The wonderful dessert assortment at Milo Olive in Santa Monica. This great, casual cafe is known for Italian food but since it's owned by the team behind Huckleberry and Rustic Canyon the dessert is amazing.

Tiato - Santa Monica

Tiato - Santa Monica

Imagine if there was a cafe and marketplace on the Westside that was inviting, comfortable and beautiful with fair prices and easy parking. Add a market, indoor and outdoor seating and fantastic food. That location exists and it is called TIATO. Tiato is the  brainchild of  the lovely Catherine An of the famed An Family.

Catherine An and her mother Helene displaying Tiato - the namesake herb  for their newest eatery in Santa Monica.

The wonderful marketplace at Tiato features fresh and delicious food that is available
to take home.

The An family is well known for their Vietnamese restaurant empire - Crustacean. Crustacean has locations in Beverly Hills, San Francisco and South Coast Plaza with others in the works.
They revolutionized Vietnamese cooking and made this flavorful cuisine popular.
Catherine is one of the five An daughters. She has a great sense of design and an understanding of what people desire. Catherine is friendly and warm and she treats her customers the way they want to be treated.  She  has opened a unique restaurant that will also serve as a great party venue.
The restaurant and Marketplace is open for breakfast and lunch and in the evenings the space is available for private dinners, corporate meetings, parties and weddings. There is no space quite like it in Santa Monica. The dishes range from bacon wrapped dates and chicken pot stickers to flat bread pizza, Vietnamese rice noodle salad, steamed Dover sole in ginger-miso sauce, lamb lollipops and Coca Cola marinated brisket. I have tried many items on the menu and they are all fantastic. Many of the herbs and vegetables are grown in the garden that is part of the restaurant.  It is such a treat to find a space that is so aesthetically pleasing that has fantastic food to match.
Pryor Events are fans of Tiato.

Plan Check West L A

Plan Check in West L A is the kind of restaurant every neighborhood needs.
The food is consistently excellent, the menu is interesting, prices are fair and they are open late. It is the kind of restaurant you can frequent often and never get tired of.
Plan Check is on Sawtelle Boulevard, just south of Santa Monica Boulevard. This strip has long been known for its large selection of Asian restaurants. There has been a need for this type of dining and I am happy to say Plan Check has arrived.
The restaurant's name is a nod to  the adjacent Building and Safety Department. This is where architects, developers and designers go to get their plans approved.
From the house made pickles to the delectable donuts for dessert  and everything in between - each dish is unique and wonderful.
The dishes are simple but often have a tasty surprise. For instance the stuffed mushrooms incorporate kale and steak sauce in addition to the cheese. While many restaurants try too hard to change basic food, the difference here is that it actually works.
The sinfully delicious baked crab dip is supreme comfort food. Recently a local studio requested 250 of this dish for an impromptu party.
If you enjoy meat, you must try the short rib pot roast. I can almost promise that your mother's pot roast didn't come close.
The fried chicken is very popular as well as the double smoked pastrami.
Their burgers are fantastic. Even the turkey burgers are flavorful and interesting. The burgers include ingredients such as fried egg and pig candy. They may sound odd but they taste great. If you are not feeling adventurous, they also have more basic burgers on the menu. Make sure to order a side of the sweet potato waffle fries. On a lighter note -  the butter lettuce salad with egg, almonds and apples is excellent as well as the beet and goat cheese salad. This will leave more room for the cooked to order fluffy donuts. Enjoy!
Pryor Events are fans of Plan Check.

A few fun specials at Plan Check

Strawberry Pie

This is perfect for the 4^th!

I buy “Harry’s Berries’ from the Farmer’s Market for this. I only use a small amount of the jam as a glaze on top. It’s easy, beautiful and tastes great.

                      
STRAWBERRY PIE

Pillsbury Pie shell

3 pints strawberries (medium size)
8 oz Phila Cream Cheese
1/2 Heavy Whipping cream
1/2 cup powdered sugar
Strawberry Jam or Jelly

Cream sugar and cheese well - add whipping cream and beat till fluffy.
In cool baked pie shell, cover bottom with berries point side up - cover with cheese mixture. Cover top with berries - point side up.
Melt jam or jelly in small sauce pan and dribble over all the berries - refrigerate at least 2 hours to form glaze. Enjoy!