Reactionaries

Time for a little shameless promotion... although that's what writing blogs is all about, right?

I recently partnered up with a few friends to start a record label that showcases musicians from my hometown of San Pedro. We just finished our first record, which is a re-release (first release) of a practice tape The Reactionaries (Minutemen before they were the Minutemen) and a b-side of a bunch of pedro musicians doing their versions of the songs by the aforementioned band. It's a pretty cool concept and was a lot of fun to make. You can check out site out at Water Under The Bridge Records. We even have another blog that chronicles the whole process of making the record.

It was a pretty damn cool experience. Chuck Dukowski of Black Flag played on it as well as Jack Brewer and Joe Baiza of Saccharine Trust and even Mike Watt, Todd Congelliere. So get down!

We are having a release party for the record at Harold's Place in San Pedro, Saturday Feb. 20th with a bunch of bands and good times. Check / click on the flyer below for info!

Ante's

Do you know when a restaurant must be really good? When the street it's on is named after it's family patriarch who created the restaurant. That's right. I'm talking about Ante's located on Ante Perkov way in San Pedro, CA.

Funny thing is that after living in San Pedro all my life, I've never eaten here. I've been to the bar a handful of times on 'Big Wednesday' when all the locals get together and have drinks with Ante (the grandson of the founder with the same first name). The one thing I do have to give Ante's credit for was it gave me a hunger and desire for fried calamari. The first time I ever tried the dish was when my friend's parents brought home a box of leftovers from their evening at Ante's. Since then I have been hooked on the fried deliciousness... although I never went back to the source. What was I thinking?

So one random Saturday evening, Alison and I went to Ante's with our neighbors Brandon and Melissa to indulge ourselves in some fine Croatian dining at Ante's. The dining room is old and awesome. Just sitting in the booth gave me a sense of history and tradition. Looking around at the other patrons, I had a feeling that everyone else had been there before a time or two and I would soon find out why.

We started off the evening with a bottle of Wente Riesling. It must have been pretty popular because by the time we ordered our second bottle, we had depleted their stock. The waitress later informed us that they had a baptism party earlier that day. I guess it must have been a fun one. Oh, and our waitress was pretty damn cool too. She was on top of everything we needed and pretty witty to boot. She did a good job of making us feel comfortable and at home.

Brandon getting gangsta with some Riesling

As I mentioned before, I learned how to enjoy calamari after eating leftovers from Ante's. Now it was time to go to the source. My experience before was like walking into a concert and getting a contact high. This time I was got to get the real thing, and you know what? I'm still jonsing another fix of some deep fried deliciousness.

Since Brandon and Melissa had been to Ante's quite a few times before, they guaranteed us that the dish to have was the Mostaccioli and a side of the Sauerkraut. Well, needless to say they were completely correct in this suggestion. Due to the massive portions at Ante's Alison and I split an order of the Mostaccioli as suggested by Brandon and Melissa. The sauce, cheese, meat and noodle heaven was really out of this world. The Sauerkraut was the shocker though. I put Sauerkraut on my hot dogs, but that's usually it. I've never even thought of it as an actual dish on it's own, but Ante's does it. Hot Sauerkraut with meat and sausage mixed in. My world had been changed.

After everything was said and done, we were stuffed, satisfied and slightly buzzed from the superb meal and spirits. Afterward we went home, not before a stop to our local booze dispensary, and drank a little Irish whiskey. I slept quite well that night, but I am still dreaming of my next meal at Ante's.

Ante's Restaurant

729 Ante Perkov Way

San Pedro, CA 90731

(310) 832-5375

New Years Eve Part III: Busy Bee Cafe

With 2009 behind us as well as our camp site, we were headed south towards home and driving into the future with 2010 fresh in our minds. The future? I remember being a kid and seeing drawings of the flying cars we'd have in 2010. What the hell, future? You are already letting me down. So, to forget about how lame 2010 has started out (the lack of flying cars part) we decided that we'd be best eating in the past. In order to quell our hunger for the past, we found a nice, old diner in Venture called Busy Bee Cafe.

The diner is situated on a really quaint street in Ventura that has a real sense of history. I felt like I was an extra in 'American Graffiti'. The waitresses in the Busy Bee Cafe wear the old-style waitress uniforms and there are controls to the jukebox at every booth. Pretty cool, right?

I had a patty melt and Alison had a chicken sandwich. My food was pretty damn good. It even came with an apple. Who serves an apple as a side anymore? No one in 2010 except for the Busy Bee Cafe.

Go get yourself a piece of history and hop into your flying car and try the tasty diner fare that Busy Bee Cafe has to offer.

