Wednesday Dinner 8/18/10

Good Morning!!!! Today is a great day, I am a little tired but nonetheless I am here! Special "Shout Out" to summer for finally arriving. Yesterdays "Wednesday Dinner" was very quick and I kept to myself. Yesterday the sun was shining and I was feeling like eating something light and something I hadn't had in a while. I had been craving Hawaiian BBQ, I know I know, Los Angeles is really the last place to get authentic Hawaiian BBQ but hey it is what it is. So I decided to stop by "Q Hawaiian BBQ" which doesn't have a website and there is nothing really on the yelp link. "Q Hawaiian BBQ" is located in the heart of my neighborhood in Inglewood on Crenshaw in one of the new Inglewood Plaza strip mall buildings. "Q Hawaiian BBQ" is very clean and neat on the inside however the customer service SUCKS! I don't know what is going on in Inglewood but I've noticed that the customer service is horrible at a lot of these food establishments, which I think is a crock of shit! Seeing that in Inglewood we pay the highest tax 10.25% which is just utterly ridiculous. Anyway let the "Wednesday Dinner" story begin. I ate a little early because I had plans later on in the evening, I arrived at "Q Hawaiian BBQ" about 4pm and there were a few people in there, there was this group of 2 guys in there and they kept looking at me (WEIRD) because I don't like when people stare at me. Anyway I was looking at the menu and I decided I was going to switch it up and I ordered and this is by pure memory because I can't find my receipt:


#4 Hawaiian BBQ Mix- BBQ Chicken, Katsu Chicken, BBQ Spare Ribs (White Rice, Cabbage & Macaroni Salad)

The total for this came up to $8.70 which wasn't bad at all, I ordered my food for "here" and clearly that meant nothing! Because my food was still served to me in styrofoam but whatever. The food: the bbq chicken is pieces of dark meat matted and cooked like chicken breast. It’s grilled with a hint of bbq flavor but not overly saturated and served in whole pieces, the katsu chicken is their version of fried chicken. The katsu chicken is a mix of white and dark meat and it’s served sliced. The bbq spare ribs (which are my favorite) are your traditional koren bbq spare rib but just sold in a Hawaiian restaurant. The cabbage (which I love) is your regular cabbage, no fancy seasoning or anything, however I have to make it known that I like my cabbage soft! The macaroni salad taste like something I'm not used to but something I have gotten used to, the best way to describe it is it’s not overly done with mayonnaise and seasoning but suttle and good. It took me about 15 minutes to eat my food and people watch. As I was enjoying my food this young man decided to sit right across from me and eat his food and as I was looking down I saw the crack of his ass. Ummm it was to pack this food up and be OUT! and that's exactly what I did! I was full and I had to get to my mom's house because Shelby was having movie night with her friends, Shelby leaves for college next week (sad face). The movie night was hilarious and Shelby has a great group of friends, their loud but a great group. All in all dinner was great and if you are ever in the Inglewood area stop by "Q Hawaiian BBQ" and give them a try. If you would like to get on the "Wednesday Dinner" shopping list drop me a line wednesdaydinnerwithash@yahoo.com and follow me on Twitter www.twitter.com/wednesdaydinner . In closing I'd like to leave you with this “Promise little and do much" Until next week xoxox Ashley

Wednesday Dinner 8/11/10

Good Morning, honestly my loves this morning I DO NOT feel like blogging. I am beyond tired, I over slept this morning, made it to work an hour and 15 minutes late. I woke up with enough time to shower, brush my teeth, and wash my face and dress. I didn't do my hair and I'm wearing flip flop, I know I know shame on me. But hell I made it to work! Yesterday’s dinner was extremely special to me!! I had dinner with my Grandma (Grandma on my mom’s side); my Grandma was taking me to dinner for my birthday. Yes my birthday was officially 2 weeks ago as of today, but better late than never. My Grandma had given me 3 choices of places she wanted to take me and one of those choices was Marie Callendars (www.mariecallendersgrill.com/) which is now called Callendar's Grill located at the Howard Hughes Bridge. Let me give you this disclaimer first “Callendar's Grill” is totally different from Marie Callendars as far as the menu and the set up of the restaurant, however if you Google “Callendar's Grill” the Marie Callendar website comes up (I hope they can fix this). So it was just my Grandma and I for dinner, I love spending time with my Grandma. She's always so young spirited and vibrant and I love that about her. "Callendar's Grill" is very clean, neat and modern in the inside it reminds me of a restaurant you would see in a movie. It’s very spacious and a perfect place to hold a dinner party. Their menu is very simple and they offer a selection of "Tonight’s Specials" on a separate menu, it didn't take my Grandma and I long to decide what we wanted. First we placed our drink orders and here they are:


