That would be my concern, too…
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Angelina’s Pizzeria in Irvine. On par-ish with Fuoco. Would give the nod to Angelina’s because they have a full bar and bigger menu with pastas and dishes. Nicely cooked pizza, great sauce and well developed salted crust. A little sturdier than other Neopolitan where you can pick up and fold a slice without much droop.
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Would like to share a Swiss pop up bakery right out of an apartment, Brötli
Someone dear to me said, “this is the first time in 30 years that they felt Switzerland in LA” since moving here
I tried the sourdough loaf and it has that key nice crunchy crust just like the bread in Switzerland, fantastic
The Butterzopf is my favorite, this pretzel loaf with some quality butter is all you need
Also recommended - berliners with raspberry and Nutella, cardamom buns (not Swiss but always nice to have), and if sweet desserts are not your thing and you like something tart, the apricot Wähe is absolutely your go to!
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Catching up on some taco trips over the last couple months – some more successful than others!
Juquilita - the best pastor, juicy and full of flavor, and they make their own tortillas! A stand in Hollywood on Santa Monica, just East of the cemetery.
Taqueria Frontera - really enjoyed these. Asada had a decent amount of smoke although not quite at the heights of Tire Shop and Los Poblanos. Pastor was great but overwhelmed by the crema - next time I’ll order w/o the crema. Busy on a weekday lunch but there were enough seats outside, and parking’s easy.
Asadero Los Angeles - new-ish stand at the Pavilions on Vine/Melrose, but on the Vine side. Not to be confused with the inferior Tacos Guelaguetza (more on them below), also at the Pavilions but on the Melrose side. Tacos were decent, I’ll give them another try. Asada’s in chunks as opposed to strips/bits, some more tender than others, a little smoke but could use more. Pastor’s decent, better than Guelaguetza, not as good as Juquilita. Chorizo was solid. They make their own tortillas, using blue corn. Great salsas.
Tacos Guelaguetza - I’ve been a couple times, don’t get why this stand is so busy. Their trompo looks enticing, but the meat’s always dry. Juquilita’s so close! Or Asadero Los Angeles at literally the same location.
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Juquilita’s has the best al pastor taco in LA atm!!!
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If you keep heading east on Melrose at night I like Tacos Mike just past the 101 on Melrose and Kenmore. He’s grilling that asada with one arm and it hits. Nice smokiness, not much gristle. Barbacoa on the weekends but the asada is still best for me.
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Thanks for the rec, sounds great!
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Thanks to your initial reporting!
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I think the suadero at Guelaguetza is among the best in the city. If they’re sold out, I’ll usually audible instead of opting for the al pastor as I tend to agree with you re dryness.
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Thanks for the tip, guess I’ll have to go back for that!
Was looking for some pastor and so glad you made a post! Def going to try Juquilita tonight.
Edit. 6/25 drove by at 8:30pm but no stand set up. Will have to try again another time
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i tried it twice back in 2022, right after LA taco wrote about them. and i didn’t think it was great, but seems like maybe they were having an off night both times? they weren’t making handmade tortillas (at least not to order) during my visits, either. guess it’s time to revisit!
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Well this has been a busy one for me, will try and condense as best I can. This will be long so be forewarned.
1st stop SD area
Lilo
Solid meal, cool space, warm service.
Highs: Cocktails were surprisingly good, one of the few programs I’ve encountered that actually works to include ingredients on the menu to complement the food and does it very well. Orgeat ice cream and caviar, pretty in vogue of a dish right now, but this is probably the best iteration I’ve yet had, amazing complement.
Lows: A few dishes were just too cold. Clam (granite) and Rock Crab (served on ice) - I’m a fan of cold seafood sure, but these basically just tasted like cold.
Addison
Still very consistent, perhaps a bit too safe of a meal overall to me for the price, pretty big markup on the booze
Highs: Rice and caviar obviously, quail was good but a little sweet, tomato dish was great esp with the cav, cav supp was quite generous (added to 3 dishes in varying amounts though a little pricy ($260). A Modest Mouse and an Aphex Twin song.
Lows: Cocktails all sounded pretty bad to me, so was kinda pushed into wine (I don’t know shit about wine). Asked for a bottle of the driest gewurztraminer they had and got a very sweet one, so much so that we felt we needed to get a different bottle before the proteins.
