LIVE WELL, EAT WELL, SHOOT WELL

Yesterday, Amanda gave me the responsibility of making dinner plans on a Saturday night. More so than not, I usually already have a reservation lined up, and if I don't, 9 times out of 10, we most likely end up at Gulf Stream. Being that it's the holidays and we've been stuck in West Hollywood the last week or so, anything fifteen minutes in any direction would feel like getting out of town. Those of you that live in Los Angeles know exactly what I'm talking about. Anyway, my first instinct was Manhattan Beach, but I'm not familiar with the area and wouldn't know what to pick. After searching the web for half-an-hour, I came across chef Michael Voltaggio. For those of you that don't know him, Michael won season 6 of Top Chef and is the head chef at The Dinning Room inside The Langham Hotel in Pasadena. Perfect. Pasadena is only like 25 minutes from our place. It's like going to St. Paul if you life in Plymouth! We got in the car, hit a little traffic (there must have been a Lakers or Clippers game...who knows), and arrived in beautiful Pasadena. The hotel is exquisite, just a hop skip and jump from downtown, though you wouldn't know it since it was already dark out when we arrived. I couldn't get my bearing for the life of me and I'm pretty good with sense of direction. Just ask my dad about the time we took a driving trip to Los Angeles when I was fifteen, trying to get back to the hotel and we drove toward the beach for an hour. My dad screaming at my mother "where in the hell are we", and then yours truly chimes in saying "we've been driving the wrong way for an hour." Did I mention I was lying down in the back seat and hadn't looked up in 45 minutes??!!

Anyway, the food was amazing. The best meal Amanda and I've had in the last few months. The Japanese Shima Aji was hands down the most amazing piece of food I have ever put in my mouth. Simply a fantastic dinning experience. Michael made a quick appearance in the dinning room but we were shy in getting his attention.

Of course I brought the Leica for some quick snapshots. Sadly no pictures of the food. Darn. But the hotel is absolutely beautiful. Don't know if the photos will do justice since we were there at night, but here are a few. By the way, I still made a reservation at Gulf Stream as a back up. Ya never know.