WORKOUT -
Elliptical – 30 mins
Walked dog – 2.45 miles
A short and easy workout today, all I had time for.
Yesterday I went to Costco because I was feeling like I had too much money in my pocket and needed to get rid of it fast. Plus, Costco sells everything… including smartcars now:
I want to trade mine in and get a convertible one. or a minivan-smartcar. Now that’d be sweet.
Not sweet was trying to puzzle fit all my groceries into my smartcar…
DINNER DATE
Last night we went to Pizzeria Ortica in Costa Mesa; I had read great reviews so when I saw a Groupon for the place I bought it: 2 glasses of wine, 2 appetizer salads, and 2 entrees for $46.
Anyone ever been to Pizzeria Mozza? The original location is in LA and was started by celebrity chefs Mario Batali, Joe Bastianich (who own 90,000 restaurants together) and Nancy Silverton.
Well, there’s now a Pizzeria Mozza in Newport Beach and although we haven’t been, I’ve read that Ortica is suppose to be just as good as Mozza. Sounds like pizza competition time.
Casual dinner date attire. I think the trick in SoCal is to spend a bunch of time and money to look like you didn’t spend any time or money on yourself.
Anyways, the restaurant was nice inside but long and narrow so you sat really close to other tables, like so close you could share pizza slices with each other.
(from their website)
You know where something’s hyped up (in your own head or otherwise) and it just doesn’t live up to the expectations? That’s what Pizzeria Ortica was for us.
The pizza was pretty dang good for Orange County – wood fired Neapolitan-style (crispy on the outside, softer in the center) but neither of us thought it was anything amazing and probably wouldn’t go back. There’s just so many other joints to try around here.
We both ordered another glass of wine and coffee and the whole bill with the $46 Groupon ended up being not cheap for pizza. It’s definitely a trendier spot and the price reflects that. Fun to try but not on my “do before I die” list.
Something on my “do before I die” list? Eat at every froyo joint in the world. dream big, baby.
Have you ever been to a “celebrity” restaurant, owned by a celeb chef or celebrity? Overhyped or amazing?
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{ 32 comments… read them below or add one }
Yes bill and I went to pizza mozza in LA once. It was good but not incredible.
I live in the DC area where a new restaurant by some celebrity chef I’ve never heard of opens practically monthly. All of it is overhyped, overpriced, and underwhelming. I blame my Texas roots. In good ol’ Tejas you can get amazingly delicious food everywhere you turn at reasonable prices. Around here (warning: vast overgeneralization coming) the food is either just OK or it’s terrible and you pay twice as much for it.
I live in Kansas City, Mo and we have Aaron Sanchez’s Mestizo. Sooo GOOD! Everything we have tried has been A-Mazing!
I live in KC too! Where is Mestizo? I’ve never heard of it!
It’s actually in Leawood. 117th and Nall area. Check it out. You will not be disappointed!
Ive only been to Michael Jordan’s steak house at the casino here, it was very good, but similar to you, that for the money, it was not amazing and I have no burning desire to go back. It was fun to try it though!
HA! I used to live right down the street from here and ate there about 2 years ago. I had the same feeling as you – trendy place. We had the bolagnese and I ate a pizza. The food was good, but overpriced for the taste and I didn’t have a Groupon deal… no bueno. I ate at the Wolfgang Puck place in Downtown Disney in Orlando and was not impressed there either.
We go to the various Emeril’s restaurants here in New Orleans but they are usually worth it. I love Emeril’s NOLA, but I thought his flagship restaurant – Emeril’s – was too touristy and was not as enjoyable of an experience. John Besh is sort of a celebrity chef, too, but he’s really just a local boy and his restaurants are all amazing. Way better than the hype or price reflects. If you travel to New Orleans and want to get more bang for your buck, do any of his restaurants at happy hour. They all have veritable give-away prices and the food has never disappointed me.
Once – dinner date; Aussie fine dining by a guest celebrity chef at Westin Kuala Lumpur. It was good but way outta my budget. On the lookout for Groupons, coupons, MySmartDeals etc on these places but they don’t seem to have them. Then again, there are plenty of place that satiate my appetite without blowing the purse.
I’ve never been to a celeb restaurant, I don’t know if there are any in Portland…will have to look! I know there aren’t any in Sherwood, LOL! That pizza looks really good, I love a simple pizza, but almost 50$ for a pizza dinner does sound high! 5$ pepperoni Fridays at Papa Murphy’s, woop! LOL!
I think that is so funny.. I too spend lots of time to look like I just rolled out of bed.. I love it.. I have similar hair and totally rock the beach waves.. Do you have go-to outfits?? I rotate them in weekly increments.. as in I basically wear the same thing for a week.. I have two part time jobs so they don’t know I just wore it yesterday! lol
wait, what? Costco sells smart cars? Do you get a warranty? LOL.
Love the socal look. You pull off the casual not so casual look nicely.
