Hollywood Oysters and Scallop Tostadas

Plus: Apple Ginger Upside-Down Cake, Dinner at Lasita, and Everything Cookbooks.

Hello Thursday friends,

On Tuesday I Tweeted the following Tweet:

Adam Roberts @amateurgourmet

Whenever I walk past people eating at a restaurant at four o’clock, I want to shout at them: “WHICH MEAL IS THIS?!?!”

This came from the fact that the other day I was in my neighborhood (Atwater Village) walking past Bon Vivant, a cafe, and saw people eating outside at 3:30 in the afternoon on a Saturday. Was this lunch? Was this a very early dinner? What was this?

Ironically, a few days later, I wound up going to Found Oyster with Chelsea Peretti at 5 PM.

Now there were several reasons why we ate at 5 o’clock: (1) Found Oyster doesn’t take reservations, so at five you’re pretty much guaranteed to get in; (2) Chelsea’s a mom and needed to get home to her child eventually; (3) it’s fun to eat oysters and drink wine at five in the afternoon! Who cares what meal it is?

Found Oyster is such an L.A. restaurant. For starters, it’s in the shadow of the Scientology Center (a hot new backdrop; Saffy’s is also close by). For seconds, it’s very expensive for not a lot of food. That smoked trout dip in the middle of the oyster platter? That was $23. And this scallop tostada — which was marvelous and zesty and crispy and bright — was $19.

Still, it’s not every day that you go out for oysters at five PM. And we had a grand old time. So all-in-all: I highly recommend it! Normal meal times be damned.