Two Birthdays

One of the best things about having a two birthdays within two weeks, is that you get to have two swanky dinners! And two cakes, of course.

And in this year's case, two amazing Wolfgang Puck restaurants. Which effectively busted the dining out piggy bank for the rest of 2011, but after eating at Cut and WP24, I'm not sure I can eat another steak or prawn and crab springroll and be satisfied. It was that good.

When we venture out to new and fancy places, we like to explore uncharted eating territory. Even if uncharted territory includes little slimy snails with puff pastry hats. I'm sorry Thomas Keller, but a snail, is a snail, is a snail. But at Cut, bone marrow flan is a fluffy custardy, moussey creation that you smear over buttery brioche toast points. And repeat.

But the reason why people flock to Cut is for the ahhhh-maaaaa-zingggg steaks. And that's no understatement. The American Kobe steak is so rich that a seemingly small 8 ounce portion is more than enough.

Yes, yes I know. I need a real camera. Or I need to stop moving when I take pictures. I should mention though, that when you have the steak, you absolutely must get the mac and cheese (the blob at the top of the picture). And yeah, it's $19 for a tiny bit of mac and a boatload of cheese...and it's pure wonderful.

But whatever Wolfgang knows about steak, he also know about Asian cuisine. WP24 is a fairly new restaurant/lounge on the 24th floor of the Ritz Carlton at LA Live. The lounge wraps around the windows and it's so incredibly lovely to see all the sparkly lights below. The restaurant is quite a bit smaller than the restaurant, but it is so modern, but still cozy. I love loved it!

Our very favorite thing at dinner were the prawn and crab spring rolls. So crispy and light. And the biggest prawns! So delicious. The menu is set up with prix fixe 3 or 4 course dinners, with the 4 course including 2 entrees...you know, in case you are super hungry. Very much like a super size value meal. This made absolutely no sense to me, and I later whispered, "Pfffftt! Who would get 2 main courses??" And as if to spite me, the table next to us ordered the 4 courses. Sigh.

And what would any birthday be without a cake? A slightly titled homemade ice cream cake.

And some barely legible writing. But hey! There's no question about it being homemade!