Los Angeles: Where a Foodie Loves to Dine

An LA girl sees a star and asks her friend, "Isn't that..."
The friend would look, turn to her friend, and say, "You know, I think you're right."
They go back to whatever it is they were doing.

A tourist would probably go up to the star and ask for an autograph, or even worse, a picture with the star. An LA girl would be horrified if the tourist was in her company because she knows that the star is trying to get on with his/her day without being bothered by fans or the paparazzi.

Quick Tips:

The Valley: Magic Mountain (Valencia) and Universal Studios (Universal City)
Anaheim/Buena Park area: Disneyland (Anaheim) and Knott's Berry Farm (Buena Park)
San Diego area: Sea World, San Diego Zoo (both in San Diego), the Wild Animal Park (Escondido), and Legoland (Carlsbad)

Don't come to LA thinking that you can hit all of them from the city of LA. LA is a huge, spread-out metropolis. Notice that none of the theme parks I mentioned are even in the city of LA! Find your hotel accommodations based on which theme parks you want to visit.

If you want to visit the city of Hollywood, then be prepared for the crime. Hollywood is not a pretty town. There are the homeless, prostitutes, and pickpockets, so be careful. Stay in a hotel away from Hollywood and commute there. Parking is difficult, so be prepared to park in a lot.

If you're planning on watching a show and being part of a studio audience, Hollywood is not the place. All taping is done in Burbank now, so make your studio reservations--tickets are free, but some require reservations--and find your accommodations in Burbank.

Best Way To Get Around:

I read online reviews of the place. The reviews were mixed. I felt a little uneasy, but the food was good, although expensive. All the comments made the patio area sound extraordinary, but it was just nice. Lots of lights made it festive since it was two days after Christmas. There was a papier-mâché monkey hanging from the wooden beams. I thought that we would be able to see the night sky, but the wooden beams blocked all the vision of the sky. The beams were wrapped in vines to look almost like a winery. There was dim lighting to create a romantic atmosphere.

We had a merlot from Frog's Leap that was quite good. I ordered the roasted beet salad, which was very good. I then ordered the marinated lamb, which was very good, too. For dessert I ordered the apple tarte tatin, since others have raved about it online. It was quite ordinary, but I did like my friend's pear tarte, which had better flavor.

The bill came out to over $400 for five people, so it was about $80 per person. I have paid less for better food, so it was definitely on the pricier side. It was very noisy, as others have claimed in reviews. I did have to shout across the table. It would be better for a couple. You can whisper to each other easily, whereas a bigger group has to shout at each other. I think it's worth trying out, but I will not be back. I could have spent less money to eat at a Wolfgang Puck restaurant or even Alice Waters's four-star restaurant, Chez Panisse, where the food was divine, not just good.

Service was good. Others have claimed that the service was terrible, but I suspect that they were not properly dressed for the occasion. This is a restaurant for fine dining. The staff is a bit pretentious, so you must look like you have $100 to drop for dinner. You could have easily spent $200 on a bottle of wine there.

There is valet parking, but I did not bother to park valet. I parked on the street a block away. The streets are metered, so if you have a reservation after 6pm, you can park on the streets.

My friends and I ordered tuna, salmon, sweet shrimp, clam, spicy yellowtail roll, eel, a fantastic eel/cucumber roll, California roll, and a spicy tuna roll. The fish was fresh, and rarely am I stuffed from a sushi dinner, but I managed to keep the damage to $23. The waitress was diligently filling up my cup with green tea.

Because this place is in the Little Tokyo section of Los Angeles, you see all kinds of folks: Japanese businessmen, playwrights, actresses, novelists, poets, screenwriters, and others. This restaurant is well-known for its sushi, so you see a mixed clientele. You also see many artists since it's close to the museums (The Museums of Contemporary Art, Geffen Contemporary and California Plaza; Japanese American National Museum) and theaters (Japan America Theater, Mark Taper Forum, Ahmanson Theatre, Dorothy Chandlier Pavilion, Walt Disney Concert Hall, and East West Players). Its location makes it very convenient for pre-theater dining.

The sushi chef was very friendly. He invited us back the next day. My friend liked it so much, she noted the address for future visits.

