Restaurant Review #250: Howie's Grill & Bar, Simi Valley

Grilled Portobello Mushroom - $10.95

Howie's opened in January 2011 on the corner of Cochran and Madera, a location that's very convenient to the freeway if you happen to be at the far west end of Simi Valley just before you get to Moorpark. Howie's occupies a former Applebees, and the dining room hasn't changed much. The cuisine is also somewhat similar--what I'd call suburban American--but

Restaurant Review #245: The Counter, Pasadena

Veggie burger

I've been hearing about The Counter for years. It was the favorite joint of a hamburger-obsessed colleague of mine, and everyone seems to rave about it. But I was really underwhelmed. There was nothing special about the flavor of the meat. I could have made a comparable, if not better, burger at home.


Beef burger

The concept behind The Counter is to build your own burger using

Restaurant Review #233: Firehouse Cafe, Simi Valley

California Fireman omelet with hash browns - $7.75

Sitting in Firehouse Cafe, you'll feel like you've been transported out of Southern California and into a friendly Midwestern city--say, St. Louis. There's zero pretense at this affordable, no-frills breakfast and lunch joint. The flooring is charcoal gray industrial carpet, the chairs are standard-issue black metal with padded vinyl seats, and

Restaurant Review #232: Saddle Peak Lodge, Calabasas

Cream of mushroom amuse bouche

Saddle Peak Lodge, named after the rock formation it sits under, has been around for more than 100 years in various incarnations, including a general store and a summer resort. Tucked away in the hills of Calabasas, sort of on the way to Malibu via Las Virgenes, you'd never know the restaurant was there if you weren't following a set of directions to it. That

Restaurant Review #229: Lazy Dog Cafe, Thousand Oaks

Black and bleu pizza - $11.95

For a group evening out in Ventura County, I attempted to steer everyone toward my favorite German/Italian restaurant, Two Guys from Italy, but was mysteriously overruled in favor of the Lazy Dog Cafe, a local suburban chain restaurant that I'm sure receives a lot of its business from its proximity to the Thousand Oaks Muvico theater (other locations are in in

Restaurant Review #206: Boneyard Bistro, Sherman Oaks

Ribs

I decided to pay a visit to Boneyard Bistro for two reasons: their extensive beer list and the promise of sweet potato fries. Located on busy Ventura Boulevard amidst dozens of other restaurants, Boneyard Bistro is a bit hard to spot. We had no trouble parking on the street, but we may have benefited from the cold weather keeping people home. Still, the hostess acted like we should have

Restaurant Review #203: Eric's, Thousand Oaks

Chocolate bread pudding with bourbon caramel sauce

I will freely admit that I don't have very high expectations of restaurants once I leave a major city. Despite the way that some food critics portray the Los Angeles dining scene as a joke compared to those of New York City or San Francisco, I'd say Los Angeles has enough great restaurants to thoroughly spoil anyone, including me. So when I was

Restaurant Review #197: Gladstone's of Malibu

Indoor dining room

I only went to Gladstone's because I dragged my family out to Malibu to visit Cholada Thai and it was closed (they're closed on Mondays--I forgot). There aren't a ton of dining options in the area, so we forced my mom to deal with her bird phobia so we could all deal with our raging hunger. I can't accurately say that I regret the choice, since we didn't really have any other

Restaurant Review #194: Cafe Bizou, Sherman Oaks

Sesame coated salmon with potato pancakes and mushrooms in a burgundy wine sauce

Despite having eaten at over 200 restaurants in Los Angeles, when my parents come to town, I have a hard time figuring out where to take them. My adventurous tastebuds don't appear to be genetic, so my knowledge of local Japanese restaurants is lost on them. Thankfully, Cafe Bizou turned out to be a place that

Restaurant Review #188: The Black Cat, Cambria, CA

Sauteed shrimp and beet gnocchi

The Black Cat, a self-described American bistro and wine bar, is one of Cambria's top-rated restaurants. "That's not saying much," you may be thinking, given that Cambria is such a small town with about twenty restaurants total. Even if it were subjected to the rigors of the LA dining scene, however, The Black Cat would fare quite well. This isn't quite as

Restaurant Review #173: Punch Grill, Santa Monica - CLOSED

Filet mignon in pinot noir sauce

This review is a little different from my others in that I was invited to try Punch Grill by their PR firm and they paid for my meal. Despite this, you can still count on Foodie Universe to stand by our policy of providing unbiased reviews.

Punch Grill opened in June 2006 with the mission of offering "the finest American cuisine on the Westside." They bill

Restaurant Review #148: Lucques, West Hollywood

Almonds, olives, butter and fleur de sel (an expensive French sea salt)

Few food lovers in LA haven't heard of Lucques, run by Suzanne Goin (recent winner of two James Beard awards--a massive honor in the culinary universe) and Caroline Styne. Lucques (pronounced "Luke") serves what I refer to as "upscale restaurant food." In Los Angeles, that often means Cal-Italian or in this case,