Category Archives: Stalkerazzi

Prisoner of Second Avenue

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The only reason that I went to see Prisoner of Second Avenue was to see the talented Mr Jeff Goldblum. I didn’t even know what the show was about!

The clue as to what tonight’s performance was about is in the name – Jeff Goldblum plays a middle-aged man who loses his job, and subsequently his mind!, and as a result is a prisoner in his Second Avenue home. Mercedes Ruehl is brilliant as his ever-patient, ever-supportive wife. I don’t think two actors were more suited to play their respective parts.

At all times both funny and sad I came away even more impressed by Jeff’s acting abilities and totally fell under Mercedes’ charm. So much that we went and stalked them at the stage door where both graciously posed with Su Yin and I.

Benares

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Its not often that you’ll get a Michelin-rated restaurant on offer but Benares always seems to have some sort of offer around which actually is good bang for buck, or pound as the case may be. Tonight’s offering was 3-courses and a Pear and Cumin Bellini (or a non-alcoholic cocktail for someone with an “allergy” like mine) for £19, with the third course for an extra £6. This deal also included tea or coffee and petit fours. A great offer for dinner.

Atul Kochhar, owner of Benares, is not without his qualification. As head chef at Tamarind he became the first Indian chef to be awarded a Michelin star with Benares achieving its star just three and a half years ago. Of course he has been around on the scene for a while but he was brought to my attention thanks to the BBC’s TV series Great British Menu, which really I think has been partly responsible for raising the profile of British chefs in the greater public arena.

Atul is best-known for bringing that modern spin to Indian cooking and I was pleased to find that his high standards of quality really comes across in his food. Because we were dining on an offer our options were fairly limited with basically a choice of three for each of our courses (generally, veg, fish and meat for the first two.) Having said, based on what we actually ate, I suspect that I would have been happy with any of the starters or mains on offer. (Unlike some restaurants where normally there is one standout dish …)

After these accompanied by I think goosebury, pineapple and tomato salsas

we were on to our starters of Lemon Thyme Salmon Cakes with Greek Feta Salad for Jenny and Pan Seared Chicken Fillets with Pickled Red Cabbage

They weren’t the most giant portions in the world however the taste and delicacy and tenderness (of my chicken at least) couldn’t not be faulted. I really wanted more Atul Kochhar!

Next up was the Tandoor Cooked Grey Mullet, South Indian Style Mash Potato and Mango Sauce, the description of which was irresistible to both Jenny and I.

The portion was quite reasonable for the main this time but the taste was equal to the starter. Gorgeously flavoured and a very well-balanced dish. Sauce was exactly right and the fish was cooked to perfection. Atul Kochhar you cook a mean meal!

After a wipe of our hands

it was on to the disappointment of the evening – the dessert! I’ve never really had a truly successful Indian dessert so whilst Jenny enjoyed her (not very Indian) Raspberry Éclair and Ginger Basil Sorbet, I was less impressed by the Mango Fool with Rum and Vanilla Panacotta. There was nothing too exciting about my dessert … maybe it was the size that got to me – it was tiny!

Petit fours included a cardammon ganache, sesame seed crisp and the most delicious thing I’ve ever tasted – some sort of yoghurt and pistachio concoction (the balls in the shot glass).

Service was pretty good though sometimes a little off-putting (e.g. when our side plates and our popodoms were taken away without checking if we were finished, and with the petit fours not having enough to have one each, and at the end almost being rushed out the front of the restaurant by the bouncer – though I’m sure that was not intentional.) On the plus service was friendly and courteous to the extent that on the way out one of the waiters saw how we were enthralled with the décor and showed us the table with a view of the kitchen and the private dining table situated in the wine room. Benares is definitely one of the prettier restaurants I’ve been to with lots of interesting different spaces for dining. Good atmosphere and filled with many posh Indians!

Overall the food definitely met my seal of approval and we ended on a high with the petit fours. As an added bonus we had a minor celeb spot with TV’s Bionic Woman’s Michelle Ryan (also formerly of EastEnders) who briefly sat next to us before she was joined by more people than the table could fit and she was moved. Honestly, it wasn’t us who made her move!

The boys at A&F

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So, being Rache’s birthday and all, I thought it would be a nice treat for me to introduce her to something that Laney introduced me to last week … the boys at A&F.

Nice huh?

The Ivy

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Recently dropped as the No. 1 restaurant in London, The Ivy is still an entry on the to-do list for most of the longer term visitors to this city. I say longer term visitors as bookings are taken at least three months in advance and often getting this booking is the biggest challenge of this experience.

R had made a surprise booking for her and her boyfriend but due to conflicts in her schedule was unable to take it so she was nice enough to offer it to me.

I guess The Ivy is known first as a celebrity dining hole and second for its food. As I walked in tonight I swear I saw Ricky Gervais (of The Office fame) sitting off to the side but as I was trying my best to be cool (no snickering people!) I didn’t stare too much. In fact, most diners will check you out as you walk in so its hard not to be a little self-conscious from the attention. I’m not sure if there were any other A-list stars present tonight as, continuing on with my cool attitude (again people – you really must stop snickering) I resisted the urge to look around the room too much.