My friend ordered insalata della casa, the house salad, while I ordered the insalata del contadino, which is organic lettuce with roasted bell peppers, zucchini, goat cheese and basalmic dressing. My salad was quite tasty. I did not expect the salad to be so big, so I was worried that perhaps my friend and I should have split the salad. I had the ravioli con zucca, which is pumpkin ravioli with cream, sage, and parmesan cheese. My friend ordered saffron farfalle ai scampi, which is bow-tie pasta with shrimp, zucchini, green asparagus, garlic, and bread crumbs. I tasted my friend's dish which was too bland for me. She enjoyed it, however, and had no problem with it. My dish was pretty good, although I have had better pumpkin ravioli at another restaurant. It was still good, and I enjoyed my meal. I ordered a Pinot Grigio to go with my ravioli. It was a nice complement. We finished by splitting a tiramisu, which was again just OK.

The waiters were attentive to our needs. We did not have to wait long for anything, mostly because there were not many patrons here. I was a little nervous, but after tasting my meal, I was assured that the restaurant was not empty because of the food. The price wasn't too bad for a fine dining establishment. Our bill came out to $60, which is $30 per person.

After our dinner, we visited the restroom, which was a little worn from wear and tear. I normally would not mention the restroom of a restaurant, but I ended up in a weird stall configuration where the toilet was placed perpendicular to the stall. Do not use this stall if you can help it. I bumped my head as I got up.

As we left, the waiters and the restaurant owner said goodbye to us. They wished us a good show. Whatever the place lacks in food or popularity, they definitely make up for in service. It's too bad that the food tends to either be either a hit or miss. If they were more consistent, I bet there would be more returning customers.

Service is good, but it depends on how busy the restaurant is that night. Sometimes I get a waitress that takes longer than necessary. If you are trying to make it to the theater, it is a good choice. Most items do not take that long to prepare. Bathrooms are easy access from the dining room. There is free parking in the Wells Fargo lot, but make sure you take your ticket for validation. I always valet park, but there is self-parking as well. Valet parking is also free.

I like to order the Singapore Shrimp Rolls for an appetizer. It’s shrimp, broccoli, Shiitake mushrooms, Romaine lettuce, carrots, noodles, bean sprouts, green onions, and cilantro wrapped in rice paper. It’s served chilled with a sesame ginger dipping sauce and Szechwan coleslaw. I’ve tried the CPK Club salad and the Oriental Chicken salad. I found the CPK club salad too bland and plain for my taste. I prefer the Oriental Chicken salad of the two.

My favorite pizza is the Caramelized Pear & Gorgonzola Pizza, which has caramelized pears, gorgonzola, Fontina, and Mozzarella cheeses, caramelized onions, chopped hazelnuts and a salad right in the middle of the pizza with herb ranch dressing. It’s very light and tastes healthy, although I’m sure it’s not with all the pizza crust and creamy salad dressing, but it’s probably healthier than Domino’s. I also like the Original Barbeque Chicken, but that’s something that you can get from the nearest grocery store, so I stick to pizzas I can’t get from the freezer of a store. Of the pastas, I have tried the Thai Linguine, the Chicken Tequila Fettuccine, and the Portobello Mushroom Ravioli. I liked all three.

There are complimentary refills on their drinks. I usually order iced tea or strawberry lemonade. I have tried their Tiramisu, Sweet Italian cream cheese and marsala custard between layers of espresso and rum-laced lady fingers topped with shaved bitter-sweet chocolate. I did not like their tiramisu as much as the ones I have tried elsewhere.

The tables are fairly close together, so you can hear the conversations going on at the next table. The crowd is mostly the pre-theater dining crowd or downtown businesspeople putting in a late night and grabbing dinner. The restaurant is a good value. You get a lot of food for what you pay. I always end up taking a box of leftovers home whenever I dine at CPK. I recommend this restaurant, especially if you are going to the theater afterward.

Trying to find the right elevator to the restaurant was an ordeal as well. I got lost and needed to ask directions to the right elevator to the restaurant. (I got lost on the way down as well and had to stop for directions once again.) Once inside, the restaurant is extremely dim. There are 11 private booths with telephones, which can be used for complimentary local phone calls. We were seated near the back of the restaurant where it was quieter. There was a loud din up front. There is also a patio area where the happy hour drinks are served.

