Son of a Gun - Los Angeles, California

Address: 8370 W 3rd St, Los Angeles, CA 90048

Items Ordered:

• Smoked mahi fish dip: celery, radish, crackers
• Lobster roll: celery, lemon aioli
• Shrimp toast sandwich: herbs, sriracha mayo
• Fried chicken sandwich: spicy b&b picckle slaw, rooster aioli
• Linguine and clams: uni aglio-olio, chili, breadcrumbs
• Roasted escolar: truffled pomme puree, chicken jus

HAPPY 2012!! Hope last year was fantastic, and that each new year continues to be better than the last! And now back to the food...

I was excited about trying Son of a Gun, the seafood counterpart to Animal, since I prefer seafood over random piggy parts, and the restaurant did not disappoint. First, the not-so-good: the shrimp toast was too oily for my taste, the fried chicken sandwich was overwhelmed by the tangy slaw, and the linguine and clams weren't that special for the price. With that said, we still polished off every plate. The goods: mahi dip was a smoky, creamy leap above tuna salad made in my kitchen, and the lobster roll was amazing! Too bad it came in such a small size, I recommend ordering one per person so you don't end up fighting over it. Last but not least, the roasted escolar was crispy and tender and probably one of my favorite dishes of 2011! The truffle potato puree was creamy and buttery, and the dish just really works. I would definitely return to Son of a Gun for the escolar and lobster roll. Try it and let me know what you think.

--y

Vivolo's Chowder House - Pacific Grove, California

Address: 127 Central Ave, Pacific Grove, CA 93950

Items Ordered:

• Clam chowder in bread bowl with garlic cheese lid
  
• Spinach cobb salad
  
• Garlic cheese bread

Touted by some as having the BEST clam chowder ever, I was super excited to try Vivolo's on a recent trip to Monterey. The clam chowder was super creamy, just the right level of thickness and the seasoning was spot on resulting in one delicious bowl of chowder. Additionally, the garlic cheese lid and bread were both toasted so that the bread bowl managed to be both crispy and soft (and delicious). The ingredients in the cobb salad tasted fresh, and made me feel slightly less guilty for my cheesy, chowdery, bready indulgence. The verdict? Having lived in San Francisco for a few years, I can still say with confidence that Vivolo's has the best clam chowder in a bread bowl I've tasted thus far. I hope you get a chance to try it sometime so you can judge for yourself :). Don't forget the garlic cheese lid!

--y

Crustacean - Beverly Hills, California

Address: 9646 S Santa Monica Blvd, Beverly Hills, CA 90210

Items Ordered:

• Shrimp Toast - freshly minced shrimp on French baguette
• Herb Roasted Halibut - sauteed sweet onions, bell pepper, cherry tomatoes, and porta bella mushrooms
• Royal Tiger Prawns - charbroiled with An's' famous garlic noodles
• Frutti di Mare - mussels, crawfish, shrimp, and lobster with garlic noodles

Victoria and I debated where to eat for eat.snap.love's 1-year blogerversary for awhile, but once we saw Crustacean's menu, we had our hearts and minds set on eating those buttery garlic noodles. Stepping foot into the restaurant with its upscale decorations and ground-level fish tank, we realized we'd come a long way since our first post at Royal/T in Culver City.

Crustacean lived up to our expectations. The garlic noodles were richly flavored al dente strands with buttery, garlicky goodness and so were the tiger prawns. The herb roasted halibut was tender and perfectly seasoned. If we had any complaints, we suppose the shrimp and mussels in the frutti di mare could have been larger and had a nicer bite similar to the tiger prawns.

On our way out of the restaurant, we saw policemen and secret service attempting to escort a celebrity into the restaurant. Who was this mystery celebrity? Only TMZ will tell ;). Ah, the lives of food bloggers visiting the 90210 area code.

Thanks for joining us to drool over food photos at eat.snap.love this past year! Our goals for next year include:

1. Create a ranking of our all-time favorite cuisines
2. Have guest bloggers
   
3. Try not to go broke!

Happy Belated 1-Year Blogerversary!

--v & y

Joe's Stone Crab - Miami Beach, Florida

Address: 11 Washington Avenue, Miami Beach, FL 33139

Items Ordered:

• Stone crab - jumbo
• Lobster macaroni & cheese
• Sauteed mushrooms
• Hashbrowns
• Sauteed fresh corn - roasted with cilantro, whole butter and lemon juice
• Key Lime Pie
  

After reading articles and all kinds of reviews for Joe's Stone Crab in Miami Beach, I just HAD to go there while on a recent visit to Miami! I mean...BOBBY FLAY said it was one of the best things he'd ever had on, you guessed it, the Food Network's "Best Thing I Ever Ate." Maybe I just love too much food, but goodness, it was delicious!! The crabs are serve chilled, but each person is given hot butter and a mustard sauce to drench it in. I usually don't like mustard, but the concoction they had was great. All of the side dishes are huge and meant to be shared. They all went with each other so well. My favorite was the Lobster Mac & Cheese...baked to perfection.

When we arrived there, we were expecting to wait 2 hours, but by some miracle, we got there with a party of 8 and they seated us right away while other small groups were given estimates of 2-2.5 hours. Not sure how that happened but I love them for it! Our server was so nice and she gave us all the background on the stone crabs as well as all the suggestions for how much to order. She was right, I did leave satisfied and full. These stone crabs are from Joe's very own farm. The crab claws were SO easy to peel and the meat came off so easily. YUM!!!

--v