No Hiding the Elephant in the Room with this Restaurant - CLOSED

Elephant Bar

24155 Laguna Hills Mall #1055

Laguna Hills, CA 

I love getting gift cards. I know some of you out there might like to have a more personal gift, but I like that I can get exactly what I want. No returns, and no getting stuck with junk that immediately gets jettisoned to the back of my closet. Predictably, since I am so into restaurants, I get a lot of gift cards for food places. Sure, a lot of these are for chain restaurants, but I am not averse to chain restaurants. I know this is shocking to hear from a food blogger, but I have my reasons.

Chain restaurants equate to a night off for my food blogging efforts. Sure there are some exceptions, like this night's meal, but for the most part, I have already written up many of the chain restaurants that we frequent. Back to the reason that I brought up gift cards at the start of this review. A coworker of Katie had given her an Elephant Bar gift card as a Christmas present. I had written about Elephant Bar once before on this blog, but that was to review their happy hour. You can read that post here.  We were not thrilled with our happy hour experience but decided to give the Elephant Bar another shot for dinner.

Elephant Bar opened their doors in 1980, and in those thirty plus years, they now have 45 locations in nine states, including two here in OC, this Laguna Hills location and another in Irvine. We got to the Laguna Hills locale at about six-thirty on a Wednesday night. The bar was packed, but we got a seat right away in the large dining room. The only thing larger than the dining room at Elephant Bar is their menu. This menu rivals the menu at Cheesecake Factory. They have a lot of everything here; Appetizers, Soups and Salads, Sandwiches and Burgers, Global food, Wok-Fired Specialties, Fish, Rice Bowls, and of course Desserts. After a while of perusing the menu, we settled on our selections for this evening.

We decided to start off with the Three Cheese Macaroni ($3.95). This had lots of cheese on it, which is usually a pretty good sign, but this was one of the blandest mac and cheese dishes we have had. Katie even thought this might have been microwaved. Not so sure about that, but it did not taste like anything. The noodles were cooked fine, but the bread topping that came with this tasted more like an under-seasoned dry stuffing mix. It added texture to this dish, but not much else. Pass on this on future visits.

Salad time at Elephant Bar and Katie selected a Garden Side Salad ($3.95). Besides the serving size of this salad, Katie did not have much in the way of praise for this salad. She called this salad mediocre tasting, and not quite as fresh as she would have liked. I opted for the Caesar Side Salad ($3.95). I was in agreement with Katie about this salad being very average. For me, a Caesar is all about the dressing, and this dressing lacked flavor and was very watery. It did not cling to the produce in any way. The Parmesan cheese was probably the highlight of this salad for me.

Katie surprised me with her choice for dinner, the Parmesan Crusted Chicken with Tuscan Style Shrimp ($14.95). This meal had a lot going on with it. It was kind of like three meals in one. It, of course, had the Parmesan crusted chicken, placed on top of pasta with shrimp added to the sauce. Katie thought this dish was good, but it did have its faults. The pasta was a little undercooked, while the chicken was a tad on the dry side. She really liked the plate's heavy garlic presence and felt that the shrimp was small but flavorful.

I really had a hard time deciding what to get here. I kind of stepped out of my usual ordering style, by getting the Macadamia Crusted Mahi-Mahi ($16.50). I assume that this really was Mahi, but with this very heavy breading it could have been anything. The fish inside was not very tender, and I did not get any of the so-called macadamia taste. This was served with two sauces, the green I believe was a pesto type sauce, and the white was maybe a coconut sauce. The sauces were good, but too watery and not enough of them to save this dish from being anything above average. The diced up veggies were okay, but an odd assortment. I did think that the portion size of this was very generous.

I am sorry to say that our second trip to Elephant Bar was not much better than our first. Nothing that we ate would be worth ordering again. Much like their menu, the food was all over the place. I wonder why they do not shrink their menu a bit to focus on just a couple of kinds of food. They could easily do away with half of their menu, and still, have enough variety for almost everyone. Focus on a few items and make them great, instead of making a great many mediocre entrees. The service on the night we were here was pretty solid. Our server took good care of us, even though he had a party of sixteen sit down about ten minutes after us. Prices were pretty decent at Elephant Bar. We got all of our food for $47, and with the $50 gift card that Katie got, we did not have to shell out any money for this meal. Unfortunately, I do not think we will go back to use the extra two dollars that were left on the card.