I ordered an appetizer to share with my friends. It was a Bourbon Street-style shrimp appetizer served on garlic toast. Our server recommended it, claiming it brought back memories of New Orleans. It was a good appetizer, but I would have enjoyed a stronger garlic taste. I ordered swordfish, which had a sun-dried tomato butter with very little else. The swordfish itself was fantastic. One friend ordered the mixed grill, while the other friend ordered the tiger shrimp. My friend ordered a glass of Pinot Noir to go with her mixed grill. I ordered a glass of Chardonnay that went very well with my swordfish. My other friend ordered lemonade with her tiger shrimp. There were only four tiger shrimps in her dish. There were more shrimps in the appetizer. I think I would go with a different entrée if you wanted to try a dish with shrimps in it. For dessert, my two friends split a slice of apple pie while I had a slice of key lime pie. I found this key lime pie to be less sweet than other key lime pies that I had tried; a good thing indeed. Our total came out to be about $120, including tax and tip.

A happy hour menu is served from Monday to Friday, 3pm to 7pm. You can choose from the $4.95 column (entrées like Pacific halibut fish and chips, deep-fried oysters with tartar sauce, fresh rock shrimp popcorn, salmon carpaccio, cheese tortellini in pesto cream, and Kung Pao ahi stirfry) or the $1.95 column (appetizers like Cajun calamari, spicy Buffalo wings, cheeseburger, fish tacos, jalapeño poppers, clam chowder, three-cheese quesadillas, chicken potstickers, chocolate truffle cake, teriyaki beef skewers, smoked salmon lahvosh, stir-fry rice bowl, and fried zucchini sticks).

Our servers were excellent. When I was leaving, our server ran after me since I had dropped some money on the floor. Honesty and good service. What a great combination!

When I went inside the restaurant, I noticed that my friend and I were the only Asians in the restaurant other than the staff. Since I know the rule of thumb—if there aren’t any Asians in a Chinese restaurant, the food is terrible—I was a little nervous. I had read online reviews of the place, and they were mixed, so we decided to give it a shot.

When we received our tea, I already had a problem. The tea was bagged, so I had a terrible paper taste in my tea. I usually don’t notice a paper taste with my teabags, but this particular tea had an off-taste that really irritated my taste buds. It was a harbinger of things to come. We ordered Spicy Szechwan Wonton Soup to start. This was a hard dish for us to eat. It was extremely salty rather than spicy. We picked out the wontons instead. The soup was basically boiled in what appeared to be undiluted soy sauce. It might have been oyster sauce, but it was virtually inedible for me since I tend to have a lower salt diet than most Chinese. We then ordered their famous Slippery Shrimp and Hot Spicy Bean Curd (with Minced Pork), which is a common Szechwan dish. The slippery shrimp was good, but not so wonderful that we would return to this place. It sort of reminded me of the Korean-Chinese fusion dish called “kangpoong sehwah.” I think it’s the Korean version of Szechwan shrimp, except much spicier. I think it was misnamed “kangpoong sehwah” after kungpao shrimp. “Sehwah” means “shrimp” in Korean, and I think “kangpoong” is the Korean pronunciation of “kungpao.” The bean curd dish was NOT spicy. It was on the bland side, which surprised me, considering that it should have been cooked Szechwan style. We focused on the shrimp to finish our meal.

I don’t think I will ever return to this place. It may be worth it if you’re only going to order the slippery shrimp, but to go to a restaurant for only ONE dish? I wondered if the slippery chicken was as good as the slippery shrimp. Perhaps if I ever have the misfortune of coming back to this restaurant, I’ll order only the “slippery” items.

There are two happy hours, one from 3 to 7pm, and another from 10pm to closing. The great thing about this place is that the kitchen closes at 1:30am. Unfortunately, when we were there on a Friday night, it was very loud, so loud that we had to shout to hear ourselves. There was a group of college students that laughed and made a lot of noise due to their drunkenness. It was much quieter after they left.

I didn’t expect much in terms of food quality since the place is known for being a brewery, but I was pleasantly surprised. I ordered the lime and herb chicken, which came with garlic mashed potatoes. The garlic was extremely powerful. I liked it. Most of the time people don’t use much garlic, so I appreciated the extra cloves. I also ordered their amber ale, which was very good. My two friends ordered a burger. One had the classic beef burger while the other had a turkey burger. The burger comes on top of a sesame seed bun, grilled sourdough, or a French roll with a side of kettle chips, garlic fries, or a green salad. You also have a choice of two toppings over your burger: Cheddar, Swiss, Brie, jack, or blue cheeses, grilled onions, grilled peppers, sautéed mushrooms, bacon, brick-house chili, Canadian bacon, green olives, jalapeños, cayenne pepper sauce, guacamole, Kahlua BBQ sauce, wasabi mayonnaise, red pepper aioli, and Cajun spices. Both friends liked their burgers. One ordered a salad with her burger while the other ordered garlic fries. Like my mashed potatoes, the fries were strongly flavored with garlic. It’s definitely not for the faint of heart.

