Frankie's Italian Kitchen, Tarzana, CA

Tarzana, California has been my place of residence for nearly 14 years, but I've never eaten at Frankie's Italian Kitchen until last evening. I've been aware of Frankie's, but never stopped in. I've noticed that they are usually packed. This was an indicator to me that this restaurant was worth trying out. As usual, I was right!

My roommate Jessica and I were in the mood for Italian food and we decided to give Frankie's a try. Boy, are we glad we did! The dinners we selected were excellent!

Frankie's is not a big restaurant, it looked like it would accommodate about 100 people. It was established in 1993.

Jessica chose Dave's Cioppino which consisted of clams, mussels, shrimp, scallops and salmon served in a seafood broth. It is normally served on a bed of linguine, but since she's on a low-carb diet, she had it without the linguine. She couldn't completely finish it at the restaurant even though she proclaimed it delicious. She'll finish it off at home.

I chose Fresh Clams Linguine. It consisted of fresh and chopped clams, sauteed in white wine sauce (they also have it available in red sauce) and served over linguine. It was the best linguine and clams dinner I've had in ages!

Both dinners came with soup or salad and their dinner rolls are great.

The servings of both dinners were quite generous and reasonably-priced (around $20 each).

They also have wide assortments of salads, pizza, hero sandwiches, pasta, baked dishes, seafood, veal, lamb and pork. Meals catering to vegetarian diets are also available.

Lunch is served from 11 A.M to 3:30 P.M. and dinner is served from 3:30 P.M. to close.

If you are in the Tarzana area of the San Fernando Valley, you won't go wrong in trying out Frankie's Italian Kitchen. They are located at 5538 Reseda Blvd. Phone (818) 705-1295. They also have take-out and delivery service. Their website is www.FrankiesItalianKitchen.com.

We'll definitely go back to Frankie's Italian Kitchen! My grade: A.

2011 Year In Review

2011 began much better than did 2010.

As been the tradition for the past few years, I attended the New Year's Day festival in Little Tokyo in Los Angeles. I plan to go again this coming New Year's.



It started out with an interview article in Metropolis magazine, Japan's number one English-language magazine, on The Monster Movie Fan's Guide To Japan. The January issue of magazine included a cover blurb and the interview article shared two pages with singer Christina Aguilera. Metropolis is distributed throughout the Tokyo metropolitan area and is free to readers. The interview was a direct result of my trip to Japan in December 2010.

I was honored as "Officer of the Quarter" by my company in my "parachute" job as a private patrol officer.

My ad for the travel guide appeared in Famous Monsters of Filmland magazine at the beginning of the year.



Kinokuniya Bookstores' Little Tokyo store is carrying the travel guide in their travel section. Thus far, they've placed one re-order after the initial order sold out.



A new batch of publicity photos was needed to augment those taken earlier with Yuu Asakura and Ai of Tokyo. The photo session of model Miki Hayashi was accomplished at a Japanese garden in the San Fernando Valley in February. After the photo shoot, I treated her to a sushi lunch at Crazy Tokyo Sushi in Tarzana.


I gave a presentation at the 2011 Monsterpalooza in April on Japanese kaiju movie location sites titled, "Scene To Seen." It was held at the Burbank Marriott Hotel and Convention Center. My daughter Amber was going to assist me there, but she was just recovering from the flu. Miki Hayashi graciously agreed to fill in. I introduced her to Haruo "Mr. Godzilla" Nakajima and Shinichi Wakasa at the show. Following my presentation, we beelined it to Fuddrucker's for dinner as both of us were quite starved. The show was a success, perhaps too much so as the facility was too packed with people. Growing pains! They really need a larger facility.



Claims work slowed down during the late-spring and summer months. We found that some of our client insurers cut back on using independent adjusters to control expenses due to the still sluggish economy. Fortunately, The Monster Movie Fan's Guide To Japan's sales helped to fill the financial void. This was despite the shock the Japanese tourist industry received from the March 11 earthquake, tsunami and Fukushima radiation fears.

Left, Haruo Nakajima and Miki Hayashi at Monsterpalooza. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

In July, I reconnected with Jessica and she moved in to my apartment at the end of the month. She is a great cook and a big help with household expenses.

Sadly, the autumn months saw the passings of Steve Born, XNGH of the Peter Lebeck Chapter of E Clampus Vitus and my uncle Tony Cimarusti. I was hoping that this year would be death-free for family and friends. Also, our 16-year-old cat, Buttons, died in Amber's arms on November 8 while we were driving to the vet.

Also in November, the 1989 Mustang required having its engine rebuilt after a rod broke. Fortunately, I already had the funds needed in the bank from this year's corn crop sale. The car now runs like a champ again.

I finally joined the digital age with a new Samsung 37" television set and a Sony Blu-ray player. We are enjoying them very much! Jessica is having a grand time with the television set's timer features.

Jessica and I went to my cousin's in the Lake Elsinore area for Thanksgiving. Amber had to work, but will be able to join us there on Christmas Eve.

Already things are starting to shape up for 2012. I will have a table at the year's first Los Angeles Comic Book and Science-Fiction Convention at the Shrine Auditorium Expo Center for The Monster Movie Fan's Guide To Japan.

This year was an improvement over 2010. Hopefully, 2012 will be an even better year and we get a new president in November.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to my readers!

A Late Evening Scramble

Today's been a busy day.

Spent most of it helping my roomie get enrolled in culinary school (she starts next month) and fighting traffic.

Then, after everything got done, we kicked back at Crazy Tokyo Sushi in Tarzana for a delicious sushi dinner.

Right, Ai with "The Monster Movie Fan's Guide To Japan" amongst Christmas lights in Tokyo. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

I thought I'd have a nice relaxing evening until I picked up today's mail when we got home. This is a good thing, so I'm not at all complaining. In the mail, were several orders for The Monster Movie Fan's Guide To Japan. I then scrambled to get each order packaged and addressed so I can mail them tonight for a possible pre-Christmas delivery. Fortunately, the post office lobby was still open so I could weigh each one and have mailing labels printed (thank goodness for debit cards).

Now, I can finally relax. For now.

More Halloween Decoration Pictures

Here's some more Halloween decorations that residents in my community of Tarzana, California put up in their front yard. These are cell phone pictures, click on image to view larger:

Halloween Display

One of my favorite times of the year is the Halloween season.

Working in my "parachute job" in security patrol, I have the good fortune to see Halloween decorations people set up in their yards during my patrols.

Yesterday, I saw a pretty elaborate display in a gated community in Tarzana. I took these photos with my cell phone (click on images to view larger):



Above and below, characters from "The Wizard of Oz" seem to have had run-ins with the trees.

Monster Movie Fan's Guide To Japan In Tarzana.com

Above, Miki Hayashi with "The Monster Movie Fan's Guide To Japan." Photo by Armand Vaquer.

The community in which I live is Tarzana, California. It is the former location of Tarzan author Edgar Rice Burroughs's Tarzana Ranch. It is a part of the City of Los Angeles.

Tarzana.com is a website for Tarzana businesses. The site has picked up the press release on the 20% autumn discount of The Monster Movie Fan's Guide To Japan.

To view the site, go here.