Friday's date night

The best thing about living in LA is having options: because there is such a diverse community of people living here, you can get a chunk of just about any culture within minutes of drive. Apparently this does not apply to finding a low-key, relaxed establishment to play pool at on a Friday night. After a bunch of frantic yelp.com searches, we both came up with nothing. What we had available was either a crowded "hip and happening" place where we would be mingling among the glued-hair-wanna-be people trying to look pretty, or a hole-in-the-wall dive bar with one raggedy pool table and loud and obnoxious music, or a male gay bar with, at least based on reviews, a fighting atmosphere and a hostile bouncer. We didn't want either, so we ended up dropping the idea in its entirety. Perhaps i have been spoiled by the Midwest, where every other block you can find a half-empty pool halls where locals come with their own and leave with their own, no one wants to know your name, and you can miss all the shots you want without any embarrassment, because no one is looking at you, unless they came there with you. But, i guess, it makes sense that with a large population of LA and such a high price for a piece of land, a place with a bunch of pool tables and no crowd would not be able to stay open very long, since they won't be able to pay their rent. Ha!

But, Friday wasn't lost to new discoveries, because we went to Cholos. This place, as it turns out, has been in business for decades, and proudly displayed its history on their walls, and memorabilia in their menu covers. They existed way back when a dinner could cost 35 cents -- pretty cool to stay in business through so many changes in population, tastes, the economy. But i digress...The place was busy, primarily with large groups of people, and we had to wait to be seated. But the drinks were extremely strong: i was buzzed from 1/3 of my mojito, and was smashed after i finished it. My C was happy with his margarita as well. We placed an order for the food, and it came out almost immediately, - we were both surprised. But the most surprising part was how incredibly good it was. I ordered the crab enchilada, and it came with delicious green sauce, and all geometrically arranged! I love my food geometrically arranged! The enchilada was perpendicular to a stripe of rice, and a stripe of beans, and had avocado smiley face -- awwww.... C ordered a veggie enchilada, and although there was no geometry on his plate, the yellowish sauce that it came with was unique, slightly sweet and delicious. The rice and beans were also yummy, by the way. I will definitely look forward to my subsequent visits.