wordplate

one of the most wonderful things about my job is that while it isn’t directly related to the food industry, i get to enjoy some amazing food. on set there’s caterers and craft services (hello constant access to snacks), and when we’re not working, dinners galore at fancypants restaurants i’d rarely visit on my own dime. add the company of hilarious, awesome coworkers & adult beverages to the food frenzy and you’ve got the jist of why i love what i do. (and why i have to detox every time i come home.)

pictured: craft services table on set and room service pancakes at Casa del Mar. oh man, the breakfast lady on set, she made us delicious chilaquiles and huevos, with homemade salsas, we all loved her. and the craft services lady made quesadillas and taquitos, yum.

the restaurants (sadly i couldn’t photograph all the extravagance):

Catch (at Casa): long day = dinner at the hotel, but still delish. got pumpkin tortelloni and brussels sprouts w/ bacon as i wasn’t terribly hungry, considering it was like 1 am EST by the time we ate.
Coast (at Shutters): a quick lunch of fish tacos and guac/chips, enjoyed al fresco, overlooking the Pacific Ocean.
James Beach: another reason to get fish tacos (yes, the I Love You, Man place). at one point my art director and i were pondering if we could order fish tacos at every meal. i would’ve done this if i weren’t such a foodie who needed to try all sorts of foods.
Giorgio Baldi: a fave of my old agency for delicious pasta and celeb-spotting. we split a trio of ravioli options and i got the lamb chops, mmm. we also got tiramisu, chocolate lava cake & some sort of caramel pudding situation.
Rose Cafe: perk to LA is seeing some old friends! R&R were like “where do you want to eat?” and i was like “please can we go somewhere healthy, all i’ve been eating is meat, sweets and carbs” so we enjoyed a refreshing, light lunch here: farro salad, edamame & tofu and kale salad, yumyumyum.
Shima: sushi is such a must. they also had fantastic tuna grilled w/ miso sauce in a lettuce wrap, so it was kind of like we continued fish taco-ing…only a little classier.
The Hungry Cat: went with our production company, so split a bunch of things: various oysters, spiced tuna, citrus snapper & crab cakes. at this point i’d been eating so much that i couldn’t handle ordering an entree. oh and then there was a chocolate bread pudding that happened.
Fraiche: ooh this menu was so good, i just had the waiter surprise me b/c i couldn’t decide. we split the calamari salad, margherita pizza, some special steak tartare option and the scallops. then they brought me the monkfish (perfection) and i tried some of my AD’s branzino papillote (also delish).
Capo: most ridiculous menu i’ve seen. not just b/c of the stupid script font, but the prices (examples: caviar for $240 per ounce, $100 prime porterhouse). we were all stuffed from the extreme eating we’d been doing, but boy, was it worth manning up and eating here. We got a pasta sampler (rigatoni w/ truffle meat sauce, white corn ravioli w/ black truffles and the quattro formaggi), bbq caesar (smoky grilled romaine, oh yes.), and heirloom tomato vegetable w/ burrata (omg good). and then i had the most expensive filet mignon i’ve ordered in my life and had a giant food baby. and then we had dessert (choc souffles & apple tarte) and i had to be physically rolled out of the restaurant. and then i got on the plane and the plane couldn’t take off b/c i was so huge.

just recapping all the eating i did in the past week and a half makes me want to die. i didn’t even cover all the desserts/alcohol that accompanied the meals and the in-between drinking/eating that happened. production recovery detox starts now. i am very lucky though. and very full of deliciousness. and need to get myself to the gym.