Dinner in the South Bay

CH: Dan's boss/company owner gave him a very nice thank you gift for his work anniversary today....a nice dinner for us on him. :)

So he told us we could spend about $60.....and I'm trying to think of how best to spend this dinner treat tonight......

I really want to go somewhere we've never been, but I don't want it to suck....and I want to stay within the $60 for 2 entrees as well...and I'd like to go somewhere in the South Bay, either Palos Verdes, Manhattan Beach, Hermosa Beach, El Segundo, Redondo Beach........

Any suggestions? Anyone?

JH: I highly recommend Chakra in Manhattan Beach. Check out the Yelp review. It's pricey, but amazing. I think our bill was near $100 for the two of us, but we also ordered cocktails and appetizers. Definitely not a kid-friend atmosphere, but very hot for a couple's night out!

CH: I think we're going to bring Caydan along to dinner....no babysitter...so we probably need somewhere kid-friendly...maybe not kid-welcoming, but at least friendly. :) :)

I checked out the Yelp site though and it looks really neat!! We'll have to try it sometime when we actually get a night to ourselves. :) :)

JH: Also try Salt Creek Grille in El Segundo. You can take Caydan there.

CH: I've been to Salt Creek Grille a few times for work functions as it's right down the street....I wasn't super impressed, mainly because I like options and their menu is 1 page...and very spaced out...so not even a big 1 page...but their kobe sliders are pretty good. :)

We ended up going to this restaurant called Piknic in Playa Vista. I was looking through our entertainment book (awesome book) and browsing through the restaurant coupons and saw this one. So I thought this was a perfect opportunity to get Dan over there so he could see what the city looked like.

The restaurant was super nice, very classy, but not stuffy. There was one other family with kids there plus us with Caydan. A very inviting fireplace outside on the patio, and the whole city itself is just beautiful, so I was just happy to be walking around there.

The food was pretty good. Dan got a New York strip steak which was actually DELICIOUS (for $30 it better be!) - even I really liked it and I'm not a big steak person.

I got this baked penne with all kinds of cheese including ricotta on top....the bites with the cheese was DELICIOUS...the rest was a little bland...but there was enough cheese to go around for sure.

Caydan got the kid's chicken strips, and I think those were my favorite part of the meal. Again, expensive chicken strips, so I expected good chicken....and I was not disappointed. Caydan liked my noodles better than his chicken so we basically swapped....and his chicken was sooooooo good. Great quality meat.

And they had a great bread starter with garlic butter and this red sauce...kind of like spice filled marinara...delicious.

And then dessert of course, we got a "dark chocolate box" or something like that...dark chocolate forming a "box" with cake and mousse in the inside...very rich, but very delish!

Great meal. :) :) I soooooo want to move to Playa Vista :)

http://www.piknic.us/

JH: Piknic sounds awesome! We'll have to try it soon! Joe and I had an ethic culinary weekend, having Fu Yuan Lo and El Pollo Inka. Both were so yummy!

CH: Dan and I went to El Pollo Inka recently, and we were very unimpressed. We tried the pollo saltado (or something like that) because we had some recently at another Peruvian restaurant in Long Beach and it was soooooo yummy - but El Pollo Inka's was so bland and not good at all. Very disappointing....so we probably won't go back.

But now we're on a hunt for the yummiest pollo saltado in the South Bay. I'll let you know when we find it. :)