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Eva
Tuesday:
John (via gChat) - Hey, there is a Blackboard Eats for Eva.
Me - Great, Eva’s Lechon is on the list for 99 pLAtes. Let’s go this Friday night.
That’s where things started to go wrong…
Let’s back up a second. Something you need to know about John: he is an avid user of the craze that is Groupon, Living Social, Tippr, AtCost and his most recent obsession Blackboard Eats. For those who are in the dark about this why-didn’t-I-come-up-with-this-idea revolution, basically you pay in advance to get a coupon you use at a later date. For example, pay $25 now and get $50 worth of food at 8 Oz. Burger Bar (get the fried pickles). They offer deals on things besides food too – sailing, dental services, weekend getaways and every laser hair removal place in the greater LA basin.
Mind you – acquiring the Black Board Eats code isn’t where things went wrong. This dining misfire was entirely my fault. Things you need to know about me: I don’t always read everything very…well…closely. So in a rush of excitement to cross another pLAte off this list I booked us a reservation at Eva for Friday night.
Wednesday
John: Hey what’s Lechon?
Me: I dunno, the plate says Eva’s Lechon. Sounds like some sort of pig product from the description. I’m sure it will be on the menu.
John: Hmmm….
Me: I know, I know, Eva changes its menu monthly. Let’s hope they have it available.
John: Well I just googled it and Eva’s Lechon is actually a totally different place. Looks like a butcher shop on a totally different street where you buy a whole pig.
Me: …oh…
So much for getting through these 99 pLAtes in a timely fashion. We decided to keep the reservation and do dinner at Eva for two reasons.
- A friend of ours, Greg, is a total foodie. Like when I say we should grab dinner sometime he says, “I’d love to dine with you.” Somehow this way of phrasing ‘going to get some grub’ makes me believe the man knows his food. One of the first places he ever recommended to me was Eva, so I filed that in my “Must Eat Here” list.
- “Helllllooo….we have a Blackboard Eats code….” said John.
We arrived at Eva around 9pm on Friday night starving and ready for a good meal. “Should I still blog about it?” I asked, not really understanding the rules regarding my own blog. “Yea!” John with an inflection of both assurance and total curiosity at the same time. So we took the obligatory exterior picture and inside we went.
Eva’s menu is short and sweet. There are only a few dishes to choose from and it changes monthly with what’s in season. One of those California modern/seasonal/farm-to-table/simple but bold flavor places. I swear, it’s like Bravo invented a whole new vocabulary for dining out in America.
What immediately jumped out at me on the menu was the Linguini with Clam Sauce. “The only thing we are out of is the Linguini with Clam Sauce,” said our attentive, but not over-attentive waiter. Seriously, first the Samoa Donut, now that clam sauce…am I being punished by the food gods? That being said, I suppose this blog is about expanding the edible horizon. So I settled for the Jidori Chicken, wrapped in bacon (see a trend). John went for the Alaskan Halibut.
“Are you going to mention the Blackboard Eats?” John asked. That’s the other thing about this whole Groupon, Living Social, BBE situation. The coupon culprit doesn’t like to OWN UP to having them at the restaurant. The scenario usually plays out with me saying something like, “John here (point directly at him) would like to use his Blackboard Eats Code on tonight’s meal”.
Do I feel bad about outing him as closeted coupon clutcher? No, especially since he then gets to pull up the code on his iPhone and gets to feel very technologically forward in the process. I think for him, the Groupon app might outweigh the fact that the iPhone doesn’t actually make calls.
The food was, as expected, quite good. John’s fish was cooked perfectly and the combination of flavors in the spicy eggplant and ginger paired with the fresh halibut won both of us over. I actually though the chicken was a touch too dry – gasp, a negative! And you thought the New York Times was tough. But any dryness in the chicken was made up for by the crisp bacon, which acted as almost a snuggie for the poultry.
There was only one unexpected hiccup during the meal. It’s one thing to take pictures of your dishes while hamming it up over brunch in downtown LA. It’s another thing to whip out your iPhone 4.0 complete with 300-jigawatt flash in the middle of a classy restaurant on a Friday night.
Me: I’m not going to take pictures. I’ll just describe the food.
John: You HAVE to take pictures, it’s a food blog.
Me: Fine but don’t use the fla….
John: Snap – [Flash of Light]
Entire Restaurant: [Dirty Looks]
Alas, John was right. You DO need to take pics to make a food blog. The other thing you need to do is take notes. A prime example of what happens when you don’t take notes can be seen below.
This chocolate dessert was delicious, beautifully presented and I have no idea what the hell it was called. I do know there was some sort of foam on top, which would please Tom Colicchio. So if it works for Tom, it works for me.
All right, so next time I promise I’ll work on taking better notes…and if you’re lucky I’ll get the restaurant right too. One and a half down, 98 still left to go…
Eva
7458 Beverly Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90036
(323) 634-0700
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