BOA Santa Monica CA

August is filled with many birthdays and I am extremely lucky my friends love to eat super yummy food! For my friend Gia's 30th birthday, we all surprised her at BOA in Santa Monica for dinner.  It had been a long time since so all of our girlfriends (or I should say most.. we were still missing a few gals) have gotten together and had a nice dinner together.  So we used Gia's birthday as an excuse to get dressed up and go out to a fancy dinner! My friend suggested BOA and set up a prefix meal with the restaurant to make things easier.  The ambiance was chic and modern, pretty typical for the Santa Monica/Los Angeles area.  The food was tasty but what made the entire experience uber fantastic was spending time with amazing my amazing girlfriends and our David.  I am a very very lucky girl to have amazing family and friends.

Special Menu for Gia's Birthday!

Surprise!!! The birthday girl arrives! 

Our David!!! He got too excited about drink more wine... so he broke a wine glass...  :/

The Birthday Girls gets fed by the Naughty Nat.. :D 

Cheers to a fantastic night!

Even at BOA people get too wasted and decide to vomit outside of the restaurant.  Keepin' it classy.

Corks for our Chef Cha Cha

Martini from BOA. Sorry I can't remember the name! 

Super Yummy Red Wine we ordered from BOA.  

Crab Cake with Hearts of Palm Salad.. yes please! 

Organic Mixed Greens 

Housemade Sauces for our Steaks  

Medium Rare Bone-in Rib Eye with Roasted Garlic.... very tasty!

Sides of Mac-n-Cheese, Garlic Mash Potatoes and Seasonal Mushrooms

Lava Cake for the Birthday Girl

Cheesecake with Strawberry Ice Cream and Adult Smores.  I loved the strawberry ice cream and the smores were amazing!!

Capital Grille in Beverly Hills

This year my dearest brother turned 30 years old.  For this momentous occasion, the fams decide to go all out and treat the birthday boy to an amazing meal.  We stumbled upon Capital Grille on accident really.  The Fam Bams and I were yelping various steakhouses.  Initially, my brother wanted to go to BLT Steak in Hollywood, but they are closed on Sundays.  After browsing through numerous reviews, we decided on Capital Grille.  Capital Grille is located within the Beverly Center and was easy to find.  When we walked in, we were greeted by the hostess and noticed small lockers with plaques on the walls, each locker filled with personal wine stashes.

The entire experience was wonderful.  I made reservations and informed the hostess that we were celebrating my brother's 30th birthday.  Our table decorated with bits of confetti and the restaurant had a card ready for my brother, wishing him a Happy Birthday and thanking him for spending his special day with them.  Our main waiters' name was Emmy and the other waiter/bus boy name was Bentley... (I am not kidding!) they both were AMAZING.  The service was top notch, our waiter was extremely attentive, our glasses were never empty, didn't wait a long time for our food to be served, and the food... OMG.... Hands down... ONE OF THE BEST Steaks I have ever had and THE best Coconut Cream Pie.  My mouth is literally salivating as I reminisce about my experience here.  I kind of feel like the Capital Grille is a little gem at the Beverly Center.  I have never noticed it before while shopping at the Bev Center, but now that I know it is there I know I will be making frequent stops for the Coconut Cream Pie.  Everything about Capital Grille was great and everything we ate was flavorful and amazing.  I highly recommend giving Capital Grille a try! They can give Mastros a run for their money!!! :)

Enjoy the photos and let the droolfest commence!

confetti to help celebrate my brother's 30th birthday 

The birthday boy!! Happy Birthday to the BEST BROTHER IN THE WORLD!

My sister and GG... GG loves bread! 

Amuse bouche of Gazpacho with Lobster  

Pan Fried Calamari with Hot Cherry Peppers

Wagyu Beef Carpaccio 

Lobster Bisque 

Double Cut Lamb Rib Chops

Filet Oscar: Filet Mignon topped with Lump Crabmeat 

Side Orders of: Lobster Mac-n-Cheese, Asparagus, Summer Squash, Seasonal Mushrooms

Dry Aged Porterhouse Steak- so tender, juicy and so so good!