Out of five mice, (because even though elephants are said to be afraid of mice, one of the most famous elephants ever, Dumbo, had a best friend that was a mouse), five being best to zero being worst, Elephant Bar gets 2 mice.

For more information on Elephant Bar, click here: http://www.elephantbar.com/

Structurally Sound Food at Taco Adobe

Taco Adobe

121 N. Lemon St. 

Orange CA 92866

Now that the holidays are over we can all get back into our normal routines. I do not hide my distaste for the holidays. All of that running around, all the spending of money, and all the pressure to find that perfect gift, makes this one of the worst times of the year for me. Sorry to sound like Scrooge, but one of my favorite times of the year is when everyone goes back to work, school, and back to their humdrum routines.

My cousin Chris was getting back into his everyday schedule by taking a winter course at Chapman University. I could not be happier about this. Not because he was going to be inundated with homework, but because this gave me an excuse to meet up with him for lunch. I had a place in mind for awhile now that I have been wanting to try near the historic Downtown Orange area, so I waited for Chris to get out of class and we headed to Taco Adobe.

Taco Adobe is kind of off to itself in this downtown area. A few streets over from the Plaza in Orange, this tiny restaurant is located on a street that houses numerous auto service spots. This restaurant really has a homey feel to it. Not a big restaurant, they maybe have 12 tables, with a few tables outside. It is very easy to imagine that this building could have been someones house not too long ago.

We got to the restaurant near noon, and did not have to wait for a table, which was good because I was very hungry. I had already looked at the menu on-line, so it did not take me long to figure out what I was going to have. We ordered pretty quick, and the food came out fairly speedy as well.  This is what came out of the kitchen for us.

Before we get to our lunches, a quick look at the chips and salsas that came out beforehand. I liked the chips, but I thought the salsa was a little on the runny side. I kind of like a more chunky salsa. The flavor on this one was good and mellow, but could not compare to the habanero salsa that you have to ask for. I had learned about this habanero salsa from one of my favorite writers at OC Weekly, Gustavo Arellano. Thanks for the insiders tip Gustavo. This salsa really woke up my taste buds. It went very well with everything we were about to eat. I was a little worried when I saw the small amount that was in the bottle, but a little of this definitely goes a long way.

When Chris's Chicken Enchiladas ($9.95) were sat down in front of him, I was struck by the presentation that they had here. Visually this was a very striking plate, and according to Chris the beauty extended to the taste as well. These two enchiladas started with a good tortilla, were not overly stuffed with seasoned chicken, but had plenty of flavor. He was also a fan of the rice here, which he thought had a nice, subtle sweetness to it.

I told you I was hungry when we sat down , so I had to try two items here. Once again, I got the Pacifico Deep Fried Fish Taco ($3.00) thanks to Gustavo Arellano's recommendation. They use Mahi Mahi for their fried fish tacos here. Along with the fish, the taco comes with a blend of cheeses, a special cream sauce, cotija cheese, and a citrus cabbage mix. This was a great fish taco. The fish was fried perfectly, not too greasy, and I detected the hint of the beer this was battered in. The fish was flaky and flavorful. The condiments on this taco were all very fresh, and really enhanced this taco. The Carnitas Burrito ($7.49) was prepared simply with shredded tender pork, rice, beans, cilantro, onions, and cheese, all wrapped in a giant flour tortilla. I only had one complaint about this burrito, the carnitas were too finely chopped. I would have liked bigger pieces in this burrito. Other than that this was a good burrito. Large in size, and big in the taste, this burrito piqued my interest in their carnitas plate, which I will get on my next visit here.

I really enjoyed my visit to Taco Adobe. All of the items we had were prepared very simply, but with quality ingredients. These guys really know what they are doing. I will not hesitate to come back here to explore more of their menu. The service when we were here was good and unobtrusive. I thought the prices were good for the amount of food and quality that we received. I'm glad the holidays are over, but even more happy that I had this opportunity to meet up with my cousin Chris and finally get the chance to eat at Taco Adobe.

Out of five bricks, (because buildings made of adobe are made of many adobe bricks), five being best to zero being worst, Taco Adobe gets 3.5 bricks.

To find out more about Taco Adobe, click here: http://www.tacoadobe.com/#!

