Tuesday, July 18, 2006

Hooray for elephants! Hooray for mojitos!

It’s hot here in Los Angeles, but the Hungry? staffers had a bit of a break today. We went down to check out the recently opened Liberty Grill, and met the manager, Lori Theis. Liberty Grill is one of the new spots brought to us by Fred Eric of Fred 62 fame (p. 41 in da book). We’ve been carefully watching the construction of this place over the last months and, more recently, anxiously awaiting the opening as the smells of fresh BBQ wafted up from their test kitchen. It seems it was all well worth the wait. The place is gorgeous with two bars and a nice patio that should be perfect for a post-game, or, more likely, post-work drink. The menu seems focused on American comfort food with a typically-Fred hip twist (see: the Berzerkley sandwich) and with ambiance to match. When you’re there be sure to check out the photos of strange American roadside attractions, especially the milk pail shaped milkshake stand.

Even better, we saw elephants. And horses too. Yes, from the corner window of our office we watched a mini elephant parade march down 11th St. It would seem that the circus is in town. Our discovery sparked a discussion on the merits of the zoo. The conclusions were as follows:

1) We all like peanuts
2) We are also rather fond of elephants and acrobats.
3) The potential mistreatment of cute and/or sad animals is deplorable.
4) Clowns are sometimes scary. They are generally not very funny.

So, even though the Liberty Grill is decidedly not cooler than watching elephants we’re already fans. With weather like this we can’t wait to try one of their bars. Hotel Figueroa will your mojito stand up?

Coming soon…the great mojito challenge!