WE EAT THE CITY (Memorial Day weekend)

A friend in town, who we'll call Alimenti (which apparently means "food" or "nourishment" in Italian), forced me to stretch my stomach muscles last weekend. I haven't fully recovered (just ask the full plate of cheese, crackers, cookies and brownies I crammed down the hatch last night as "light appero" at a friend's soiree), but it was a mission worth eating for.

The project goal was to take Alimenti to a number of eating and drinking destinations that, in my opinion, define Fire City's ever-changing, lip-smacking, lick-worthy palate. Starting Saturday of the loooong weekend, we enjoyed an early morning cupa at my favorite organic anytime eatery, Urth Caffe. Their honey chai latte is definitely worth revisiting. But that's for another weekend, since we zipped off shortly after for brunch at Toast.

The first time I ate at Toast, I was awed and amazed not just by their food, but also by the ambiance and the pleasurable waitstaff. This time, though the sofa seats were still sublime, the tri-berry pancakes...not so much. I know better than to get pancakes anywhere but IHOP! What was I thinking?

We took a break after Toast then decided on late lunch. Why? Because I'd made 3pm reservations at the uber-up tight Pizzeria Mozza and didn't want to upset them by cancelling. This place is nothing but annoying before you get in the door, but once seated, you're well taken care of and deliciously content. It is worth the hassle. I almost don't want to say that, but it's true. The pizza is that good. Not to be outdown by the appetizers, though! We started with the avocado, agretti & walnut (a MUST!) and went big with the Eggplant Caponata. Both so delectably and interestingly flavored. "Agretti" is a bitter green, tastes kind of like spinach but looks like a small, grassy fern. And it's great against the avocado and the light brushing of mustardy vinaigrette over the walnuts. Our all-star pizzas included the BIANCA (very best, pure perfection), SQUASH BLOSSOM (the burrata is heavenly!) and the FUNGHI (over-salty, unfortunately, and the mushrooms were overcooked...but it was the one-pizza-too-many that we shouldn't have ordered anyway, so I almost blame us).

Because lunch at Mozza set us back one hundred dollars (yeah, 'cause we got wine, too) and filled us--or at least me--in an unnatural way, I swore off food for the rest of the day. But I did take Alimenti to pick up dessert at Michel Ricard, a French patisserie just next door to the Robertson location of my nostalgic favorite, LE PAIN QUOTIDIEN. If I hadn't been so full, I would have tried something to re-imagine myself in France....

Sunday brought on a new rush of food and beverage activities, for Sunday was unofficially Wine Day. Along with another friend who I'll call Ithaca, we set off early (after a pit stop at Urth) for north of Santa Barbara to tour the wine region. On our way we stopped at my new favorite in-the-midde-of-nowhere bakery (did I have an old favorite?) called Anna's Bakery in...well, the middle of nowhere. Their cookies were fantastic (I had gingersnap and snickerdoodle--oooh, one too many). From there we managed to hit four great wineries: Palmina, Melville, Babcock and Mosby. Alimenti bought a half case at Palmina (their Treminer wooed him in); I bought a wonderful white from Melville, as did Ithaca, and she also bought a delicious raspberry dessert wine at Mosby. We've got food and dessert plans galore as a result.

Post-wineries, we traveled back downward to Santa Barbara, stopping at a cute coffee bistro off State Street called Pierre Lafond. Like I hadn't already had one, I had *another* gingersnap cookie (Anna's was way better!) and downed an okay espresso (only okay) to make the drive home.

Monday morning before Alimenti's flight we trekked out to Santa Monica to Caffe Luxxe, where I had the best espresso of my life since coming back to the States...and the worst madeleine ever. I think they were a few days old. But the coffee did the trick, and I will recommend them in the future. We skedaddled our way to the airport after that, and I bid Alimenti adieu...that is until weekend after next when I head up to Town City to enjoy a gastronomic visit of my own.

Oy, I'm full just thinking about it.

THE SPOTS
urth caffe - http://www.urthcaffe.com/
toast - http://www.toastbakerycafe.net/
pizzeria mozza (and the even more pricey osteria) - http://www.mozza-la.com/
michel ricard - http://www.maisonrichard.com/
anna's bakery - http://www.annas-bakery.net/mozilla/index.html
wine country - http://www.sbcountywines.com/
pierre lafond - http://www.pierrelafond.com/
caffe luxxe - http://www.caffeluxxe.com/

THE RATINGS
urth - 5/5
toast - 3/5 this visit, 4/5 usually
pizzeria mozza - 4.5/5 (i *almost* blamed me for that pizza. but it was them.)
michel ricard - looked good
anna's bakery - 5/5 for cookies!
palmina winery - 4.5/5 (loses for ambiance, gains for snack and obviously wine quality)
melville winery - 3.5/5 (mediocre wines except the one I bought...but they forgot to charge us for our visit, so hey, I still like them!)
babcock winery - we missed the tasting, can't say
mosby winery - 3/5
pierre lafond - 3.5/5
caffe luxxe - 4/5

Updates to come:
- Sushi at the famous Studio City KATSU-YA (five stars!)
- The fabulous SEX AND THE CITY film (five stars!)