150 S. Barrington Avenue
Brentwood, CA 90049
(310) 440-5553
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Absolutely lovely place for dinner with friends or for intimate nights. The seafood appetizers are amazing, but better yet would be to order the tasting menu, a five course meal especially prepared for that day. It’s better to call ahead and reserve, not because it might get crowded, but because you want to say you’re coming and to make sure the tasting menu would be available for you. Being a small place, they don’t carry much inventory, so if you get there too late, no tasting menu for you.

I’m not a fan of the saketini that this place is named after… I’m not even a fan of martinis so why would I be? But the food is absolutely wonderful, both in taste and in sight (the presentation is beautiful). This is a definite must try, and you’ll probably try, try and try again.

Multiple locations in Los Angeles.

All you can eat churrascarias make you want to gorge yourself on as much meat as possible to justify the price you paid. Charging you by weight makes Pampas Grill the ideal solution. They were originally just at the Farmer’s Market but now that they’ve opened one at the minimall on Overland and Venice it has been a very happy happenstance (Best Buy, Gamestop, Kragen, CPK ASAP, Ralph’s and hell, even a Radio Shack… it’s a nice play to shop for a boy).

The meats are decent but not on par with places like Fogo de Ch?o and By Brazil (although I would actually rate their garlic beef as better than the one I had at Fogo de Ch?o), but you don’t pig out and you pay way less. It’s a good deal and tasty to boot. And for the vegetarians, an all-salad plate costs less per pound than a mixed plate (while an all-meat plate gets you a pricy rate so do yourself a favor and bed the plate with rice or something).

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1615 Cabrillo Avenue
Torrance, CA 90501-2820
(310) 787-7520

A reason to drive to Torrance is this Brazilian churrascaria. The meal is affordable and the meats are excellent. It doesn’t have the variety or the finer meats like filet mignon that a place like Fogo de Ch?o would have, but it certainly delivers on what it has with equal quality and taste.

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A Brazilian churrascaria with a fancy name and an equally fancy price tag. It’s a good restaurant, and the variety of meats is amazing. But $53 for dinner is just a bit much. Mind you, it was $50 for a churrascaria in New York back in 1998 when the dollar was stronger, so this is a bargain compared to that, but still, with restaurants like By Brazil for all you can eat and for more managed appetites by paying by the pound in a place like Pampas Grill, I see little room to justify going to Fogo de Chão unless someone else is paying for it.

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Multiple locations in the Greater Los Angeles area

Don’t eat here everyday unless you plan on science to catch up and figure out how to unclog arteries and dissolve the fat from your heart. Unfortunately, if you love soul food, this is easier said than done.

The fried chicken is amazing. The catfish is tasty. Any of the main dishes, really, are homecooked goodness. But the sides. My oh my, the sides. From the cornbread to the buttered corn, collard greens, beans, and the ridiculous yams, it is all so, oh so good.

Mmmm.

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Multiple locations in Southern California, New York City and Hawaii

The lure of 99 cent Kirin draft during happy hour (5:00 - 6:30) and even during lunch was bait enough. That the meat would be half off just made it a feeding frenzy. This is a Japanese restaurant where you cook the meat yourself from a coal-fired grill in the middle of your table (most visitors to Korean BBQ know the drill). They’ve got steak in a variety of cuts and marinades, they’ve even got a variety of tofu and vegetables to grill if you’re not much of a carnivore. There’s also stuff cooked by the kitchen (like chicken karage, a favorite of mine because for all the foreign syllables this is, plain and simple, fried chicken).

Did I mention the 99 cent Kirin draft?

I have been to Gyu-kaku several times now and each time it is a celebration in dining with friends. And in the end, you can even order S’mores and toast the marshmallows yourself.

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The third remake of Richard Matheson’s novel is the first to actually use the novel’s title (and the second to use the character’s name from the book, the first being Charlton Heston’s The Omega Man).

This one is definitely based on The Omega Man but does bring it a little bit closer to the book. A little.

The ending remains completely contradictory to the ending of the book, which unfortunately for this movie means the title makes no sense whatsoever (the attempt to explain it via voiceover is painful to listen to).

Still and all, like The Omega Man, that first hour and ten minutes or so is brilliant. Simply brilliant.

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Good movie. Endearingly bizarre, endearing period. Just about the only complaint I have is my standard complaint: I really don’t get Jennifer Garner.

I didn’t even realize I’d seen Ellen Page before as Kitty Pride in the X-Men franchise (well, as the Kitty Pride that actually has a role, rather than the girl who just passes through a wall in the first X-Men movie). I liked her little role then, and here she is again and I liked her again.

I guess I’ll be seeing how her career progresses, if she can continue to be that spunky.

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Pure and utter shit.

You know, you can see the basic story of mythology a la Joseph Campbell sitting underneath it all, just like you could see it in Star Wars. But unlike Star Wars, this one totally and completely fucked it up so bad I am writing this with bad words and everything to convey to you just how bad this movie turned out.

It fucking sucks.

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Fun and for me, very satisfying. I do not deny that I am a fan of Disney animated films, and I do own a majority of them on DVD. That Disney pokes fun at its own history yet suggests that such saccharine dreams still secretly lie in our jaded, cynical hearts ask the question: “”Who’s truly poking who?”"

Enjoyed this movie. Enjoyed Amy Adams, who handled the role so sweetly. I’m pretty sure a lot of people fell in love with her, even if a little, watching this movie.

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