Happy New Years! Cheers to love, friendship, fortune, health, a new year, and a new decade....it's on!
Love,
Ruffy
1.01.2010
7.23.2008
Cafe Bellagio | Las Vegas
I love Las Vegas! I remember coming here for the first time in the early 1980s as a small kid and the biggest thing there, was Circus Circus. Fast forward a few years and well Las Vegas has evolved into an adult Disneyland. I love the hotels here, they are out of this world. I'm not sure what is hotter, the hotels or the temperature. On this particular weekend it was over 107 degrees. The Bellagio is one of my favorite hotels on the strip, and it is just beautiful.
The lobby itself is gorgeous. The glass flowers on the ceilings are just breathtaking, another thing that takes your breath away are the fountains outside. I flew into Las Vegas on this particular weekend to celebrate my Dad's 69th birthday with the family. Thanks to Jetblue I arrived safe and sound. With a few hours to chill out we headed to the Bellagio for his birthday dinner. We had no reservations anywhere, and at a Saturday night in the summer, that may have been a bad idea. But Lady Luck was on our side tonight and we got to Cafe Bellagio and they accommodated us with a fabulous table for eight right next to their amazing garden. The service was on point and the food, just amazing. We had a few appetizers, crab cakes, shrimp cocktail, and lettuce raps. I ordered a mojito which was pretty good. And the whole family ordered dishes from Pasta Alfredo to Burgers to Sea Bass. Everything was good, but I vividly remember the birthday dessert my Dad got, it was this absolutely amazing cheesecake. It was better than any cheesecake I've had at the Cheesecake Factory. It was a great night with family, and such a nice change to spend Las Vegas with family.
After dinner we decided to walk around the hotel and just appreciate the lobby, the music, and the people watching. The food is good here and moderately priced. It is really nice in the eating area, but you can find the attire vary from ties and dresses to flip flops and shorts.
Bellagio Las Vegas
3600 Las Vegas Blvd.
Las Vegas, NV. 89109
Phone: 888.987.6667
www.bellagio.com
The lobby itself is gorgeous. The glass flowers on the ceilings are just breathtaking, another thing that takes your breath away are the fountains outside. I flew into Las Vegas on this particular weekend to celebrate my Dad's 69th birthday with the family. Thanks to Jetblue I arrived safe and sound. With a few hours to chill out we headed to the Bellagio for his birthday dinner. We had no reservations anywhere, and at a Saturday night in the summer, that may have been a bad idea. But Lady Luck was on our side tonight and we got to Cafe Bellagio and they accommodated us with a fabulous table for eight right next to their amazing garden. The service was on point and the food, just amazing. We had a few appetizers, crab cakes, shrimp cocktail, and lettuce raps. I ordered a mojito which was pretty good. And the whole family ordered dishes from Pasta Alfredo to Burgers to Sea Bass. Everything was good, but I vividly remember the birthday dessert my Dad got, it was this absolutely amazing cheesecake. It was better than any cheesecake I've had at the Cheesecake Factory. It was a great night with family, and such a nice change to spend Las Vegas with family.
After dinner we decided to walk around the hotel and just appreciate the lobby, the music, and the people watching. The food is good here and moderately priced. It is really nice in the eating area, but you can find the attire vary from ties and dresses to flip flops and shorts.
Bellagio Las Vegas
3600 Las Vegas Blvd.
Las Vegas, NV. 89109
Phone: 888.987.6667
www.bellagio.com
Mizu 212 | West L.A.
Mizu 212 is one of my favorite restaurants in Los Angeles! The reason? There's a few. But I first came here when I first moved to Los Angeles, and my friend Pei Min introduced me to this place, and I've been a fan since. I love that it is so hands on. You cook the food yourself. Then I went through a period where I didn't come here because I just wanted to eat at other restaurants in L.A. And then one night I got food poisoning from some pasta at an italian restaurant. I felt like death, I felt like I had one of those face huggers in the movie "Alien" implant an egg in me, and I was ready to burst with it out of my chest as I screamed "kill me!"
