We started Drive & Find a few years back because, frankly, we were damn intimidated by the vast Los Angeles culinary scene. It’s a simple concept: two Westside dudes are hungry… they pick an area of town… they take a drive … they find an alluring restaurant … they dine there. This concept has brought us all around LA – from seafood to Thai to total crap – nonetheless our affinity for the unknown remains.

DATE: Thursday, June 18, 2009

RESTAURANT: La Fiesta Brava
423 Rose Avenue
Venice, 90291
310.399.8005

THEIR SLOGAN: not the sort of restaurant with a slogan

OUR SLOGAN: Awesome – because not the sort of restaurant with a “slogan”

DRIVE TIME: 25 minutes

LIKES: The piping hot chips. Fresh salsa. BYOB and the convenient convenience market next door. Odd arrangement of bullfighting paraphernalia. The owner, Samuel (we think that was his name). The eclectic set of patrons. The south of the border feel. The flimsy screen door entrance. The price.

»continue reading Drive & Find: Ep 3: La Fiesta Brava (Venice)

We started Drive & Find a few years back because, frankly, we were damn intimidated by the vast Los Angeles culinary scene. It’s a simple concept: two Westside dudes are hungry… they pick an area of town… they take a drive … they find an alluring restaurant … they dine there. This concept has brought us all around LA – from seafood to Thai to total crap – nonetheless our affinity for the unknown remains.

DATE: Wednesday May 20th, 2009

RESTAURANT: CAFÉ VIDA
15317 Antioch Street
Pacific Palisades 90272
(310) 573-1335

THEIR SLOGANS: “Food for life” and “A great, fresh taste.”

OUR SLOGAN: “Food” and “A decent, not-everything-but-most-things-are-fresh taste”

DRIVE TIME: 15 minutes

LIKES: Being really the only open restaurant in the area. Complimentary lime in the iced water. Interesting, loud conversation amongst four basketball apparel adorned high schoolers regarding chicks. Quiet streets.

DISLIKES: Identity crisis. A tad overpriced. Boring menu. Peeping Tom waitresses. An ugly dog sitting tableside in a striped carry-on suitcase-like apparatus.

»continue reading Drive & Find: Ep 2: Cafe Vida (Pacific Palisades)

We started Drive & Find a few years back because, frankly, we were damn intimidated by the vast Los Angeles culinary scene. It’s a simple concept: two Westside dudes are hungry… they pick an area of town… they take a drive … they find an alluring restaurant … they dine there. This concept has brought us all around LA – from seafood to Thai to total crap – nonetheless our affinity for the unknown remains.

DATE: Sunday, May 2, 2009

RESTAURANT: Cantalini’s Salerno Beach Restaurant
193 Culver Blvd; Playa del Rey, 90293
310.821.0018
www.salernobeach.com

Their slogan: “The Best in Traditional Italian Cuisine.”

Our Slogan: “The Best in Traditional Italian Cuisine … on that part of Culver Blvd.”

Drive Time: 20 minutes

LIKES: Saltwater smell outside. The house band straight out of an early ‘90s Steve Martin romantic comedy. Cozy date spot. The hand-painted walls. Leather booths outside for table waiting. Cute, oddly dressed hostess. A lot of cork popping all around. Locals in beach attire.

DISLIKES: Thirty minute wait at 7:45 p.m. on a Sunday. The enflamed MAC Tools Autoracing parka worn by a dude at an adjacent table. At times feeling like we were in coastal South Carolina. The bread. Their middle school class project website (www.salernobeach.com ).

»continue reading Drive & Find: Ep 1: Cantalini’s Salerno Beach