Sitar Indian Cuisine

Today I saw "The Hundred-Foot Journey" with one of my besties, and we were starving afterward! The movie is about an Indian family opening a restaurant directly across from a very proper French dining room. The film is full of images of luscious food, and I was literally salivating throughout many of the scenes.

Luckily, right down Colorado (we were at the Pasadena Arclight), we found Sitar Indian Cuisine. The lunch buffet was still available, and we took full advantage of it! Here you see my initial round. All items were fresh, hot and delicious; the fish pakora was a first for me. The chutneys - mango and mint - were sooo flavorful! The gulag jaamun dessert balls were the perfect finish to a great meal.

I recommend you take the journey to Sitar's soon!

Click here for their website.

Poke-Poke

I'm in Venice at the boardwalk with my New Hampshire niece. We're looking for some food after strolling the canals. She is vegan, so that means no-go on my usual Jody Maroni sausage, slice of pizza or Sidewalk Cafe burger. We passed by Poke-Poke (situated across from Muscle Beach on the boardwalk) and saw the line. I thought yum after checking out the menu, and she spotted some good salad-y options. Perfect solution for our different food needs, and the other folks in line were raving about the dishes.

This is the Spicy Tuna Poke with kale served Hawaiian style, which means no rice. It was sooo fresh and delicious! This is the medium-sized deli take-out container, and it was plenty for my grumbling tummy. It takes a bit of time for them to make your custom order, so have your patience ready. It is totally worth it!

Click here for Poke-Poke's website.

Click here for my last post on Venice.

Hill Street Cafe

This, my friends, is a Breakfast Chili Bowl, the perfect solution when you can't decide between breakfast and lunch. It is served up daily at Hill Street Cafe in Burbank.

Let me break it down: O'Brien potatoes serve as the foundation, next we find scrambled eggs, and finally some really good chili and shredded cheese. Do I have to tell you how tasty this combination was?! And, if you are keeping track, I totally cleaned my plate!!

Click here for their website.

Buster Keaton films at UC Santa Barbara

UC Santa Barbara is showing a delightful series of Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton and Harold Lloyd silent films. Why not drive up and see one?!

After learning more about Keaton in Stoneface (click here for post), his "One Week" and "The Navigator" films seemed like the perfect choices for the roadtrip. They were shown on the lawn of the Santa Barbara courthouse, on a huge screen and accompanied with live piano playing. What fun, and it is free!!

If you don't know the stories, "One Week" is the wacky short where he builds a house for his new bride, and "The Navigator" has him stowing away on a runaway ship. He battles cannibals and swordfish in the hilarious adventure. Keep in mind he is doing his own stunts in both films while you are cracking up.

As a sidebar, the people watching was priceless! Just go - you will be entertained.

Click here for more details on the series.

Mandoline Grill

This month's fries came very early from Mandoline Grill's food truck. But, wow, the memory will last a long time!

On the left, imagine the deliciousness of my five-spice fries with cinnamon, cardamom, ginger, garlic and cloves with Sriracha aioli dipping sauce; on the right are my equally amazing Vietnamese nachos with corn chips smothered with grilled pork, scallions, jalapeños, mint, cilantro and more Sriracha aioli. I didn't want to brush my teeth after to hold on the those flavors!!

My recommendation is to stalk them. Various colleagues had the tacos, the sandwich and the noodles. Mandolin Grill has a pretty active schedule, so seek them out. You will not regret it!

Click here for their website.