We ate in LA for 8 days (Echo Park+)
We just came back from a lovely week in LA. We ate very well. This is what we ate:
Saturday: Arrived and felt pickled from the plane ride and craved vegetables. Manged to walk from apt to Xoia http://www.xoiaeats.com/. Ordered: veggie crispy rolls, crispy curried mashed potato tacos, curried tofu tostata on specials menu, green papaya salad. Limeade and IPA. Very restorative.
Sunday: Korean lunch at friends house. Dinner at El Compadres on Sunset http://www.yelp.com/biz/el-compadre-los-angeles. I was very taken with the space, but I do love kitsch. Flaming margaritas looked magical. I ruined my appetite on the chips and salsa. Cant remember what I had as a main. Husband said his fish tacos were delicate. Had my first shirley temple to drink in 25 years.
Monday: Lunch: take out from new sushi place downtown. Friend arranged, so cannot remember where from. Dinner: Red HIll http://redhillrestaurant.com/ We shared pickle plate, and burrata with arugula. Pickles had nice kick; burrata was lovely, but have always had lovely burratas. I had the Marinated Beets with Farro which was a mistake. It needed salt, and maybe some kind of dressing as farro was quite dry. But also too much like something I'd make at home. Husband had vegan sausage with orchiette. He seemed to like it. Our friends got pasta dishes that they inhaled. Chocolate cake with coconut for dessert was sublime.
Tuesday: Lunch: Fashion Bistro in California Market center. Grilled cheese with tomato soup for both of us. Heavenly caneles. Dinner: Sunny Spot in Venice. Husband was v excited for dinner as we;d watched that vice.com show with the Roy Choi in it. Apple salad was good but seemed to have weird textured items in it. Quinces? Brussels sprouts seemed like odd addition. Ordered side of rice and beans to fill me up. Husband cleaned roasted veg plate. I found their ginger beer v refreshing.
Wednesday: Middle Eastern take out down town. Dinner Mohawk Bend, very, very lackluster food. The fries in their poutine seemed half cooked and very waxy. Veggie burger was stodgy. Patty was nicely flavored but so thick and mushy. Wish it was a little thinner and had more char on it. Bun had been cut out of loaf of bread, so it was exceedingly dense. Slaw was delicate, but we;d been told it had horseradish which neither of us could taste. Vegan smores for dinner. Marshmallows were good, but graham crackers and chocolate would have tasted significantly better in my opinion had they been vegetarian. Husband did enjoy beer options. We thought the decoration was a bit ghastly and overwrought. Our server was blessedly calm compared to the neighboring table's server who yabbered on and on.
Thursday: Lunch: Ricky's Tacos for fish tacos. Very fresh and enjoyable. I found their horchata very refreshing. Dinner Guisados Tacos: http://www.guisados.co/. Sublimely yummy, jolly staff. I could not eat the Chiles Torreados. Armando Palmer to drink was great.
Friday: Lunch Taqueria Los Anaya: http://www.taquerialosanaya.com/ very satisfying/ high quality/ exceedingly friendly, non irritating waiter. Husband had 3rd fish taco in 24 hours and rated it v highly. Thanks for the rec, chowhound! Dinner: take away pizza from Mozza. Margarita, and squash blossom w burrata. Also got 3 color salad. Was lukewarm by the time we got back to apt, but inhaled it happily. Such nice char and chew. Tearing the burratta onto pizza was joyful, primal experience. Really reminded us how mediocre pizza is in our country mouse town. Salad was great, but I've got strong endive cravings round the clock, so my reaction is not shocking
Saturday: Birthday party lunch at Soi7. Quite good, but in addition to endive cravings, I have thai cravings, so perhaps I'm biased. Predinner beer: eagle Rock brewery taproom: very midwestern crowd. Dinner: went back to Xoia out of cheerful laziness. Thai Iced tea ice cream was crowd pleaser.
Sunday: lunch LAX: horrific burrito at Camacho. Have you ever heard of a vegetarian burrito that consists only of rice and half cooked/half overcooked veggies? Neither have I.
And now we are back to our normal lives and a dismal winter.