And so I went through a period of cooking my own food. And that's when Mizu 212 came back into my life. Ever since that night of food poisoning which knocked me out for a good day or two, I started to come to Mizu 212 a lot. So much to the point where I have become one of their regulars. I know the owner, and the servers by name. They know my order right when I walk in.
I always order the Vintage beef, with brown rice, harusami noodles, and a cup of hot green tea. The service here is consistent, and the food is always fresh and good, and best of all healthy. Now with every meat, and you have a choice of beef, chicken, pork, or seafood, you get some vegetables on the side.
These vegetables consist of bok choy, broccoli, asparagus, sprouts, mushrooms, carrots, napa cabbage, noodles, and tofu. You also get two tasty dipping sauces, ponzu and their sesame sauce...so good.
And although that night of food poisoning sucked, I must say I am glad it happened. The reason is because it's made me more aware of food preparation, and made me aware of healthy eating. From that night, I started to come here more, I eat more vegetables now, I eat brown rice as opposed to white, and I've been introduced to beef that comes from cows that are raised eating grain and grass and hormone free. With that said, you have to come to Mizu 212 to experience the art of shabu shabu. Oh and for those of you who don't know, the word shabu shabu roughly translates to swirl swirl. This is not only a tasty place to eat, but it makes for a cool experience for those new couples on dates, or if you're single and you just want to escape the chaos of L.A. traffic and have a Zen meal.
Mizu 212
2000 Sawtelle Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA. 90025
Phone: 310.478.8979
www.japaneserestaurantinfo.com/mizu212
STK | L.A.
This place is too cool to have vowels in its name. But just add an E and an A to STK and you spell, you guessed it... STEAK.
So let me first say, that I didn't really know what to expect from STK, but I did know that it is one of the new hot spot restaurants in L.A. And being a new hot spot, I expected to see valet parkers, a man with a list, velvet ropes, crowds, paparazzi, and celebrities. As I looked around for parking, I realized how busy La Cienega had gotten since I moved here in 2001.
Once I parked on the corner of Santa Monica and La Cienega I walked down the slight hill and noticed there was a crowd in front of STK. It was a Wednesday night! Obviously people were ready to eat. As I got to the front of STK I noticed the valet parkers, a man with a list, the velvet rope, the crowds, the paparazzi, and the celebrities. As I waited for my friend Nikki to arrive, I noticed Taye Diggs walk out. I've really enjoyed his work throughout the years, especially in the film "Go" and the musical "Rent." I had to say hello, I tapped him on the shoulder and complimented him. He was very nice and gracious.
Let me first say the only reason I came out tonight was because my good friend Amanda bartends here, and I wanted to pay her a visit. As I walked in, I was impressed by the interior design, it was dark and sexy and edgy. It was packed, I worked my way through the crowd to say hello to Amanda, it was poppin. Nikki grabbed a section of the lounge area and ordered some appetizers. Coming from a production of "Waiting for Lefty" we were pretty hungry. So we had two items. The Hearts of Romaine, which is basically a fancy way of calling a Caesar Salad. And we had the Foie Gras French Toast. This dish was fantastic, topped with green apple, almond brioche, and sherry gastrique. Now this french toast was amazing. But it's not as good as Norma's Foie Gras French Toast in New York, but it's definitely up there. Amanda made me a fantastic Strawberry Cobbler martini, and the service was great. Praise Jesus! There's nothing more annoying than going to a bougie restaurant and getting terrible service. STK had great service and great food. And as we looked around the crowd we noticed soccer player Cristiano Ronaldo and his entourage. Apparently he is "the new" David Beckham. After a nice night of food and ambience, we decided to leave. I would definitely come back.
STK
755 North La Cienega
Los Angeles, CA. 90069
Phone: 310.659.3535
www.stkhouse.com
So let me first say, that I didn't really know what to expect from STK, but I did know that it is one of the new hot spot restaurants in L.A. And being a new hot spot, I expected to see valet parkers, a man with a list, velvet ropes, crowds, paparazzi, and celebrities. As I looked around for parking, I realized how busy La Cienega had gotten since I moved here in 2001.
