A Politically Incorrect Blog About Living in Woodland Hills, California

DineLA Winter 2010 Restaurant Week Participating Restaurants Announced, Including Woodland Hills Participants

Participating restaurants for DineLA’s Winter 2010 Restaurant Week have been announced.  The Woodland Hills establishments are Fleming’s Prime Steak House, Morton’s The Steakhouse (A/K/A Arnie Morton’s), Roy’s Hawaiian Fusion, and Ruth’s Chris Steak House.  All are participating for dinner only, and all but Roy’s will be at the $$$ price level ($44).  Roys will be $$ ($34).

DineLA’s Winter 2010 restaurant week event will takes place Jan 24 thru 29 and Jan 31 thru Feb 5, 2010 and features a special prix fixe menu which differs for each establishment.  Simply visit the site and select Woodland Hills as your neighborhood, then click on the preferred restaurant to see the menu selections.

There is also a special offer for American Express cardholders:

GOOD TASTE SHOULD BE REWARDED! Register any eligible American Express® Card and get a $20 statement credit when you dine out three or more times at any participating restaurants during dineLA Restaurant Week. Click here to register.

Enjoy!

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Save Money With Friday’s Give Me More Stripes Customer Loyalty Program, And A Damn Fine Pork Chop

Back in November I signed up for TGI Friday’s customer loyal program Give Me More Stripes.  It’s probably one of the best customer loyalty programs around.  Essentially you get 1 point for every dollar you spend, and once you spend $100 you get a free $8 coupon.  But wait, there’s more.  You also get a free appetizer coupon just for signing up.  You can do so online, or at the restaurant, and it  takes a week or so for you to get your card in the mail.

In addition, sometimes they send you coupons ‘just because.’  For instance, over the Christmas holiday I received a coupon for a free appetizer.  They also periodically send coupons for free desserts and other items.  The best part is everything happens by e-mail.  They send you your rewards and other coupons, you print them out and take them to the restaurant, and enjoy the savings.  Over the past 2 months I’ve already enjoyed 3 free appetizers and 2 $8.00 off coupons.  And also, it seems like January is a double points month, which really amplifies your savings.

I’ve always been a fan of pork chops, but most restaurants really don’t have them.  Usually steakhouses do, but when I’m at a steakhouse, I order a steak.  Thankfully, about a year ago I discovered the wonderful Pepper-Crusted Pork Chop at Friday’s.  It’s on their “Right Portion, Right Price” menu which makes it about $10.  It’s just a great, great tasting pork chop.  I’ve polished off quite a few of these, and if you’re a pork chop fan I suggest you check it out.  The mashed potatoes are also exceptional!

Pepper-Crusted Pork Chop

Our bone-in pork chop is seasoned with pastrami-pepper seasoning, with pastrami. Pepper seasoning grilled to perfection and topped with brown gravy. Served with crispy beer-battered onion rings and creamy mashed potatoes.

TGI Friday’s is located at 5919 Canoga Avenue in Woodland Hills, and is celebrating it’s 30th Anniversary at that location!

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Ady Gil Cashes In On Three Minutes Of Fame, Holds Saturday Fundraiser To Help Replace Boat

As you might remember, Ady Gil is a Woodland Hills resident who donated money to an environmental organization named Sea Shepherd, who used it to build a boat, the eponymous Ady Gil.  Said boat was seriously damaged last week in a collision with a Japanese whaling vessel.

Gil has some new found notoriety as hundreds of media outlets covered the incident and the video went mega-viral on YouTube.

The LA Times writes:

With the snap of his fingers, entertainment industry executive Ady Gil can summon the artisans and technology to build stage facilities for Hollywood television productions and movie premieres.

On Saturday, they helped him again with an unusual and hastily called assignment: a fundraiser at his spacious Woodland Hills home to raise the $3 million to $5 million needed to replace a sleek anti-whaling trimaran that collided with a Japanese whaling ship last week.

Gil financed the purchase of the now-sunken vessel, later renamed after him, by the militant environmental group Sea Shepherd Conservation Society for its campaign to interfere with whaling, a saga at the center of Animal Planet’s “Whale Wars” reality series.

Will there be an Ady Gil II? That remains to be seen.

Steve Roest, chief executive officer of Sea Shepherd, said he welcomed Gil’s financial assistance, but “for legal and tax reasons, we have to leave our options open.”

Those options, he said, could include acquiring a vessel and naming it the Ady Gil II.

Please visit the LA Times site to read the article in its entirety.  I’d like to note that while I believe that whaling is wrong, it should be duly noted that Sea Shepherd puts human lives at risk to save the lives of Whales.  You be the judge on if you feel that is right.  To each his own.

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Arrests Made In Michael Conoscenti Murder Case? So Claims Girlfriend In Internet Post

In an Internet posting dated January 7th praising the LAPD detectives for their work on the case, Courtney Conoscenti (an alias used by slain porn star Damien Michaels’ girlfriend) claims three people have been arrested in connection with the case.

