B-Side Blog

MB Post in Manhattan Beach Kiiiind of Blows My Mind

When it comes to dining in Los Angeles, I more or less stick to a grid that spans from West Hollywood to Downtown (with many stops in Koreatown in between). It’s not often that I head west to Brentwood or Santa Monica, and it’s even rarer that I head off to the South Bay, a region of beach communities including Manhattan, Hermosa, and Redondo Beaches, among others. That may all be changing very soon though thanks to my first glorious dinner at MB Post, a relatively new restaurant (or “Social House,” as it bills itself) in Manhattan Beach. I’m not saying that I’m going to become a regular on the South Bay dining scene, but I may just need to make regular trips for the bacon cheddar buttermilk biscuits alone.

Yes, they’re as good as they sounds.

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RACHEL ZOE PHOTOCAP: Doulas, Kardashians, and Vegas

Like LITERALLY I’m starting to enjoy this season of The Rachel Zoe Project. It was a bit slow at first and entirely too Rodger-centric, but now that professional hanger-on Joey has moved back to LA, we’re witnessing a wonderful power struggle between the gays. Basically, we have Joey, who is quietly catty, territorial, and shifty, and we have Jeremiah, who is wide-eyed, eager, and more or less the beacon of GOOD. He’s like some gay male hybrid of a fluffy bunny and Snow White. More or less.

Nevertheless, with Joey in town, the two gays must battle it out to be Rachel’s favorite. Joey has a distinct advantage in that he already IS Rachel’s fave and clearly knows the best way to kiss her ass. Jeremiah, however, must endure countless condescending remarks, such as when he pulled two leopard-print shoes for a Kim Kardashian shoot, causing Joey to respond, “I don’t know if leopard is part of the story, but we can take them.” In this brewing war of the puffy hair, I can already tell you whose side I’m on…

As for the rest of the episode, Rodger bitched and moaned more than usual (and then had the balls to announce that he’d be going off to Vegas for a weekend), and Rachel visited a doula, resulting in more of the aforementioned bitching and moaning from Rodger. Oh, and there was a photo shoot with Kim Kardashian. So that was fun.

On to the photocap!

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HOUSEWIFE HOEDOWN, Episode 2-3: Fired Wives, Taylor Armstrong, and More Michaele Salahi

Video streaming by Ustream

We recorded another episode of Housewife Hoedown today, and joining me in the studio were Matt Whitfield from Yahoo! and comedian Amy Phillips, whose parody of Rachel Zoe not only took the internet by storm but also landed her a guest spot on The Rachel Zoe Project last year.

Anyway, Amy, Matt, and I talked about all the crazy news from the Real Housewives universe, including the gossip about the fired wives from New York, Michaele Salahi’s encounter with Journey, and Taylor Armstrong’s recent interview with Entertainment Tonight. Plus, we recapped the latest episodes of Beverly Hills and New Jersey, making the usual tasteless jokes along the way. Check out the video above!

You MUST Look At These Amazing Cakes by Mark Randazzo!

A few years ago, I blogged about my friend Mark Randazzo of Mark Joseph Cakes in New York City. Back then, he crafted an R2-D2 Cake, which was red instead of blue, throwing the nerds into a tizzy of epic proportions. Coloration issues be damned, the post became and has continued to be my most highly visited blog entry to this date, having been picked up by BoingBoing, Serious Eats, and Starwars.com, of all places.

In the three years that have passed, Mark has continued to build amazing cakes, and his business has totally taken off. Sometimes I forget just how talented he is, but thanks to his intrepid wife Leslie and her Facebooking skillz, I remembered all over again this morning when she posted some awesome mobile pics of some recent cakes. Trawling through her pictures, I found several amazing creations, and I just had to share four of them here.

Amaaaaaaaazing cakes after the jump…

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REAL HOUSEWIVES OF BEVERLY HILLS PHOTOCAP: Unpacking Taylor’s Emotional Baggage

What’s better than one erratic, emotional breakdown? Two erratic emotional breakdowns! Yes, we had all sorts of instability on last night’s Real Housewives of Beverly Hills. First, we resumed with Taylor, who when we last saw her was bawling her tight little eyes out in a jacuzzi with Kyle Richards. Between the altitude, the bubbles, and the bubbly, she had found herself three (or perhaps thirty-three) sheets to the wind. I had merely thought she was simply emotional, but as we soon learned, Taylor was in a good ol’ fashioned downward spiral. Yay!

