Author: Nicole Isaacs

SEVILLA RESTAURANT & TAPAS BAR, SAN DIEGO

Published by Nicole Isaacs

If you go to San Diego, Cafe Sevilla is a must. This is one of my favorite places to eat when I’m in Downtown San Diego. This Spanish restaurant and tapas bar has authentic Spanish ambiance and decor, and is a lively fun spot for mojitos and sangria at the bar or a delicious and festive dinner with friends. The food is really great at Cafe Sevilla, I recently just had one of the best dinners I’ve had in a long time. It was really a treat and I have been raving about it ever since. I went with a couple of girlfriends for a birthday dinner and we ordered small tapa plates to share for the table. Everything we ordered was delicious. They have big entree meals, but we thought it would be fun to share small plates so we can try more stuff on the menu. SEVILLA’S FRESH BAKED BREAD & LEGENDARY HOMEMADE ALIOLI W/ ANDALUSIA TOMATO SAUCE You can choose between an Artisan Kalamata Olive Loaf or a French Country Baguette. This was …

KOI- LOS ANGELES

Published by Nicole Isaacs

Dinner & Drinks at KOI w/ friends. Our servers jumped into the picture too 🙂 Can’t go wrong w/ dinner and drinks with friends at LA hotspot, Koi. This upscale, chic & trendy, asian-influenced restaurant has a beautiful atmosphere and great Japanese cuisine. I went with a group of friends and we all ordered small dishes, and lots of champagne lol. Koi is great for a romantic date night, dinner with friends, business meetings or any special occasion. KOI CRISPY RICE Spicy tuna on crispy rice w/ sliced jalapeno on top. One of my favorite dishes to order at sushi. You can’t get this dish wrong! Amazing. FRESH OYSTERS ON THE HALF SHELL If you like oysters, these were great. Not too big, (the big ones freak me out), they were smaller and with hot sauce and lemon they are very fresh and good quality oysters. SALMON CARPACCIO W/ BLACK TRUFFLES, CITRUS SAUCE Loved this dish! I love anything with black truffle, and I’ve never had salmon carpaccio before so this was something different for me. …

HASH HOUSE A GO GO- SAN DIEGO, CA

Published by Nicole Isaacs

Hash House A Go Go is a famous restaurant landmark in San Diego. Specializing in breakfast and brunch, Hash House has won several awards for “Best Breakfast in San Diego”, and it won the “Best Breakfast of 2011” in the San Diego Union Tribune. You can easily see how great this place is by the huge line always outside of the place. Everytime I was in San Diego and used to call to see how long the wait was, there was always at least an hour to two hour wait. I have been to San Diego many times, and because there is always a long wait at Hash House, I usually ate brunch at The Broken Yolk, which is another fabulous breakfast/brunch spot in SD. But this time, my girlfriends and I got VIP treatment and got to skip the line and walk right in, thanks to our amazing concierge at the US Grant Hotel in downtown San Diego, and it didn’t hurt that he said I was a food blogger which was the truth obviously …

DINELA RESTAURANT WEEK 2011

Published by Nicole Isaacs

I’m reminding all of you that DineLA Restaurant week is about to arrive! October 2-7 & 9-14, 2011. You get great deals on all the best restaurants around Los Angeles. All three course meals for lunch and dinner. To check out the extensive list of participating restaurants, menu’s and to make reservations, the link is posted below. I know I will be hitting up a bunch and blogging about it! Hope you do too! Bon Appetit!!! DineLA Restaurant Week http://discoverlosangeles.com/restaurantweekv2/index.html

SOL Y LUNA, TARZANA

Published by Nicole Isaacs

Now, this Mexican restaurant is what I like to call a GEM. This charming, cozy, Mariachi-themed restaurant is known for its outstanding Mexican food. This has got to be my favorite Mexican restaurant in all of Los Angeles. If you read reviews on this place, almost every review says it’s the best mexican food in the San Fernando Valley! Sol Y Luna is PACKED at all times. There is always a wait with people lining out the door and the bar seating is usually crammed to the max. They do not take reservations, so expect to wait, unless you don’t mind sitting at the bar, bar/lounge or outside patio, which is first come first serve. I would say this place is comparable to the famous Mexican hotspot Casa Vega in Studio City, also on Ventura Blvd, but I think Sol Y Luna is even better! Literally everything on the menu is amazing. You can’t go wrong with anything here. But, there are some specialities they are known for, and of course I must add my Ms. Foodie recommendations …

