Friday Quickies #13: Tea Festival, Chinese New Year's & DineLA Wrap

Tea Festival in Venice: For tea-o-philes or folks looking for something to do in the Venice area, the Kulov's 8th Annual Valentine's Tea Festival will be taking place at the Electric Lodge in Venice tomorrow 3-8 p.m., with a focus on Chinese teas. There will be tea tastings, dim sum samplings and various performances. $10 advance, $15 at the door (children under 12 go for free) - for more information, go to kulovteafest.com.

Chinese New Year's: Gong Hay Fat Choy, everyone! Having already dim summed recently, and not feeling particularly ducky, I think this year will be pretty low-key in the way of celebratory Chinese grub; bring on the century egg juk and xiaolongbao dumplings! Okay, maybe I'll indulge in a little nian gao. But happy Year of the Rat, y'all!

DineLA Wrap Up: Ok, it came and now it's gone. From my own personal experiences and what I've been reading on the boards & blogs, it seems like the inaugural Restaurant Week was a success in getting people to check out new restaurants that they otherwise wouldn't. The meals themselves? Well, that seems to be a mixed bag, with even better-known restaurants like Grace floundering a bit. But if they polish up their game next year and throw more interesting restaurants in the mix, I would partake in this again. And of course, hoping that they don't recycle their prix-fixe menus like the S. Pellegrino Dine-Out in September.