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Sandra Lee Curses, Is Fun

Sandra Lee, Food Network star and First Lady of New York, has many detractors. Most assail her utterly disgusting recipes (Kwanzaa cake anyone?) and others her sing-songy delivery. Well, Sandra Lee haters, we now have more grist for your mill. Outtakes of the flaxen cook attempting to get through a shoot have surfaced. They’re replete with cursing and boob clutching, and quite frankly, the video actually makes me like her. If this were the Sandra Lee we could see on TV — all boozy and foul-mouthed — I’d be all about it, despite her dubious recipes. What do you think?

The video has already been taken down from YouTube and Vimeo; so catch it on Eater while you can…

Eater LA: Here’s Sandra Lee Swearing in ‘Semi-Homemade’ Outtakes

Thanks JASH.

REAL HOUSEWIVES OF NJ PHOTOCAP: Caribbean Queens

After months of buildup, the entire cast (minus Ashley, who was too dumb to get her passport in order so she could go on a FREE vacay) headed down to Punta Caña to enjoy sun, waves, and plenty of booze. It looked like a rather wonderful time, and for the most part, there seemed to be a noted lack of drama. The most pressing issue seemed to be finding an isolated corner for Joe and Melissa to have sex in.

Despite the feuding members present, everyone agreed to play nice. That meant no one started up with Teresa as she annoyed everyone with her never ending parade of bikini options. It’s rare that anything can make the Posche Fashion Show seem upmarket, but leave it to Teresa to make wonders happen.

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RACHEL ZOE PHOTOCAP: Announcing the Rachel Zoe Collection

High drama in the world of The Rachel Zoe Project. Our star headed to New York to debut her collection to the media and buyers, and the stakes could not have been higher. We knew this because Rachel reminded us about this every two seconds. In fact, just when we thought she’d passed one hurdle with the highest stakes ever (ie. a Women’s Wear Daily review) she then had to face yet another challenge with the highest. stakes. ever.

The good news is that Rachel emerged unscathed, and the even better news for her was that she reconnected with her favorite gay hanger-on, Joey, who had apparently moved to New York City since last season. Well, without Brad hanging around, Rachel needed a new main gay, and Jeremiah was simply too new to earn the coveted role. Let the negotiations begin!

First Rodger took Joey out to dinner and pleaded with him to return to LA and be Rachel’s main gay. Then Rachel’s sister got in on the persuasion. They offered money, cars, friendship — anything to sway Joey. Of course he said yes — as if that would ever be a question. Rodger probably could have offered him a pistachio and three bobby pins and Joey would have said yes. Nevertheless, by the end of the episode, Rachel had impressed the fashionistas and filled her gay slot.

As for Jeremiah, looks like he’s going to be on the receiving end of Joey’s territorial smirks and remarks. Should be an interesting turf war…

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REAL HOUSEWIVES OF BEVERLY HILLS PHOTOCAP: The Ladies Go Downhill

The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills traded in the sunny shores of California for the snowy peaks of Colorado last night as the women all headed east for a weekend at Camille’s mountain home. As you can imagine, this led to our first triumphant ski-bunny montage in the history of the Housewives, but sadly, there were no bloopers in the pow-pow as all five of the “creaky beavers,” as Lisa called them survived the slopes at Beaver Creek.

Just because no one face planted in the snow (as I surely would have) didn’t mean we were lacking in entertainment. There were plenty of petty attacks and confrontations to keep the show moving, ultimately ending in yet another sad Taylor Armstrong moment that unfortunately foreshadows her husband’s terrible fate. Oy.

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REAL HOUSEWIVES OF NJ PHOTOCAP: Little People, Big Emotions

Congratulations to Bravo for singlehandedly bringing utter shame upon me for feeding the machine that is The Real Housewives of New Jersey. All season, I’ve been extolling this revamped cast’s virtues, citing the complex and all-too-real emotional issues that have plagued the Gorga-Giudice households week in and week out. Great drama! The best!

And then little Gia had to go cry and make me feel bad.

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