My Thursday

In the mood for something new? I always am. Even though I will pay respect to certain bars and restaurants by frequenting them more often than others, I always want to leave room for those that could possibly maneuver their way up. Last night for example; I first heard of this place while waiting in line at Anthropology during the holiday shopping season. A woman behind was on the phone making a to go order. I was already at that moment beginning to ponder what I was going to do about dinner and upon eavesdropping my stomach quickly turned to the direction of this woman's phone order.

"Excuse me. Hi. I hope you don't mind me asking, but who were you just speaking with?"

Without hesitation, as if she was excited to share her little secret, she said, "Oh my gosh. That was this new restaurant off Wilshire called Milo + Olive. It is delicious but they are always packed. So I usually get takeout."

Out came my phone and I went straight to my Yelp application. I then called and asked what the wait was like. "It's about an hour right now, " the woman said.

Not terrible. But maybe I should prepare for an evening when I know I am going to be waiting a little while. Last night I cashed in. Went down there around 6:45pm and put my name in. Right away i noticed why the wait is always at least quoted for 45min or so. There are only two large family tables that seat 8-10 and a bar top that seats about another 8-10. The owners who also started Huckleberry, Rustic Canyon and Sweet Rose originally wanted to use this location solely as a bakery and possible sell pizzas via a to go window. Now it still does act as a bakery but as a small restaurant as well. The menu is simple; Pizzas, Salads, Wine and Beer... Delicious.

Anyways, we waited under the quoted time, ordered a bottle of wine, split a mushroom pizza and a arugula salad and it was fun.

After, we wanted to grab another drink and try out this new place in Venice right off Venice Blvd. and Abbot Kinney called Le Zinque. from the outside it's modern, rustic, great big glass doors and you can see the dim lights and the silhouette of people enjoying their time. i was pretty pumped because it looked like a place that I could go to often. I'm a big sucker for environment/atmosphere. Yes, you need to have a good product, but the right setting is huge too. They are a cafe by day, wine and beer by night kind of hang out. Right away the bartender, enthusiastically, took us through a few suggestions. He was very entertaining as he, Marc, joked with us in his heavy French accent. Saint Tropez was his home. He engaged us in his story of how he ended here in Venice, Ca. Bottom line, we left happy and tipsy. We plan on seeing Marc on a regular basis.

(Le Zinque pictured above)

600 Venice Blvd.