Honky Tonk Week: After almost a year of sleeping, I spent the past nine days entertaining a friend in town from Tennessee and yippee-kai-yay did I show him everything! First of all I really felt an obligation: He has never been outside of the states that border Tennessee so this was a big, big deal; plus, I myself have been a hermit crab this year since my boyfriend went to prisono – no, it’s not getting any easier. We started the week off with a BANG two Fridays ago and ended with the Hurley Golf Tournament this past Saturday; he played golf, I played “Beer-fly.” Here, some hi-lights:

Lunch in the Sun: Whenever I have friends in town, Kincaid’s at the RB Pier is always on the list and this time was no exception. I was able to borrow a bike for Tenneessee Mike and we rode off on a sunny Monday afternoon. Kincaid’s is impressive at first sight; large and imposing filling up it’s own quadrant of pier space with an outdoor patio overlooking the crashing waves and view across to Old Tony’s, which provides for a good chunk of conversation time, (and of course we headed there for a “digestif” consisting of Happy Hour $5 mai-tais and a panoramic view of the beautiful sunset). I noticed a few things had changed at Kincaid’s, however, and I was a little nervous about it. First, that delicious warm garlic bread that comes atop a wrote iron tower covered in a white linen cozy did not come so I asked about it, or rather, I asked if we could get some bread and out came some cold grainy bread-like stuff with a slab of butter, very disappointing. I asked the server and she said, “Yeah, we don’t have that anymore…” and walked away. OK… then our Maytag bleu cheese starter salad comes and it just didn’t taste quite right. I’ve had it many times and coupled with the bread sitch and the changes I noticed on the menu, I felt compelled to ask if there had been some kind of ownership change. Our server said no, they just felt it was time for a menu change. “Although… we have had some customer complaints…” You may want to pass that along sweetheart! I was getting a little upset now and worried about the entrees, especially mine because the scallop dish I normally have was no longer on the menu but they offered me the dinner entrée which was $29 and if that was as mediocre as the bread and salad… luckily it wasn’t: It was outrageously un-freakin-believable! I looked at Mike and said, “All is forgiven!” It was that good but seriously, all is not forgiven and I think they need to rethink some of those changes like the Olive Garden-like pasta specials. I will continue to recommend Kincaid’s for the location but I will be careful of how I rate the food. As of now, scallops are the way to go…

Dinner and a Show: If it’s Sunday it must be Jay Leno and let me tell you, this past Halloween Sunday, Jay was on fire at the Comedy & Magic Club, Hermosa Ave, HB AND so was the food! Quite the opposite of the Kincaid’s experience; I hadn’t expected much from the food at the C & M club and was pleasantly surprised. The C & M experience is a good time with some grub if your hungry; you don’t go there for the food but the skewered prime rib app was fantastic – it didn’t even need the au jus for dipping, the steak had a great flavor all on it’s own. We had a few other apps while fulfilling the two-drink minimum – not hard to do. It’s easy to forget about this 30-year-old local gem but don’t. Call (310) 372.1193 or check out comedyandmagicclub.com for more info…
More of my honky tonk adventure next week.
Questions? Comments? Contact DebL at BarflyDebLG@aol.com

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