Since we were going to the theater, we made a pit stop at the bathroom before leaving. The bathroom had a bit of graffiti written on the stalls and etched into the mirror. It makes me sad that graffiti has become part of the Los Angeles landscape. I see it more often than not. In any case, I was pleased with my meal here. With a group of three, our bill came out to be less than $40, and that’s including our drinks.

I will definitely return, although I hope that the next time I'm here, the college crowd won't be so noisy.

1. mole negro, called the "king of moles" has 20+ ingredients
2. mole verde, green mole gets its coloring from the plant yerba santa
3. mole coloradito, a red, sweet, and spicy mole
4. mole amarillo, bright, intense yellow-orange mole with cloves and cumin that is light and spicy
5. mole chichilo, rich, dark mole based on chilhuacle negro and a mix of other Oaxacan chiles
6. mole manchamanteles, mole with a sweet blend with pineapple and plantains
7. mole rojo, dark red, intensely sweet and mildly spicy mole

When we walked in, we saw the counter where canned goods and herbs were sold. We were ushered in to the dining area, but an important caveat—they do not speak English well here, so make sure you go with someone who can speak decent Spanish. The server brought us tortilla chips slathered with a red mole and crumbled queso fresco. My friend asked if they had appetizers, but apparently, they do not. They also do not have alcohol, but you are welcome to bring your own. There is no corkage fee.

We both ordered horchata, a rice drink, but they did something drastically different with their horchata. They sprinkled nuts and cantaloupe into the horchata. There was a pink layer of color that I didn’t realize was cactus juice. It was the best horchata that I ever had. I ordered mole negro con pollo, which is chicken with black mole. My friend decided on a pork stew with green mole. He did not like his dish. The chayote squash in it displeased him. He ate to his filling, but appeared to like my dish better since he kept taking morsels from my plate.

We were stuffed, but I wanted a dessert to finish off the meal. I ordered the fried plantains with nuts. My friend ordered the flan. The flan wasn’t a true flan, but a flan-flavored pudding. I tasted it, but it was just OK. My plantains came, but this was a disappointment. The dish tasted like bananas and nuts thrown into the microwave topped with whipped cream and Maraschino cherries. Steer clear of the desserts. Stick to the moles. That’s what this place is famous for. The bill was $42 for two, including tax and tip.

Parking is around the corner, but it’s a small lot, so if it’s full, you will have to park on the streets. There are apartment buildings up and down the street near the restaurant. I managed to park on the street, but it will be harder in the evenings when the apartment dwellers return from work.

I arrived first. I do not speak any Chinese dialect since I am Korean, but I look Chinese enough for them to speak to me in Cantonese. They do understand English. A waiter indicated for me to sit anywhere, so I chose a table by the window. My other friend arrived and received the same brusque treatment. Vivian speaks Mandarin. They brought us hot tea served in plastic cafeteria-style water glasses. My friend Judy showed up. Although she is Cantonese, she doesn’t speak a lick. So we ordered in English and received the curt treatment that we had long forgotten as typical of Asian restaurants.

We ordered the Chiu Chow Fried Leek cakes. It was very tasty. We finished that off quickly. Judy ordered the Chiu Chow Spiced Beef Egg Noodle Soup layered with a mild curry sauce. Vivian ordered the Chiu Chow Seasoning Duck Rice Noodle Soup. They stew the duck with dried galanga, soy sauce, herbs and spice until the meat is juicy and tender. I ordered the Chiu Chow Seafood Porridge. I didn’t like my dish as much as both of my friends’ dishes. Judy’s curry had a nice bite to it, not too spicy. Vivian’s duck was very tasty. My porridge had shrimp, fish balls, and a variety of other things in it. It was OK, but I don’t think I’ll order it again. As we were finishing our meal, we ordered the Mashed Taro & White Lotus for dessert. It takes 10 minutes to prepare, so make sure if you want to order it, you order before you finish your meal. The dish came out looking oily and unappetizing, but it was sweet and gooey. Very good.

Dishes were prepared very quickly and efficiently. This is not a restaurant about presentation. Most of our dishes didn’t look pretty. The food tasted fine, though. Service is poor if you speak English. I’m sure that the service vastly improves if you can speak Cantonese. Restaurant décor is not fancy. The seats are styled in that diner motif, circa 1950’s-60’s. Chinese banners proclaim the specialties that may not be written on the menu in English. The prices looked different from those on the menu. They serve Boba drinks here as well as horchata, which suggests that perhaps they also boast a Latino clientele. We enjoyed the restaurant’s food enough to return.

