Food, Food, Food

I'm totally fascinated by food and I'm a sucker for gimmicky restaurants like Korean BBQ (see pictures), Brazilian Churrascarias and Japanese Shabu Shabu. Oh yes, and how could I forget The Melting Pot (http://www.meltingpot.com/). I'm not particularly keen on restaurant chains, but The Melting Pot is definitely an exception.

Then, there are gimmicky menus, let's see, JAR has Mozzarella Mondays (http://www.thejar.com/jar_menu_moz.html), Grace has Doughnut Shoppe Wednesdays (http://www.gracerestaurant.com/index.php/grace_test/articles/dougnut_shoppe_night/) and Campanile has Grilled Cheese Thursdays (http://www.campanilerestaurant.com/).

All very clever, but I came across progressive dining and found the concept to be fascinating. I haven't tried it, but it is definitely on my things to do list. The idea of progressive dining is to have a 3 course meal, sometimes more, across numerous restaurants, instead of just one. So, for example, appetizers are served at one restaurant, the main course is served at another and dessert is served somewhere else. The pros: you get to test out the food and the service at different establishments. The cons: you can't get too comfortable at any one place.

I did some research and found a company, Melting Pot Tours, that offers various progressive dining experiences in the Los Angeles area (http://www.meltingpottours.com/). If you look on http://www.goldstar.com/ sometimes they offer tickets at nearly half price for these tours. If you decide to sign up for goldstar, please use this link: http://www.goldstar.com/tr/nc/6112/908640/?p=f908640ff26&ref=sub908640&mar=news6112

I also came across an even more interesting one that includes water taxi transportation (yup, that's right, a water taxi!), but it is in Oxnard (Channel Island Harbor, to be exact). Be sure to check it out, Progressive Dining (http://www.progressivedining.com/progressivedining/index-1.html#Testimonials). I'll have to test this one out for myself sometime this summer. Sorry, not aware of any coupons/discounts for this tour.

On another note, I found out today that the Queen Mary in Long Beach is offering free admission to Southern California residents throughout the month of January. The admission includes a self-guided tour of the Queen Mary. All you need is a CA ID/Driver's License. Parking is only free for the first 30 minutes, then the prices are as follows: 31 minutes to 1 hour: $3.00; 1 hour to 12 hours: $12.00; 12 hours to 24 hours: $15.00. For more info, visit: http://www.queenmary.com/index.php?page=eventcalendar