Once I parked on the corner of Santa Monica and La Cienega I walked down the slight hill and noticed there was a crowd in front of STK. It was a Wednesday night! Obviously people were ready to eat. As I got to the front of STK I noticed the valet parkers, a man with a list, the velvet rope, the crowds, the paparazzi, and the celebrities. As I waited for my friend Nikki to arrive, I noticed Taye Diggs walk out. I've really enjoyed his work throughout the years, especially in the film "Go" and the musical "Rent." I had to say hello, I tapped him on the shoulder and complimented him. He was very nice and gracious.
Let me first say the only reason I came out tonight was because my good friend Amanda bartends here, and I wanted to pay her a visit. As I walked in, I was impressed by the interior design, it was dark and sexy and edgy. It was packed, I worked my way through the crowd to say hello to Amanda, it was poppin. Nikki grabbed a section of the lounge area and ordered some appetizers. Coming from a production of "Waiting for Lefty" we were pretty hungry. So we had two items. The Hearts of Romaine, which is basically a fancy way of calling a Caesar Salad. And we had the Foie Gras French Toast. This dish was fantastic, topped with green apple, almond brioche, and sherry gastrique. Now this french toast was amazing. But it's not as good as Norma's Foie Gras French Toast in New York, but it's definitely up there. Amanda made me a fantastic Strawberry Cobbler martini, and the service was great. Praise Jesus! There's nothing more annoying than going to a bougie restaurant and getting terrible service. STK had great service and great food. And as we looked around the crowd we noticed soccer player Cristiano Ronaldo and his entourage. Apparently he is "the new" David Beckham. After a nice night of food and ambience, we decided to leave. I would definitely come back.
STK
755 North La Cienega
Los Angeles, CA. 90069
Phone: 310.659.3535
www.stkhouse.com
7.14.2008
Moby | Nissan Sets Live | L.A.
I first became a fan of Moby when his hit album "Play" came out in 1999. Since then, I've been jammin to his tunes ever since. I first met him during his promotion of his last album "Hotel" at the W Hotel in West Los Angeles. It was put together by the W and Paper magazine. That night, he was so cool and humble. Flash forward about three years later, thanks to the magic of myspace. I found out about this event called Nissan Live Sets. If you all don't know what that is, it's basically a small intimate, oh and did I mention free?! Yes it was free! It's a free concert, brought to you by the people at Nissan and Yahoo, for the fans of the featured musician. For some cool reason, I answered a bulletin that Moby posted on the myspace. A few days later, I got an email and was chosen to go to the concert with a friend.
Talk about laws of attraction. I just bought his new cd "Last Night" which is a dance driven album. The album is great, and my favorite track on the album is a song called "Disco Lies." I was thinking that day that I really wanted to see Moby live again. One cool thing about life is that it is unpredictable. I was just finishing up my last year at college at UC Santa Barbara, Moby's popularity was at it's peak, and I bought a ticket for myself to see him live at the Santa Barbara Bowl, I was in the last row, no kidding, hundreds upon hundreds of feet away, but I still had the greatest time dancing and jamming out. Then I move to L.A. and my friend Jonathan had a "plus one" to see Moby play at the W Hotel, there I was within 20 feet of him. Then flash forward a few years later, and I am in the front row of Nissan Sets Live. Not only that, but one of the directors wanted me to be a part of the fan Question & Answer segment of the show. I was so stoked to do this. Not only was I seeing him live for free, front row, but I get to interview him, and we got VIP treatment. I felt really blessed.
Here is the Q & A segment of the Moby show. They edited me to be the first question but in reality I was the last. And just to let you all know, they gave me the question to ask him, so in a way it was scripted, but I feel like I got the best and most humorous question of them all. I hope you enjoy it!
www.moby.com
www.whotels.com
www.papermag.com
24/7 Restaurant | Downtown Standard | L.A.
