It's another weekend and I still have a long list to see in South California, although I know I've already visited almost all the major places on my bucket list. We're still contemplating whether to go to either Malibu or Laguna Beach but we didn't push through with these plans. My niece was pushing me to try Chipotle Mexican Grill today since I really liked the mouth-watering California Bowl in Rubio's last week and I craved more Mexican food like tacos, burritos, quesadillas, or nachos. Just like the others, we shelved the plan. On a side note, my sister promised to make me ceviche before I go back home to the Philippines, anyway.
We made a lot of planning but nothing materialized until one of our folks in Buena Park called us to pay them a visit. It was already 3 PM when we were able to drive down south to a grueling 2-hour gridlock for a 60 mile-drive. We reached the place at past 5 pm and stayed for only a couple of hours. We left Buena Park at 6:30 pm and drove back home for another hour but dropped by at Glendale for dinner. Along the way, I saw tons of restos like Panini Kabob Grill, Porto's Bakery and Cafe, Hot Wings Cafe, The Great White Hut, Phoenicia, Gauchos Village, The Famous, Vegas Seafood Buffet, Joon Shabu Shabu, and a lot more. What really surprised me (I think that was really the intention), is that we parked in a place that looked very familiar... very homey... very Filipino. I hurriedly got out of the car and looked at the cozy-looking house with a gleaming logo that reads Max's Restaurant. I was stunned!
Just across the huge Macy's building is a typical Filipino-design house (which looks almost similar to the facade of Max's Restaurant in Tagaytay City) and is really inescapable to the eyes. Max's logo, if you are a regular customer of this Filipino restaurant, is a stand-out from all the neon lights at W Broadway and it will catch your attention saying like "hey, welcome home buddy!"
We stopped by the entrance where a Pinoy valet park attendant greeted us in Tagalog. No California accent. Purely Filipino. All smiles. We sat at the waiting benches where a Front Desk Officer greeted us "Magandang gabi po, para po ba sa anim (good evening, table for six)?" with a traditional nod for welcoming strangers and a hospitable smile that are both hallmarks of being Pinoy. The wall adjacent to the front door features a poster of Coco Martin, one of the Philippines' most famous indie actors, holding a plate of whole fried chicken which is very inviting for all guests coming in.
Behind the entrance door is like a warp zone to the Philippines. I almost forgot (or I think really did) that I was in a different country. It feels like I was just in one of Max's restaurants in Manila. Almost everyone inside the resto is Filipino - the crew, the managers, and the customers. Amazingly, they are all speaking in vernacular. The food... especially the food, is the one that amazed me the most! The famous tagline of Max's is true to its word of being "the house that fried chicken built." The dining experience at Max's would be futile without ordering their famous and classic fried chicken paired up with their iconic banana ketchup. And what amazes me is that the taste I've grown up with did not change a bit (albeit the chicken is quite bigger in the US). Everything else you've known and might have ordered in the Philippines is there - sinigang, kare-kare, halo-halo, pancit, lumpia, and best of all --- rice. It was really magical and amazing to see a lot of your countrymen in one place, having dinner like one big family.
After dinner, we walked the streets of LA's thriving district known as Downtown Glendale. It boasts an outdoor mall known to be one of the 15 most productive and highest-grossing retail centers in the world, the Americana at Brand, built just 6 years ago. It's a posh mall that offers high-end retailers, eateries, a theater, and an electric trolley, plus a landscaped park. The exquisite ambiance surrounding you with luxury and grandeur is an ultimate experience for shopping, dining, and entertainment that is comparable to none.
From the lift, the first thing to see is a lavish dancing water fountain called Waters of Americana. It accentuates the romantic series of symphony tracks being played within the nice green space resembling a park within an outdoor mall. The animated musical fountain has hourly performance created and designed by the same firm that installed some of the world's largest and most famous performing fountains like the ones in Universal CityWalk which I just visited a few days ago. Other notable fountains are The Dubai Fountain in the United Arab Emirates, the Fountains of Bellagio in Las Vegas, and the Revson Fountain at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in New York; among the few.
Exactly as we walked towards the fountain, the next performance for the hour was played. The fountains suddenly burst in the air employed by sophisticated underwater robots dancing to the enchanting voices of Céline Dion and Andrea Bocelli. The water display has novel and surprising water forms that are not seen in traditional fountains. I also noticed that there are people having a picnic on the lawn while videotaping the fountain's performance, with blankets spread on the grasses provided by the mall (so I heard).
Walking a little further the first fountain is another smaller fountain with a gold-leaf-covered statue that looked like a muscle-infested Greek God soaring through the air. This symbolic statue is a replica of The Spirit of American Youth, a sculpture that can be seen in France but is quite a little bigger than the original. It's now serving as the icon for The Americana at Brand. From my angle, however, it looked like it's overlooking one of the mall's biggest names of shops, the Urban Outfitters.
One of the things that also caught my eye is the internal transit system circling around the complex to shuttle guests, shoppers, and visitors from the main square using a trolley car. I believe it's designed to transport anyone of all ages but the ones I see in this instance are just kids enjoying the ride. So I'm guessing this is a perfect park to bring your kids with you while you enjoy shopping.
Around the complex are the biggest names of tenants in Glendale with huge buildings almost surrounding the entire Americana at Brand. Some of the ones that I remember are Barnes & Noble, Nordstrom, Pacific Theatres. H&M, Barneys New York, and Forever 21. Restaurants are everywhere. It seemed like an endless choice of cuisines depending on preferences and occasions like Häagen-Dazs, Jamba Juice, Din Tai Fung, The Cheesecake Factory, Wetzel's Pretzels, Pinkberry, The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf, and Sprinkles Cupcakes, and a lot more.
A lot of people, especially those who are just within the area, including my sister, say that Americana at Brand is not the go-to mall for the usual shopping needs or the place to see a great movie. But in my experience tonight, it is one of the most captivating outdoor malls to see when you just want to chill and shop. Accentuated with amorous fountains, mesmerizing music, impressive backdrops of intricate designs of the buildings paired up with the security guards in period costumes, it's a perfect place to unwind and luxuriate.
It's like a home.
