Blogger SOS

Hi fellow foodies and bloggers!

It has come to my attention recently that my blog simply refuses to show several of my readers' comments. I have no idea why this is happening. I've even contacted blogger to no avail about fixing it. So if you're one of those people - please don't take it personally! I LOVE receiving comments and am not weeding yours out - promise!

But I need your help. If you have a blog - has this ever happened to you and how did you fix it? Or if you used to be on blogger and switched to something like wordpress and found you like that better I'd love to here from you too. I'm nervous about switching but might have too - this is just too annoying.

Please send a message to me directly (under my 'contact me') if you have any help or info for me and can't leave it in the comment section due to this annoying glitch.

Thanks and have a great Sunday y'all!

Alisa (The Meat and Potatoes Foodie)

Urth Caffe - Santa Monica, CA

When I come to LA, my husband and I get off the plane, grab our luggage, hop in the rental car and head straight to one place - Urth Caffe. Urth Caffe is foodie heaven. If you're all healthy and vegan and organic obsessed - they've got something delicious for you. If you're not all healthy (my husband) and the word 'vegan' conjures visions of dirty, hairy arm pitted hippies - they've got something delicious for you that will make you think you've just bedded the devil and his bong wielding roommate.

There is a catch though. It's counter service only. You wait in a (usually) long line and the people who take your order make me sweat like I've just been pulled over for driving barefoot in a bikini (this actually once happened to me but it turns out I'd run a stop sign.) The upside to this pressure cooker situation is that it keeps things moving. That long line is well-greased and soon you're spit out on the other side hunting down the perfect table. The only other catch is it's a bit pricey for a 'self serve' eatery but I overlook it because I love it so much.

I could spend years talking about the menu, but luckily I don't have to. Everything has generally been fantastic (though there was once an incident with a plate of very cold, sad poached eggs which I forgave because true love is bound to disappoint you from time to time.)

Quickly - my faves are the granola and yogurt, the quesadillas, the bread pudding (pictured above with sauteed bananas, changing my attitude towards the whole dish), the plum nori wrap, the chocolate blackout cake, and the farmer's salad which is served with a dried fruit bread that will make you take your South Beach Diet book and throw it in the Pacific. Oh and anything involving their coffee is sin by the cup full for a coffee lover. Their beans are unparalleled. It's embarrassing for the international chain I visit every day (Starbucks.) Others swear by their boba bubble tea which I haven't tried because I'm afraid those round baubles are going to send me to outer space if I drink them.

Urth has locations in Hollywood, Beverly Hills, and Downtown but I prefer the one in Santa Monica:) It sounds shallow, but the homeless are less likely to come snag your sammie while you're in the bathroom there and the ocean breeze is delightful.

A final note - due to the amazing interweb, YOU can experience Urth's insanely delish jams, coffee beans, and granola with the click of your all too friendly mouse...

Okay - a final final note is that these pics may not last long. I actually got yelled at for taking them. Apparently counter photos are a no-no. Which only made me want to take more of them. But the bread pudding image is all mine. I took it at my own damn table after I damn fair and square paid for it.

Urth Caffe
2327 Main Street
Santa Monica, CA
(310) 314-7040

I've been doing a lot of this...

We've been shooting our short film for Absolut and the print for over a week which is why I've been MIA. And we're not done. Now comes the tricky part - the edit. But I have some more LA eateries to share with you that I promise to post soon. As a side note - the set catering was fantastic. Too fantastic actually. I'm getting boobs. And my boobs are the last part of my body to gain weight. So you know what that says for the rest of me. I actually swore I'd eat steamed vegetables for dinner tonight but ended up eating fried potatoes and everything else on my plate besides the steamed vegetables.

Shoots are evil. At least it was fun. Really fun. I can't say more or I'll get fired for leaking secret client info to the public.