Visiting the Food Pyramid at Aztek Taco

Aztek Tacos

43810 Butterfield Stage Road #104

Temecula, CA 92592

I am going to admit something in this review that will open me up to ridicule for some unforeseen amount of time. It is with great trepidation that I admit what I was doing out in this area of Southern California. I am sure that within two guesses you could come up with my final destination of Pechanga Resort and Casino. Were we going to be gambling? No, we were here for a concert, and who we were here to see is probably the thing that will get me ridiculed, but I don't want to give it away just yet, plus it was time for dinner first.

I was not looking forward to eating at the food court at Pechanga, so Katie and I ventured off on our own to explore the culinary landscape of Temecula. Well, we did not actually just drive around aimlessly. I checked on-line reviews and blogs and found a place that people were raving about. It was about ten minutes away from Pechanga, so we headed off to Aztek Taco.

Aztek Taco has not been in this location very long from what I have gathered. They used to be located on Ynez Road, but have since relocated to a new shopping center, which is anchored by a Big 5 Sporting Goods and a Kragen Auto Parts. Not exactly stores that will bring lots of foot traffic into a shopping center. Nonetheless, during our Saturday night visit there was a very steady stream of customers, and sometimes the order line got to be five to six people deep.

Aztek Taco is basically a fast food Mexican restaurant. Ordering is done at the counter, then your food is bought out to you. The menu has everything that you would expect on a Mexican fast food menu; tacos, burritos, tortas, and rolled tacos are included here. After driving for an hour and a half, we were pretty hungry. Lucky for us our food was on our way to the table. Let's see how it all turned out for us.

Before we get to the things we ordered, here is a quick picture of the chips and salsas that they have at Aztek Taco. I kind of liked the chips here. They were a bit on the greasy side, without giving up on the crunchiness. The salsas were okay. They had a small pop of flavor, but their primary use was to add some moisture to the food.

Katie ordered something I have never seen before, the Two Chicken Taco Combo Plate ($6.99). Yes, I have seen tacos, but I have not seen tacos served quesa style. These tacos came with the chicken wrapped in a flash fried crunchy cheese, along with onions, cilantro, and guacamole, then placed on a corn tortilla. I liked this little twist on the standard taco. The chicken here was pretty tender, and the crunchy cheese added a nice texture. Katie liked these, but felt that they were just too rich. She would only get one of these on future visits here. She felt the beans and rice were good for what they were.

My friend Angel has been going on an on about a surf and turf burrito that he wants me to blog about back in OC. I have it on my list, but now I have been craving it ever since. At Aztek Taco they had a Steak and Shrimp Taco ($3.99) on their menu that could help me satisfy my craving for a surf and turf burrito. Not only did this taco contain shrimp and skirt steak, but it came with cheese, mushrooms, guacamole, and a house sauce. This taco was full of flavor. Plenty of steak and shrimp, fresh guacamole, and the house sauce added a decent flavor to this taco. The only thing that kind of got lost here was the mushrooms, but with all of these big time flavors, it was no big deal. The tortilla did an admirable job of keeping all the contents inside without breaking apart. After eating this, I can not wait to have that surf and turf burrito that Angel keeps yapping about.

When we eat in fast food Mexican restaurants, I almost always like trying Rolled Beef Tacos ($4.75). At Aztek they come three to an order, and are topped with guacamole, sour cream and jack cheese. These were just as good as others we have had. I thought they were fried well, and the beef inside was plentiful. The guacamole was little on the watery side, I like a little more chunk to my guacamole. Not bad though.

Aztek Taco had one of my favorite kinds of burrito, the California Burrito ($6.99). This classic burrito comes with carne asada, sour cream, guacamole, cheese, and french fries. This was a pretty large burrito. Almost as big as a half a loaf of bread, I did manage to finish this off. The french fries were predictably a little soggy, and the sour cream was a little too much, but this burrito did have some good going for it. The carne asada was tender and flavorful, while the guacamole was watery, but added some good moisture to this burrito.

I was pretty happy to have dinner at Aztek Taco. The food for the most part was all pretty good for Mexican fast food. The prices were a little on the high side, by at least a dollar or two. The service was okay on the night we were here. The line to order does get a little backed up at times, and the dining area is not exactly the biggest you will find. They do have a patio area, but during colder weather and peak meal times, tables can be at a premium. We definitely felt we got the better end of the deal by not having to eat at the crowded food court at Pechanga. Plus it gave us extra time to prepare for the awesomeness that was the band we were going to see on this night, Air Supply. Even though these Aussie's are into their sixties, they still put on a great show. Feel free to mock me all you want.

