TBA
Blue Magpie
Blue Magpie had a pretty good deal for dineLA restaurant week, so decided to get off my butt and try it.
The experience, despite being a great value, was... decidedly mixed. The restaurant, despite showing as fully booked online, was significantly more than half-empty the entire time, and the food, while good, was decidedly uneven in presentation. They clearly have aspirations of style, but at their price point, reality hits-- and to be fair, the balance is pretty good. Their cocktail menu is extensive, although that too was uneven, with the Blue Magpie (signature drink) that Rebecca got feeling sort of incomplete, while the other two drinks we got (Moonlight bloom, Lady Camellia) were much better.
The Hokkaido scallop opener as well as the Kurobota pork both aimed towards more stylish and were pretty good, although short of memorable. Wonton soup was excellent but a small portion, as befits a place with fine dining aims, while the duck "bao" we got was more like a duck open-faced slider on toast. Worked but not quite sure what the target audience was. The duck leg with rice was the most substantial course, so much rice that it felt almost like a meal unto itself, and decidedly off from the more fine dining vibe.
Dessert was okay, but much more towards ordinary than not. Purple sweet potato for decoration was basically a fail, although the taste of the lychee and tieguanyin dessert was just right. End experience was a bit of a mismash: attempting elevated presentation at a very reasonable price is probably the best description.
Cha Redefine after at Santa Anita Mall was delicious. A bit loud inside, so despite the fact that they have a decent amount of seating, walking around the mall is probably the thing to do vs. being deafened by the crowd and the blenders. Their lychee and rice series is pretty on-point, as was the coco strawberry (fresh strawberries, coconut milk, agar boba, avocado smoothie base).
Parted ways with Rebecca afterwards and ended up at Macho Chicken as the last stop of the night. Like Cha Redefine, had been meaning to go there for years-- so decided to stop stalling and go. With limited stomach space, went for the popcorn chicken instead of a burger, which had somewhat strange breading (at least for popcorn chicken, less so for fried chicken) that was rather heavy and overwhelming. Verdict: hard pass, although friends say I should come back for the burger.