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| Brother Charlie sneaking a glance at Shaun White |
Saturday and Sundays are the days when Mr. Borscht and I run amok around town, we drive here and we drive there, we drive almost everywhere, and usually at some point we drive on Beverly boulevard and when we do I usually see a large crowd infront of BLD waiting to be seated.
BLD sits on the corner of Beverly Blvd and N. Vista Street, with its curved white structure and simple yet almost undecipherable red sign that reads "bld" the restaurant looks modern and mysterious. And with a crowd waiting to be seated on most weekends one begins to wonder.
And hence, Brother Charlie and I one fine weekday afternoon decide on a whim to check it out. We sit down at a two-top near the window. The restaurant is not absolutely packed but it is a weekday and the place is fairly busy considering. I look out the window and mistake Shaun White for Carrot Top, I feel awful and am sure he will hate me once he reads this post, Brother Charlie is immediately star-struck, he must know of Shaun White's snow-boarding abilities more than I, he is seated outside next to Brother Charlie, a spotless window is the only separation and Brother Charlie continuously sneaks peeks at the back of White's long curly red hair. A few minutes later, Hayden Panettiere shows up as well, a pint-sized person she is. I look around the restaurant and spot a tall woman sitting nearby, most likely a model. Two men are having a meeting at a table diagonal to us, probably an aspiring actor and a producer? In this way the restaurant is a bit scene-y and posh.
The question is then, do people flock here for the food? Or for the scene?
We order two Mochas "extra chocolatey please". The Mochas are made by using chocolate that is freshly melted chocolate chips. I take a sip, the Mocha tastes of hot chocolate, no, not of hot chocolate, it tastes exactly like hot-chocolate. I'm transported to Mammoth in the winter, cabin, the smell of fire, the sounds of crackling wood, warm wool socks, legs aching from a day of skiing... and, hot chocolate. Yes, the BLD mocha tastes exactly like hot chocolate, so much so that I have to ask the waitress just to be sure, "this is Mocha right?". It is.
I opt for breakfast even though it is noon and order a Spanish Frittata which comes with a choice of potatoes and bread, I choose home-fries and a home-made biscuit. Visions of Jamie Oliver's Spanish Frittata dance in my head, chunks of Spanish sausage, and flavors of rosemary excite my palate. BLD's Spanish Frittata was nothing like I had envisioned, sadly. The frittata had a puddle of orange-colored oil on it, I suspect from the melted cheese and Spanish sausage, but could they not have drained the oil before serving it? The frittata was flat, chewy and honestly, a bit tasteless except the occasional saltiness that was supposed to be the sausage- edible but in all honesty a little less than average. The potatoes were a bit harder than I would have liked on the outside and seemed to be the result of it being ove cooked, and though there seemed to be some type of herb on the potatoes I could not taste them, once again edible but less than average. The home-made biscuit? Let's just say it wasn't the soft buttery Pillsbury biscuits you can make at home. Overall score given to the Spanish Frittata: DO NOT ORDER!
I take charge and order Brother Charlie the Seared Albacore Tuna Nicoise Salad, absolutely delicious! And would go as far as to say that it is probably the best Tuna Nicoise Salad I have come across. The seared Tuna was purrrrfect, flavorful, great texture, great size. The salad was not over-dressed, a salad swimming in dressing usually is not a good sign, my theory is that if the ingredients of a salad are deliciously fresh you probably won't need much dressing to dress it, so when my salads are swimming in dressing I begin to wonder, 'what exactly are they hiding?'
The pitted olives, halved cherry tomatoes, sliced boiled egg, slices of tuna, fresh lettuce, chopped green beans, slices of dutch potatoes. The salad was elegant yet casual, edible, delicious, fresh... and is a definite must try for any fish eating salad lover.
And even while the Spanish Frittata receives two thumbs down from Tummy, something tells me that the food is the main attraction here at BLD, the mocha was great as was the Nicoise salad, and the sandwiches I saw being eaten looked delicious. Of course celebrities coming and going probably doesn't hurt business either.
Total Damage: $36.00 +/-
2 Mochas
1 Seared Albacore Tuna Nicoise Salad
1 Spanish Frittata
7450 Beverly Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90036
(323) 930.9744
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