242 Cafe Fusion Sushi

I'm in Laguna Beach with one of my besties to see The Art Detective, this year's Pageant of the Masters performance. We drove down early to have dinner before the show. We scored on a fantastic restaurant - RestaurART by their own definition - 242 Cafe Fusion Sushi, conveniently located on the Coast Highway.

For starters, this is my Mothra Mozzarella. As if the name alone wasn't enough, these flavors were amazzzzing!

This, my friends, may look like a pizza. Actually, it is their Lotus Pond special dish. That's tuna, yellowtail, salmon, and white fish under the lotus slices. And, it was delicious!! Have YOU ever eaten lotus?!

Finally, this is the Orange Lily, with pepper salmon, avocado, radish sprouts, cucumbers, spring mix and almonds. Wow! I'm not sure what the pink wrapper was, but it was pretty, and pretty tasty!

My chum's dishes were equally fantastical to look at, and he certainly enjoyed the multitude of flavors. I'll need to come up with some excuses to make the trek to Laguna Beach to fully explore their menu! If you haven't seen a Pageant of the Masters, this show runs through August 30. And, have some Fusion Sushi. You'll thank me for it!!

Click here for 242's website.

Brothers' Pies N' Fries

It's National French Fry Day, and I found a great place to celebrate: Brothers' Pies N' Fries in Old Town Pasadena.

These are the Brothers Style handcut fries, which is their sweet/salty version. YUM! I'm thinking I'll try the Pizza Fries or Malt Vinegar Fries next time as they both sound really good, too. I ordered the Little Brother size, and the fries came in a Chinese takeout box. "Little" is in the eye, or gut, of the beholder, I guess!

I also got a slice of Hawaiian pizza. It is pies and fries, afterall. Here you can see it spilling over the edges of the paper plate and barely fitting into the box. Brothers' makes thin crust pies, and their Italian-made pizza oven is a "first in North America" version that makes a delicious slice.

Brothers' is on the alley near Bellacures and Burke Williams, just south of Colorado Boulevard. Both the fries and pizza were made to order, so allow time for your customizations. Just don't wait until next National Fry Day to give them a try.

Click here for Brothers' Web site.

Stoneface at Pasadena Playhouse

Sorry for the last minute nudge, but Stoneface at Pasadena Playhouse is a really great show, and it closes on Sunday.

Stoneface is a nickname for Buster Keaton to describe his deadpan expression. The play tells the story of Buster's rise to stardom, then fall, then return to fame. I certainly didn't know this history, but my Keaton-fanatic friends confirmed it was all true. What's cool is the way the story is told, including the actors "interacting" with projected film clips, and the recreation of some classic Keaton scenes. The physicality is amazing! I don't think I'm spoiling anything if I tell you that you get to see a version of the train scene from "The General." And, the live piano playing makes for a really fun experience.

Just go! Your face will be smiling, laughing and cheering for Stoneface!

Click here for Pasadena Playhouse's Stoneface Web site.

Route 66 exhibition at the Autry

Have your gotten your kicks on Route 66? If so, gear up for a trip down memory lane at the new Route 66: The Road and the Romance exhibition at the Autry National Center. If you haven't, this show will inspire you to take a spin.

With really fun artifacts and ephemera, the Autry displays the who, what, why, when and where of the iconic Route 66. From its commission in 1926, through 1985 when federal funding and maintenance stopped, Route 66 was the trail of dreams. John Steinbeck first used the words "the mother road, the road of flight" in 1939's The Grapes of Wrath. Inside the gallery, see a page of Steinbeck's tight cursive writing, as well as a typewritten scroll of Jack Kerouac's 1951 original manuscript from On the Road.

So that you'll go see it yourself, here are are few more highlights: contemporaries Woody Guthrie and Roy Rogers, and their dueling guitars; the paralleling obsession and embarrassment of the road; how Cars reinvigorated the vibe with the 2006 Pixar animated film; plus this classic Corvette and neon sign.

I'll happily share that I'm made the drive on the 10-15-40-44-55 interstates multiple times heading back and forth between LA and Indiana. I had a series of posts from my last roadtrip in 2012, documenting my off-the-beaten path adventures on Route 66. Take a looksie to share my memories.

Luckily, this is not the end of Route 66! The exhibition runs through January 4, 2015. I'm going back for another run. Who's with me?

Click here for the Autry's Route 66 page.

Lake Hollywood

It's National Running Day (the first Wednesday each June), and, although I'm not running today, I am getting out for a nice walk. The destination is Lake Hollywood off Barham Boulevard.

I can't believe that I've never made this trek after living here almost 24 years! Today was a beautiful opportunity to take the 3.5 mile loop around the reservoir with multiple clear shots of the Hollywood sign, some wildlife: deer, waterfowl and turtles, and very few other people. YAY!!

For the history buffs out there, the Mulholland Dam was completed in December 1924. I was standing on the dam when I took this picture; it was designed to hold 2.5 BILLION gallons of water from the Owens Valley River Aqueduct and SFV groundwater. Note that it wasn't holding nearly that amount today, but you could see the water marks from our more fluid days.

On the other side of the dam, take a looksie for the concrete bear heads. I'm not joking!! Around another corner, you're overlooking Hollywood. Other views include some pretty incredible homes in the Hollywood Hills.

The reservoir is free to enter, and there's no charge for parking. Keep in mind that you can't get down to the water, as it is fenced off other than when you're standing on the reservoir. Who's with me for another loop or two?