So, on with the food. I must say that the food is nothing special or unique. Whilst there are some strange combinations of food and some game make their way on to the menu – the majority of the fare, though diverse, could probably be found at most other restaurants (and for a more reasonable price!) The food that did come out was just okay and I thought far too salty though I think my brother enjoyed his selection of dishes.

Service was pretty good with our waiter being quite attentive and for the most part efficient with our requests. The doorman, with his coat tails and top hat, was probably the least accommodating as it felt like he didn’t do anything (not even open the doors) except pose and just strut around. Oh – the main room (for which you have the privilege of paying an extra £2 per person to dine in) was much cosier than I thought with tables placed very closely together, low ceilings, stain-glass covered windows and a dark old-fashioned feel to it. The restrooms must have been fascinating as I’m sure I saw every female at least make a visit to them.

Overall I’m glad to have done it, and I can now tick that box in my to-do list, but I wouldn’t go back unless I was guaranteed good food and at least one A-list celebrity. : )

Elle sighting

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On my way to work today Elle passed inches from me as she came out of Starbucks and headed into a black SUV with heavily tinted windows. I had to do the double-take but I swear it was her – she was all leg!

LA

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Of all the time we were away on this big break, our time in LA was designated family time, the principal reason for embarking on this family trip being to attend my grandma’s “80th” birthday celebration.

The celebration was being held in LA as although my grandma lives in New York, most of the family was in LA and it was also a good opportunity for her to visit the west coast for a change. Of course the celebration turned out to be a family reunion of sorts, though I’m not sure you can call meeting aunts, uncles, cousins etc. for the first time a “re”-union. The celebration went off fine. My Uncle’s house was a madhouse for a few days before and after the celebration as the celebration turned into an almost week-long family reunion.

After things settled down, we were able to go off and do some sight-seeing around LA including visits to Santa Monica and Venice beaches, Knott’s Berry Farm and Six Flags Magic Mountain. We also squeezed in a day of outlet shopping at Camarillo Premium Outlets.

Santa Monica Beach and Venice Beach speak for themselves. The weather wasn’t picture perfect but you can imagine how nice (and how crowded) they are in the height of summer. Finally I got to see the famed Muscle Beach, the outdoor weightlifting gym on Venice Beach’s Ocean Front Walk. I didn’t see any great big body-builders – and the one body builder that was there got a derisive “put your clothes on” comment from a passer-by.

Knott’s Berry Farm claims to be America’s first theme park and actually started life as a way to entertain crowds lining up for Mrs Knott’s fried chicken dinners. When the Farm was sold to Cedar Fair L.P. the park saw a shift towards thrill rides, with the construction of a number of large roller coasters and high-thrill water rides. The latest in rides is the Silver Bullet a multi-My cuz and Ielement inverted coaster. Woohoo – it was our first ride and set the tone for the day.

Despite these changes I would say that overall Knott’s Berry Farm is still targeted towards the younger audience (so it was good we had our nearly 11 year old cousin with us! :)) with plenty of shows and gentler rides and attractions. I don’t know what the Farm would be like in summer with the crowds but we were pretty lucky as most kids had finished with their spring break and lines were short if not non-existence. In summary:
– Shows worth seeing are the very mystical Mystery Lodge and the entertaining Wild West Stunt Show.
– Rides worth riding include the most of the coasters: GhostRider, Xcelerator, and Silver Bullet (Boomerang I didn’t enjoy so much as it was extremely painful!), and the water rides Timber Mountain Log Ride, Bigfoot Rapids and Perilous Plunge but make sure to do them early in the day because you will get wet! For a bit of fun ride the Butterfield Stagecoach (up top and at the back is most fun) though mind that the wait is long even if the line appears short.

waiting in line for de ja vuIn contrast with Knott’s Berry Farm, our visit to Six Flags Magic Mountain saw more of a crowd. Although most local kids had gone back to school, we were faced with larger crowds as many of them came to Magic Mountain for physics class field trips (nice excuse) and also because a lot of the older kids from other States were here on field trips. Magic Mountain, as you’ve probably gathered, is part of the Six Flags chain of theme parks based around thrill rides (so its not really for the little ones or those with weak stomachs.)

I could go on and on about all of the 16 coasters (and other assorted rides) at Magic Mountain but I think I’ll just stick to suggesting some of the better coasters:
– Batman The Ride. A suspended looping coaster with hair pin turns and zero gravity.
– Déjà Vu. Like the Boomerang coaster at Knott’s Berry Farm but better. First you go forwards and then backwards. The view from the front is the absolute best.
– Goliath. With one of the tallest drops in the world this ride was exhilarating to say the least. We rode this one 3 or was it 4 times?
– X. A four dimensional coaster (due to seats that spin 360-degrees forwards and backwards). I couldn’t handle riding this coaster more than once, as it brought on the most immense headache, but you have to ride it at least once for the novelty factor.

Go Mum!Celebrity sightings

I’m always on the look out for meeting a celebrity or two. Although I didn’t really have an opportunity for star sightings I did make eye contact with a minor celebrity in the form of Enrico Colantoni (known best to me as Elliott DiMauro in the TV series Just Shoot Me but now also starring in Veronica Mars) whilst walking through first class to get to the economy seats on my flight from New York to LA.

Additionally, any fans of the Amazing Race will be familiar with the pocket rocket Mirna (of Charla and Mirna) from Season 5. Technically I didn’t see her but Mum did go up and have a chat with her. Go Mum!