Our Weekend in LA

We started Saturday with breakfast at the Original Pancake House in Redondo Beach where I gorged on a childhood favorite, Dutch Babies. There is just no other breakfast concoction quite like it.

We walked around our old favorite beach, then had dinner at our other favorite, Hennessy's Irish Pub (what else?). After that, it was more Rock Band at Jer & Roseanne's place. Rock Band makes Guitar Hero feel like its roadie. GH wants to be as cool, but it just can't be. You can play drums, sing and play guitar all together - like a real band! It's so much fun.

On Sunday, we were taken to the Beverly Center mall, an experience all it's own. Everyone is there to be seen, just as much as to shop, it seems. People wear their wealth on their bodies, since they can't afford to own homes around here. It's a beautiful place though, even if I did lose count of all the Uggs by noon. The smog had cleared just enough for us to see the Hollywood sign, and almost all the way to down town, as we road the escalator down the mall's four flights of decadence.

The real highlight of the day was our first Brazilian BBQ experience in Beverly Hills. Jer had been trying to explain the sheer delight of this one-of-a-kind dining event, but even he couldn't do it justice. I'll borrow from the website of Fogo de Chao to describe it, as they do quite well:

"The dinner menu features unlimited servings of 15 different delectable cuts of fire-roasted meats, a sumptuous buffet of gourmet salads and fresh-cut vegetables, and a variety of Brazilian side dishes.

Each guest uses a two-sided disk to control the pace of their meal. The green side signals the Gaucho chefs to bring out skewers of sizzling fire-roasted meats to carve at the table. The red side indicates a stopping point. Turning back to green lets the Gaucho chefs know to start offering the meats again.

The traditional side dishes of warm cheese bread, fried bananas, crispy hot polenta and seasoned mashed potatoes are automatically brought to each table and replenished throughout the meal."

So basically, yeah, their chefs walk around with sizzling meats they slice fresh for you, whenever you want, and it's all-you-can-eat. Everything from filet mignon, to parmesan-crusted pork loin, to lamb chops. The "salad bar" rivaled any I've ever seen, and the flavors of everything were unique and delicious!

We were so deliriously enjoying everything we forgot to take many pictures. But anyway, look them up, it's something you should try at least once (and probably only once, since it is quite expensive!).

This was our birthday celebration for both Michael and Jer. (Jer turned 31 yesterday). What more could two boys ask for than unlimited fire-roasted meats! I mean seriously. It was crazy good.

Check out all the pics from this weekend. And yes, I'm sure you're wondering, we did each gain 10 pounds after feasting the way we did. But it was worth it.