osteria

palo alto, ca

link to yelp

classic italian-american dishes. basically everything you expect from a family-run italian place. except for the fact that my pasta and clams came in red sauce, which overwhelmed the clam flavor. plus the clams were already shelled, which always makes me suspicious that it might have come out of a can or a jar. derek loved this place because he could order the basics - spaghetti in red sauce and grilled chicken. personally, i didn't find anything special about the food here. sure, it's classic italian. and its better than olive garden and buca di beppo (which is still great fun). but if it's just spaghetti, i prefer to make it myself at home with good ol' rao's red sauce.

genwa

los angeles, ca

website

okay, the backlog is getting overwhelming and i'm now getting nearly daily reminders from various people that i haven't updated my blog in forever. so i'm going to try to catch up, but might end up paying short shrift to some places. like this one. i've already suggested that los angeles has the best korean bbq in the country. (having tried korean bbq in NY, LA, Seattle, and SF, i consider myself an expert). anyway, cindy c took anthony and i here for korean bbq before catching our flights back to palo alto and DC. in august 2012. (did i mention that i'm behind on my blogging). anyway, it was delicious. my favorite is the thinly sliced daikon wrapper for the barbecued beef. the perfect crunchy and tart balance to the fatty meat. yum! okay, one down. only several dozen left to go ...