SF next
Kiln
Currently my favorite meal in the Bay Area. Pretty much every dish slaps, great service, fun pairings.
Highs: Caviar. Abalone is my favorite bite of the year thus far, double pairing (red / beer) with the quail - as someone who’s kinda jaded re: craft beer, the Hanabi lager is incredible.
Lows: Null
Swan
Welp… hard to skip, but also hard to eat this much at 10 am.
Ernest
Stopped to try a few bites en route to San ho. Cav and banana bread is really what drew me in, and was a great match (ever longing for the caviar/banana pancake from Angler), bread griddled excellently.
The Morris
Intermezzo between bites. Had to stop in to try the chartreuse slushy, added the duck offal confit as a snack and was damn happy I did. Next time would ask for double treuse in the slushy as it gets a bit lost in its standard ratios.
San Ho Won
Great take on kbbq, of which I’m not the biggest fan. Went a la carte as was told that’s the best move here. Got some banchan, egg soufflé, beef neck, beef tongue, kimchi jiggae, bingsu. Probably would have added another protein in retrospect at the cost of the jiggae.
Highs: Sesame leaf kimchi, pig ear salad, beef neck, bingsu, Toto neorest
Lows: Tongue was a tad over, jiggae was fine but felt too much like filler
Angler
Lunch is a steal. Something like $45 for oysters, half chicken/fish and a dessert. Added frog legs and caviar as necessary. Considerable volume for the price.
After a walking slice at Outta Sight, some sherry at El Lopo and a couple cocktails at PCH..
Sons and Daughters
First time here, an interesting meal with some nice Nordic flavors/ingredients I don’t get enough. Small but mostly cozy space, could be slightly cramped. Overall pretty good, but probably don’t need to come back for a while (or perhaps during a different season).
Highs: Canapés, anchovies with apple, sprouted buckwheat.
Lows: Pacing was a little uneven, some of the pairings a bit dull.
…Again? Again. But this time beginning in Oakland at Tallboy for like 6 cocktails and a few Jell-O shots.
Snail Bar
Excellent bites here. Pretty casual. Avo tostada and snails were great, but the standout was the crispy shrimp. Basically the best chips I’ve ever had.
Four Kings
Later res here but still cracking. Smelled great, lots of cool stuff on the board. We got a few from the board and a few from the menu. Friend used to work with one of the chefs so they crushed us with 4 extra things.
Highs: Marinated tomato, fried rabbit, snails, duck gizzard/heart skewers
Lows: Just difficult to power through all of the food for 2 people (also some cumulative gluttonous fatigue), claypot rice was fine but would opt for something else, gaining 10 lbs in one meal.
Last day was spent drinking and snacking between true laurel and trick dog before the exit meal at
Anchovy Bar
More things on this menu appealed to me than at Snail, but execution lacked slightly. A nice meal overall, especially being somewhat lighter before the trip home.
Highs: Anchovy toast, broiled oysters
Lows: Sesame crusted tuna was lacking as a “main” for us, fried anchovies were nice and crispy but needed seasoning - pretty bland without a shitload of tartar
Hopefully this isn’t the longest update in one of these threads ever. I’m heading to Chicago tomorrow, so needed to get it out before I have even more to report..
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Go to feld in chicago based on your likes and dislikes on this post! My favorite meal in that city rn and maybe in the past few years especialyl when I have fine dining fatigue.
(also thanks for this writeup, going to Lilo in sept and have similar thoughts on Addison - it’s great but maybe too safe for me to ever go back)
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Grazie for the rec. I have had it on my radar ever since that one Reddit post (lol). Unfortunately they didn’t have any spots for 1 on the days I’ll be there/free. Gonna do my tried and true, Warlord / Smyth. Also just made a last min res at Esmé, hopefully it’s hitting as I’ve heard it can
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How the service and pacing - the menu looks very interesting but few of the pacing/service horror stories didn’t put Kiln high on our list so far
I’ve been thrice and thought service and pacing was about perfect each time
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How long was the tasting menu timewise ?
Ohhhhh I really despised Esme I hope you have a better meal.
About 3 hrs for 2 people with pairings
@mzonelli yikes, welp, we’ll see 
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