All posts filed under: United States

CRUSTACEAN, BEVERLY HILLS

Published by Nicole Isaacs

Crustacean is one of my favorites restaurants in LA. It is also known as the “Home of An’s Famous Garlic Noodles”. This 5-star restaurant was created by the An family, a Vietnamese family who immigrated to the US from Vietnam. All of Hollywood’s hottest celebs have dined at Crustacean- from Oprah, to Shaquille O’Neal, the walls are filled with press and celebrity pictures taken with the An family inside the restaurant. Crustacean has a “secret kitchen” where chefs that are very close to the An family for many years are only allowed in. The An family until this day will not reveal the secret recipe of their infamous garlic noodles as well as other famous Crustacean dishes. This is what drew me to this restaurant in the first place…I had to see what the big deal was about these noodles. Crustacean is upscale and also very pricey, but well worth it! With a big aquarium on the wall with exotic, tropical fish right when you walk in, and a serpentine aqaurium pathway to lead you into the main dining …

CAFETERIA, NEW YORK CITY

Published by Nicole Isaacs

Casual but trendy, this 24-hour, open 7 days a week restaurant is the perfect choice for a casual breakfast, lunch or dinner. Hearty and great food for a reasonable price, as well as being open 24/7, this place is a safe and easy choice for any time of the day. I went for dinner with friends on a Friday night, and it was packed- you couldn’t find a place to stand to wait for a table. Luckily four pretty girls didn’t have to wait long, and we got seated in less than 5 minutes lol. Warm, cheese biscuits to brought to the table with our waters. Yum! CAFETERIA MAC & CHEESE- MAC ATTACK TASTINGS ~Cheddar & Fontina~Truffle Oil~Smoked Gouda & Bacon~ Delicious Mac N’ Cheese. Each sampler was so flavorful- perfectly cheesy and creamy. I loved the different flavors of each one. They were all amazing. I loved the truffle one and the gouda and bacon. They were all made perfectly. Highly recommended! TOMATO BASIL SOUP– w/ Mini Fontina Grilled Cheese It kind of …

BUDDAKAN- CHELSEA, NEW YORK CITY

Published by Nicole Isaacs

Buddakan in New York City is located next door to the charming Chelsea Market. This place is one of the most trendy and expensive restaurants in the city. The restaurant was even featured in the movie Sex & The City for Carrie’s engagement dinner to Mr. Big! lol. Serving unique contemporary Asian cuisine, not only is the food amazing but the decor of Buddakan is extravagant, grand and absolutely beautiful. My sister, friends and I had a great experience. The service was great, the food delicious and the atmosphere was fun and lively. EDAMAME DUMPLINGS- Shallot-Sauternes Broth Best thing of the night. I would have never in a million years ordered this off the menu, but our amazing server brought these from compliments of the kitchen, and I couldn’t believe how delicious it was. Inside was an edamame puree, in a delicate, thin noodle dumpling. The sauce tasted like truffle oil broth. It melted in your mouth and had amazing flavor. For not ordering this myself, it happened to be my favorite dish of the night. It makes me think of how many incredible dishes …

SARABETH’S- NEW YORK CITY

Published by Nicole Isaacs

My girls and I with our Peach Bellini’s! A Sarabeth’s favorite brunch cocktail. Brunch at Sarabeth’s never looked so good lol. My ladies and I made the atmosphere even that much more cute 🙂 We went to Sarabeth’s across Central Park for brunch and it was the cutest brunch place. There were a couple baby & bridal showers going on (which is the perfect place for that). Sarabeth’s is very charming and the menu and decor reminded me of a bakery shop or a bridal shower invitation lol. It had that “pastel color charm”. Sarabeth’s is a very popular breakfast, brunch & lunch spot in New York City- the place was very busy on a Saturday afternoon. There are a couple of Sarabeth’s around the city, so look online to see a location near you. GUACAMOLE W/ HOUSE MADE CHIPS This was very good. The chips were made from scratch in the kitchen. They were crispy & salty. The perfect chips with fresh guacamole. ALMOND CRUSTED FRENCH TOAST W/ FRESH STRAWBERRIES I liked this french …

