Archive for May, 2008
Loungin’ Around in Eagle Rock
There has been talk about Eagle Rock being the new Silver Lake, the next “hip” spot to be in LA. While I’m not so sure about that (although I do love my town!), it has become the place where stylish spots to eat and drink are popping up right and left. In the past few years we’ve seen several bars revamped for ___(Marty’s, the York), a stylish sushi restaurant opened its doors (Mia Sushi), a contemporary soul food joint moved in (Larkin’s), and multiple “healthy” fast-food options (Taco Spot, Spitz) have entered the scene.
And now we have yet another hip hang out spot joining the ranks on Colorado Boulevard… the CT Lounge, a comfortable but modern atmosphere where it’s all about choice.
It was a sweltering day, one of those where it is impossible to cool down, especially when going from one place to another around town. As my final stop I decided to check out Eagle Rock’s newest hot spot. Walking through the unassuming doors into the dark and deliciously cool CT Lounge, where deep purple curtains blocked out the overwhelming sunlight beating down on Colorado Boulevard, was exactly the relief I needed after running errands in the blistering heat. Once my eyes adjusted to the sudden darkness, I climbed into one of the futuristic-looking booths and relaxed into the cool atmosphere. With multiple big screen TVs on every wall and a good-vibe soundtrack playing overhead, the CT Lounge is definitely the place to chill out on a hot day. An ice cold beer completes the picture.
The CT Lounge is an offshoot of the Coffee Table Bistro, owned and operated by Mike Zammarrippa. Mike originally came to Eagle Rock to open a second location of his Silver Lake eatery, the Coffee Table. As in Silver Lake, when he opened the doors to the new restaurant there was a major lack of local eating establishments. It wasn’t too long before other eateries followed suit, and now Eagle Rock is full of food delights, with more on the way. Mike explains that when Chic’s Liquor closed its doors (right next door to the Coffee Table) he saw “an opportunity to take what was once a liquor store with a very bad reputation and create something that Eagle Rock lacked – a nicely designed space where one could go to watch a movie or see a game.” Another key element in opening the CT Lounge was the desire to “distinguish ourselves by having the largest variety of premium beer in the Northeast area,” states Mike. And they do have variety: 16 beers on tap and over 100 bottled beers available to thirsty customers. To satisfy the patrons’ hunger, the CT Lounge also serves up a variety of tasty burgers and munchies, they have even included some healthy salads into the bar food mix.
Along with having a relaxing environment with a fun vibe, Mike wants the CT Lounge to be known as a place “where the staff is friendly, the food is good, and the variety of beer is amazing.” This proves to be a winning mixture among the Eagle Rock crowd. During a recent Lakers’ game there was not a seat to be found in the bar, with Oxy college students making up a large percentage of the bar-goers. Aside from the mouth-watering food and large beer selection, the Lounge is simply a great place to hang out. Multiple flat screen TVs and a huge projection TV constantly play various sporting events or movies, while a Touch Tunes Internet Juke Box gives patrons “just about every song ever recorded” to choose from to blast throughout the bar. The CT Lounge’s Monday Movie Night is also sure to draw a crowd, with films like Young Frankenstein projected on the big screen.
The CT Lounge will be the place to hang out this summer. Stop in and cool down with a beer and great atmosphere.
Visit the CT Lounge Online:
To Mothers and Good Food
My grandma came down to LA for a visit to celebrate Mother’s Day. That always means good food, and this weekend was no exception. Friday night we had dinner at Cafe Beaujolai, a local French favorite in Eagle Rock. The food is always good and the waiters are always entertaining there.
The highlight of our dining was yesterday though, when my family went to the Scarlet Tea Room in Pasadena for a Mother’s Day Tea. Located on Green Street and Fair Oaks, this little place is to die for… yummy tea sandwiches, delicious sugary treats, and a wide variety of tea and wines to choose from. And it is surprisingly filling, so be prepared to go into a food coma soon after!
You choose four out of several tasty options… I got prosciutto and roasted red bell pepper, smoked salmon and chive, olive tapenade and roasted bell pepper, and the classic cucumber tea sandwich. All were delicious and made me want more! The scones that came with the tea tray were also very good and came in a range of flavors, we had a chocolate chip and several different fruit ones.
These little desserts don’t look like they’d be enough, but each one is made of enough sugar to keep a 5-year-old hyper til her 21st birthday. I would have been fine with more sandwiches and the almond champagne that we started with, especially since we had strawberries framboise in a chocolate cup right after these. Sugar overload!
Happy Mother’s Day!
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Ready… Aim… Mis-fire?
Top 5 Reasons Why It’s Better Not to Plan Ahead
You ever have one of those days where everything that happens is kind of a misfire? Well that was my whole weekend. After a whole week of talking about plans and fun activities for the weekend and despite L.A.’s never ending possibilities for amusement last weekend kind of ended up a bust. Luckily my friends and I are the types to make fun no matter what gets thrown our way!