BOA STEAKHOUSE, LOS ANGELES

Published by Nicole Isaacs

For my birthday, I went to BOA Steakhouse in Santa Monica with my family. There is also one in West Hollywood and Vegas too. BOA is a hotspot in Los Angeles- you constantly see celebrities dining at BOA in West Hollywood almost every night. It’s upscale-chic & trendy and the food is great. I chose to go to the one in Santa Monica because it’s right across the street from the ocean, and it’s less of a Hollywood scene. We sat outside on the patio during sunset and it was a beautiful warm summer night. It was perfect. I love a great steakhouse- I’m a huge Mastro’s Steakhouse fan, but I did hear a lot about BOA so I decided to try it out. *My birthday dinner* APPETIZERS TABLE-SIDE CLASSIC CEASER SALAD We ordered three of these off the menu to split for the five of us which was a perfect serving. This was the best ceaser salad I think I’ve ever had. A guy made the dressing from scratch right next to our table. He asked …

LUXBAR, CHICAGO

Published by Nicole Isaacs

The meal I had at Luxbar was one of my top best meals I had in Chicago. The burger I ordered is in top 3 best burgers I ever had in my life, which says a lot because burgers are my favorite food. The menu at Luxbar has everything from breakfast/brunch dishes to lunch food- it has it all and everything is delicious. Luxbar is in a really cute and charming area in downtown Chicago right next to a bunch of bars, restaurants and shopping. A couple people who live in Chicago recommended this place to me, so I definitely had to try a place that was suggested by locals. I went on my last day in Chicago, my last meal before going to the airport, and I’m so glad I went! The weather was perfect so I chose to sit outside so I can people watch and look out on the cute area and streets around the restaurant. We ordered one of my favorite alcoholic drinks for brunch, St. Germain with champagne and a splash of …

LOU MALNATI’S PIZZERIA, CHICAGO

Published by Nicole Isaacs

Ok, so I already blogged about Giordano’s Pizzeria on the post below this one. I gave you the rundown on the most famous deep-dish pizzeria’s in Chicago, and now I am blogging about the infamous Lou Malnati’s. Many say this is the best pizzeria in all of Chicago and the pizza is indeed good. Again, same as Giordano’s, it takes an average of 45 minutes for your pizza to be made. It felt like we were waiting forever, but that’s how you know they make it fresh and custom made just the way you order it! Giordano’s pizzeria is famous for their STUFFED deep dishes, and Lou Malnati’s is known for their famous “Buttercrust” pizzas. The crust is buttery, flakey and has a hint of garlic. Their famous Buttercrust is what sets Lou Malnati’s apart from the other Chicago pizzerias. This place is a Chicago landmark and has a lot of history. Check out what we ordered below! BUFFALOU WINGS Oven roasted, then fried Buffalo style wings tossed in “mild with a little giddy up” …

GIORDANO’S PIZZERIA, CHICAGO

Published by Nicole Isaacs

LOLLAPULOOZA MUSIC FESTIVAL & GIORDANO’S PIZZARIA= THE PERFECT DAY IN CHICAGO! There is much dispute on which is the best deep-dish pizzeria in Chi-town. The two most famous and popular are Giordano’s & Lou Malnati’s. You ask anybody who is from, has visited, or lived in Chicago and they will mention these two pizzerias. Read reviews online, do your research and you will find that these two are the most famous and “best” ones. There are of course other great ones like Gino’s East, Pizzeria Uno, & Pequod’s, which many people will also claim is up there or their personal favorite, but I chose to go to Giordano’s and Lou Malnati’s. (Look for my Lou Malnati’s review in another posting). After a long, fun day at Lollapulooza in Grant Park, downtown Chicago, I decided to stop late night at Giordano’s on the way back to my hotel. I had already tried the famous Lou Malnati’s, and wanted to compare it with another famous Chicago pizzeria to see the difference and which was …