Thank you skinnyrunner for turning me on to bic bands! I love mine so far! I met miss bic bands at the AFC expo today. I was on a mission to find her booth. I searched for it before I even picked up my bib and I’m not really an expo shopper. I hope to catch a glimpse of you and Monica at the race tomorrow as you guys are whizzing by my slow butt. I want to check out the costumes!
isnt sandy the sweetest thing?
we’re actually not running tomorrow
some stuff came up and it just didnt happen. but good luck!
I have to say, everyone I know has been to the Paula Deen restaurant that her and her sons own in Savannah GA ( I live in SC and everyone here has taken their vacation to Savannah at SOME point in time), and everyone has said the same exact thing: “I could’ve gotten my mom or grandmother to make me the same food for free, and I wouldn’t have had to deal with a bitter college student waiter”. See, the celebrity chef restaurants don’t really work here since, and its true, everyone can pretty much cook here. PLEASE show me someone from the Southeast that wasn’t brought up cooking along with their family. AND if you get food from a family owned restaurant or some chains for that matter, it’s normally pretty cheap, like $20 at the most for two people, including tip.
In short, the south has spoiled me. I want good and plentiful food for next to nothing lol.
I lived in Sav for a couple of years and never went. People didn’t seem too blown away by it so I didn’t bother. I figured I wuld go before moving away but that never happened either *shrug*
I did go to Jermaine Dupri’s restaurant in Atlanta and was not impressed. It was okay but one of my friends was pretty upset. She’s a really good cook and could have done better.
I know I’m in the minority, but I just did not love Bobby Flay’s Mesa in Vegas. On the more positive note, I am a huge fan if Michael Mina’s restaurants, though.
me too! ive been to mesa twice and just didnt think it was amazing. good and all but for the money, id go somewhere else.
I’ve been to a few celebrity restaurants but the best one I went to was Bryan Voltaggio’s Volt. It’s kinda a trek to Frederick, MD, but it was one of the best eating experiences of my life! And that was for brunch! This wasn’t an ordinary brunch though, and consisted of 5 amazing courses, an extra side of biscuits and gravy, and two tequila cocktails (it was after noon, and why are bloody marys acceptable for brunch but tequila not?). Another good one was Joel Robuchon’s L’Atelier.
eheh well, does “Nettle Pizza” sound appealing ?It made me laugh (ortica means nettle in italian)
I love you hair, and I miss my (eating/sampling/devouring) tours to Costco
I’ve been to Ortica before and really liked it – I’ve also been to Mozza in LA and thought that TOTALLY didn’t live up to the hype. Totally one of those restaurants where their mentality was to get you in and out as quickly as possible – they definitely didn’t encourage lingering. The pizza was good but not the best I’ve ever had.
I have only been to Thomas Keller’s restaurant in Las Vegas. It was actually super duper delicious but kind of pricey for the amount of monies I make.
I’m totally with you on the clothing thing! My boyfriend & I just discussed it the other day– everyone takes so much time to make it look like they spent no time getting ready. AND, since you did groupon, check out restaurant.com! They usually have promo codes too, just be careful because there are rules ($25 gift cert means you have to spend $35.00 minimum). But if you get the 25 cert for $3.00 its SO worth it!!
I’ve been to mario batali’s restaurant, Eataly, in NYC and it is absolutely amazing. I had heard a lot of good things, but it was even better than I had expected! It is definitely a spot you have to check out if you visit NYC!
We have a Cheli’s Chili Bar near where we live. The owner is Chris Chelios (a now-retired, big deal hockey player and hockey is HUGE near Detroit – where we live). So that’s kind of a celebrity owned restaurant. It was decent. I’d go back. The food was tasty, the prices were reasonable and the waitstaff was friendly and efficient.
When you come to the area or when you are in Atlanta or so..try Yogali Mogali..the most amazing froyo ever!
My hubby and I went to a restaurant in LA about 4-5 yrs ago that was owned by several members of the cast of That 70′s Show, and it was great! I can’t remember the name of it, though…. that helps, huh? I met Sandy at the expo yesterday, as well! She is super nice, and I’m going to do a review of BIC bands on my blog! I love them btw, so thx for getting me started on them!
I don’t think I’ve been to a celebrity restaurant, but it’s probably because I assumed they’d be crazy expensive and overhyped.
I’ve been to Bobby Flay’s Mesa Grill in Vegas. It was absolutely amazing! Definitely expensive, but I’ve been dreaming of going back ever since.
Me and my Hubby went to Emrils in the MGM in Vegas and I have to say, even though it was like $160 bucks for the two of us and I had pasta and the hubby had a steak (yes, just a steak), I think it was worth every penny. It was effin delicious and it was fun to be all fancy for one evening
Where I live there is literally NO nice places, and no matter where you go you feel like your getting ripped off so we don’t go out a lot.
And I thought I had a hard time fitting my Costco hauls in my Beetle! Lol. I live in Vegas so tons of celebrity restaurants. Not usually a fan because much like everything on the Strip it’s just overrated and generally not worth it. I just had brunch a couple weeks ago at Simon at the Palms and out of all of them that has been my fave. Where else do they encourage you to wear your pajamas!
I’ve been to Pizzeria Ortica in Costa Mesa…their Tiramisu is pretty dang good. You should try it!