Shaherzad, Paris Pastry, Saffron and Rose Ice Cream

Shaherzad: Last time we were in the area, Shaherzad was packed, and it had been recommended to us and it's highly ranked on Zagat. So we headed there for a Saturday lunch. The waiter was a bit standoffish, but not to the point of rudeness and the food was rather good. We got the hot combo appetizer with excellent dolmes, some wonderful eggplant dip, a good cutlet, and some ok/forgettable chicken salad. For the main course we got the chicken koobideh (very good) with some of their special cherry rice on the side (very good), and the whitefish (fine) with a special herbed rice (tasty. The meal came with extremely good flatbread and a raw onion. I also got a very good Persian tea.

Paris Pastry: Just down the street is a patisserie. The raisin roll was not so good, tasteless and without the structure I've come to expect thanks to Le Pain du Jour. The meringue is amazing, and the cookies range from ok to wow.

Another stop at the Saffron and Rose Ice Cream. This time I got their poppy seed slush. Highly recommended, especially with lemon juice to cut the sweetness.

Tacos Por Favor

Tacos Por Favor: has been recommended to us several times. Today it was recommended again and we up and went. On a whim I got a carnitas sandwich (with egg and this delicious mole sauce and avocados and onions) that turned out to be outstanding. In fact, everything we got was wonderful. That includes pastor soft taco, chorizo soft taco, mahi mahi sopes, and a guacamole burrito. Oh, so delicious. The pico de gallo and salsas are great too. Not expensive and apparently they deliver. The al pastor and the sandwich were probably the best, but all of it was something I'd want to eat again.

Miyako, Frutti Yogo

Miyako: I've walked past this restaurant many times, and have even been to the adjacent frozen yogurt place next door, but I never wanted to go in because it didn't look busy enough. After we got rudely treated at nearby The Counter, we hopped out looked toward 31st street but didn't see anything interesting (though apparently Mrs Winston's Green Grocery is over there), and stopped in here to be quite pleasantly surprised. For a very reasonable price we got a huge amount of eel on a bed of onions sizzling on a hotplate, plus a nicely cooked salmon teriyaki bento, and a shrimp tempura appetizer (half off during certain hours). The bento came with quite a bit of tasty veggie tempura (or I could've chosen shrimp), some edamame, very tasty sprouts (pickled?), rice (can get brown rice), a passable salad with a peanut flavored dressing, and an orange slice. The eel special also came with rice/salad/edamame/sprouts. Some of the eel was excellent, most weren't bad. So not the highest quality food, but pretty good nonetheless. Worth going back for.

Frutti Yogo: The second time we've gone. Again, great tasting frozen yogurt. This time we got the lychee and they were awesome. Kiwi, not so good. Strawberries ok.

Jordan's Market, Saffron and Rose Ice Cream

Jordan's Market: I was told at my cooking class to go here to get tenderloin for a party. I expected it to be a butcher shop, and they do have a butcher counter, but it's more of a small convienience/ethnic store. The tenderloin was only $8 / pound, compared with over $25 / pound at Whole Foods, so I was happy to pick some up. Also got some ground beef that looked beautiful for about $3 or $4 / pound, but there wasn't as much variety/selection as I would prefer. I also bought some delicious Turkish Delight and pretty good yogurt soda (carbonated yogurt milk...how interesting).

Saffron and Rose: Just down the street from the market was an ice cream place. I tried the saffron and pistachio, the walnut and raisin, and the strawberry. The ice cream base is rich and smooth and all three flavors were good. It's rare that ice cream has a good raisin flavor, so kudos for that, but I liked the saffron/pistachio flavor best. We also tried numerous other flavors (we weren't asking for them, they just kept handing them over) and they were all good, though the rose ice cream was too delicate for me.

This block or two had several interesting Persian restaurants, of which Shaherzad seemed to be doing the best (only?) business at 3pm on a Sunday. There was also a greek restaurant that was practically empty, and a french bistro that was packed. Unfortunately the patisserie/boulangerie was closed, but the cakes inside looked very pretty.