From Topix.com (caution: contains excessive profanity and eschews all rules of grammar):

In the case of Damien Micheals my heart,my soul my everything honey I love you so very much and I do it for YOU.EVERYTHING!for you!

Thank you god But mostly thanks to the Topanga Homicide division Homicide detective Dave P. I owe it all to you and your team for your ,through,quck job on almost closeing the case in which My beautiful Damien was brutally murdered,brutally stabbed to death.Thank you for treating this case his case the same way you would treat a pillar example of the commuitys murder. The same way you would treat a business sect ceos case. Thank you for not prejudicing and leaving any qualms,personal feelings out that would possibly hinder yo from doing a job well done above and beyond call. I still cant sleep well but a weight has been lifted off my sholders. Not much weight but enough weight has been lifted off my sholders
THREE PERPETRATORS are behind bars. BEHIND BARS!!!!”FINALLY”!! With the hopes of more good news to come! Being more animals locked in cages where they belonglocked in there own prison of hell As of this time I cannot give details. My apologes.But as soon as the police are done doing there jobs and its safe to I will..This sensless sad crimecould have been ANYONE it could have been you, it should have been ME ALL IM ALLOWED to say and will say so as not to mess anything thats in the works up is 3 perpetrators,murderers that coldheartedly ,greedily,pointlessly,killed my beautiful man the reason is known but FUCKEN SENSLESS!!It makes no sense to take a life for the reasons they did which i am not as of yet allocated to say.. TO EVERYONE INVOLVED IN MAKEING THIS HAPPEN all involved in serving Damien and his loved ones THANK YOU so much THANK YOU for doing your jobs to your upmost ability Above and beyond call No words can express my thanks When are elections and god bless you

I’ll try tomorrow to confirm with the detectives if arrests have been made.

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LAFD Crew Puts Out Fire At Condos On Burbank Blvd In Woodland Hills

I’m guessing this was at on of the condo complexes between Canoga Ave and Topanga Canyon Blvd on Burbank Blvd.  Just a stone’s throw away from Fire Station 84.

CBS2 writes:

Los Angeles Firefighters Sunday put out a blaze at a condominium in Woodland Hills, a fire department spokesman said.

The fire, which was reported at around 10:30 a.m., took place on Burbank Boulevard, Los Angeles Fire Department spokesman Brian Humphrey said.

It took 20 firefighters just over 10 minutes to extinguish the fire, which was confined to a single unit of the two-story building, Humphrey said.

There were no immediate reports of injuries, he said.

The cause of the fire was under investigation. A damage estimate was not immediately available.

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Great Weekend Brunch At BJ’s In Woodland Hills and More

This past weekend one of my friends suggested that a group of us meet at 10am at BJ’s Restaurant Brewhouse in Woodland Hills to watch the Miami Dolphins’ final game of the season.  I was more than game for it since I haven’t been to BJ’s in a long time, and I figured if they were open at 10AM on weekends it must mean they serve breakfast.

I was happy to learn that BJ’s opens every Saturday and Sunday at 10AM and serves a special brunch menu from 10AM to 1PM.  Their regular menu is also available.  I’m always on the hunt on the hunt for new breakfast places in the West Valley so I was more than happy to give BJ’s a try.

Interestingly, pretty much everyone at the table was drawn to the French Toast Combo (pictured above with Swiss cheese melted on the eggs at my request).  From the menu:

FRENCH TOAST COMBO – Two pieces of thick, “OLD-FASHIONED” bread grilled golden brown, lightly dusted with powdered sugar and served with three scrambled eggs and your choice of Applewood smoked bacon, grilled ham or country sausage links on grilled sourdough bread.  Served with seasoned country potatoes.  $7.95

First of all, the price is great.  Second of all, so is the French Toast.  Wow, it was so good without being outrageously over done.  It was like a the french toast your mom would make, just good.  Everyone at the table enjoyed it immensely.  A friend of ours also had the Baked Italian Omelette (not pictured, but later reviewed) and said it was very good.  I plan to go back soon and try something else from the brunch menu, and I’ll let you know when I do.

My friend Jim waited a bit to order food and decided to order from the lunch menu.  He shuns red meat and is a huge Turkey Burger fan.  At BJ’s you can make any of their burgers a turkey burger at no additional cost, and they use a 7 oz all white meat patty.  Jim elected to get the Sourdough Burger (turkey version) and got Monterrey Jack cheese instead of the default Cheddar.

SOURDOUGH BURGER*
A juicy Angus burger served on Parmesan grilled sourdough bread with tomatoes, pickles, lettuce and 1000 Island dressing. Very messy but very good! Available with Applewood smoked bacon and cheddar cheese.

It really was a monstrous Turkey Burger and Jim reported that it was delicious.  The deliciousness of which, however, did little to quell the pain of the Dolphins being eliminated from NFL Playoff contention.

Lastly instead of fries and the variety of other items that BJ’s offers as sides, Jim elected to have a side garden salad which he also reported as being very good.

So if you’re looking for a great breastfast/brunch on the weekends, don’t forget about BJs from 10AM to 1PM!

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