Our destination was the Landmark Theaters at the Westside Pavilion. They had this new fangled "Parking Guidance System" and "Controlled Parking Program" where you can tell which floor of the parking structure has available spaces....
But wait, there's more!
Once you descend into parking structure hell, you will notice overhead mounted LED lights which indicate which spaces are available (red = taken; green = open spot, so grab it now dammit!). Very cool indeed! They should have this system at Horton Plaza and Fashion Valley!
I plan to do a full fledged review of "Cosmopolis" next week after it opens up in San Diego (at the Hillcrest Landmark Theaters). TORC and hopefully MFH will be my movie dates for that one. But for today, it was my husband who actually agreed to watch the new film with Robert Pattinson (because it was NOT "Twilight").
As for parking, you get three hours free or five hours for $3 with validation from the movie theaters or if you eat at Westside Tavern. The other mall eats were food court crap, Hokkaido (a Todai-like seafood buffet), and 6th and Pine (formerly the Nordstrom Cafe) at the Nordstroms at this mall.
For the sake of convenience (hell, the escalators to the theater were right across from this place), we decided to try it out...
The lunch hour rush hadn't begun yet. Very spacious inside. Manly decor with the dark woods, black leather and lamps...
We requested a booth by the window behind the slatted wall (other side is the entrance).
Very swanky in here...
It was like a date for us since TC was ceremoniously dropped off at the cousins' in the OC. Hey, she was having fun swimming and eating fish tacos.
A quick perusal of the menu and we were ready to order...
Bert even got a craft beer:
Click here to see their lunch menu in all of its glory.
Below, Bert's Racer 5 IPA by Bear Republic. It was pretty light and something new he hadn't tried before. He thought it was just okay. He thought the beer would gone down better if there was more "salt" in our lunch and the beer would have been a nice counterpoint to that.
I had a tiny sip and thought it was all right but I would have preferred the Smoked Porter that was on the menu (by Stone); it's the same beer that's used by Melissa (of PubCakes in La Mesa) for the Stoned Smoked Portzilla cupcake, one of my favorites.
Our server was excellent, efficient and very knowledgable (as she should be) about the menu when asked questions. Our lunch below, which we shared...
Grilled Shrimp Salad with shaved market vegetables lightly dressed with a honey lime vinaigrette. The market vegetables were zucchini, radish, and yellow squash and uncut green beans served on top of mixed greens with Avocado Green Goddess dressing. The best thing about this salad was the beautiful smear (yes, I said it) of that heavenly dressing on one half of the plate. I wanted to lick this plate clean I tell you! There were about seven or eight large shrimp in there too.
The Cheeseburger we ordered came with either a choice of sea-salted fries, homemade potato chips of the soup of the day. I thought it would be good to try their soup because it sounded intriguing, the Watermelon and Heirloom Tomato Gazpacho. It was a pretty hot day so the gazpacho sounded refreshing. It had an interesting taste to it. We couldn't really taste the watermelon itself but the texture was kind of "mealy". The soup had a tiny bit of sweetness to it that I liked.
The (halved by request) Cheeseburger with Tillamook Cheese (Hey, we went there!), garlic aioli, arugula, and caramelized onions on a brioche bun. Bert thought this was one of the best burgers he's had. I really enjoyed it as well (the bread not so much) - bitter, sweet, creamy, and smoky meat. Imagine if bacon was in here too, OMG. So this burger was a win.
As an afterthought, we decided on a "side" of Mac 'n Cheese with Crispy Onions. Now this was a huuuuge side and there was no way we finished this at all. The burger and salad (plus soup) were substantial enough. The fried onions were the best part. I kind of wished they had an side of the fried onions to pour on top of each and every bite! If TC was with us, she would have really enjoyed this!
You can see some of the dill from the Green Goddess dressing on the shaved vegetables...So pretty (the vegetables, not the dill).
Our movie wouldn't start 'til 2:20 so we had some time to kill before going in. I was so excited to finally see this movie after missing it in Montreal back in June.
Westside Tavern
10850 W. Pico Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90064
westsidetavernla.com
Off we went in search of dessert and to also do a quick walk through of the mall (to burn off a miniscule portion of our lunch, heh heh)...
4 comments:
Oh man, all parking garages should have the LED lights! That's so cool! The food looks really awesome, too. I wouldn't have thought of putting fried onions on top of mac n cheese, but that sounds really tasty... will have to try that sometime. Hope you enjoyed the movie!
hi mary - yeah, isn't that a great idea, those parking lights?
the food was quite good at this place. better than food court crap, eh.
i'd be a lazy bum and put those canned French's fried onions on top of mac 'n cheese. those were red onions by the way. nice and crispy!
i plan to see the movie again next weekend! want to join me?
Very fancy food; would not really expect that quality restaurant in any mall around here(other than Zodiac at Nieman Marcus).
What a nice day trip! Their parking structure people need to talk to our parking structure people.
Yes Cathy, a bit too fancy almost. It's at the far end of the mall and not near any food court at all.
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