Busy Bee Cafe

478 East Main Street
Ventura, CA 93001-2627
(805) 643-4864

New Years Part II: Fish Feast

New Years Eve, Camping and Cioppino. They go hand in hand, right? Well, when you're camping with Alison's aunts Marci and Barbara, they do. I'm not giving a play by play on this one because the pictures speak for themselves. On top of that, no one really spoke during the meal because every one's mouth was full for about a half hour while we feasted on the superbly prepared seafood soup. I guess one word to encapsulate this fine dinner: 'Delicious'. That's roughin' it.

Our chefs shocked as they realize how much prep there is involved

Aunt Marci showing off her apron and bowl of seafood goodness.

Marci stealing Emeril Legasse's signature move... I bet he's never thrown a little 'Bang' while wearing such a stylish apron.

I wish I was eating this now.

New Years Part 1: Summerland Beach Cafe

As you are probably aware, The Tasty Morsel has been living the good life - too busy, full and hungover to write. To punish ourselves for abandoning our faithful readers we decided to go on a no frills camping trip to ring in the new year. So, while you were dressed up in your finest popping bottles of champagne and endulging in passed hours d'oeuvres we were roughing it at El Capitan in Santa Barbara.

After loading up the old Ford Sports Trek with our tent, sleeping bags and double-thick queen-sized air mattress we were on our way. It was a funny coincidence; about an hour and a half into our trip our stomaches growled and we just so happened to be about a mile outside of Summerland. The town is a real shit-hole. Cottages with white picket fences and antique shops overlooking the ocean. I can't believe a 2 bedroom goes for $1.5 million here. We were lucky to find Summerland Beach Cafe.

I ordered homemade chicken tortilla soup and a turkey sandwich with bacon and melted cheese between two thick pieces of bread.

Bob had the Avo Bravo Burger which was overflowing with creamy avocados, savory ortega chilis, bacon and all held together with melted, tangy swiss.

We also decided to have a few of their beer-battered onion rings the size of our heads. After all, we were heading into the wilderness and this was probably going to be our last decent meal.

We managed to choke it down - I mean did everything have to be so fresh? What's wrong with letting everything sit around for a while so the flavors have a chance to come together?

Shortly after our stop in Summerland we stopped in downtown Santa Barbara to get a few provisions. We just got the basics: pomegranate juice and champagne, heinekens, water (a mixer) and a few packs of smokes.

El Capitan was just a little north of downtown and we were there before we knew it. When I checked in at the campground the attendant informed me that we were the only 'tenters'. I was not surprised, who else would be so brave to face the 70° days and upper 40° nights on a bluff in Santa Barbara?

Home Sweet Home!

Stay Tuned for part II... things get a little fishy!

Summerland Beach Cafe

2294 Lillie Avenue
Summerland, CA 93067
(805) 969-1019

Musso & Frank

Not too long ago Alison and I went out to Hollywood to see William Elliott Whitmore at the Hotel Cafe. So, why not go to the world famous Musso and Frank Grill? The place has been around forever, specifically since 1919. My main drive to visit the place was because I've read Bukowski's exploits and visits to Musso and Frank. Totally an odd reason to want to go to a restaurant, but hey, why not?

Finding parking was pretty easy since they have their own lot in the back. Usually parking in that area of Hollywood costs a bunch and is a total pain. Since this was easy, I was in a good mood. I really hate parking problems. There's been one or more occasion where I've had a meltdown and threatened to turn around and head for home due to lack of parking. Once I think I even turned around and came home. Gotta love a healthy temper.

The restaurant is nice and dark (as you can tell from our photos), which provides a nice ambiance. Upon looking around, the first thing I noticed that harkened back to older times was that each and every booth had it's own coat rack. Unfortunately I wasn't wearing a coat which could occupy our table's coat rack, but that is neither here nor there.

Time for drinks...

Musso's has a pretty broad range of cocktails that your grandparents may have indulged in. Not to say that the liqior is old at Musso's, but they have classic recipes. Alison ordered a Ramus Fizz and I had an Old Fashioned.

The menu at Musso's is full of classic dishes: pork chops, steaks, turkey meals, etc. Unfortunately for us, $35 for a meal is a bit much, so we had to find the cheaper menu items. Alison went for cheese ravioli's with mushroom sauce and I had the manicotti. Both were pretty damn good.

After we stuffed our bellies and sucked down our drinks, it was time to head down the street and check out William Elliott Whitmore. You can see a video we shot at the show here. We apologize in advance for the weight-supporting beam in the shot, but the place was pretty packed.