Culture night

I just got back from watching Miss Saigon at the Pantages Theater. Tonight was their closing night for the touring cast. There is just something about watching a live musical that makes a story more intriguing. This time Richard & I sat in the 8th row.. wait.. row F.. that would be (abcdef) 6th row I mean =P. For Lion King we had 2nd row seats and you could see the sweat on the actors' foreheads! But this time was pretty good too.

I didn't know a thing about Miss Saigon- just that it involved a Vietnamese girl and an American soldier falling in love. The story was simple but the music really added a lot to it. I loved all the melodies and the songs- unlike Les Miserables where the music was all dark and just eerie. I fell in love with the two main characters- Chris and Kim. Just the way everything fell into place makes you feel an instant connection. The Engineer was played really well too.

Of course being so close to the stage/speakers it was a little tough sometimes to hear the lyrics to the songs- and well if you can't hear the lyrics then you don't really hear much because there is zero spoken dialog. I thought Jennifer Paz was awesome... I really wanted to see Lea Salonga in the role but Jennifer did pretty well also. Also we saw in the playbill that one of the cast was born in Surabaya, Indonesia so Richard and I were trying to figure out which one she was :P

The ending really surprised me- I wasn't expecting it and I was just lingering on every moment that right when she shot herself my mind just stopped to try to take it all in.



Well after the show we decided to try Balboa restaurant in the Grafton Hotel. I actually wanted to eat at Chi (teehee) but it was closed, and plus Richard really wanted steak. I had heard that they had four different rubs and several different sauces to choose from: I like steakhouses that focus on flavor and not just the meat. The restaurant was very cute- the decor was very meticulous. It was very modern, and cozy. I really liked the restaurant... just not so much the food. In Richard's words, "The meat was tough, not good, and tasted like Denny's. It was a waste of $160. Tasted like a Norm's T-bone." Okay.. that was a bit harsh. The Voss water was very cute... the crab cakes weren't bad... the steak was flavorful for the first couple of bites, but towards the middle you can tell the quality isn't that good. They did have Kobe on the menu though- so I wonder what that would have tasted like. The berry dessert was very pretty- but it wasn't that good. I just told Richard that it was so he didn't feel bad :P Ok- there was one thing that was REALLY good- they have these Garlic String Beans as a side.. they were really tasty.

But I think I've been to enough steakhouses now to make a list....

Top Steakhouses ever
1. Mastro's
2. Arnie Morton
3. Flemming's (in Palm Springs)
4. Balboa
5. Ruth's Chris
6. Pacific Dining Car

And while we're at it...

Top Crab Cakes in LA
1. Mastro's
2. Tangerine
3. Gladstone's
4. Balboa
and LAST on the list... Cheesecake Factory (ew yuck!)