Barfly
Honky Tonk Adventure Continues…
NY Deb L and Tennessee Mike had gone to the Jay Leno Sunday night Halloween show at the Comedy & Magic Club, Hermosa Ave, HB, and had Monday lunch in the sun at Kincaid’s, RB Pier and happy hour at Old Tony’s on the Pier. They made it home in one piece, along with free Tony’s souvenir mai-tai glasses, and set out to plan the rest of the week…
Are We There Yet? On Tuesday I decided to test this good ol’ boy’s athleticism with a bike ride via the Strand to the Warehouse in Marina del Rey. Before we set out he asked me if we took the Strand the whole way or if there was a part where we had to go on the street because he didn’t have a helmet – aww… ain’t that cute. I told him it is mostly the Strand until we get in between Playa and Marina del Rey and then there is a short part where we have to ride on the street and through parking lots but it isn’t much. He was ok with that so off we went. A few minutes later we got to the 90210 house and the break in the Strand where you have to carry your bike up the stairs to get on the MB bike path and he says to me, “Is there where we go on the street?” I just about dropped my bike in laughter – honey, no, we are just getting started. An hour and fifteen minutes later with the Warehouse in sight he says, “Damn girl, you weren’t kidding me with this ride!” I felt bad for about two minutes until I saw the look on his face when, with mai-tai in hand (we had a lot of mai-tais that week), we strolled out to the patio of the resto to take our table right on the edge of the marina – you could nearly touch the boats. If you haven’t been to the Warehouse, check it out on a Monday for half-priced bottles of wine (with order of two entrees). The place has a great history; built in 1969 the façade is exactly the same and food is always fantastic – I have never had a bad meal there, lunch or dinner. Check out mdrwarehouse.com for more info and daily specials.
Terry Mo Made My Mai-Tai! After a long winter’s nap, I came to around 4 p.m. Wednesday to find Mike on the couch trying to relax his sore muscles. I felt great – then again, I did sleep for about 15 hours. Before I could even say, “Good morning,” Mike already let me know that we could be mellow and just maybe get a meal and relax that day which was fine by me. He said he wanted sushi so I went to get ready and have an internal debate on where to take him. Sushi Sei is one of the best sushi restos around but it can expensive if you don’t make happy hour, (5:30-6:30 p.m.), and to make happy hour, you need to be there early and I didn’t see that happening for us the way we were moving that day so I decided we would do some grazing: Walk to the HB Pier and start at the Fishook, (formerly Paradise Sushi under the Fishack), then Rok Sushi Kitchen, (formerly Club Sushi, Hermosa Ave), then Banzai, (formerly Cal Beach, Hermosa Ave), and finally Sushi Duke, Hermosa Ave at 2nd street which is half a block from my apartment. Sounds like a good plan right? Well… we got to the Fishook and for some reason it was really warm inside and outside was full so we went over to Sushi Rok and never left. Now, remember that Tennessee Mike has never been outside the states that border Tennessee so good sushi to him is not very good sushi. We sat at the Sushi bar and I took note of his face when he saw the prices. I assured him we would just have one roll and then move on and he relaxed a bit. Chef Efren who has been there well over a decade (from when it was Club Sushi), offered us an “amuse-bouche,” a “mouth-tease” tasting that consisted of a little tuna, cucumber and… I didn’t even finish my thought before I got knocked on the shoulder by Mike, his eyes huge. “Are you kidding me?” he says and I just laughed and said, “wait.” The first roll came, we went simple, crab on the inside, tuna, salmon, yellowtail outside. Before we were even halfway through he grabbed the menu again and ordered two more rolls and an appetizer, it was that good, prices be damned! When was he going to be able to have sushi like this again? In the meanwhile I had ordered a mai-tai because after three days in a row of them I was still in the mood but when it came it was too dark pink for me and tasted mostly of cranberry juice – I normally don’t taint my alcohol; Ketel One straight, Jameson straight, beer and wine, that’s about it with me but I do like Long Island Iced Teas and mai-tais when they are made to my taste. I told the server and she was surprised because, “the guy has bartender has been a bartender for like 30 years!” uh-oh, I thought, Terry Mo. T Mo is a good friend of mine, one of the Boston guys I used to regularly visit at Shark’s Cove Hermosa years ago but when he went to Club Sushi I stopped because I had a problem with the owner and refused to set foot in there. This was too funny. I ran over to him and in his 100 mph Boston accented voice he starts yelling, “You! It was YOU who sent that back! There was so much whiskey in that drink you gotta be kidding me!” Whiskey in a mai-tai? Maybe that was the problem! Obviously he had simply misspoke as he was pouring us shots of whiskey while he was talking. I also recognized Brian, former manager of the Shore just down the block and he toured me around a bit. The place looks great, the food is fantastic and Terry Mo is there – they hit the tri-fecta! Call 310.798.4ROK or check out roksushikitchen.com for more info…
Questions? Comments? Contact DebL at BarflyDebLG@aol.com ER