Out of five hearts, (because almost all of Air Supply's hits have the word "love" in the title), five being best to zero being worst, Aztek Taco gets 3 hearts.

For more information about Aztek Tacos, click here: http://www.aztektacos.com/index.htm

Oishii Sushi Trying to Make A Go of It - CLOSED

Oishii Sushi

25542 Jeronimo Road

Mission Viejo, CA 92691

It seems like every city has that restaurant location where every time you drive by, it is a new restaurant. When I used to go to Fullerton College, there was this restaurant on Chapman and Raymond that seemed to be a new eatery every semester. It must have changed names and types of cuisine at least ten times during my way too long stint at FJC. In the city of Mission Viejo, there is a similarly cursed restaurant location that has now spawned another new venture, Oishii Sushi.

Oishii Sushi takes over for Inka Mar, which took over for Hacienda La Joya, which used to be another sushi restaurant, Fujiyama. I am sure it has been other restaurants, but I have only lived in this area for just under five years. You have to wonder what makes a restaurateur think they can turn a location around. I mean, if a place has averaged a restaurant a year, for a good length of time, chances are stacked against you. This is what is facing the owners of Oishii Sushi.

I do give Oishii some credit though. They have really brightened this restaurant up since the last time we were here when it was the Peruvian restaurant. The lighting is much better, and the staff seems very happy to interact with their customers. We were here on a cold Thursday night, with only about twenty people in the restaurant. Even with this small amount of people here, the owner or manager was really trying to incite a real party atmosphere at his restaurant. Not only do they have a Karaoke stage in the back corner, but he was walking around with a bottle of sake, offering free drinks to people. During our hour visit, we also watched two sake bomb drinking contests, where the slowest drinker had the added shame of having things drawn on their faces with a makeup marker. Good times.

Oishii has a rather large menu, but almost everyone we saw on this night opted for the all you can eat option ($23.95). I know sushi purists hate AYCE sushi places. I know that the quality of seafood always suffers at this version of an all you can eat sushi buffet. This is okay with me. To be honest, I have had some really good sushi, and I can appreciate it, but I feel it is too expensive, and it is kind of lost on me. I would rather have some pretty good sushi, but leave a restaurant with a full stomach and a full wallet. So take this review as you will.

At Oishii they were less strict with their rules regarding the AYCE sushi. Sure you have to eat all of the rice, and you have to finish everything on your plate, but there were no limits on anything on their menu. Want four baked lobsters, you can do that here, unlike other AYCE places that limit some of their most expensive dishes. As a rule at these restaurants, I almost always skip the appetizers and focus on the sushi. Katie selected these appetizers to start. The Edamame was pretty basic, while the Gyoza followed suit by being average. This gyoza was filled with chicken and vegetables, but that is about all I can remember of it. The Teriyaki Yaki Soba was good in Katie's opinion, but the teriyaki really overtook this appetizer and made it real salty.

Our first round we started out very slow. We had the Super Philadelphia Roll, Baked Lobster Roll, and the Lakers Roll. The Super Philadelphia Roll was pretty basic. It tasted pretty fresh but lacked a big pop of flavor. The baked lobster roll did have flavor, but the lobster on top of it is was pretty rubbery. The ponzu sauce really overpowered this. My favorite out of these three was the Lakers Roll. Funny, since I am not much of a basketball fan. This crunchy shrimp roll was topped with crab meat. How can you go wrong with shrimp and crab together? Basically, it is almost impossible. I would definitely get this one again on future visits.

Our sushi ship came in on the next round that we ordered. Starting from the bow of the ship and working our way back, we started with the Baked Green Mussels. These were okay. I have definitely had better-baked mussels. They were pretty rubbery, and not as flavorful as others. The Spider Crab Roll was next and included soft shell crab, avocado, cucumber, sprouts, and crab. I expected a lot more from this. The crab tasted a little off. Maybe it was not as fresh as it could have been, or it was not seasoned enough. Not bad, but very average. The Philadelphia Roll was pretty basic and very forgettable. Again, it was very average. The best part of this sushi ship was the Fire Cracker Roll. Inside of this roll contained spicy scallops, avocado, and cucumber, while the outside was topped with spicy tuna. The other sushi had put my taste buds to sleep, but this one woke them up with big flavors. I let Katie have the rest of this ship, as I gobbled down the rest of this Fire Cracker Roll. On to round three.