Sunnin Cafe

Sunnin Cafe: Truly one of the reasons to live in Santa Monica is the access to a multitude of delicious restaurants/bakeries/etc. Found this Lebanese restaurant via yelp.com while looking for someplace to get takeout and was just blown away at how good it is. We couldn't decide what to order so I just asked the maitre d' and I am so glad that I did. The restaurant has parking, not too many tables, though around 6 pm there were plenty available, and is very casual with the chefs (linecooks? it's really not a pretentious place) almost in the center of the room, not hidden behind a wall. Got falafel, fool (fava beans in good olive oil), chicken kebab (oh my goodness the garlic...fluff(?) was amazing!, and the chicken was tender and tasty), beef kebab (great flavoring on the beef and the hommos was good too), and rice pudding (that first bite with the cinnamon/pistachio fading to cream and then giving way to a burst of orange water(?)...). The kebabs both came with an excellent little salad, and almost everything came with pickled radishes that were quite tasty. A pack of very thin pita bread was also provided. The result of so much good food was gorging and then lethargy and happiness, the way good meals ought to be. Furthermore, later on there was no immense thirst due to excess salt...it seems like maybe the falafel has quite a bit of salt, but the rest of the meal didn't seem to. I'll definitely be going back.

Science Center Cafe and Le Pain du Jour

Science Center Cafe: After a morning at the Natural History Museum, we had planned on eating at the food trucks. Unfortunately we were informed that they weren't going to be around today. Since the cafe was closed and they're constructing the food court, our only options were to drive back to Santa Monica or try the Science Center's cafe just down the block. Since the 10 W and 110 N were both packed, we went to the cafe though without much hope. When we got there it looked like they just had McDonald's and Taco Bell, but through a little door and past the Taco Bell desk, we found a sandwich/salad/soup...and Starbucks area. The chipotle chicken wrap had just a tiny hint of chipotle, so it was more like a chicken on salad wrap, but it was pretty good quality. I especially liked the fresh cilantro...in fact, I could've used some of that on my chili. The chili con carne had lots of meat plus a bit of cheese and red onion. I could've used more spice but it was really pretty good, especially for a cafe. All in all, thumbs up for a museum cafe.

Le Pain du Jour: This is probably the third or fourth time I've been here and I was specifically looking for a croissant but when I got there I realized the chocolate was too yummy sounding to pass up. Last time the chocolate croissant was lower quality than the all-butter (regular) croissant, but I am happy to say that this time they are both amazing. They also had french loafs right out of the oven and they are exquisite with a very clean flavor (just a taste of salt) and great crust. We also got two tarts, one strawberry/kiwi, the other pear. The crust is crisp and buttery, the custard is perfect, not too sweet, and the fruit is delicious and fresh. The best tart I've ever had.

Father's Office and Babalu

Father's Office: I've heard extraordinary tales of Father's Office over the past few months, the most impressive being how people have gotten layovers at LAX long enough to drive over and get a burger. Father's Office is not open for lunch, so it wasn't until today that I made it over to get a burger. I got there about 5:20. There wasn't any wait to place my order at the bar and everyone was rather polite. The place was pretty full, but there were a few barstools empty and it was only about a 10-15 minute wait. The burgers are pretty tasty overall. The cheese and carmelized onion topping is mellow and tasty. I wouldn't turn down a burger, but I don't think I'll be stopping by regularly because I think The Corner suits me better. The bun at Father's Office is white/tasteless and seems stale. I ordered two burgers medium and one medium-rare, but they all came basically medium-rare. The sweet potato fries are pretty tasty, though not super crispy, and the sauce that came with the sweet potato fries is excellent with a garlicky tart flavor.

Babalu: is right around the corner from Father's Office. The sign on the outside said restaurant and bakery, so I stopped in to check out the baked goods. Large cookies and about twenty kinds of cake were on display. The all looked pretty good, so I got a slice of carrot cake at random. I don't regret eating it, but I wouldn't buy another. I prefer carrot cake that's dense and flavorful with a tang to the frosting and that obviously has butter in the cake itself. This one is a bit too healthy tasting, and what I thought was coconut flakes on the top turned out to be white chocolate which confuses the slight tang in the frosting. I would be willing to try another cake/pie from here, but I won't go out of my way to do so.