Elements Kitchen

So there comes a time in a man's life where he has to choose his favorite things.  Some choose the '69 red mustang parked in their parking lot. Some choose to love his best friend named Lucky the labrador. I choose to love the food served by the awesome people at Elements. I was referred here by a very good friend of mine, whom I cannot thank enough. Elements Caffe moved from Fair Oaks in Pasadena to join with their Elements Kitchen on El Molino Avenue. I always have a wonderful eating experience at Elements Caffe. I thought there could be nothing better added to Elements but someway.. somehow.. they did...now there is ALCOHOL! 

Good for: Families, brunch, a date, and just about any occasion 
Parking: They are various parking lots surrounding Elements. You can just follow the sign and park behind the building
Scene: A contemporary feel with many different groups of people enjoying themselves
Service: Very helpful staff but sometimes they get very busy
Noise level: Moderate chatter
Seating: Indoor and outdoor
Price: $$
Rating: 4.5/5 

We ate: Iced Brazillian Coffee, Hibiscus lemonade, smoked salmon benedict, and lobster mac & cheese with truffle oil and mushrooms 

Once you walk into Elements Kitchen, you get seated by a waitress anywhere you like.  There are a variety of seating spots.  It is a pretty spacious restaurant.  I went for brunch but for dinner, I believe, sometimes they have live jazz music by the bar. 

All of humanities goodness written in menu form

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Taste on Melrose

Last night, spurred from the excitement of starting this new blog, James Bomb and I made a massive nom quest out to West Hollywood to try out Taste on Melrose. It's on the ritzier side of Melrose, past the grunge and prostitute hangouts. I've been here a couple times for brunch (which I highly recommend by the way!), but this was my first time venturing into this place for a real massive meal. Can I also say that people who drive around this side of town are crazy? We thought we were nearly going to die on multiple occasions.

Good for: Dates & girls who want to go out for brunch

Parking: Valet for $4.50 or street parking if you're lucky

Scene: Very Hollywood

Service: Friendly (pretty cute servers)
Noise level: Loud chatter, music not overpowering

Seating: Indoor & outdoor
Price: $$ 
Rating: 3.5/5

We ate: Chicken tortilla soup, White truffle oil & mushroom mac & cheese, Kobe beef meatballs, Wild mushroom & radicchio risotto, Bread pudding, White wine

We got seated very quickly and had the choice of either patio or indoor seating. It was a great summer night, so we sat outside, with the lovely sun in my face. The hostess noticed me squinting profusely so she reassured me that the sun would go down by 7:15, which it miraculously did!

The dinner menu looked delightful enough and I wanted to try a lot of things, but the prix fixe menu was very tempting with its $26 price tag for 3 courses. We both decided to go with that and our server suggested some white wine for us that was half off. Sweet!

Pouilly-Fuisse Solutre, France
Very summery with a crisp, green apple aftertaste!

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