Come celebrate the holidays with our friends from this summers No Shirt/No Shoes party.

Tuneage by the Pool Party Legends ; Surf Ambassador Hendo, Bixel Boys, Tropicool, & Junkyard
Golden Gopher DTLA 10-2.
No Cover

Japan was an amazing trip, and Ampal will be making some big moves in 2012 over in the land of the rising sun. Extended Blog Posts to come…

This Saturday, New Image Art gallery with support from Hex Bags will be presenting opening of the DRUGS CREW show. Our talented friend Gus Thompson will be showing some new work.

On the westside, our friends over at Witness This are holding a charity for a great cause. If you’re out in Venice go check out “Give Get” benefiting the woman’s shelter – Time for Change Foundation – out of San Bernardino. These ladies deserve a little holiday support, womans shelter x San Bernardino = heavy!!!

Tickets available HERE

I’m in Japan with my brother, Nick from Crap/N.Potash Jewelry, exploring our roots and getting inspired. Today we checked out the 20th anniversary Mooneyes Carshow in Yokohama. This is a little preview of the most glorious collection of gasoline fueled speed machines ever assembled under one roof.

Stay tuned, lots more to come…

I got to cruise to the Kendrick Lamar/DJ Green Latern show at the Music Box on Friday. I had heard the hype about Kendrick – endorsements from Dre and Snoop as the torchbearer of Westcoast Hip Hop etc. – and listened to a few mixtapes and tracks, but seeing it in person, I’m now a believer. Kendrick’s from Compton and his music is part classic West Coast gangsta rap, but with a lot of other influences and a flow that emerges as uniquely his own.

Fellow Compton/TDE artist Schoolboy Q, was on right before Kendrick and put on a great show as well. We were stoked to see him come on stage wearing a REMINGTON snapback – I’ve never seen the winter pin-up girls looking so hard.

Going into the show I was excited to see the legendary evil genius DJ Green Lantern do a set. I’ve been listening to his mixtapes forever so it was great to meet him and I was pumped he was feeling our new hats.

After the show the good doctor, DRE!!!! came backstage to introduce the fam to Kendrick, I was going to ask him about Detox, but had second thoughts when his security locked down the hall.

Pt.s I & II Coming 11/11. Sign Up on the right side for exact release dates.

The collection was shot by the very talented Taylor Scott Dunfee.  These images are straight out of the camera and have not been photoshopped or digitally altered – a creative mind is always the best tool for the job.

Our friend, Taylor Dunfee, the man behind our FW lookbook, documented Occupy LA on thursday 11/17.

He wanted us to share it with the world. These are a few of our favorites. Check out more here.

I was in NY for a week not too long ago. If you follow my instagram (ampal_creative) you will have noticed that 50% of my pics from the trip were of food. I am a fat kid at heart and love food and eating. I wanted to share a few of my favorites I visit every time as well as some new ones we discovered on this trip. None of these meals were too expensive, and all were definitely worth the items I sacrificed at uniqlo.

The amazing noodles and roast pork above are from the aptly titled Great NY Noodletown. BTW, this is a fan page, I dont think the restaurant knows it exists. Their roast pork is amazing, and even better with the pan fried noodles, which were actually CRISPY!!!

These house made sides in Little Italy* (I forget the name of the cafe) had me drooling in line – from L-R: front row – Butternut Squash, Roasted Cauliflower, Fresh Ricotta, back row – Roasted Peppers, Homemade Mozz, and Eggplant Parm. NOM NOM NOM!!!

I consider myself a connoisseur of Pastrami and hold Langer’s as the holy grail of the brined/smoked/steamed beef and was eager to check out Mile End in Brooklyn, after hearing stories of delicious pastrami from my pastrami partner in crime JDH.

The story I heard, was that a law student dropped out of a local university to pursue his love of the beef, learning from best and creating his own homemade smoked meats, pickles and other delicacies. His passion shows in the delicious food and people love it. They will be opening a second restaurant in Manhattan soon. This is it right here, a slab of brisket that is dry rubbed then smoked, so it is technically “smoked beef” not pastrami. A couple of stacks of evenly sliced rye are in the foreground, and to the left lay a delectable bowl of drippings and end pieces used for their sauces.

This is THE dish – smoked meat poutine. It was as good as it looks, but the gravy was a bit thick for my California tastes. I think the Gorbal’s bahn mi poutine is a better overall dish, but this is still a meal I will return too.

The next destination was Saltie’s as recommended by our friend Seth. I grew up on his parent’s bagels, and to this day swear the original Baltimore Bagel’s were the best. Food is in the Brau DNA, so I was a bit skeptical but took his word on a Captain’s Daughter – “sardines, pickled egg, salsa verde.” Going into the restaurant I really doubted it would deliver; I like an occasional sardine on a good Caesar salad, but questioned it as the main ingredient along with pickled egg. It was really good. The bread was perfect, and the odd pairing was unlike anything I’ve had. Be forewarned, if you eat the whole thing it will sit heavy and you can count out any make outs or close conversations with anyone you’re trying to impress.

Roberta’s was conveniently located across from my friend’s loft, so it was an obvious choice. They grow their own vegetables in an amazing garden that doubles as a beer garden in the summer. The woodfired pizza was delicious, and probably even better topped with their veggies.

We had a drinking/pumpkin carving party. Fortunately most guests used the dull knives, no blood was shed and my octopus donated these soy, garlic, horseradish seeds.

The first time I ate at Joe’s Shanghai we sat across from Terry and some 18 year old. Their super dumplings are legendary, cheap and served late into the night. Steaming with broth they are amazing on a cold night. A couple of trays of crab or pork dumplings are pretty much as essential as having a late night slice of pie when you’re in NYC.

Take a moment before taking in this next picture.

This is a plate of the legendary Momofuku Steamed Buns. An absolutely perfect marriage of “pork belly, hoisin, cucumbers, scallions” they were one of the best things I’ve ever eaten. Ever since I saw Anthony Bourdain visit David Chang’s exalted establishment I knew I would eat there.

This was the delicious “bev eggleston’s pork shoulder steak – cauliflower, piperade, pine nuts.” They have ridiculous meal options for larger groups that get served to a lucky few tables reserved months in advance, that is on the radar for next time. Jacob has been part of a fried chicken 2 ways (korean and american preparations) for 8, and they currently have a bo-ssam and rotisserie duck option, but plan on reserving a table way in advance.

There are countless other amazing restaurants in NYC, but these are some of our favorites. We hope we can point you toward some flavor bliss next time you’re in the city. This post has already made me hungry, enjoy!
 

Some of our favorite downtown party people have come together to create a sample sale with the best line-up of brands Ive seen in a while. We’ll be there with a bunch of hats, some good deals and a cooler of cold beer. Make a downtown day of it and check out the TSD art show below.

If you were as blown away by the images of our F/W Collection as we were, you should check out Mr. Dunfee’s art show this weekend.

Equally talented behind and in front of a camera, with a pen in hand, surfboard under foot, beer in hand, or crushing miles on his 2 wheeled steed, White Gloss will be hosting an exhibition starting this Saturday 11/5.

And if you’re just a big piece, the rumor is the PBR will be flowing like the Pacific to the soothing sounds of Junkyard or SAH.