Category Archive for Food + Theme Restaurants
SAFE HOUSE: SPY BAR & THEME RESTAURANT IN MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN. JAMES BOND FOOD, SECRET AGENT DISGUISE.
Shhh… the latest installment of my Huffington Post / AOL travel TV show is out. I snuck into Safe House, a hidden Milwaukee restaurant/bar for spies.
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My disguise consisted of…
Sunglasses: Wanderling Red Queen, gifted from Lumete.
Dress: h.NAOTO, from Closet Child (my favorite Tokyo secondhand store)
Pirate scarf: an old thing
Cut-out boots: Leche by Yosuke, from Marui One Shinjuku’s “shoe heaven” floor
Black floppy sunhat: from Hong Kong
I can’t divulge all the secrets of Milwaukee’s Safe House. Intelligence would have me terminated. Or, at least, the owners would be miffed.
I can tell you it’s a refuge for secret agents, disguised as a restaurant and bar. (Or is it the other way around?) I knew the address (779 North Front Street, Milwaukee Wis.), but struggled to find the hidden alleyway door.
Once I located the entrance, I had to face Miss Moneypenny, who demanded a secret password. No clue. “You’ll have to do what I tell you for entry,” she said. Which, as you can see in the video, was rather embarrassing.
A bookcase slid open, and a passage led to a dining area sectioned internationally (Hong Kong, Eastern Europe etc.) Spy memorabilia covered the walls. Relics included a USSR jail door, a chunk of the Berlin wall and an Austin Powers guitar.
Co-owner Shauna Baldwin, who goes by the title “chief disinformation officer,” tipped me off to gags hidden throughout the restaurant. “Want to know if your boyfriend is playing the field?” she asked. The ladies’ room has a peephole offering a vantage point from which to watch his behavior at the bar.
Even the food has undercover names, such as Ze French Dip and Bond’s Bomb, a chocolate ball with a lit fuse (candle) that I couldn’t blow out. The video shows how my martini was thoroughly shaken, thanks to a retro-futuristic device.
Safe House takes the spy theme to the extreme. Baldwin custom-built a hidden revolving booth exit, and dreamed up a “Her Majesty’s Secret Service” act with a rising torture chair.
But these details are classified. Spies will have to don a disguise, and sneak in to see for themselves.
Thanks to Chief Disinformation Officer Shauna for the tour, to the film crew for their hard work, and to Huffington Post / AOL for the chance to do this travel show.
Please take a moment to view my travel video and article. My cat sends head-bonks for every Like, Share and Tweet! (The short-link is http://huff.to/vEoNrX)
What’s the coolest theme restaurant or bar you’ve ever visited?
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LA CARMINA ON FOOD NETWORK! WORLD’S WEIRDEST RESTAURANTS: BOB BLUMER. JOIN MY BIRTHDAY AT MR BLACK LA!
Two ARR-amazing announcements! First, The Pirates are being flown to Tokyo and Kyoto in September… for a Food Network TV mission! Second, I’m having a Super-Cute Hollywood birthday bash on August 23. And you’re invited. Keep reading for the shiny details.
My company, La Carmina & The Pirates, is getting tons of great gigs (recall I was just in Tokyo for Discovery/National Geographic/Fuel TV). We do TV hosting, fixing (location scouting, arranging, translating) and coolhunting/consulting. Our specialties: subcultures, fashion, travel, food, pop culture, and all things weird.
My First Mate, Naomi Rubin, made this glorious drawing of us — doesn’t it scream “Arrr!?” In addition to being a pirate, Naomi’s an imaginative, talented artist and web designer. You can see more of her design work on her website.
The crew behind a new Food Network show, World’s Weirdest Restaurants, wanted to film inside bizarre Japanese eateries. Who better to contact than the author of Crazy, Wacky Theme Restaurants: Tokyo?
So we’ll be joining host Bob Blumer, who you may know from shows Glutton for Punishment and The Surreal Gourmet for Food Network Canada. I’ll be appearing on-camera as his Tokyo sidekick!
We can’t reveal specifics about the new TV show. But you can expect to see your favorite spooky faces, and wacky cafes featured in my book. (You can read more about theme restaurants in this blog category.)
But before we jet to Japan for a month… let’s party in Hollywood! Mr Black, the glam nightclub brainchild of Luke Nero, is throwing me a Super Cute Birthday Party on August 23rd.
It’s free entry, so you have no excuse not to show up. Los Angeles friends, please spread the word — I hope to see you at my Mr Black birthday bash!
La Carmina’s Super Cute Birthday Party
Mr Black at Bardot Hollywood
1737 Vine St at Hollywood, Los Angeles CA
Tuesday August 23rd, 9:30pm – 2am (age 21+)
FREE to enter – no cover!
Facebook RSVP page
You can see my previous Mr Black club coverage here.
I leave you with a random video: Seba and La Carmina at the Luisaviaroma fashion blogger event, in Florence Italy.
Do you watch Food Network? What are your favorite shows and hosts? Are you excited to see me and my posse on World’s Weirdest Restaurants?
PS: Please share this link and let your LA friends know about my birthday party!
Song of the Day: Carol Cooper – Tunnel of Love (Hi NRG from 1985)
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