Peter Blake | food | writer | chef | David | mayor

California Love

by Mark Seal


Okay, I won't force you. Let's talk about being indoors. Where should we go for dinner? One of my favorite restaurants in town is Madeo's. It has these high, really narrow windows, and it's kind of sunken down, and the food is absolutely delicious. It's very old-school. There are a lot of families there and older folks. I get the langoustine, and I love the veal ravioli with walnut sauce. They have incredible pasta. The waiters speak Italian. We speak Italian, the little that I know from my college days. I'll say, "Grazie." The Little Door on Third is beautiful. There's no sign, just sort of a big Tuscan-looking wooden door. Locanda Veneta - I go there all the time too. It's so small and homey. The pastas and the meats there are amazing. I like Italian food. Then there's this sushi place called Nishimura, which I mentioned before. It's right on Melrose, across from the Pacific Design Center. It's a little nook. It doesn't have a sign either. David doesn't want me to tell you about it because he's scared that it's going to get too busy. I went there on my first date with him.

How did you two meet? We were set up by a writer friend of ours named Peter Blake. He writes for House, that medical drama, and he was friends with both of us. This was four years ago. Peter just called me and said, "Would you like to be set up with this guy David? He's also a writer from New York." And I said sure. David took me to Nishimura, and I thought he ordered rather pretentiously. He ordered the razor clams. He's a crazy foodie. If he goes to an Italian restaurant, he orders tripe and bottarga pasta. He can never just get pasta marinara or something normal. At Nishimura, David knows everybody. I'm just the girl who comes in with David. He's, like, the mayor when he's there. They just do their greetings and bow their heads, and David knows everyone by name, and he always does the chef tasting. I think he thinks it's really pedestrian that I actually order off the menu, as opposed to just letting the chef choose for me. On our first date, he kind of took over. He ordered for me. I feel like I'm a fairly adventurous eater, so I felt that was a little bit cocky of him. Nishimura is crazy expensive. We think about all the other things we could be doing while we're there, like staying in the Four Seasons for a night. I'm kidding, but almost.


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