So Friday night was our first night out in California. We met up with Matt and Camille at their place after work and after a short visit we headed out toward Hollywood and Highland to have some dinner, see the strip, and finally the long awaited Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest at El Capitan Theater.
After parking and parousing the dinner options, we finally decided on a steak and seafood bistro called The Grill. It was phenomenal! We started off with a round of cocktails: Manhattans and Margaritas for the boys, a Lemon Drop and Cosmopolitan for the girls. All very very tasty. For an appetizer they brought out bread with a tasty antipasto topping on the side. To be honest, this was the only o.k. part of the meal. Don also ordered a soft shell crab appetizer that came in a rich buttery lemon sauce. We all tried a taste of it except for Matt who doesn't eat things without a backbone. It had a great crisp juicy flavor! Then we skipped the salad portion of the evening and told them to bring on the meat! Don and I both had the Filet Mignon but I ordered a peppercorn cream sauce on the side. Delicious! Camille ordered the Skirt Steak with the house bacon herb sauce which also was divine. Matt ordered the Halibut which also came in some sort of cream sauce and gave it rave reviews. At that point we were completely satisfied and so passed up dessert as well. Although they did have some amazing dessert options and I wouldn't mind going back sometime to check them out. They brought us our check and we spent way too much money and left a huge tip and didn't regret it one bit. The evening was off to a great start.
After dinner we had about an hour and a half to spare before the movie started so we split up so that the girls could do some shopping and the boys could do whatever boys do in a big mall on Hollywood Blvd. At which point Camille and I promptly discovered that all of the clothing and shoe shops had just closed and so we decided to head down to the Boulevard to read the stars names and check out the hand prints and foot prints in the cement. On the way down, we stopped and split a cream puff and talked about girly things. After checking out the stars names we met up with Don and Matt again at the designated meeting area - outside of Victoria's Secret of course - and discovered that they had been more successful at the shopping part of the evening than we had. They had found an entertainment store that was still open and both purchased a small collection of DVD's. As Don was showing me one by one all of the movies he bought, a security guard came over and told Don that he wasn't allowed to sell things in the marketplace which was pretty hilarious.
Then it was on to the theater. The theater was pretty impressive. Down stairs they had an entire exhibit of props from the movie including costumes from the stars and the monkey, maps, Jack Sparrows compass that points to what he want's most, bottles of rum, and much more. As the movie got ready to start they had a whole staged preshow with motion lights, sound, they had Davey Jones Organ rise up from the stage and at the end Pirate Gold (in the form of paper confetti) rained down on us from the ceiling. Much fun. The movie itself I really enjoyed. In the end I would say I probably liked the first two better but there was a surprise twist toward the end that really caught me off guard and had me on the edge of my seat. My recommendation - go see the movie. It was a good time.
After the movie, we got lost for a brief few moments in the parking garage which was not such a great feeling at three o'clock in the morning, but quickly found Matt and Camille's car and headed back to their place where we had a real L.A. Moment - our first California Parking Ticket. We'd specifically parked in a place where there was no limit to parking after 6:00 p.m. only to discover another sign behind it which said no parking between 2 and 6 am. Can you believe it? Whoever heard of such a thing? Oh, well. We learned our lesson. Always read the parking signs in California. And read all of them.
Well, it's been a long Monday and it's time for me to hit the hay. Godo night all.
Then it was on to the theater. The theater was pretty impressive. Down stairs they had an entire exhibit of props from the movie including costumes from the stars and the monkey, maps, Jack Sparrows compass that points to what he want's most, bottles of rum, and much more. As the movie got ready to start they had a whole staged preshow with motion lights, sound, they had Davey Jones Organ rise up from the stage and at the end Pirate Gold (in the form of paper confetti) rained down on us from the ceiling. Much fun. The movie itself I really enjoyed. In the end I would say I probably liked the first two better but there was a surprise twist toward the end that really caught me off guard and had me on the edge of my seat. My recommendation - go see the movie. It was a good time.
After the movie, we got lost for a brief few moments in the parking garage which was not such a great feeling at three o'clock in the morning, but quickly found Matt and Camille's car and headed back to their place where we had a real L.A. Moment - our first California Parking Ticket. We'd specifically parked in a place where there was no limit to parking after 6:00 p.m. only to discover another sign behind it which said no parking between 2 and 6 am. Can you believe it? Whoever heard of such a thing? Oh, well. We learned our lesson. Always read the parking signs in California. And read all of them.
Well, it's been a long Monday and it's time for me to hit the hay. Godo night all.
3 comments:
We had a great time too! Hopefully we'll see you again tomorrow night if Matt is feeling better. :)
And again, sorry about our dopey neighborhood. Apparently only riff raffs park in our neighborhood between 2am and 6am!
I had to laugh at the security guard incident. How many movies did you get?! Sorry about your luck with the parking ticket. We'll have to chat about Pirates now that you've seen it!
I'm off to my Library 2.0 Seminar now...have a good day at work!
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