Savorychicks in Los Angeles

For our second year reunion, the savorychicks gathered in the city where magic first hatched for us - Los Angeles. Anja traveled from Bern; Sun flew down from Chicago; Marjan drove up from San Diego; and, Shirley welcomed us in Los Angeles with open arms! We were thrilled to have dear friends join us from Hamburg and San Francisco. What a wonderful time we had - seeing each other again, catching up, and of course, eating!!!

We mostly decided to stick to our old favorites, had our coffees at Intelligentsia and breakfast at Cafe Montana. But we tried Gjelina on Abbot Kinney Blvd. in Venice. This place received mixed reviews even amongst ourselves. Sun liked the cozy ambience especially when sitting in the back patio. She also liked some of the dishes, like the poached eggs with creamy white beans, escarole, chorizo & salsa verde as well as the asparagus & smoked salmon soft scramble.

We also tried a new breakfast place in Sherman Oaks: Sweet Butter Cafe is Marjan's new breakfast find near her Los Angeles home - French food, pastries, Intelligentsia coffee, and a cozy garden setting! A new hang out place for certain!

For dinner we certainly couldn't miss our beloved Nobu - as always, it didn't fail to delight us. Besides the excellent sashimi, we all couldn't have enough of those tasty chocolate spring rolls.

We also went to Bazaar, one of the L.A. hot spots. It is one of our favorites, too, but this time around we were a bit disappointed. Being seated next to the open kitchen and a rowdy table we couldn't really enjoy ourselves to the fullest. We were not entirely impressed with the food - but this may be attributed to having ordered mostly traditional instead of modern tapas. Their modern tapas would probably have been a better, more intriguing choice. Or perhaps it was because chef/owner Jose Andres wasn't around that day? We were trying to figure out why the food wasn't meeting our expectation that day. It is always disappointing when you have to rank down one of your favorite restaurants. That's why consistency is one of the top ingredients for success in the restaurant business. On the bright side, Shirl thought the scallops with Romesco sauce was as delicious as the jamon and bread with tomato. And to our surprise, the winner of the evening was the brussel sprouts - nicely done and very refreshing!

We also had reservations at Michael Mina's XIV, which, unfortunately got cancelled by the restaurant last minute. Having to make new reservations at such short notice didn't leave us with too many interesting choices. So, we went back to Asia de Cuba , which has a great location, but in the past wasn't our number one choice foodwise. This time though, we were positively surprised and mutually felt that their quality of food has improved.

We also did some cooking at Marjan's house and indulged in Persian food such as Albaloo Polo and Sheer Berenj . Marjan also made us her famous Blueberry Banana Pancakes.

During the week when Anja and Marjan took a break and drove away to Ojai, Shirl indulged herself with a fancy workday lunch with Sun at Pizzeria Mozza. Shirl was chowing down her favorite chopped salad when she heard Sun wondering out loud if the white anchovy, tomato and fresno chili pizza she was devouring could, indeed, be one of the best pizzas she'd ever had - an enthusiastic approval coming from the native of Chicago where pizzas reign supreme.

All in all, some fun days. We probably all gained a pound or two, but it was well worth it...