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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