happy new year! i am so exited for what is in store for my 2008, including lots of stylish, creative, and utterly fabulous events. my apologies for the unexpected blogging hiatus. i joyfully embraced the holiday season with my family and enjoyed a wonderful time of celebration with them. to kick off the new year, erik and i embarked on a much-needed vacation! it was so refreshing to enjoy a change of environment for a week! i just returned home sunday night and am still playing catch up. but, i felt it was high time to finally get back on the blogging wagon! you can look forward to more inspiring weddings and fab finds in coming weeks.

for now, i’d love to share with you all a tasty restaurant i visited the day after Christmas: kula sushi bistro. the restaurant took over the space once housing the short-lived restaurant aphrodisiac. apparently my mom’s fiancé was a fan and called trying to make reservations. he was surprised when someone answered the phone and told him that aprhodisiac was gone, and a new restaurant had taken its place. but, being an adventurous patron of LA’s food scene, he decided to give it a try. he visited once before deciding it was worthy of hosting our little after-Christmas get together and made quick friends with the management. he always makes friends at the right places!

the restaurant is owned by a Japanese company that runs a large chain of restaurants on the other side of the pacific. in light of my positive experience there, i hope it fares better than its predecessor at the location! everything was delicious (well, except one dessert mentioned below…) and the service was top notch. i also loved the sleek, modern décor and neutral tones of the restaurant. i would definitely visit again!

a sampling of our dinner…

perfect calamari: fresh, not overcooked, and fried in a thin batter that wasn’t overpowering. served with tasty japanese aioli for dipping and a twist of lime. we had two orders… it was that good.

a spider roll – tempura soft shell crab! one of my favorites.

spicy shrimp accompanied by tempura shiitake mushrooms.

at this point, we put the camera down and enjoyed the rest of our meal. 😉 we devoured, among other things, two spicy tuna rolls, a caterpillar roll, a rainbow roll, maguro sashimi, a kula roll (shrimp, eel and tamago), soft tofu with avocado, and all three desserts. the coconut cheesecake with mango sauce was amazing!! the molten chocolate cake was good, but nothing remarkable. the green tea crème brulée was TERRIBLE and we begged them to take it off the menu. hopefully they will follow our advice when they officially launch!

kula will begin advertising this month to announce their official launch. in the meanwhile, you can enjoy the restaurant before it becomes wildly popular. i think there were two other tables occupied when we were there. tasty sushi + top notch service puts kula on my list of fabulous finds. 😉

kula sushi bistro – 310.282.8870
10351 santa monica blvd. (@ beverly glen) / los angeles, ca 90025