There's one word to describe this restaurant... yellow! Luckily I like the color yellow, if I didn't I'd probably find this place really nauseating to eat. You can count on the cold attitude of the Sunset Blvd. mentality that poisons L.A. creeping into this Downtown establishment. But is it really any surprise coming from a place that calls itself the Standard? Like my good friend Johnny put it, "the Standard needs to up up their Standard." I found this statement to be true, when it came to the host stand. We waited a good 5 minutes, no host came, actually the person that either looked like a hostess or a manager was talking behind the walls of the server station. Now I'm not one to bitch but after working in numerous hospitality establishments, they get a failing grade when it comes to the host/greeter department. I got frustrated and grabbed two menus and sat our selves at a booth.
It took a while to even get acknowledged, but we were lucky enough to be greeted and waited on by Art, an aspiring fashion student. Thank goodness he was cool, otherwise I would have left and ate somewhere else. With a happy spirit about him, we continued to have a good customer/ patron experience. We ordered two mojitos, a Downtown Benedict and a Chop Salad with Rock Shrimp. Both tasted great and came out in good time.
The decor was cool, yellow of course, but I really dug the ceilings and the hanging white lighting fixtures.
The seats were comfortable, wrapped in yellow leather. The staff was fairly attractive, a few hits and a few misses, but I had to compliment their uniforms, a nice multi-colored striped button up shirt and blue jeans, now I haven't seen a cooler wait staff uniform since eating at Downtown in Berkeley.
The mojitos were so so, pretty weak, and coming from me, a total light weight, that is pretty damn weak, and at $11, I deserve some kind of a buzz. The prices here are moderate, but the food is pretty much glamorized diner food. But nothing to the caliber of New York City's Cafeteria, which is one of my personal favorite eateries of all time. Overall it was a good experience, our server was cool, the food was good. But just like a comment in any reality T.V. based competition, "it was good, but will I remember it at the end of the night? Not really." So with that said, it was good, but forgettable. And someone please tell them to get their host staff on point!
The Standard Downtown LA
550 South Flower @ Sixth St.
Los Angeles, CA. 90071
Phone: 213.892.8080
www.standardhotels.com
It took a while to even get acknowledged, but we were lucky enough to be greeted and waited on by Art, an aspiring fashion student. Thank goodness he was cool, otherwise I would have left and ate somewhere else. With a happy spirit about him, we continued to have a good customer/ patron experience. We ordered two mojitos, a Downtown Benedict and a Chop Salad with Rock Shrimp. Both tasted great and came out in good time.
The decor was cool, yellow of course, but I really dug the ceilings and the hanging white lighting fixtures.
The seats were comfortable, wrapped in yellow leather. The staff was fairly attractive, a few hits and a few misses, but I had to compliment their uniforms, a nice multi-colored striped button up shirt and blue jeans, now I haven't seen a cooler wait staff uniform since eating at Downtown in Berkeley.
The mojitos were so so, pretty weak, and coming from me, a total light weight, that is pretty damn weak, and at $11, I deserve some kind of a buzz. The prices here are moderate, but the food is pretty much glamorized diner food. But nothing to the caliber of New York City's Cafeteria, which is one of my personal favorite eateries of all time. Overall it was a good experience, our server was cool, the food was good. But just like a comment in any reality T.V. based competition, "it was good, but will I remember it at the end of the night? Not really." So with that said, it was good, but forgettable. And someone please tell them to get their host staff on point!
The Standard Downtown LA
550 South Flower @ Sixth St.
Los Angeles, CA. 90071
Phone: 213.892.8080
www.standardhotels.com
Photobooth | The Standard Downtown
I'm a sucker for photo booths. Especially old school photo booths from the 1980s. Every time I see one of these classic photobooths I have to take a picture. I've gone to this photobooth at the Standard Downtown several times. Just like the manitees of the ocean, photobooths are an endangered species. Other places where these fine specimens can be located are: Luckystrike Lanes at Hollywood and Highland, Fubar in West Hollywood, and the Shortstop Bar in Silverlake.
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