SAN PEDRO FISH MARKET- SAN PEDRO, CA

Published by Nicole Isaacs

Located on the harbor in San Pedro, is a long boardwalk of fresh seafood and fair food. Candied apples, kettle corn, funnel cakes among freshly caught grilled fish, oyster and ceviche bars, crab and lobster tanks, and heaps of grilled and fried shrimp served with huge loafs of garlic bread. Oh, and how can I forget, fully stacked bars with frozen daquiris, margaritas and a Mexican staple, Micheladas. There are several seafood shacks to choose from. Take your pick, or try a bunch of different places and enjoy! High quality, freshly caught seafood for cheap. You can’t beat that. Such a fun thing to do on a weekend with friends. Take a look! CAUGHT MY OWN LIVE CRAB! COOKING HEAPS OF GRILLED SHRIMP AND VEGETABLES LIVE MARIACHI BAND PERFORMING AT TABLES MICHELADA- SPICY HOT SAUCE BEER! BAR-B-QUE CHICKEN & FRESH GRILLED TORTILLAS OYSTER BAR- THEY ARE CRACKING THEM OPEN! LONG GRILL OF FRESH FISH SHRIMP PLATE W/ FRESH GARLIC BREAD SHRIMP PLATE, CORN, GARLIC BREAD OCTOPUS CEVICHE- FRESH AVOCADO, LEMON, HOT SAUCE OYSTERS THE VIEW FROM OUR …

THE PENTHOUSE AT THE HUNTLEY HOTEL-SANTA MONICA, CA

Published by Nicole Isaacs

Sippin’ my watermelon mojito! Cheers! For DineLA week, my friends and I chose the Penthouse in the Huntley Hotel in Santa Monica. I heard it was a beautiful restaurant and had been wanting to dine there for awhile. The restaurant itself is gorgeous. With a 360 view of glass windows, you get a spectacular view of the city of Santa Monica and the ocean. All the tables against the windows are white cabanas with chandeliers, and in the middle of the restaurant is a big bar and a DJ booth- the whole scene is very chic and trendy. Three of us ordered from the DineLA dinner menu, three courses for $34, and one ordered from the regular menu. We ordered a couple bottles of wine and some cocktails. Overall, it was a really great dinner- everything was good. APPETIZERS BOTTLE OF PINOT NOIR & BREAD/BUTTER VEGETABLE PUREE SOUP I LOVED this. Great flavor. ROCK SHRIMP Fanny’s Old Bay & Creamy Grits I usually order creamy rock shrimp tempura, so this was …

ABBOT KINNEY FESTIVAL- VENICE BEACH, CA

Published by Nicole Isaacs

On Sunday, September 25, 2011 from 10am-6pm, it was the 27th Annual Abbot Kinney Festival in Venice, CA. There were thousands of people, tons of food, drinks, jewelry and clothing tents, a couple rides, etc. It was quite a festival. I love festivals because its street food heaven for me lol. Some of my favorite food trucks were there, such as the Grilled Cheese Truck, Lobsta Truck, etc, and along Abbot Kinney all the boutiques, restaurants, bars and wine stores were open as well, so the whole street was pretty poppin. FOOD ABBOTS PIZZA COMPANY The line was out the door at this place. Hole in the wall pizzeria, totally reminded me of a place in NYC. NY style pizza, and so good. They had amazing unique pizzas as well, and all slices came with a side of sauce. That’s my shit! TOMATO, BASIL MARGARITA CLASSIC PEPPERONI Our slices came w/ a spicy chipotle sauce. AMAZEBALLS. Great NY style pizza in LA. Loved it. STREET MEAT LOL GUACAMOLE AND CHIPS TENT, SO GOOD! MORE …

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. …