I’m an LA kind of guy and love to visit family and friends as often as possible in LA.  The last trip I made my good friend Persh and I ended up in Century City where we ran into Terry Bradshaw just before going into Rock Sugar, a pan Asian restaurant that had just opened a few weeks prior to my visit last Summer.  I’m not certain if Terry Bradshaw had just finished eating there, but it looked that way.  This is a very elegant restaurant on the low to moderate priced level.  I love the decor of this place, the location is perfect with an outdoor mall and movie theater in the same location.  Because I was en-route to Sydney on this trip I even stopped by the Bose store and picked up some quiet comfort headphones for he second leg of my journey down under. 

I highly recommend the shaking beef, which has a very distinctive sweet yet savory flavor.  The mixed drinks from the bar are excellent, and the service was top notch.

I’ve been to San Diego a lot over the years and about 5 years ago I ran into the 222 Cafe located at 222 Island Ave just around the corner from the Gas Lamp district. There for the first time I had the pumpkin waffles which danced on my taste buds like no other waffle had in my 30 years on the earth. Today the 222 Cafe continues to thrive and impress. Visiting again a few weeks ago I stopped in for another pumpkin waffle and to my surprise, it still had that same soft light full of flavor texture you don’t expect to find in a cafe. Being in San Diego and staying only 4 blocks from the cafe, I knew this little cafe would see me again. After speaking with Rachel, my lovely wife, I heard that Bobby Flay enjoyed a breakfast at 222 Cafe as well however his favorite was not the pumpkin waffle but the Banana and Peanut butter French toast. So before heading to the airport on my last day in sunny San Diego, I headed over to the cafe for one last breakfast and I ordered the “Yup you saw it on the food network” French toast. I was a bit apprehensive at first but let me tell you, bring a friend and share this because it was huge. I can eat but I couldn’t finish this plate of perfectly done bread stuffed with slices of banana and peanut butter. Nothing was too overwhelming, all of the flavors just blended so well with a little butter and syrup. Get this dish before you get the pumpkin waffle and you’ll probably never want to order the waffle. Great place, 222 Cafe! Go there, tell them Jimmy sent ya.