

But back to Andy, cuz I bet you want to know more about him:

Age: 32
Sign: Aquarius
Height: 5′10″
Web site: http://netzoo.net
Favorite karaoke song: White Wedding
Fave drink: Bourbon on the rocks, Seven Grand’s Brock
Fave wine: Cabernet, Malbec
Celebrity he’d date: Drew Barrymore
Who he’d vote for: Barack Obama
Fave item of clothing: Hoodie
Likes: Traveling the world, writing, playing guitar, sailing, biking, hiking, camping, wine tasting
Looks for in a woman: Confidence, fun-loving, free-spirited, slappable ass, someone with a sense of humor who appreciates sarcasm
Pet peeves: Smoking, pessimists, perfume
Personal quote: It’s another great day to save the world.

So now what’s Andy’s type? It took some arm-twisting to get him to tell me what kind of girl he’s attracted to. He was more into saying what personality traits he looks for in a date. But I was able to get that he likes curves in moderation and not someone who’s too skinny. Height and age seemed pretty flexible factors for him.

And now to the all-expenses-paid dates (not including your parking, dating attire and stuff like that) you can pick from:

• Date #1: Date with a view. Stroll around the Observatory and take in the dreamy Planetarium show and then go for dinner and drinks afterward in Los Feliz. I’m thinking Figaro or Mes Amis and then the Good Luck Bar and Tiki Ti. I can vouch for this date as I did the same thing once. Twas v. romantic.

• Date #2: Hot time in the city. Salsa dancing lessons on a Wednesday night followed by an Argentinian dinner and exotic drinks. You’ll learn some new hot moves and then be able to take it out on the dance floor after. And yes, Andy is not afraid to dance.

• Date #3: Rock on! Either catch a live show at Safari Sam’s or El Cid and enjoy supper and cocktails there. Andy is always out and about checking the live music scene so a girl loves a good show would be ideal.

We’ll set Andy up on these dates and after each one do a synopsis of how it went down, getting quotes from the dater and the datee. After the dates, Andy will pick one of the girls to go on a grand prize date with him, hopefully just in time for Valentine’s Day.

So drop me a line at carolineoncrack at gmail.com (or leave a comment), tell me a little about yourself (you can use the list I did about Andy above), include your contact information and photo and let me know which date you’d like to go on. Deadline for submissions is February 1. May the best girl win!

Another deal from the Travelzoo Newsdesk:

For Virgin America’s first sale of the year, you get cheapie one-way fares that are pretty darn good.

Fares on sale (each way):
- Las Vegas-San Francisco … $44
- Los Angeles-San Francisco … $44
- Los Angeles-Washington D.C. … $118
- Los Angeles-New York … $128

What makes this sale extra special is that you can fly any day of the week through March 12 (most airline sales exclude weekend travel). Just book your tix by January 11.

Virgin America features impressive amenities including mood lighting, leather seats with 32-inch pitch, nine-inch TV screen and access to power outlets.

How about planning your oh-so romantic V-Day getaway or a get-out-of-dodge anti-Valentine weekend?

I’m just not good with coupons. Cutting them, saving them, remembering to use them. Last time I used a coupon was when I was a starving Bruin looking to take advantage of Ralphs double coupon special on a frozen pizza. However, the Thirsty? Deck Los Angeles 2008 may just have me resurrecting this thrifty pastime all in the name of a cheaper cocktail.

The deck not only offers a short and helpful description of 52 bars, wine stores and even coffee houses but also discounts like $10 off $30 purchases, buy-2-get-1-free deals and 50% off in-store tastings off the likes of BottleRock, Golden Gopher, Milk and The CrepeVine.

Cards of note:

• $10 off Enterprise Fish Company with no minimum purchase required. Go there for the happy hour Monday-Friday 4-7pm (Sundays 8-10pm) and get Newcastle, Stella or Black Butte Porter 14-ouncers for $2.75, $4 for 22-ouncers and $3 well cocktails. Food specials include $4.95 calamari, $3.95 lobster chicken taquitos and $4.95 Cajun popcorn shrimp.

• 50% off in-store tasting at K&L Wine Merchants which regularly run $10 for Thursday tastings (about 5 wines) and $20 Saturday tastings (includes at least 10 wines).

• Buy 2 get 1 free at Literati Cafe. I’m usually not crazy about these sorts of deals cuz that means, ugh!, I have to share it with other people but Literati Cafe is my favorite weekend breakfast joint so it wouldn’t be far-fetched for me to buy a coffee and orange juice to go with my breakfast sandwich and then take a smoothie to go. Or I guessss I can split this with a friend.

• 1 Free Wine Flight at redwhite+bluezz in Pasadena. You have to buy a full-price entree to take advantage of this deal but with choices like boneless beef short ribs with pecorino and porcini risotto or free-range French cut chicken breast with sweet potato gratin, it shouldn’t be too hard to do. BTW, they got something called chocolate flights here! Eeeeeeee!

The deck is priced at $24.95 but you can get it for $19.95 here. Suggestion: Keep the deck handy in your glovebox or purse so you won’t forget to use ‘em. They expire NYE of this year so you better get started. Heh.

This just in from Travelzoo:

Get cheapie airfare from United Airlines from Los Angeles to hundreds of destinations across the globe.

You have to book by January 10 and travel through March 6.

Domestic deals include:

- Los Angeles-San Jose … $50 each way
- Los Angeles-Seattle … $83 each way
- Los Angeles-Ft. Lauderdale … $92 each way

And there are international getaways on the cheap like:

- Los Angeles-Puerto Vallarta … $85 each way
- Los Angeles-Shanghai … $249 each way

That’ll take care of one New Year’s resolution: See more of the world.

Is it possible to build an endurance racecar for under $500, including its value, parts and labor? Judging from the 80+ participants at the 24 Hours of LeMons, this past weekend in Altamont, California, it is. What am I talking about and why doesn’t it have anything to do with L.A.? Because this event was the weirdest and probably the funniest thing I’ve ever seen.

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American Airlines

How is it that with all the advancements in technology to make our lives as comfortable as possible, they still haven’t applied that science to airplanes? In fact it seems like airplanes are increasingly becoming the most uncomfortable way to travel out of the planes-trains-automobiles transportation triad. Case in point: my trip to Maui via American Airlines.

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I’m off to Maui for a lonnnnng weekend so you won’t be hearing from me til next Tuesday or Wednesday. At least that’s what I’m aiming for. I’m still going to bring my laptop just in case I get separation anxiety, though. Baby steps. But the goal here is to not blog. You can catch up on your reading here if you haven’t been doing so every day.

I’m going to do some hiking, maybe do that downhill bike ride on a volcano and drink lots of exotic cocktails. Weeee!

In any case this weekend you’re on your own my little Angelenos. It’s all right, you’ll be OK, I’m sure. Aloha and have fun!

Hey Caroline,

Looking to find a cool place to throw a little shindig for a friend’s birthday on a Friday, Saturday or even a Sunday. Somewhere in between Hollywood and the Westside (Venice or SM) would be great. Not too mellow or crazy — but dancing the night away isn’t a bad idea either. We’re in our early to mid 20s and the guest list is somewhere around 10-15.

Previous birthday event locations:
Mor Bar, Circle, Bar 217, Arsenal and Starshoes…

Would very much appreciate your input on this!

Thanks!
Groovy in the Heart

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