Restaurant Review- Bubba Gump Shrimp Company

During my little yarn jaunt over the weekend, we stopped at the Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. restaurant in Long Beach. There's not much to this review, honestly. I was completely unimpressed with the food. In all fairness to the BGSC people, I had a headache and ended up taking my food to go, but doubt that I would have been much more impressed with the food had I eaten there.

Bubba Gump Shrimp Company is a international chain of of casual seafood joints themed on the movie Forrest Gump. I enjoyed the movie immensely but found the restaurant theme trite and vaguely obnoxious. Somehow it cheapens the film. The BG menu features a select number of sandwiches and entrees, a very basic drink menu featuring Lava Flows and flavored margaritas, and oddly enough, smoothies. I ordered the fried chicken and mash meal and my roomie ordered the shrimp and fries. I hate to say it, but the chicken was better than the shrimp. I'm reasonably sure that the shrimp were breaded in panko bread crumbs which gave them an odd flavor. The fries were handcut, skin on shoestrings. These were actually not bad although their mashed potato counterpart was just gross.

The one redeeming quality of the whole experience was the service. BGSC has a unique approach to getting a server to come and help you. Each table has two license plates marked "Run Forrest Run" from Jenny's famous quote and "Stop Forrest Stop" based on the signs used to help Forrest when he played football at the University of Alabama. The "Stop" sign is used to signal that a table needs service and "Run" means that all is well. In my case, when I flipped up the red plate, I had a server in about 30 seconds and when I forgot to flip it back to blue, I ended up with two more servers about a minute later. If the service is that good, it seems odd that the food would be less than tasty. Perhaps I'll give it another go at a different location.

Bubba Gump Shrimp Company

Locations

Bubba Gump website

Overall rating: 3 (out of 10)

Service: I recommend a minimum 20% tip. (10% - 30% range)

Parking: Parking in the adjacent parking structure. 2 hrs free with validation.

Price: $$ (out of $$$$$) I thought it was a bit expensive all things considered.

Food: One tail down

Figaro Enjoys Wolfgang Puck

This is more proof that Figgie thinks that he's a human people. Cats will eat some unusual things and usually want a sniff or taste of whatever you happen to be eating, but I've never seen one eat a potato chip before. He actually had 3 or 4 of these homemade chips from Wolfgang Puck's takeout restaurant in downtown L.A. Of course, we're talking about the cat who will sell his soul for chocolate Haagan Daaz and steal the empty pints from the trash so he can stick his head in them.

Restaurant Review- Creme de la Crepe

So this past weekend, after watching an episode of Good Eats on the Food Network that was dedicated to crepes, my fellow foodie and I hopped in the car for a quick trip down to Hermosa to a little French restaurant that specializes in crepes. We've driven past this place at least a hundred time without actually stopping because there is a cajun place next door, a creole restaurant down the street, and an award winning mexican place a little further on. Add in the dozens of other restaurants and bars on the street and well, there just isn't enough time or appetite to try them all.

Creme de la Crepe is a small (about a dozen tables) bistro style restaurant with country style tables and chairs. Paintings of the French countryside adorn the walls and are available for sale with prices ranging from $95 to around $400. The menu is varied without being complex with breakfast being served all day and free escargots on Wednesday and Thursday nights with the purchase of fondue. The emphasis is on crepes, but they also offer a selection of fresh salads, paninis, quiches, and French entrees like beef bourguignon. As with most new restaurants, we ordered an entree to split and in this case it was the savory Normandie crepe with goat cheese, spinach, proscuito, grilled onions and sour cream. It was, as the French might say, "Incroyable!" The crepe was thin and tender, the onions were sweet and perfectly good. The saltiness proscuito played nicely against the flavor of the goat cheese while the spinach brought everything together. Much to my delight, the staff split the dish into two plates without a plate charge. And then dessert. CDLC offers a nice variety of dessert creme combinations, but also offers the option to "create your own." After some debate, we opted to go with two separate dessert crepes, the simple lemon/sugar Gourmande and the heavier, more elaborate Zidane (fresh strawberries, bananas, melted nutella and vanilla ice cream) for me. If lunch was incredible, dessert for me was absolutely mindblowing. For weeks, I'd been craving something without know what and the Zidane filled the bill. Sweet bananas and Nutella (chocolate/hazelnut sauce) was offset by the slightly tart strawberries. The crepe itself was perfect and the ice cream was a nice bonus, but actually over the top. The Gourmande, while simple, provided a light, sweet followup to lunch and we left the restaurant feeling satisfied, but not stuffed like Thanksgiving birds. We will definitely be adding this restaurant to our list of regulars. The food was excellent, the service was friendly and quick, and location and parking were convenient although this last bit may not hold true during peak hours. One final note: Yes, there are actually French people working in this restaurant.

Creme de la Crepe

424 Pier Ave

Hermosa Beach, CA 90254

310-937-2822

Hours: 8 am to 10 pm 7 days/week

Creme de la Crepe website

Overall rating: 10 (out of 10)

Service: 15% tip minimum (10% - 30% range)

Parking: Metered street parking. Bring quarters.

Price: $ (out of $$$$$) Budget-conscious Rachael Ray would eat here. The most expensive item is the fondue at $19.95/person.

Food: Two tails up!

--Sionnach a well fed kitsune