Click here for more Lake Hollywood history.

Zombies from The Beyond

Yes, more zombies!! This time, zombies come courtesy of the Lex Theatre in Hollywood in a musical format. I know!!

Zombies from The Beyond is a hysterical satire of all the cheezy B-movies I love so much. It's 1955 in Milwaukee, and female zombies from another planet attack because they need some men. (Don't get me started!) Zombina's operatic singing turns red-blooded American men into zombies (you know they are zombies by the bulging eye goggles like you would wear in a tanning bed!). I won't be a plot spoiler, but the demise of Zombina involves teamwork, more singing and tap dancing.

Lex Theatre has about 50 seats, so the action took place almost - and for a few frontrowers, literally - in your lap. Props and sets were fantastic (reminding me of the Plan 9 from Outer Space show at the Maverick Theatre), with the space ship maneuvered with a fishing pole, sign boards promoting "Tru-Life 3rd Dimension" and "Zombie-Phonic Sound." Singing and dancing was accompanied by live keyboards and percussion to capture the mood. It will not disappoint the cheese-seeker in all of us!

ZFTB continues through July 20. Just go!

Click here for the Zombie from The Beyond's Web site.

Click here for Plan 9 from Outer Space's post.

Five Meals in Portland

I got a chance to visit Portland with my Milwaukee bestie. I'd never been, and it had been 10 or so years since she was there. After lots of research on both our parts, we finally realized that we only had five meals, plus snacks, in the short weekend trip. Let's get the weirdness going, Portland!!

We decided that this would be a tasting tour of Portland, meaning that we'd be trying lots of different dishes and finishing very few of them. Meal #1 on Saturday was Pine State Biscuits, and here you see the bounty: biscuits and sausage gravy, local apple cider and Hash Ups (hash browns with country ham, grilled onions, mushrooms and cheese) on top, and blueberry cornmeal pancakes and the Chatfield biscuit sandwich (with fried chicken breast, bacon and cheese) in the bottom picture! Wow! 

We chose the Alberta Arts District location, so we were able to shop and walk it off afterward. We both scored on vintage-inspired dresses with cute obi belts at Amelia. Shout out to Amelia staffer who recommended that we eat at the delicious Luc Lac for dinner, but then I'd be getting ahead of myself. During the stroll, we got to experience some of the famous Portland rain, popped into lots of great shops, and smelled lots of irises planted along the street. During this grand time, the lunch bell rang.

Actually, it was my phone, and my South Pas friends who moved to Portland almost a year ago called to say they were waiting it out at the Grilled Cheese Grill a few blocks away. Hello, is the Cheesus available? That's two grilled cheese sandwiches surrounding a 1/3 pound burger, in case you couldn't tell from the picture, for meal #2. And it was fantastic! Their schtick is childhood favorite foods, and you can eat it on a converted school bus. I only finished half of my Cheesus, because I knew there was much more food to come. We just had to backtrack a few blocks to get it.

This is a honey lavender ice cream in a freshly-baked waffle cone from Salt & Straw. Snack #1 was made of 17% butterfat (!!) and local ingredients to form an out-of-this-world taste sensation. Not sure about honey lavender? My two back-up sampled flavors were pear and bleu cheese, and strawberry balsamic. Incredible!! Note to my LA peeps: I see that they are opening a shop on Larchmont in August. I'll hold you a spot in line!!

After a short respite back at the hotel, it was time for meal #3 at the Amelia-staffer recommended Luc Lac Vietnamese Kitchen. 

We went all out! Here you see Garlic String Beans, Chicken Peanut Curry Stir Fry, and Coconut Prawns in the back, then Nem Nuong Pork Sausage Vermicelli in the middle, and Luc Lac Beef and Chicken Jade Noodles on the bottom. I didn't do the prawns, but everything else was spicy and tasty! And as if that wasn't enough food for the day, there was still a Portland tradition that we absolutely had to try.

Voodoo Doughnuts was a must stop! Here you see my selections: the Voodoo with raspberry filling in the body for a blood-like bite, maple bacon that is challenging the bracket held by SK's, and the Portland Cream with Bavarian instead of Boston cream, so Randy's Long John’s version is safe in that bracket. Wow! We lucked out, and the wait was only 30 minutes. Also in the pink box, we had the Memphis Mafia (think peanut butter, chocolate and banana), Butterfinger, Mexican Hot Chocolate and apple fritter. Voodoo on!! Sugar and fat crashes end a full day of eating. One more to go before heading back to LA.

Morning of day two, and I'm feeling a sugar hangover. I can only consider eating is fruit, yogurt and banana from Starbucks; I'm assuming the missed meal #4 will be made up later! We decide to walk it off and stroll through Chinatown to see this hilarious neon sign

before heading to the Portland Saturday Market. Yes, I know it's Sunday, and I don't know why they keep that name.

Here I scored on some fun magnets and a uber-soft shrug/shoulder sweater that will be great for an airplane ride, before heading to Powell's City of Books to be overwhelmed by the full city block of books, and finally Lardo for meal #5.

These are the dirty fries, with pork scraps, marinated peppers, fried herbs and parmesan. I know!! My sandwich was prosciutto, figs and gorgonzola on a baguette. I KNOW!! Lardo was the theme for the trip, and it was a fantastic last call before hitting the road!!

Thanks, Portland, for an incredible getaway! I look forward to getting weird with you again!!