Ashley- Glass of Riesling
Grandma- Cosmo Martini

Riesling wasn't my first choice for wine originally I wanted a glass of Kendall Jackson, but they were all out (a little strange but ok). So now it was time to order (sadly I am doing this review all by memory because the website doesn't reflect what we ate). But here it goes:

Ashley- Blackened Tilapia with a creole sauce served with jasmine rice
Grandma- Quiche & Waldorf salad Sampler

It took about 15 minutes for our food to come out and during that time my Grandma and I just talked. We sat in a booth which had a window view and that was great because we got to people watch. I was a little taken back that there was no bread bout out to us while we were waiting????? So the food comes out and both entrees looked delicious. My food was piping HOT! This was my first time ordering Tilapia, I've been getting tired of fried foods and wanted something light with a lot of flavor and that’s what I got. The Tilapia was grilled and blackened; it was very fresh and tender. The creole sauce was a little too spicy for me (since I've been having run ins with heart burn lately), you can't go wrong with jasmine rice. I would have liked this dish a little better with some kind of grilled vegetables, and a different type of sauce. My Grandma's food was the BOMB, if you are not familiar with Quiche (it’s a baked egg pie that’s filled with whatever you want to put in it). This quiche had bacon, spinach and gouda cheese, served with a waldorf salad. Of course I took a taste and it was DELISH! It was very fresh and refreshing, in my opinion the perfect summer dish! I should have gotten what Grandma got! But mine was good for what it was. Over dinner my Grandma and I continued to talk and I love talking to her. She has been such a great Grandma to me and to all of my cousins. I remember when I was little spending so much time with her, playing dress up and just letting her love me. I have so many wonderful memories with her, although she doesn't use the internet I just want to say THANK YOU GRANDMA & I LOVE YOU!!!!! After both of us were only able to finish half of our food it was time to pack it up and go, however my Grandma wasn't going to leave with out letting our waiter now that it was my birthday and that I am a blogger. Thankfully no one came over to sing happy birthday, I did receive a slice of free pie. I ordered:

Double Cream Blueberry

This pie was DELISH and it was just the right size slice, I single handedly finished that slice of pie and I only offered my Grandma a slice when I was 2 bites away from being finished. All in all dinner was GREAT, the total came up to $46.30 which isn't bad. I recommend you stop by and visit "Callendar's Grill", so after dinner with my Grandma I went to meet my homie Justin to catch this movie screening. Justin came up on some passes to see the screening of "The Lottery" the new movie with Bow Wow. OMG Justin is theeee worst (hahaha) we were like 30 minutes late for the movie due to parking issues but SHOUT OUT to the lady that gave us a pass and let us in. The screening was at the Man Chinese Theater in Hollywood (www.manntheatres.com/). I am not sure what the fascination is with Hollywood, but it’s always too crowded down there. When we finally got in the movie, it was crowded; we sat about 4 rows from the bottom. I won't spoil the movie for you guys but its cute, everyone go see it when it comes out and support the black dollar! Thanks Justin for thinking of me I had a good time! If you would like to get on the "Wednesday Dinner" letter head drop me a line wednesdaydinnerwithash@yahoo.com and follow me on Twitter www.twitter.com/wednesdaydinner. In closing I would like to leave you with this "Do something life changing and that’s when life changes" until next week, blessings - Ashley

Wednesday Dinner 8/4/2010

Hello and Good Morning. My deepest apologies for not blogging last week, however there were a lot of things going on in my life last week. But with the grace of God I am back and feeling better than ever. This weeks "Wednesday Dinner" was very special to me because I was able to spend it with my favorite "youngins" as I like to call them (Shelby, Taelor, Genova and Maya). All of them will be going off to college within the next two weeks so I need to try and spend as much time with them as possible. So I invited them to meet me at the "Grand Lux" (http://www.grandluxcafe.com/) yesterday for a late lunch/early dinner and they all agreed. When I arrived of course they weren't there yet, but they didn't keep me waiting long. Looking at them I can't help but smile because I have watched them all grow and blossom into young ladies. Especially Shelby and Taelor, sheesh it makes me feel so OLD! But they all looked so cute and it’s clear that they are really growing up! "Grand Lux" has Happy Hour and you don't have to be 21 to sit in the bar area and enjoy Happy Hour. So we were seated at the bar and it was time to get "Wednesday Dinner" crackin! During the week "Grand Lux" has drink specials during Happy Hour, yesterday's special was a Raspberry Cosmo and OMG that was theeeee best Cosmo I've ever had! And it was only $5.00 (SCORE)! I decided that I would order for Shelby and I because we like a lot of the same food and Taelor, Genova and Maya would be on their own. So here is what was ordered:


