FoodTouring in L.A. Part 1
15 December 2008
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I was in Los Angeles this weekend for the first of three leadership summits. On previous visits in the past year I’ve had awesome meals at Canter’s Deli, K-zo (amazing sushi fusion), Alcove Cafe & Bakery (mmm brunch), and Fraiche (French/New American).
This time I was in the city for just a day and a half but I managed to fit a fair amount of food touring. Jamie picked me up at LAX on Saturday and we drove straight to Urth Cafe to split their Urth Farmer’s Salad. We then walked around Santa Monica and visited her amazing office before driving over to Beverly Hills to visit a mecca of the cupcake world, Sprinkles.
There was a line outside the door and the mood among the mostly-female crowd was highly anticipatory. I ordered a dark chocolate marshmallow cupcake and Jamie got red velvet.One thing I thought was kind of cute in a ridiculous way was the tiny $2.50 cupcakes for dogs.
The cupcakes for humans are $3.25. In my next life, I’m coming back as a Beverly Hills lapdog. Anyway, we sat at the little bar area to enjoy our cupcakes and were completely disappointed. Jamie’s friend Parul really nailed it when she described Sprinkles cupcakes as “cardboard with sugary frosting.” What a sad waste of calories.
For dinner, we went to Sweet Chili, an awesome hole-in-the-wall Thai place in West Hollywood. Jamie, Parul and I shared green and jasmine tea, Panang Curry with Chicken, Green Curry with Fried Tofu and the All Greens with Steamed Tofu.
The greens were broccoli, green beans, and zucchini. I’ve never been to a Thai place where they let you choose whether you want steamed or fried tofu (the fried was better) and the three of us shared a big dish of brown rice.
The curry had lots of coconut milk and was delicious. The veggies were steamed but not overly so — they still had some crunch to them which was really nice.
A good amount of meal planning went into the weekend as you can imagine. I even asked for suggestions from the people who follow me on Twitter @foodtouring and got some great feedback from @latimesfood and @Funwithyourfood.
After dinner, Jamie and I went to a party in the Hollywood Hills at the home of a screenwriter. One of the host’s friends is an actress who also is a talented cook and she prepared a feast that I wish we could have eaten but we were stuffed.
There were meats, cheeses, and appetizers galore and the desserts were out-of-this-world. I had a plate of mixed berries, a taste of a Turtle Brownie, and a dark chocolate covered caramel with sea salt that I’ve been dreaming about ever since. As soon as I saw the caramel, I had a hunch I knew they were from the mother ship…also known as Trader Joe’s.
Earlier in the day, I asked Jamie to take me on a pilgrimage to TJ’s, a grocery store that Californians and others are lucky enough to take for granted. It’s just another day for them if they are shopping for $2 bottles of wine (Two Buck Chuck), wonderful salads and prepared foods for less than $5, and an assortment of nuts and hostess gifts and flowers all priced silly low.When Costco first opened in the D.C. suburbs years ago I visited it for the first time with a friend and her mom. I was amazed at all the huge quantities of food and felt compelled to buy something — almost like a tourist might buy a t-shirt when visiting a new city. So I bought a gigantic bucket of twizzlers.
The experience was similar at Trader Joe’s in L.A. I wanted a piece of the action. I left with a four-pack of pears, a 100 calorie pack of chocolate bars (TJ brand), a bunch of cards (only $1 each!), and a jar of Trader Joe’s almond butter. I’ve seen almond butter sold at Whole Foods for as much as $10 — it’s expensive stuff. I had to buy the jar at TJ’s when I saw the shockingly low price of $4.I was so swept away that I didn’t think about the fact that I wasn’t checking my bags on my flight home and sadly, the almond butter was confiscated by Homeland Security this morning as I was headed back to Austin.
Strangely enough, they didn’t catch the container of yogurt that I brought in my purse for breakfast. Somehow, I don’t feel any more safe but I do wonder if this has anything to do with the U.S. government’s “War on Fat” more than any threat of liquid terrorism 
So, that was Saturday.
On Sunday, I had my conference at UCLA so no foodtouring for me during the day. Alex picked me up at around 5 and we headed back to her place to spend some time with Chris and little Charlie. After putting Charlie to bed, Alex and I went to Orris for dinner.
Orris is a Japanese/French restaurant located in an area with lots of Japanese restaurants and markets. The place was packed and the menu was really interesting. We decided to share four small plates. We started with the lobster spring roll – a daily special. That was followed by squash blossoms stuffed with cheese and covered with a tomato olive sauce. We also had basil marinated black cod and ravioli with shrimp mousse and shiitake mushroom sauce served with crusty French bread.
The waiter was friendly and very attentive although it did creep me out a bit that he would touch my back every time he came over to talk with us. I thought that was the kind of thing that only happens in the South.He spaced out the dishes nicely so that even though they were small, we were full by the end. When he found out I had a blog, he brought out the apple tart served in phyllo crust with a scoop of ice cream and caramel sauce on top. It was delicious and a perfect end to the meal.
When I go back to L.A., I’ve got to try Father’s Office, Canele, Bay Cities Italian Deli, Pizzeria Mozza, Zankou Chicken, Thai Patio, and Mizu 212. I haven’t been to In-N-Out Burger in years so I want to stop there as well. What else do you guys suggest?
