Al, is that you under yet another new account?

suzz - yeah haha - I don't know the e-mail I had associated with the old account - I actually thought some random account was you as well, but I guess not!

hey guys need a nice place to hike near long beach, any suggestions?

Crystal Cove is pretty good. Not too far from LB.

thanks man

Isn't Crystal Cove in Laguna? That's like an hour from Long Beach...

Is it? Well my bad. I thought about mapping it but then I uh something.

C'mon guys, no one wants to do a simple google search? Ironically, you're both right! (sort of)...

http://maps.google.com/maps?oe=utf-8...d=0CKoBEPwSMAA

Crystal Cove State Park (Laguna Beach)

http://www.crystalcove.ca/

Crystal Cove Beach Resort (Long Beach... Canada though)...

Portuguese Bend in PV has some good trails.

This thread has the least amount of activities compared to the NYC / Chicago / SF thread

Is anyone going to do one more round of foie gras indulgence before the "law" kicks into place on Sunday? If so, where?

I haven't gone crazy about it, but I've had it in the back of my mind so basically have made a point of going to more French/places that serve foie gras spots.

Animal is of course the place to go as mentioned in my above post (Foie Gras Biscuit with Maple Sausage Gravy and Foie Gras Loco Moco Burger are deservedly celebrated dishes) - but because of the end of foie gras in California, it's been fully booked for a while now - you could try sitting at the bar (get there when it opens) - if you like foie gras, I think it's def worth it.

Just ate at a great new French bistro in Hollywood, Papilles - highly recommend. They have 2 different 3-course prix fixe options, so very ideal to go with a date, each order one of the prix fixe menus, and share. You can add on a foie gras torchon, which they make in-house and is seriously very good. Generally, the place is very solid - owners are cool, place is cute/unpretentious, food is well executed:

http://www.yelp.com/biz/papilles-los-angeles

Also had a foie gras terrine at AOC (which as I mentioned above is not very good at all, don't recommend going generally, the terrine was OK).

Oh and a very solid foie gras dish at Open Door in Monterey Park (also mentioned in above post), it's a Japanese izakaya place, I think you'd probably like this spot:

http://www.yelp.com/biz/the-open-door-monterey-park

Thinking of trying out Umami Burger tonight. If I only want cheese and bacon on my burger, can I order it that way or do they insist you order their burgers with no customization?

They don't substitute, but they will remove any items you don't want, so you should be fine.

They're pretty lame with the no customization rule at Umami. I wanted to try a parmesan crisp but they wouldn't throw one on. You don't even cook it! It's OK. I took it out of his tip. Burger was pretty good though. A little small, maybe, but the perfect size for me really. I liked the thin fries too, though I thought they were too salty.

Had dinner at a Cuban place - El Floridita - last Sat. which turns into a big Salsa dance floor as the night goes on. It was pretty good. Probably the best black beans I've ever had - and I'm a big aficionado. Kinda disappointed in the mojitos though (for a Cuban place - I think the best mojito I've ever had is Sushi Roku of all places). Place is in a strip mall just north of Santa Monica and Vine. Most of the people there were Cuban. It was a lot of fun to watch the older people Salsa dance, some were really good.

Got to check out 3 Clubs for the first time in about 5 years. That used to be our main haunt when I was still hanging out in Hollywood all the time. It was pretty dead and the other half (away from the main bar) was some kind of weird disco club thing. But the half by the bar hasn't changed at all - same sparkly ceiling you see in Swingers (except that they entered from the bathroom).