Men & Beasts. I enjoyed lunch at this almost vegan Chinese restaurant in Echo Park (they offer eggs in some dishes). It’s not traditional Buddhist vegetarian cuisine with all kinds of processed “meats,” but I think that’s a good thing. Often I find that food too salty and MSG-laden. This place feels more like California veggie Chinese. I liked that they had an wulong tea menu as well. Nice outdoor patio, nice space. An improvement over Cosa Buona, which it replaced, IMO.
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Mamie, West Hollywood.
Italian panini! The bread is so good here. The crust, air pockets, flavor, salt, olive oil it’s a perfect foil for the fillings. I can’t imagine there being a better vegan sandwich in LA/So Cal than this! Add the Calabrian chiles for extra flavor. You can definitely split the sandwich. I ate both sides because I got a long distance run tonight. I found parking on Crescent Heights.
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Dubai churro sundae - Churro Bakery in Pomona
Carnitas tacos and carnitas flautas at Carnitas El Rey in Anaheim
Churascaria - Rio Tijuana
Mariscos 4 Vientos
Ribeye steak at Los Portales de Garcia
Tacos de tripas bien cocinada, saudero y un vampiro de saudero at Tijuanazo
Tacos de tripas, pork belly y mar y tierra at Tacos Los Cholos y un papa loca de arrachera y costilla
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rip citizen public market
https://www.instagram.com/p/DOOmMANDXJ2/
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Fish With You (KTown). This is our local branch of a chain in China having over 2,500 locations. They specialize in pickled mustard green fish soup (suan cai yu), which is flavored with green and/or red sichuan peppercorns. Although it is considered a low-price chain in China, I find it at least as good as Sichuan Impression and Chendgu Taste. Delivery through at least DoorDash.
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I don’t think I’ve seen anything interesting survive in downtown Culver City 
So much potential for a location and I’m not sure what is killing places. Is the rent too high? Is the clientele not adventurous enough? Did business dining from the studios die after the pandemic? I’m glad The Platform seems to be keeping a pretty consistent list of tenants. I wish the pandemic hadn’t killed the opening of St. John there.
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Sierra Leone-style egusi soup with beef neck, chicken, and tripe from Endless Eats, a home chef based in Fullerton. She usually does more typical US comfort foods/bar foods, but every once in a while showcases her ancestral chops.
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Cosetta in Santa Monica has become a go to lunch choice for me. I was really craving an Italian sub and Cosetta’s version is the Stepmother - the classic oil & vinegar flavors came through and their house hoagie roll had that nice crunch that satisfies your craving.. exactly what I wanted. Now, I’m all about their chicken caesar wrap with nice breaded cutlets and calabrian chili crisp in a pizza wrap that has me coming back. Both sandwiches have a pleasant kick.. and if you’re going for the Italian sub, get it hot (you can choose hot or mild). I also recommend spending the extra $2 for the chips, they’re quite good
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Does the chicken cesar wrap have large strips of anchovies? I really liked my first visit there, the second one was a lot less pleasing. I was weirded out by the large (relatively speaking) fillets of anchovies in the cesar.
Nope, no strips of anchovies in the wrap! You’re good
1 Like
Late breakfast in Whittier at Rey’s Little Kitchen on Penn Street, right off Whittier Blvd.
Bacon breakfast burrito. I opted for the “wet” burrito since I was dining in. Pleasantly (very) spicy. I was warned. Burrito architecture was great – every bite had a nice mix of egg, bacon, cheese, and potato. Service was warm and efficient.
$25 after tax and tip. Coffee was $3.99, which would’ve stung less if I could’ve lingered and enjoyed a million refills. I took 1/3 of the burrito with me and made an afternoon snack of it.
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Never would’ve thought of that phrase, but that’s a great term! 
Hate when I don’t get a well-distributed bite.
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I forget but didn’t some of them go to Goodboybob?
only made it to Triniti once but ran into one of my best friends from elementary and middle school working there, which was fun
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I couldn’t say, enjoyed some great lunches tho
LSXO (Huntington Beach). Pretty good restaurant. I liked it better than the erstwhile Little Sister, its sister restaurant, in part due to many more seafood options. Strange that it only has five tables, and stranger still that I was able to get in for dinner around 7 without a reservation
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Weekends are oftentimes booked out weeks in advance. Bar seats are usually available for walk-ins since people think LSXO is booked solid.
I sat solo at a table; go figure.
Finally got the chance to explore more of Southern California recently (still much more to go though), and of course I’m glad I did. Some of my personal highlights include my favorite burger & fries combo I’ve had so far in Southern California and the best wings that I’ve had, so far.
Tanner’s Prime Burgers in Oceanside, absolutely worth the stop if you are trekking to and from San Diego/LA.. or if you live in the area of course. So solid and consistent, the tallow fries fried in beef fat are on point.
The chicken wings at Kingfisher in San Diego were awesome. Nice and crispy with tamarind glaze, crispy garlic, peanuts, house pickles and dips of toasted coconut ranch and house made hot sauce. I would not even consider myself a ranch person, but the coconut ranch only elevated these already delicious crispy wings. Great hip Vietnamese restaurant and they also have a great cocktail program. The ‘Water Buffalo’ - Sông Cái Gin, Clarified Phở Reduction, Coconut, Lime, was so smooth and enjoyable. Definitely recommend Kingfisher, they have a nice happy hour, and they also have a prix fixe for $120, wine pairing additional $65.
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Did a little Carlsbad area weekend. Basically a trifecta of Eric Bost restaurants
Jeune Et Jolie - Sat at the bar on friday night to do a smaller meal. Drinks, raw bar, and some smaller dishes from the menu were great. I love the full menu here but we had a large lunch.
Wildland - Breakfast on Saturday. Mortadella/Egg sando on pizza bianca was excellent. This place seems like a really reliable all day spot in the area.
Lilo - Wife’s birthday dinner. What a great meal. The design of the space was beautiful and the service was off the charts good. Pairing (alc and non alc) both great - all in house made drinks and no de-alcoholized wines. Good mix of sake and low ABV cocktails mixed into the wine.
Savory Highlights - All the one biters at the beginning particularly the corn pudding tartlette and a Uni + Squash bite.
Abalone in a chicken and marrow consomme with a sidecar of shiso tempura.
The Orgeat ice cream w/ caviar and almond oil is my favorite caviar course in a long time.
Rarely do I like a steak course - really enjoyed the wagyu with a smoked eel on top.
But better than all of these - I thought the pastry program here rocked. A 7 layer birthday cake for my wife delivered in a tiny 2 bitter was stellar. The banana in every preparation plated dessert rocked. Tiny bites including a butter mochi tart w/ nectarine was LOVELY. Fig and fig leaf financier, also fantastic.
This place has the juice - I might have preferred it to Addison especially at the price point. The room definitely helped - I dislike the space for Addison a lot.
16 Likes