So until next time,

The (Curvier) Meat and Potatoes Foodie

Mozza - Los Angeles, CA

Last night we ate at the Mario Batali/Nancy Silverton/Joe Bastianich restaurant Mozza. Foodie fantasy fulfilled. Amen. Hallelujah. Praise Jesus. And cheese. And bread. And sausage. Definitely sausage.

We went to the Pizzeria not the Osteria and therefore missed out on the Mozzarella Bar (all their cheese is made in house!) But what we lacked in plates of lactose-rich concoctions, we made up for in Nancy Silverton's ethereal pizza crust.

We were in the mood for meat and went whole hog. I got the fennel sausage pizza (their sausage is also made in house, yet another reason for the endless hype behind this place) and all I can say is I walked out of there on a sausage high. It was beyond words. It was salty. Sweet. Fennel-y. Lightly crispy on the outside and delicate on the inside.

Kris, not to be outdone on the meat front, got the pizza with bacon, salami, sausage, and guanciale (cured hog jowl - don't knock it till you try it.)


This pizza comes with a delicate layer of tomato sauce while the fennel sausage is a 'white' pizza (cheese only and no tomato sauce.) And before you go thinking this might get boring, think again. The ingenious twist to this particular pie was the addition of caramelized red onion, sliced so thinly and cooked in such a way that you don't even recognize it the first couple of bites.

The second surprise was thinly sliced caramelized scallions that literally made the sausage shine, much like how David Lee Roth's leather pants made the music video 'Jump' the masterpiece it is. You can't separate them from one another. Don't even try. It's the same with the scallions and sausage. Food history in the making. Go ahead and jump.

I have to admit I was almost scared to try Mozza. It was so built up - there was almost no way it could meet the expectations I had in my head. But it did.

And then some.

Pizzeria Mozza
641 N Highland Ave
Los Angeles, CA 90036

Visit the website here.


Wall of herbs at the entrance.

The Reel Inn - Malibu, CA

I'm on the road for a couple of weeks and can't cook so I decided to share some of my favorite spots on the West coast with you.

The Reel Inn in Malibu is a no frills, no fuss antidote to the fancy meals and sushi that I am lucky enough to indulge in while on production. As the name indicates, this place is about one thing and one thing only - fresh fish. As soon as you walk in the door you come to an almost overwhelmingly large glass case stocked with fresh fish and shellfish literally caught that day. Tuna, snapper, swordfish, calamari, shrimp, calamari steak, catfish, and on and on and on. You'll feel like Bubba from Forest Gump as you try and decide what to order. And just like Bubba told Forest, there are any number of ways the Reel Inn can prepare your fish for you. Simply grilled with a wedge of lemon is a no fail, fresh from the sea way to go but they will also 'blacken' it (which is how I had my swordfish - delicious and coated with Cajun spices) or fry it up.

The sides are also no nonsense and fantastic. The french fries are just the kind you want to eat with a plate of fish - crispy on the outside like butter on the inside and the slaw, mashed potatoes, corn, and everything else takes you back to summers at the beach as a kid. Kris got the shrimp scampi and fell in love. The sauce was a perfect menage a trois between lemon juice, white wine, and butter.

The inside of the restaurant looks like a Texas beer hall with neon signs, picnic tables, and the occasional fanny packing tourist. The backyard is more of the same but you have a gorgeous view of the Malibu mountains behind you or of the beach from the other direction (just across the Pacific Coast Highway.)

We ate outside and watched the mountains fade from green to purple to gray in the waning sunlight before disappearing altogether. And just when all those picnic tables and bent silverware made us we forgot we were in Malibu, we ran into Pete Dougherty on our way out walking in with a lady friend. To quote the most hilarious MTV commercial ever (shot by the production company Traktor that we're working with on our job now for Absolut) - it was 'so LA...'

The website is here if you'd like to surf more food porn.

The Reel Inn
18661 Pacific Coast Highway
Malibu, California 90265
Open everyday from 11 am to 9 pm, full bar, beer and wine