1. Americana Opening Has Too Many People = eating at a smelly Islands with pissed off waiters/bartenders. I received a text Friday after I got off work saying that a bunch of the group were heading over to the new Americana at Brand shopping center for opening day. Right up my alley, I am showered, dressed, and ready to go in a matter of minutes. We all meet up and head over to Glendale… where we find that we have to wade through the masses of people who have turned up to see the amazing new Grove look-a-like. Parking wasn’t as difficult as we thought it might be, I think they can probably pack in the entire city of Glendale’s cars in to this structure! After wandering around and checking out what fabulous stores have graced this side of town we decided we should get our names on a list for somewhere to eat since this place is jam packed. We figured the Cheesecake Factory was our best bet and head in (or rather fight and struggle our way in) to put our names on the list… for a TWO. HOUR. WAIT. At 9:30 at night! After wandering around for awhile trying to find a shorter wait, we walk into an Island’s which promised 15 minutes until our table was ready and an empty bar. Although the place smelled like an old wet sponge we figured it was our best bet. With 10 indecisive people ordering, canceling orders, and re-ordering I’m pretty sure we got a heavy dose of waiter spit along with our fries and drinks.
2. Saying We’re Going to Have the Best Night Ever = no one can decide what to do and we end up going back and forth between Barney’s and E Bar in Old Town (plus see a couple having sex against a bar in NeoMezz). Throughout our hours long dinner everyone talked about how great it was going to be to go out after and have some fun after the long week. However no one talked about what we were actually going to do so we spent a good 20 minutes standing outside in the cold trying to come up with something that everyone wanted to do. Finally half of the group drifted off to the movies, while the other half headed over to Old Town Pasadena (after deciding to go to the movies with the rest, no wait we should go out, but no it’s too late now, but yes, but no, okay we’ll go to a bar). Truth be told we probably should have just gone home because no one really wanted to be in Barney’s, and by the time we decided it would be fun to dance at E Bar they wouldn’t let us in. We wandered down to NeoMezz where we witnessed the most interesting thing of the entire evening… the gift of one cheap rose being enough for a session public grinding and/or sex up against the bar in a near empty room. Classy.
3. Joking/Sarcasm Does Not Work Through Texting = continued lateness and more waiting in the cold for the group to decide on something to do. Saturday’s group indecisiveness started early with the texting games and back-and-forth about where we were all going to meet, if we were meeting, who was going with who, etc etc etc. In the end we made it to the performance one of my friends’ cousin (she plays guitar and sings, check her out…link below!) for the last 2 songs. Then we did our usual stand around in the cold routine while figuring out where everyone wanted to eat (the top priority in this group). This time we actually had some goooood food (although kept up with the pissed off waiters somehow… this time any simple request of more water or an extra napkin was met with a glare of death) at this little cafe in Beverly Hills where they make the BEST paninis I have ever had. And I’ve had some good paninis. We stopped in at Nic’s Martini Lounge across the street where there was some more hemming and hawing about where the night was going to take us, but at least this time we were struggling over decisions with drinks in hand. After a bunch of people dropped out of the party a couple of us headed over to the W in Westwood (of course at the last minute possible) and danced our little booties off despite the dodgy DJ’s strange mixture of music and the older (or shall we say, more ‘mature’) guests kinky dance moves.
4. Trying to Be All “LA” and Go to the Beach Even Though You Wake Up and Can Only See Gray Skies = windy, cold, and all-around miserable day (plus gross BBQ because drunk people can’t cook). This also apparently leads to being the cover for your friend who is trying to carry out an affair with a married man. Which then leads to waiting around in Long Beach for said “relationship” to carry out (and we all know what that means…) while you just want to make the drive back to LA and get to bed after a strange weekend. Apparently this then leads to frustration and yelling like white trash on the front porch (ahem, in front of the entire neighborhood) about how disgusting some people are. This is not necessarily advisable if you’re trying to maintain the appearance of not actually living in a trailer park, but I have to say it can feel realllllly good. And it was probably the dramatic finish that this mis-fired weekend deserved!
So with no extravagant plans made for this coming weekend I’m thinking it could turn out a lot better! Spontaneity is the way to go in this town…
Last weekend’s fabulous roundup:
Update
So the first week of training for the Avon marathon walk went well. I did 20 miles, which is pretty close to a marathon! Now I just have to get all those miles in one day and I’ll be all set for the Walk in September… haha!
I haven’t walked that much this week since I’ve had work piling up on top of me. My laziness is actually turning out to be a good thing today because there has been a mountain lion running loose in Eagle Rock! That would NOT have been a good thing for me to run into bright and early in the morning when I am nice and groggy and definitely not at my best for confronting danger. Danger that should not even be present in the city! I can easily get around crazy drivers and sidestep hobos on the street, but mountain lions are not in my repertoire. Apparently wrassling wild animals is something I should add to my list of skills.