At this point we were nearing our capacity for food, so we ordered only two more rolls. The Spicy Tuna is a pretty simple roll but was pretty good. The last of our rolls were the Golden Tiger Roll. This was my favorite of the night. Here they deep-fry a crunchy shrimp roll and then top it with spicy crab. Deep frying anything can always make everything better. The very light batter still lets the contents of the sushi shine through. This was a very rich roll, but one that should not be missed.

At this point in the meal we were done, but the owner or maybe the manager brought out this complimentary piece of Fried Yellowtail with a spicy seafood sauce. This thing must have just come out of the fryer because it was scalding hot. After five minutes it finally cooled down enough so we could eat some of it. There were some big hunks of flaky fish on this. Katie is not fond of eating off of the bone, but I picked some good size pieces off for her. The sauce was an average tasting cocktail sauce but went well with the fried fish. Not bad for a free plate of food.

I was curious, so when I got home I totaled up everything that we ate, based on the prices on their menu. It came out to $98. So getting the All You Can Eat option at $23.95 is the way to go here. I am not going to tell you this is the best sushi you will ever have, but you will definitely leave here very full. We had a very pleasant experience with very friendly staff. They are really trying to promote a party atmosphere, reminiscent of a rock and roll sushi place, and for it being a slow Thursday night they succeeded. Everyone that we saw leaving the restaurant seemed to leave in a better mood. Time will tell what will become of Oishii Sushi and if it can break the curse of this location.

Out of five sake bombs, (because these were very plentiful on the night we were here), five being best, to zero being worst, Oishii Sushi gets 2.5 sake bombs.

Oishii does not have a web, but you can find reviews and information here: http://www.yelp.com/biz/oishii-sushi-mission-viejo

Dinner Date With Lola

Lola Gaspar

211 W. 2nd St.

Santa Ana, CA 92701

Every time we come to Downtown Santa Ana, we always leave wondering why we don't come back up here more often. I guess the answer is simple geography, but we are always game to travel for a good meal. It seems that our wish list of restaurants to try always has lots of Santa Ana places on it. Mil Jugos, Playground, Pop's Cafe, and Chimichurri have all been on our list so long, they are floating to the top of it. This place was near the top also, but we can now erase it, because we finally made it to Lola Gaspar.

Lola Gaspar is located in the burgeoning Artist Village area of Santa Ana. If you are unfamiliar with this area,  the Village is located between Broadway and Sycamore, on 2nd. This area of 2nd Street is closed to cars, and this has created a very quiet, urban oasis in this area. Paved with red bricks and a fountain in the middle of the walkway, this area is now home to art galleries, dance studios, theaters and of course restaurants.

Lola Gaspar has been located in this area since 2008. The inside of this restaurant is very small. We briefly walked inside to talk with the hostess, who pointed us to a very cramped table inside, or a more spacious table outside, next to the heat lamps. No surprise, we headed outside. The patio had a great vibe, with all of the white lights strung above it, along with the shrubbery that obscured part of the view of the Artist Village. It was reminiscent of the patio at Habana.

We were meeting up with my good friend Ed, who I have known since kindergarten. He lives in Philadelphia now, and he wanted to check out what was going on in Downtown Santa Ana these days. He was of course running late, as usual, so it gave us plenty of time to check out the menu. Their menu is kind of a mash up of Spanish/Mexican food, that is then tweaked by the chef to include other cultures culinary influences. Very unique, but not on the large side, I knew what I wanted very quickly. Unfortunately, Ed was a half hour late, so we ordered two appetizers to tide us over until he made his appearance.

I ordered one appetizer and Katie ordered one as well. See if you can guess which one I picked out. This is the Cured Chorizo and Goat Cheese Flatbread ($12). Not only did this have chorizo and goat cheese, but the base of this flatbread was whole milk mozzarella, plum tomato, and fresh thyme. When this came out I was reminded of those Stouffer's french bread pizzas that we had as kids, but this one had more pop to it. The cheeses were very fresh, the chorizo had almost a pepperoni quality to it, but was more meaty. The tomatoes were very subdued and the thyme added an earthiness to this flatbread. The bread portion of this was strong enough to hold the contents, but still let the toppings be the star of the show. Not a bad start, and something pretty different.

