A Rose By Any Other Name...

...would not be Rose Market. If you're in the Westwood area, and are craving a sweet, check out this Persian Market. Besides homemade baklava and any flavored pistachio you can thank of, Rose Market is best known for it's Persian ice cream. The rose ice cream is fantastic, pungent but not perfumey (as I find rose ice cream to often be) and really sweet. The saffron ice cream is also a treat. If you're in for something really different, they also have a cucumber ice cream which is incredibly refreshing. It's a little pricey, at $3.49 a scoop (I got about a half scoop for $2, but I couldn't have eaten more than that). I love ice cream and definitely was not let down by this dessert stop.

Rose Market
1922 Westwood Blvd.
Los Angeles, 90025
(310) 470-2121
<$

We All Get Negative Sometimes

It has recently been brought to my attention that I don't write any negative reviews. I guess when I started this blog, I wanted it to be a source of all that's good to eat in L.A. But like everything, with the good, comes the bad. So, thus begins an the ribbon-cutting for open-minded and often sour tasting reviews.

Let's begin with Shamshiri Grill. As it's still Passover, (one more day, one more day, don't go in the kitchen and tempt self with cupcakes...) I was looking for a place with lots of meat and salad options. I read about Shamshiri on Chowhound, and as it was very well reviewed, I thought I'd give it a shot. Plus, Shamshiri was open on Easter, and who doesn't love to chase Shwarma with a few peeps?

Let's start with the service. The restaurant was practically empty and yet my date and I were seated at a table directly behind the maitre d's stand (if I can even call it that). Basically, we were sat in the first possible seat in the restaurant. I don't know about you, but I like to have a little privacy with my meal. It was a little odd, but not a big deal in the small picture. So, let me widen the screen.

I had read about the so-called fabulous Shirazi Salad, a Persian staple of cucumbers, tomatoes, parsley and lemon juice - it sounded perfect (plus the benefit of no flour). I ended up ordering the Chicken Schwarma Plate (which was cheaper than ordering the Shirazi with chicken on top). The Plate came with rice, so I substituted that for extra vegetables or tomatoes (both which came with the plate) and chose shirazi salad as my add on (other choices were green salad or soup). So far, so good.

About fifteen minutes later, our waiter comes over to inform us that there's no salad. Here's the conversation (almost) verbatim:

WAITER: (matter-of-factly) There's no salad.
JAIMEY: (thinking he's kidding) No salad now, or no salad at all?
W: Maybe we'll have salad in 30 minutes.
J: (thinking he's referring to the shirazi salad) Can I get a green salad instead?
W: There is no salad.

Okay, let me get this straight? There's no lettuce, no tomatoes, no cucumber, nothing?! Keep in mind, this place is far from filled to capacity and there's a fricken Bristol Farms across the street!

Fine. We decided to substitute our missing salads for lentil soup, asking first what the ingredients were: lentils, broth... fine, we'll take it. Bring me my soup.

Enter lentil soup: with noodles - which we immediately said we couldn't have, and further confused our American born Korean waiter (I feel it's important to point out that this was by no means a "traditional" Persian restaurant as our waiter was far from Persian, and more bland than the hummus he brought to our table).

Enough about the salad debacle. Our Schwarma was okay. I guess they forgot to not include rice, because there were bits of rice mixed into my chicken, as if they plated up with rice and then had to scrape the rice off before bringing it out to us. I, however, was not fooled. The chicken was fine, but a little greasy. The waiter made sure to come by when we were almost done with our meal to let us know that they had salad. Fantastic! Alert the press! This guy was a genius.

We passed on dessert, of course, but my friend asked for a cup of coffee, to which Korean Ken Barbie replied:

"Our coffee machine is broken."

And to which I thought, "of course it is."


Shamshiri Grill
1712 Westwood Blvd.
Westwood, 90024
(310) 474-1470
$

What's for Brunch?

I happen to be a fan of any widely accepted "in between" meal, brunch being my favorite. Here are my top five favorite brunch spots in Los Angeles:

OFF VINE
6263 Leland Way, Hollywood
$$
This is an incredible hidden gem in Hollywood. It's right off Sunset and you would have no idea it was there unless I told you. So now that I've told you, you have to go. Rather than giving you bread before you meal, Off Vine gives you a plate of assorted bagels, cream cheese and their homemade jam - and that's just before you get your meal!

KINGS ROAD CAFE
8361 Beverly Blvd., Los Angeles
$$
If you don't mind waiting (especially on the weekend), this place is worth the massive amounts of saliva you've collected in your mouth. Great eggs, great home fries. You can't go wrong with this traditional brunch spot.

QUALITY
8030 W. 3rd St., Los Angeles
$$
This is one of my favorite brunch/lunch spots in Los Angeles. I'm a big fan of Mexican food for all meals, and this place has awesome huevos rancheros. They also make great egg white scrambles if you would rather not have to take a nap after breakfast. If you're feeling more on the "unch" side of brunch, they make an incredible curry chicken salad. You can't miss here.

JACK N' JILL'S
510 Santa Monica Blvd., Santa Monica
$$
Don't be turned off by this order at the counter, take a number and we'll bring you you're meal, type of place. The food is really wonderful. The Chinese Chicken Salad is awesome and get a side of corn bread - it's huge! Their lemonade is great too, which always wets my whistle (actually, only when I wear a whistle around my neck and it accidentally falls into the lemonade). They also make wonderful coffee and tea drinks, so even if you want to grab a muffin and a coffee to go, go to Jack n' Jill's.

LE PAIN QUOTIDIEN
1055 Broxton Ave., Westwood
$$
Belgain baked goods and tasty sandwiches? Am I dreaming? These may be questions you'll ask yourself at this old country style food spot. The answers are collectively, yes. Trade in your Eurorail pass for some new kicks, and take an instant trip to Europe at Le Pain.