In our house when we don't feel like cooking dinner, we have our favorite standby restaurant we go to. It's the Red Car Brewery in downtown Torrance. We just call it the brewery. There's even a possibilty that the owner now recognizes us.
It seems that these nights usually fall on Friday for us. It will be about 7:30 and we will be noticing that we are getting hungry - but the kitchen is all clean, so why make a mess. We look at each other, mention a few places we could go, but eventually we always decide on the brewery. You almost never have to wait (even at 8pm on Friday), the food is great and dependably consistent. And the beer is awesome. Plus, and this is a big one, there is live music! Really good music.
They always bring some fresh bread with an oil and vinegar dip. We gobble it up, and they offer to bring more. The big debate ensues, but we give in and go for more. Heck, we are in no hurry - there's great music and a basketball game on which we can see from any seating position because of the multiple TV's throughout the dining room.
One of us always gets a steak. They have an incredible skirt (or hangar) steak on the menu with a chimichurri sauce that is so juicy my mouth waters just thinking about it. And the price can't be beat, I think it's about $15 and the portion of steak is huge. We can usually share it between 2 of us. I don't think you could get a better steak in any restaurant - even the ones that charge $50 for a steak. My one son usually goes for a bowl of the soup of the day. This time it was clam chowder and besides being a tad salty, it was quite good according to him. I don't like clams or clam chowder, so I took his word for it. He's a pretty good food critic. I try to avoid the burger and fries (best fries in the world!), and go for a salad. It's tough because I love their large, juicy burger, and when I add a side of gorgonzola and smoosh it on the burger it reminds me of Father's Office. But their salads never dissappoint and I really like the one with Cajun chicken. It's like an adult version of chicken fingers on a salad. Oh, and their fish and chips are a must-try if it's your first time.
This time after dinner we broke down and ordered dessert. It's all because the guy at the next table was eating one and we saw it. It was a warm berry cobbler with vanilla ice cream. We shared (or rather fought over) it. Don't tell my hubby, but I ate more than him. His fault, he was watching the band. It was yummy!
So a quick comment on the music. Anytime we've been there it's been some sort of classic rock. We really like "The Mockers," an all-Asian band of middle-aged men that do all Beatles songs. They even have Beatle's haircuts! They are really good. We were wondering if they are moonlighting execs from the Honda headquarters across the street!
My hubbie and I could stay all night an listen, but after about 2 hours the kids want to leave. It's nice the brewery never makes us feel like they want to turn our table. But we pretend we're leaving to appease the kids, and we stand by the band and listen to a few more songs. Finally the kids just walk out the door without us, so until next Friday . . . . .
Buona Sera
The other night my hubbie and I went out to dinner with some friends. They recommended Buona Sera, a little Italian place in Riviera Village. Knowing that our friends know and appreciate good food we immediately knew we were in for a great dinner.
Well, disappointment set in as soon as we asked the waiter about a couple wines from the wine list. He actually described one as "berry-full!" Ok, I am a foodie and not so much a pro with the wine, but I know that you don't use "berry-full" to describe wine. Needless to say we asked for someone else to help us choose a wine. And we did end up with a very nice dry full-bodied wine. (And as a side note, here's a question for the pros: do you tip based on the price of the wine? Let me explain: say you order a $30 bottle of wine, the standard 15% tip would be a lot less than if you order a $100 bottle of wine and pay a 15% tip. But the waiter did the same amount of work for either, and so there lies my dilemma. What is the right way to tip?)
Alright, moving on to our meal. The Pappa al Pomodoro was good. It's a tomato and bread soup. I tend to think that they weren't using fresh tomatoes though because it didn't taste like it and tomatoes are just barely coming into season. The soup was steaming hot though and I love that. Hubbie had a salad with peppery arugula and crunchy endive which was quite nice. My entree was the risotto of the day which was made with shrimp and asparagus. At first I thought it was quite good. The smell of the shrimp was delicious and the rice very flavorful. But after a few bites I realized that they were incredibly skimpy with the asparagus. There were not even enough 1-inch pieces to make a full stalk! And this is asparagus season! I know you can get good asparagus at a great price right now! As for the shrimp, it was very tender and tasted fresh but I think they skimped on that too. So now I'm a few bites in and I am thinking that the whole dish is too salty, and something else is wrong, something I thought I noticed when he first set down my plate but I didn't want to prejudge based on appearance, but -- I don't think they used arborio rice!
I have to say that sometimes it stinks knowing so much about good food. The dinner we had at Buona Sera was actually quite delicious, and a normal, average diner probably would have loved it. It can really ruin a meal when you unconsciously start picking it apart. It makes you want to just cook at home!
But as a disclaimer (in case our friends who took us there read this) we really had a great time and we would certainly go back and give it another try. But first, the Red Car Brewery!
Well, disappointment set in as soon as we asked the waiter about a couple wines from the wine list. He actually described one as "berry-full!" Ok, I am a foodie and not so much a pro with the wine, but I know that you don't use "berry-full" to describe wine. Needless to say we asked for someone else to help us choose a wine. And we did end up with a very nice dry full-bodied wine. (And as a side note, here's a question for the pros: do you tip based on the price of the wine? Let me explain: say you order a $30 bottle of wine, the standard 15% tip would be a lot less than if you order a $100 bottle of wine and pay a 15% tip. But the waiter did the same amount of work for either, and so there lies my dilemma. What is the right way to tip?)
Alright, moving on to our meal. The Pappa al Pomodoro was good. It's a tomato and bread soup. I tend to think that they weren't using fresh tomatoes though because it didn't taste like it and tomatoes are just barely coming into season. The soup was steaming hot though and I love that. Hubbie had a salad with peppery arugula and crunchy endive which was quite nice. My entree was the risotto of the day which was made with shrimp and asparagus. At first I thought it was quite good. The smell of the shrimp was delicious and the rice very flavorful. But after a few bites I realized that they were incredibly skimpy with the asparagus. There were not even enough 1-inch pieces to make a full stalk! And this is asparagus season! I know you can get good asparagus at a great price right now! As for the shrimp, it was very tender and tasted fresh but I think they skimped on that too. So now I'm a few bites in and I am thinking that the whole dish is too salty, and something else is wrong, something I thought I noticed when he first set down my plate but I didn't want to prejudge based on appearance, but -- I don't think they used arborio rice!
I have to say that sometimes it stinks knowing so much about good food. The dinner we had at Buona Sera was actually quite delicious, and a normal, average diner probably would have loved it. It can really ruin a meal when you unconsciously start picking it apart. It makes you want to just cook at home!
But as a disclaimer (in case our friends who took us there read this) we really had a great time and we would certainly go back and give it another try. But first, the Red Car Brewery!
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