Porcini Rubbed Delmonico with 12-year Aged Balsamic with Lobster: my brother order this with the lobster.. amazing!

I also ordered the Procini Rubbed Delmonico with 12-year Aged Balsamic: WOW... SUPER SUPER YUMMMMMMY!  One of the best steaks I've ever had!

Coconut Cream Pie for the Birthday Boy!

Coconut Cream Pie and Cheesecake on the house for the Birthday Boy! Coconut Cream Pie was out of this world! Super light and the graham cracker crust... super moist and out of control delicious! 

My brother and GG! We're number 1!!!

My sisters and I with GG

My sisters and GG

My Momma and GG :)

Puerto Vallarta

As the taxi approached our hotel, Sunset Plaza, the man at the gate checked off our names and quietly instructed the driver to slowly approach the front of the hotel so we can be greeted by an employee of the hotel.  As we opened the door we were greeted by cold towels for our faces by a friendly employee of the hotel.  As we check into the hotel, glasses of Champagne began to flow... I thought to myself, "wow, is this how it feels to be a VIP and pampered?" The bell boy brought us up to our room and informed us that our personal butler will be up in the morning to introduce himself.  Was this a dream? No, it was Puerto Vallarta.

This is what I wrote to myself while on we were still on vacation in Puerto Vallarta.  I actually giggled while re-typing it onto the blog post... because even though the trip started off very luxurious with the flowing glasses of Champagne and personal butlers...  the majority of the trip was anything but luxurious.  Don't get me wrong, the hotel was beautiful and the staff did a great job of making sure we were taken care of.  But we weren't there for all the luxurious things... we wanted to soak in the culture and explore Puerto Vallarta outside of the confines of the tourist traps.  The entire experience was amazing and eye opening.  We explored the touristy areas of Puerto Vallarta like the Marina and the downtown areas, but we were also able to venture into the county sides where we did see very skinny animals and children walking around without any shoes.  I must say though that the consistent thing I did observe was that the people in Puerto Vallarta are extremely hard working and their hospitality is top notch.  Below are some highlights of the trip and of course... food photos because the food was amazing...

our view from our balcony 

a little something we found on our bed

view from the hallway.. if you look closely.. on the right hand side you can see the birthday girls shadow

the beer of choice for the weekend

beach side

the hotel gave us wristbands, we felt like super heros!  

the most amazing salsas from El Arrayan! A MUST stop in PV. A smoky chipotle, spicy red and mild green salsas.  

Beef Barbacoa from El Arrayan

Duck Carnitas... my favorite of the whole trip!!! Duck had crispy skin, moist meat and an amazing mole sauce! 

one of the national landmarks in PV, the caves.  Our guide informed us that you would be able to kayak to the cave! 

View from the Botanical Garden

flat tire while ATVing

yay! going through the water! 

the rest of the ATV crew 

Agave plants! 

very smooth and delicious tequila!  

ceviche from Ochos Tostados: not what we expected but not too bad

Seafood Stew from Ochos Tostados: exactly what you expect seafood stew to taste like.. sooo yummy!

Salmon 

Sangria from Buenos Aires Argentinean Restauarnt

Caprese Salad

Flank Steak  

Prime Rib

Steak Salad

Continental Breakfast before a long day of Ziplining 

The photo that caused 3 people pain.. literally 3 people, including myself, wiped out on this very slipper rock! You can't see it, but their is pain in our eyes. :D BUT on the upside... this day was filled with amazing Ziplining considered to be one of THE best moments in my life.

Much needed drink and food after Zipling and getting abused by a rock

nursing my wounds... notice the empty drink... 

complementary Guacamole from Pipi's 

everything is big here at Pipi's, including the margaritas! 

queso con chorizo 

complementary quesadilla filled with sauteed vegetables and gooey cheese

I wasn't kidding about the portions.. this is ONE order..  

he ordered the Macho Combo... but when it arrived.. he didn't feel that macho anymore

shrimp fajitas 

chicken tostada salad

finally started clearing up on the day we were leaving!