Just Another Diamond Day

Sometimes you wake up on a Wednesday with nothing to do and nowhere to be, and it is a great feeling. I went out with Thesy last night and had a really good time, grabbed some beers and met up with a new friend for a couple hours, and I still got home relatively early. I slept like a baby. Upon forcing myself awake I tried to chart a course for my day. I thought about going out to a coffeeshop to write or blog, but you can’t really will that kind of inspiration or creativity out of yourself all the time. I like to let it happen organically. So I laced up my running shoes and ran six miles around the reservoir. It felt really good, but in that hour I still couldn’t think of anything exciting to do with my day. I called my sister, she said to go treat myself to a nice gift. I thought that sounded kinda girly, so I changed her suggestion up a bit. I decided to treat myself to a post-run massage and a nice lunch. I know, much less girly, right?

There’s a tiny storefront massage place in NoHo that usually does the trick. $40 for a 60-minute session is hard to beat around these parts. I called ahead and 15 minutes later I was there, being led into a small room with some pillows and blankets laid out on the floor. Everything was going really well until at one point a voice was raised from outside my room. The only words I understood were “60 minutes,” so I opened my eyes and glanced at the clock above my head. The massage had been going for over an hour. In an instant, my masseuse and her boss were jarring at each other and I couldn’t help but laugh as the boss seemed to lose the battle. In the end I wound up with a 90 minute massage. Nice. I left feeling refreshed and relaxed.

A mile or so down the street is Osteria Firenze, the restaurant owned by former Top Chef contestant Fabio Viviani. I’ve eaten there a few times before (review) but never for lunch. Just before I left my apartment for the massage I saw a Tweet about their “$10 & Under” lunch menu, so I decided to try that instead of hitting up Aroma in Studio City (which is reliable and good, but I go there so much…).

Lunch service at Firenze ends at 3:00pm, and I strolled in about a half hour before then. There were three girls at the bar and two guys at a table, but shortly after I was seated they all left. So I basically had the joint to myself while I ate. The Under $10 menu includes some mouthwatering options, but I wanted to try to limit my bread intake so I went with two carb-lite dishes.

I started with a roasted beet carpaccio which came drizzled in olive oil and topped with caramelized walnuts, blue cheese and chorizo. It was fantastic. The fatty, spicy meat with the funky blue cheese and sweet golden beats played perfectly off one another. As I slowly made my way through the dish my waitress offered me something from the bar. I told her that the last time I was there I’d tried a jalapeno martini that was good, and she ordered one up for me. Then the homemade bread and tapenade showed up and suddenly I started to feel like that cartoon king who’s gut is busting through his robes while he messily tears meat from bone with his teeth. All that was missing from my table was a giant roasted pig’s head and overflowing steins of beer.

For my main course I ordered the kobe meatloaf with mushroom reduction and roasted potatoes. The crust on the meat was perfect and the flavors were spot on. The balsamic reduction was just vinegar-y enough and added some real kick to offset the richness of the meat. Oh man, it was so good. Washed down with that spicy martini…it was a perfect lunch. And had I not splurged and taken the waitress up on her drink offer the cost would have been comparable to Aroma.

Tonight is Trivia Night to be followed by late-night shenanigans the kinds of which aren’t suitable for young audiences. Tomorrow…beer.

Vashti Bunyan – Diamond Day
Bonny ‘Prince’ Billy – A King At Night