Kim Chuy is open daily from 8 AM to 8 PM. They accept cash only. No alcohol is served. They validate parking for 30 minutes with a purchase of at least $8.

I ordered a watermelon martini before I realized that I would have saved money on the happy hour drinks. My friend ordered a stout ale. I quickly ordered a Belmont Brewing Co. Strawberry Blonde ale before happy hour was over. It’s an award-winning golden ale with slight strawberry inflection. Both my drinks were pretty tasty.

For dinner my friend ordered the Brewery Cheeseburger and the Beer Battered Calamari. I ordered the Deluxe Nachos and the Grilled Portobello Mushroom Sandwich. We did not realize that the Happy Hour Menu items were full portions. I had assumed that the dishes would be smaller since it was happy hour. That’s usually what they do with the lunch menu as opposed to the dinner menu. I had a huge dish of nachos show up. My friend had a huge dish of calamari. Her cheeseburger with fries would have been a decent size on its own. My Portobello mushroom sandwich was a decent size for lunch, but I would have needed at least an appetizer or dessert. Since we ordered too much food, we would have no room to sample the desserts. My sandwich was excellent. The nachos were great appetizers to go with alcohol. So were the calamari. We should have ordered only our sandwich or burger, then one appetizer so that we’d have room for a dessert.

I was lucky that I walked down to the brewing company. I was buzzing after my martini and glass of ale. I’m glad I didn’t have to drive. My friend parked in the hotel garage. It was $3.30 for the first 3 hours with validation. I can't wait to go back for happy hour again.

Hours of Operation
Lunch: Monday - Friday, 11:00 AM - 2:30 PM
Happy Hour: Monday - Friday, 3:00 PM - 7:00 PM
Dinner: Monday - Saturday, 4:30 PM - 9:00 PM
CLOSED SUNDAYS

A few artists were smoking outside the restaurant when I arrived. I ordered the assorted crostini as I waited for my friends to arrive. There was bruschetta with toppings of tomatoes, olives, mushrooms, brie, prosciutto, and Parmesan. They were placed before me right as my friends arrived. We finished those quickly. They were very good, so we ordered the oven-baked fries, which were sprinkled with paprika as well. Those were pretty good, too. My two friends decided on the brie-and-mushroom burger, while I went with the garden burger. Both burgers came with either oven-baked fries or a salad, so we went with the salad, since we had already ordered a side of fries. I had expected the portions to be very small, but the good-sized amounts that were placed before us left no room for dessert. I have to say that it was one of the best garden burgers that I have ever had. This place was great for anyone who likes organic foods or vegetarian meals. The seasonings were excellent.

Since we ordered mostly from the happy-hour menu, our bill wasn’t too bad. We each ordered drinks from the bar menu. I had a watermelon soju drink, while one friend had a mojito soju. (Soju is a Korean liquor that is similar to Japanese sake and tastes a bit like vodka.) The other friend decided on a cosmopolitan. I thought my drink was too weak, while the one who was drinking the mojito soju thought her drink was too strong. There were no complaints from the friend drinking the cosmo.

We had a mix-up with our ordering, but it was squared away without any complaints. I highly recommend this place to anyone who wants to eat healthy.

My friend and I became lost in our conversation, so the waitress returned several times in order to take our order. Service is excellent here. Our table was wobbling, so our waitress came with some paper coasters from the bar to fix it right away. We ended up ordering from the sushi menu, but there are other menus. I ordered a Zip fusion cocktail, which is a ginseng soju drink. The waitress warned that I may not like it since the ginseng flavoring is very strong. She brought me a sample to try before I ordered. I actually liked the strange concoction, so I went ahead and ordered it. I do believe very few would actually like it, but I happen to like ginseng. My friend wanted a beer, but they were all Korean imports, so I advised her to order the Hite Prime (pronounced "height prime"), since she didn’t want a very light brew nor a dark brew. Upon tasting it, she found it just right. My favorite Korean beers are the Hite Prime and the Stout. What Koreans consider "stout" is not very dark, so it’s in between an amber and a dark brew.

