Dinner Date at A.O.C. Wine Bar

Alex and I seldom have time to go out for dinner but we did on Saturday, Jan. 26 and I am so glad we did! We went to this great little tapas restaurant called, A.O.C.

This tight, bustling wine bar and tapas restaurant offers a vast array of fresh, flavorful, simple plates. Well-sourced Italian and Spanish ingredients, a wood-burning oven, and a carefully selected cured meat and cheese selection provide the perfect accompaniments to their 50-plus wines by the glass. An L.A. legend, expect a wait or make reservations, but “worth it” is a definite understatement when it comes to A.O.C.

We started off the night with a plate of charcuterie. We had speck with apples and arugula. Then we had the duck confit, friseé salad with grilled sour dough bread (from La Brea bread company). From the wood burning oven, we ordered the clams which were simmered in garlic and amontillado sherry. This was also served with bread, some very crusty french garlic bread...yummy! I think the clams were my favorite dish-they are highly recommended! After that, we had salt cod fritters on a citrus salad. I didn't enjoy this too much as the texture was a little mushy. The last course was the skirt steak with roquefort butter. But obviously my darling husband asked them for the butter to be on the side coz you know me and dairy! :P The waiter then came with a rabbit ragoût with dijon, chestnuts and tarragon (we didn't order it, it was compliments from the chef). I didn't eat that one coz to me, rabbits are pets and they are too cute to be eaten. Sorry to all the hardcore foodies out there! But Alex had it and he said it was OK.

We ended the night on a sweet note, Alex ordered roasted pineapples, almond cake with crème chantilly and I had the chocolate and hazelnut dacquoise with gianduja mousse and salted caramel ice cream...mMmMMmmMm...how can you say no to that?!?! I always end the night with some chocolate dessert when I am out having dinner. In summary, the presentation of the desserts were not a focal point for the pastry kitchen but the flavor, texture and taste were bang on.

I would totally recommend this restaurant to anyone who loves food. It has a romantic atmosphere even though it can be quite cramped/crowded. We sat upstairs in the corner so it was perfect for us. I really love the "small plates/share plates" concept. It's a very intimate dining experience. I will definitely come back!

And oh, dinner for 2 without wine was about $50 per person. I think that is very reasonable for consistently FABULOUS food!

Entering 2008

Happy New Year, my dear friends! I have been very behind updating this blog. Something called "life" had caught up with me and taken away all my free time.

Anyway, I wanted to start the new year with a little update to my blog. And why not start with the crazy times I had on New Year's eve, which I spent with my dear little sister, Danielle. The last time her and I spent New Year's eve together was about 7 years ago (before my move out east) and we went to a NYE rave together. So this New Year's eve celebration was long called for!

We started out the night at 8:30pm. Actually, we wanted to start the night out at 8:30pm but was already late getting out the door. You know, 2 girls getting ready and only 1 bathroom to share...you get the picture. I wore a dress with a jeweled collar by Milly and Danielle was in a flirty silk dress from Forever 21.

Dad was nice enough to drive us down to The Eatery, where they had an "All You Can Eat and All You Can Drink" party. By the time we left the house and picked up a couple of Danielle's friends, we arrived at the restaurant at around 9:15pm. (By the way, he was already pissed at us coz we were late leaving the house and he had to go to work the next day at 4:30am.) There was a line up outside the restaurant and they started letting people in at around 9:30pm. Once we were inside, there was a free flow of food and drinks. Food was OK. I didn't want to eat too much coz you know what happens when I overeat and then drink...LOL. Anyway we ate till about 11:30pm when the music started getting louder and people were getting more excited, looking forward to midnight.

Then the clock struck 12 and everyone went into a frenzy wishing everyone else "HAPPY NEW YEAR"! By this time, I had a great buzz going on and was pretty hammered. We stayed for another hour at The Eatery and then Danielle suggested we go to Sonar, where her boss was spinning that night. She said she was on the "Super VIP" list and assured me that we did NOT have to wait in line as we were in our little skimpy dresses and it was freaking FREEZING outside. So off we went to hail a cab...

It didn't take us too long to hail a cab and we zipped over to Sonar. And Danielle was right, we didn't have to wait one bit at the door. The doorman quickly ushered us in after checking us off the list. It was totally happening at Sonar. The music was booming and everyone was in a party mood. I got to meet Danielle's boss, GMan, who is one of the biggest club promoters in Vancouver. Super nice guy! He also bought a round of drinks for us.

And we also bumped into one of my good friends, Steph, who was doing some club photography for the night. By this time of the night, I already had about 6-8 drinks and if you know me, I am a cheap date. I was up there, having a great time.

I looked at my watch and it was already 3:30am!! MAN, I had to catch a 7am flight that morning to go home. That means, I have to be a the airport at 5am. That means, I am already LATE coz I had to go home and finish packing. We quickly left the club to catch a cab home. OMG..........we could NOT find an empty cab AT ALL! People were already starting to leave the club and there were throngs of people EVERYWHERE!! I have no idea how far or where we walked to but we walked and we walked and I wanted to cut my feet off. They were hurting from wearing my heels (Nine West ecru 3" satin heels) ALL NIGHT. And we stumbled into the very seedy area of Hastings. Man, I was freaking out with all the drunks and addicts surrounding us.

It was now 4am and I was contemplating on calling my Dad to come get us. But Danielle said we shouldn't coz remember, he was already mad at us BEFORE we left the house. GAWD!!! But I am desperate! As soon as my fingers ran over the numbers on the cell phone, from the corner of my eye, I saw this cab in the left lane turning left. Some people tried to jump into it while it was at the light but they got kicked out. Little did I know, this cab driver turned onto the street we were on and signaled us to get in!!

MY SAVIOR!!! We climbed our drunkened-asses into the car and some other people were trying to get in behind us! The cab driver told them to get out and he was only taking 2 passengers. Lucky for us! At this point, my buzz had left me from all the stress and trauma we've been through. But I was very relieved to be in a cab on the way home....

Got home, got an earful from the parents, got packed and got out!

When I was on the plane, I realized that this old, tired body of mine is not able to take abuse like that anymore. Passed out on the plane and had sweet dreams of being home in LA...

Introduction...

Hi, my name is Liz and I am a shopoholic. I love fashion and have a very soft spot for shoes.

I am also addicted to good food. My darling husband is a chef and we have dined at many great establishments. We are not food snobs, we just feel that paying for BAD food is expensive...so we don't mind paying "an arm and a leg" for a phenomenal meal and overall experience.

I am starting this blog so I can have an on-going diary of all the fashion "goings-on", the good deals I find, all the great restaurants we eat at and all the fun I have while doing so!

Soooo if this has peaked your interest...stay tuned for more!!