Logging

Restaurants:  Superbra Snack Bar and Cooks County

Superbra is on Rose Avenue, a new little hot spot for midlevel restaurants on the Venice/Santa Monica border.  Along that road is Oscar's, a fantastic fish taco spot (the burger is delicious as well), a wine bar, La Fiesta Brava, and a new Cafe Gratitude.  Superbra is the newest, "coolest" spot.  I don't know where the crowd comes from, but they ooze "hipness" if you are into that kind of thing.  The food is interesting and flagrantly fatty.  We ordered what amounted to a charcuterie plate with pheasant, pastrami toasts, and the fattest slab of bacon I've ever seen.  We ate that along with a smoked trout salad which was pretty tasty.  Overall, the food is very rich and bold.  I tried a Pinot Gris which was delicious and an orange-pink color.  At first, I thought the guy poured me a rose on accident, but the taste was crisp and not sweet at all.  The place was a tad pricey, but I wouldn't say overpriced.  I'm glad I tried it, but I won't be back as a regular.  The gem of the block is Oscar's, which I would eat at almost anytime. And La Fiesta Brava's fajitas are a cheap feast.

Cooks County is new small restaurant on Beverly Blvd right across from Swingers.  We went for brunch and I'd recommend it.  Ordered the scrambled ham and eggs which came with a cheddar biscuit and salad.  Perfect size, very tasty.  A tad heavy, with lots of cheese and butter, but I like that kind of thing.  C ordered the poached eggs dish with bacon and beans and some type of greens.  It was good and when I eat there again, I'll probably order what she got.  They serve Intelligencia coffee and manage to keep it real hot, which is an accomplishment because I feel like most places the coffee goes cold too quick.  But they also charge $4 a pop, which a few years ago would make me vomit, but is becoming more and more normal.  This place could become one of my regular brunch spots.  The menu is small and everything looked worth trying.  I would quibble a little bit with the coffee price and brunch ended up running just a hair over $40.  A better deal at about the same price level is Joe's in Venice, which is a Michelin star restaurant and a level nicer for about the same price.  But this spot is better than Swingers (obviously) or King's Road Cafe, all of which are in the neighborhood.

Other spots:

Baco Mercat:  downtown spot, considered once the best new restaurants in LA.  I ate the lamb baco (which is like a sandwich/taco) and it was delicious.  If I lived closer, I'd eat at this place a lot to try all the cool-sounding stuff on their menu.

Mercado:  a new Mexican spot across the street from Border Grill in Santa Monica near the promenade.  Fancy style Mexican food, a little pricey.  Not an everyday place, but if you have friends or family in town and want to hit up a nice, but not crazy expensive spot, this is not a bad option.  I got the carne asada, which came as a big steak with corn and green onions.  I ate it like a steak rather than making the tacos.  It was pretty damn good.