The sushi menu was extensive. We ordered tuna, eel, and sweet shrimp first. Unfortunately, the shrimp did not come in pairs, so I found that a little expensive for one shrimp. The rest of the sushi was very good and a great price. After that we tried some rolls: a BSCR roll, which had baked scallops over a California roll; a caterpillar roll, which had eel and cucumber with avocado on top; and an In & Out tuna roll, which had tuna and avocado on top of the spicy tuna roll in a sauce. I liked all the rolls, except the In & Out roll, since it was sopping in sauce. I didn’t like how wet the roll was. It was beginning to fall apart by the time we ate it.

In general, I found it a great price for all the sushi that we ate. Service was fantastic and the atmosphere was good. The clientele tends to be young, professional Asian-Americans. After some time, someone turned on techno music. As it throbbed throughout the restaurant, I noticed myself starting to move to the pulsating beat. It was fine for me, since I didn’t really mind it, but someone who hates techno music would be really annoyed. Still, the food is definitely worth it.

Santo Cambianica founded San Antonio Winery in 1917. His nephew Stefano Riboli has taken over the family tradition, and the whole Riboli family is part of the San Antonio winemaking.

My friend and I went down to San Antonio to peruse the wine selection. The wine store has a large selection of wines. The San Antonio wines are: Maddalena Vineyard, San Simeon, San Antonio Winery, Kinderwood, La Quinta, Aliento del Sol, and Riboli Family Vineyard. They also stock the store with wines from many other vineyards. I managed to find a good Moscato d'Asti there. I generally do not like sweet wines, but this particular wine is like a soft drink. It's a sweet white effervescent dessert wine. It's almost like drinking Sprite. I bought two bottles for my mother, and my friend bought a bottle, too. Tastings are complimentary. There is a list of wines, but I wanted a taste of a wine that wasn't on the list. They gladly opened it for me to taste. What excellent customer service! The wine shop is open from 9am-6pm on Sunday-Tuesday, and 9am-7pm on Wednesday-Saturday.

The winery is also associated with a restaurant called Maddalena after Maddalena Riboli, the family matriarch. I have not yet had the pleasure of eating here since the restaurant closes so early (5pm on Sunday-Tuesday, and 6pm on Wednesday-Saturday).

The winery also has a tour available. The tours are every hour on the hour from 11am-4pm on Saturdays and Sundays, and noon-2pm Monday-Friday. I still have not made it to the tours. I intend on making it eventually, so when I do, I'll make sure to post a review.

I used to do histology when I was still in research. A tissue sample goes into liquid plastic, which hardens. The plastic cube goes into the microtome to be cut into thin slices. An adhesive and cover slip goes on top of the tissue sample on the slide, and voilà, you have a microscope slide. What's different about the Body Worlds exhibit is the WHOLE BODY is plastinated. They’ve sliced the bodies into cross sections and longitudinal sections. Various organs are on display as well as whole bodies. A skinned man holds up his hide in one hand, displayed in all his muscular glory.

One controversial exhibit that troubled many viewers was a pregnant woman. The woman died of cancer and willed her body and fetus for the exhibit. Her fetus was 8 months old. Since these bodies were donated in Europe, the laws are different from US laws. I was awed, but realized other countries have different laws when it comes to protecting the lives of unborn children. I do not feel that the US should impose their laws on them, so I was not bothered. After all, I have dissected fetal animals.

We bought the combo pack—exhibit and The Human Body IMAX film. The next IMAX showing was 11:30am. It was 10:30am. Policy is IMAX first. There are no ins-and-outs, so if you choose to see the exhibit first, you must see the movie 3 hours later. The soonest we were allowed to watch the IMAX was 3:30pm if we saw the exhibit first. After getting into the exhibit at 10:45am, we finished the exhibit around 1pm. We walked around the rest of the Science Center but became bored. There is McDonald’s, Taco Bell, and a museum café in the food court. The museum café has better food, but we’d already ordered Taco Bell, and the café was more expensive. We killed time in the Rose Garden at Exposition Park. At 3pm we went to the IMAX theater. The movie was only 45 minutes. Skip the IMAX and just do the exhibit. Educators can go for free by filling out an online form. You receive a free voucher to print as your admission ticket. You can also order free classroom materials.

The Body Worlds exhibit is running from July 2, 2004 to January 23, 2005. Hours are 10 a.m. - 9 p.m. daily. (Last admission is at 8 p.m.) Call (323) SCIENCE, (323) 724-3623 to check on admission times, especially if you want to buy a combo ticket. They stagger the admission so that there isn't a huge crowd at the same time. Go on a weekday. It will be crowded on the weekends.