RESTAURANT REVIEW: Edendale Grill

I never felt fancy enough to eat at the Edendale Grill. Nestled off the sidewalk on Rowena behind a brick and bush veil--the place always seemed intimidating. So a couple weeks ago when a friend, who just moved to the neighborhood from SF, suggested we go there for dinner, I was nervous, but decided that I was up for the experience. Overall the food was okay, but the bar and the atmosphere were great.

We had reservations & our party of 6 was promptly seated in the front patio. It was a balmy evening so I ordered a margarita to cool me off which turned out to be a great margarita. The wine list looked pretty comprehensive and I've heard that they make a mean martini.

Foodwise I got the soup of the day--carrot ginger--which was no better than what I could make at home & "warm pecan custed brie with cherry-sage compote & crostini" which was fine, but nothing to write home about. Oli was excited when he ordered the "macaroni & brie with fennel, garlic herb breadcrumbs and roasted tomato" but when the food arrived instead of a cheesy, crispy, kitchy gourmet twist on an old favorite, Oli was given a plate of bowtie pasta with cream sauce and mixed veggies which was fine, but it should not be called macaroni.

The service was really good, despite one of they guys we were with being an a-hole & actually smacking our waitress on the butt. Actors (sigh).

Anyway, the most exciting part of the evening happened much much later. I had just dozed off & settled into the strangest dream I've had in a while. I went to a chinese restaurant where I knew the 3 owners. The whole place was emptied out & I walked in and was greeted by 3 Asain people--2 men & a woman. They offered me a strange beverage that I thought was sparkling water. As I drank it I felt as if my body was becoming effervesent & my soul was lifting out of my body. At this point in my real body (and in the dream) I started saying "whooaa! whooaaa!" because the sensation was so strange. Oli interpreted this to be my death rattle and woke me up. I don't know if they put msg in the food or maybe some other strange potion but I don't know if I'll eat there again.

Food: Okay, but may cause out of body experiences.
Atmosphere: Terrific! Go to the adjoining bar Mixville!!!

Edendale Grill
2838 Rowena Avenue
Silver Lake

ART REVIEW: LACMA Beyond Geometry

This exhibit is set in the every perplexing LACMA. What a confusing and entropic museum! There is no rationale to the tickets the signs, why are people even going there? Oh, wait. the art. This exhibit has no flow. I noticed a lot of pieces that I have seen more recently at the MOCA, and accompanied by the loud and shrill sound of alarms that go off if you get too close to the artwork and the ghetto-not-fabulous burnt out/ flashing exit signs and squawking security guard walkie talkies, man this place is going down hill. All the artist plaques are inconveniently located in one spot on each wall which makes it hard to know what it is you are looking at. Even the language in the curatorial notes is lacking in sophistication and instead relying on such un-punniness as ..."Capitalizing on the new significance of text in conceptual art in the period...", this is total bullshit. The air conditioning was nice.

FILM REVIEW: HERO Directed by Zhang Yimou

This film is a visual delight and it's no surprise when coming from director Zhang Yimou, whose equal obsession with color and telling stories about Chinese cultural heritage make this no ordinary martial arts film. This Fifth Generation New Chinese Filmmaker is responsible for other masterworks such as Red Sorghum, and The Story of Qiu Ju, has created a Rashomon style epic set over 2000 years ago just prior to the unification of China's 7 kingdoms, and the building of the Great Wall. The film, boasting an new translation a' la Tarantino, who presents the film in theatres in America, is ultimately typified by a very Communistic moral message -that sometimes a hero is someone that sacrifices their own purpose (love, friendship and life) for the good of all. The epilogue to the story is that upon its conclusion the legend and the idiom "Our Land" was born. For a western audience bread on individuation as pattern for heroic plot lines this film's ending may take an extra moment to assimilate and that is still one more refreshing aspect of this excellent movie.

RESTAURANT REVIEW: Masa Cafe & Bakery

Masa Cafe & Bakery opened recently in Echo Park where a Mexican bakery used to be. Now it's a bakery/ restaurant owned by white people, but they are good white people, trying to integrate into the neighborhood by providing an atmosphere that is welcoming to all. Half of the place is a bakery that boasts lots of fresh bread, gigante croissants and decent looking eclairs, tartes, etc. In the restaurant half of the place they offer burgers, Chicago style pizza, panini, salads & crepes. I think the menu is still under development, but I was disappointed by the lack of vegetarian options. We got the only 2 vegetarian entrees on the menu (besides pizza) but they were both great. I got the Manchego Salad, which was a melange arugula, dates, candied walnuts, diced apples and more yummy manchego cheese than you could shake a stick at. Adorned with a balsamic reduction & olive oil, the salad was a very satisfying lunch. Oli got the Caprese Panini, which came with the cutest crinkle-cut fries AND a little side salad. It's hard to get a caprese sandwich wrong, but this sandwich was incredibly good & I think it was the bread. The bread had a sweetness that was almost reminiscent of corn bread or something. I couldn't quite put my finger on what made the sandwich so special, but it was. Everyone at the restaurant was really nice & I hope they have much success!!


Masa Cafe & Bakery
1800 W. Sunset Blvd. @ Lemoyne
Echo Park
(213) 989-1558

FILM REVIEW: Garden State

When this film premiered at Sundance this past year I was on the phone daily with the film's publicist trying to arrange a Scrabble game/ photo op between "Garden State" stars Zach Braff and/ or Peter Sarsgaard and the Scrabble champs I was chaperoning around the film festival. The game didn't pan out because the actors got too busy after the "buzz" on their film got out of control. I didn't end up seeing the film at Sundance & I have learned to become leery of the "buzz." I have seen films with good festival buzz flop in theatres and I have seen films that were under the radar at film festivals go on to be huge hits.

Anywhoo--I finally got around to seeing the film a couple weeks ago & I thought that it was a good effort, especially by first time filmmaker/ writer/ director/ star/ Scrubs fave/ Zach Braff. Writer/ Director/ Actors can turn a fine film into a megalomaniacal mess & Zach did a pretty good job of tempering his idiosyncratic self-loathing with other more interesting characters. The film works well as a character study--I especially liked how many character details were not plot driven. For example--one of the characters has epilepsy. In a many films, revealing the epileptic would serve as a plot device leading to a seizure & some dramatic but predictable life/ death scene. No one has a seizure in Garden State, thank God. Peter Sarsgaard & Natalie Portman are great actors & Zach was blessed to have them in his film.

There is one thing that really really bugged me about the film: the music. I was at the mall with a friend last week & I told her that I couldn't go in certain stores because of the music they played in them & she observed that I was a very auditory person. I never really thought about it before, but she is totally right. I can't stand the sound of popping knuckles, I hate it when the TV & radio are on at the same time & I loath films that use music as the driving force to the action. There were several scenes that transformed into a music video & really interrupted the flow and rhythm of the action for me. Plus, all the music is really trendy & totally dates the film. The plot is timeless--a guy going back home to face his demons & transform into who he wants to be--but in 5 years the whole movie will seem so out of style because of the music. I'm not against music in film in any way, but I hate it when the music overwhelms the mood--it seems like the filmmaker couldn't craft the mood himself, so he has to rely on the mood of music he has plucked from another source. My favorite use of music in film of all time is in Leaving Las Vegas. Near the beginning of the film Nic Cage is in his office, drunk as a skunk & there is some jazzy music playing in the background, then Nic hums a few bars along with the music! It was beautiful & Mike Figgis is a genius and maybe Zach Braff will get there someday too. I can’t really imagine what Zach’s next film would be like—this film is really autobiographical—but who the heck knows.