Ashley & Shelby- Skillet Meatballs, Mini Buffalo Bites, Mini Lux Salad, Crispy Calamari, BBQ Pork Sliders, & Fried Pickles


Taelor- BLT with no Tomato


Genova- Skillet Meatballs, Mini Buffalo Bites


Maya- Mahi Mahi & Shrimp Scampi

Let me just start by saying that Shelby and I did not get all that food at once it was spread out over the course of time we were there. Our waiter was good, shame that the tip was already included but oh well. So let me start goin in on the food: Skillet Meatballs- DELISH! These are chicken meatballs (which I've never had) the meatballs were so moist, seasoned very well and topped with a very good marana sauce and cheese served with mini slices of garlic cheese bread. For $5.95 you get 3 meatballs and about 4 pieces of garlic cheese bread and in my opinion it’s worth every bite. Mini Buffalo Bites: its buffalo flavored chicken and cheese rolled into a mini ball and fried DELISH also! Served with blue cheese the only thing missing is carrots and celery that would have made this complete. However you get about 8 mini buffalo bites for $4.95 you can't beat that! Mini Lux Salad- was your average side salad, an arugula spring mix with tomatoes and a huge crouton served with balsamic vinaigrette dressing this salad was very refreshing and enough for 2 for $3.95. Crispy Calamari- calamari is one of Shelby and I's favorite things, this calamari is fried in a tempura like batter and was very GOOD! also enough for 2 and served with traditional marana sauce it was worth $4.95. BBQ Pork Sliders- I am not a huge pork fan but for some reason these stood out to me, these pork sliders were DELISH! Served on mini buns its bbq pork, coleslaw and a pickle, it’s just the right size I think a big sandwich like this would have been too much. I give the bbq pork sliders 2 thumbs up and for $4.95 you get 3 not too bad. Fried Pickles- now I have had fried pickles before and I wasn't impressed but these were the best I've had so far. These were dill pickles fried to perfect (not to crunchy and not to soft) and were served with an amazing remoulade sauce. Hi five to the "Grand Lux" for this one!! For $3.95 you get about 10 pickles and its well worth it, these pickles were so YUMMY! By the time we were finished Shelby and I were on FULL! Taelor is such a picky eater she had the BLT and didn't get the T (tomato) she doesn't like them. Genova was satisfied with her Buffalo Bites and Meatballs. Maya was late (as she always is! Haha) and she ordered the Mahi Mahi & Shrimp Scampi which I tasted and it was amazing, I am going to have to try that when I go back to the "Grand Lux". Over late lunch/early dinner we laughed and talked. I love hanging out with my "youngins" because they keep me young (hahaha). Shout out to the "Grand Lux" for playing some good oldies while we were eating. I have to say that I am so proud of Shelby, Taelor, Genova and Maya. They are all working and getting ready for college. Shelby is going to Channel Island, Taelor is going to Howard, Genova is going to San Francisco State and Maya is going to El Camino. I am so glad to have them in my life and I LOVE YOU GIRLS, good luck and much success in your futures xoxox. The reason why I mentioned the pricing of the food because "Grand Lux" has mini tapas specially priced and also Monday-Friday Happy Hour were drinks are specially priced and selected appetizers are $5.00. "Grand Lux" has one of the best Happy Hour I've seen so far, starting at 4pm and ending at 6:30pm what more could you ask for and as I looked at my reciept I am pleased to inform you that "Grand Lux" now takes reservations. The bill came and the total damage was $112.74 (WHEW) with 18% gratuity included shame! It was time to leave the "youngins" were going to the mall and then who knows where else. I got in the wind and had some business to handle. If you live in L.A. there is no reason why you haven't been to "Grand Lux" if you haven't kill yourself NOW! (haha), but get familiar with it. If you would like to get on the "Wednesday Dinner" bandwagon drop me a line wednesdaydinnerwithash@yahoo.com and follow me on Twitter www.twitter.com/wednesdaydinner. In closing I want to leave you with this "Success builds character, failure reveals it". Until next week lots of love -Ashley