I guess that after you see this picture you can tell that this is the appetizer Katie ordered. Big shock that I wouldn't order this, I know. At the top of Lola's menu they feature three different market vegetable selections. Katie wanted to try the Roasted Rapini ($6). The rapini came out in a skillet and was joined by reggiano shavings, lemon and olive oil. To be blunt, I was not a fan of this. This had far too much lemon for me, and the rapini was very bitter. Not a good combination. Katie liked this a little better than I did, but probably would not order this again. By this time, Ed had finally made his appearance, so let's see how are dinners turned out.

We might as well start out with my dinner, the Burrito Mojado ($10). This wet burrito came with carnitas and  potato hash inside, and mozzarella, sour cream, and guacamole on top of the burrito. To be honest, when this burrito came out I was less than thrilled. The tomato sauce had a real pungent tomato smell to it. I was also skeptical about the use of mozzarella cheese in a burrito, but everything turned out to be fine with this dish. The sauce actually went well with the inside of the burrito, and the mozzarella cheese blended in here better than I imagined. The inside of the burrito had some tender pork, but the potato hash kind of got lost here. This is not your typical carnitas burrito with big pops of flavor, but it was flavorful and more subdued than other burritos. I also thought all of the ingredients were very fresh on this plate.

Both Katie and Ed ordered tacos at Lola Gaspar. These are the Grilled Rock Fish Tacos ($9) that Katie had. These fish tacos came with a pomegranate pico de gallo, cabbage, and guacamole.  Katie felt these tacos had a fresh, tangy flavor from the pomegranate. She was a little put off by the pomegranate seeds, but she liked the serving size of these. The fish was cooked well, but kind of got pushed to the background with the pomegranate on these.

Ed went for the Pastor Tacos ($10) here. The pork is prepared yakatori style, and topped with cilantro, creme fraiche, and a green salsa. Ed was pretty stingy with this meal, so I did not get a bite of it. He was also was pretty stingy with his thoughts about these tacos, only calling them. "good". Way to be descriptive there big guy.

At Lola Gaspar, they only have two deserts on the menu, so we ordered both of them. The Butterscotch Pot De Creme ($6) was the clear favorite at our table. This dessert was as smooth as Fred Astaire out on the dance floor. The flavor was spot on too. This pudding like dessert had a very good butterscotch flavor, which was not too over the top with sweetness. The Espresso Affogato ($6) was liked by us, but not as much as the pot de creme. I am not a big espresso fan, so my opinion of this dessert could be a little biased. It was a soft ice cream, with hot espresso poured over it, then topped with a good amount of whipped cream. Not bad, but too much coffee flavor for me.

When we came to Lola Gaspar I was not sure I was going to like it. I thought that the menu was going to be too small, and the chances of me getting something I liked was going to be against the odds. The menu is small, but almost everything we tried on this night was very good. Another positive for Lola Gaspar was that it's different from other places we have been to. Sure they have burritos and tacos, but they put their own spin on it. They are not like the burritos and tacos you can get just anywhere. It is also pretty impressive that they make all of their food out of such a small kitchen, with just electric cooking equipment. Maybe because of this our food was served in stages, instead of all at once. My burrito came out first, then after a three minute delay, Katie's tacos came out next. Poor Ed had to wait another ten minutes after that to have his dinner brought out to him. Always a little awkward to have food sitting in front of you, but having to wait for the other food to get to the table. Other than this issue, we had no problems with the service at Lola Gaspar. I have heard that this restaurant can fill up quickly, and wait times can be pretty long. We were here on a weekday night, and had no such problems. Glad we made the trip to Downtown Santa Ana for this restaurant. Hopefully we can get back soon enough to experience other great places in Downtown Santa Ana.

Out of five yellow feathers, (because in the song Copacabana, by the great Barry Manilow, Lola was a showgirl, with yellow feathers in her hair), five being best to zero being worst, Lola Gaspar gets 3 yellow feathers.

For more information about Lola Gaspar, click here: http://www.lolagaspar.com/