Los Angeles

I didn't get to travel too much when I was growing up. My parents, outside of the odd road trip, would save most of their money to take my sister and me to India to stay for months with our relatives in Kolkata, which was certainly a valuable experience. However, I always longed to travel to other parts of the world (or even other parts of India) and romanticized the backpacker lifestyle. While I never quite got to do the backpacker thing, I did start travelling fairly regularly as soon as I started working. Unfortunately, this blog was not in existence when I had my adventures (food-related and otherwise) on my trips and recently, my husband and I have curtailed our travelling for various reasons. However, I was fortunate enough to be sent to Los Angeles for work a few weeks ago and we decided to make a mini-vacation out of the trip.

The first day was filled with work for me but my husband walked around downtown LA during that time. He chose Philippe for his lunch, an old-timey restaurant that claims to have invented the french dip sandwich. Despite the long lines, he thought the sandwich was completely worth it. He was even thoughtful enough to get me a jar of Philippe's famous hot mustard, which I have yet to try.

The trip started to feel like a vacation for me only when we ran into the cutest bakery called Vanilla Bake Shop right near our hotel in Santa Monica. We loved it so much that we went back there a second time. On the first visit, I tried the most decadent bite-size peanut butter chocolate tart. But, the shop seems to be best known for its cupcakes and the best way to try several flavors is to take advantage of the 3 mini-cupcakes for $5 deal. We tried a red velvet, a black & white, and a vanilla cupcake. All three were mouthwateringly good and super moist and 3 mini-cupcakes were plenty for an afternoon snack with a cup of coffee.

Our first real dinner in LA was at Joe's, a restaurant in Venice Beach that specializes in farm-fresh, seasonal fare. I would describe the menu as New American. Although I don't remember the exact descriptions of each of everything we ate, I remember the stand out dishes were a rich mushroom ravioli appetizer and a seared duck breast with lentils main course.

We finally were able to enjoy a leisurely brunch on our second full day, when we headed to Blue Plate in Santa Monica. It was a small, bright restaurant that was packed for brunch even on a Friday morning. The food was very fresh and served in extremely generous portions. Both my husband and I got variations on the scramble, which was essentially scrambled eggs with a choice of 4 add-ins. The dinner menu, which was scrawled on a blackboard on the wall, also seemed to include some interesting choices using seasonal ingredients.

Of course, no trip to California is complete without some burgers. On our quest to try the best California burgers, we first hit In-n-Out burger at the Westwood location. Having done our research beforehand, we knew to order our burgers and fries "animal style," which sounds frightening but just really means that your burger and fries will be smothered in a mix of cheese, sauce, and sauteed onions. While the burger was certainly good, it was nowhere near as good as I thought it would be from having heard all the hype. Much more satisfying were the burgers at Fatburger, which also has several locations including one conveniently located on Santa Monica's 3rd Street Promenade. The Fatburger was juicy and full of beefy flavor. Both burgers were California-style in that they were relatively flat patties and not the bigger and more loosely packed burgers one usually finds in New York.

Our second sit-down dinner was a point of much discussion and we finally settled on Jar, a chophouse in West Hollywood. The restaurant was decorated, I believe, to invoke a chophouse from the 1940's. I found the decor to be, frankly, a little oppressive as the walls were all dark wood and the furniture struck me as a little heavy and stuffy. The food, also, was only ok in my opinion. My husband got what was essentially a modern twist on Salisbury steak, which was very good. However, my coq au vin was seriously oversalted, which I think is a fatal mistake for a kitchen in a pricey restaurant to make.

Because we did not feel like having another heavy brunch on our last day in LA, we decided to graze at the Farmer's Market in West Hollywood. The market is year-round and the emphasis seems to be on prepared foods rather than vegetables and fruits as in the Union Square market in New York. While I munched on a perfectly good chocolate chip scone from one of the bakeries in the market, my husband hit the jackpot with a chicken taco and potatoes mashed with poblanos at Loteria Grill, a Mexican foodstand. It was our first taste of California Mexican food on this trip, which we loved so much that we decided to hit Border Grill in Santa Monica for our last dinner. Border Grill was a huge, bustling restaurant that had just the festive mood we needed to cap off our trip. Everything we tried, from the traditional tamale assortment and Chile Relleno to the less traditional gaucho steak, was fantastic. We knew we had made the right choice as soon as we were served with an assortment of fresh salsas served with fresh tortilla chips. I find California Mexican food to be more authentic than what you normally find in New York, but somehow more tasty than what I had when I actually went to Mexico!

While I had some mixed feelings about LA as a whole -- great weather, quirky characters, but a serious lack of architecture and a troublesome car culture -- the food was certainly a highlight.

Shake Shack

By now most people have heard of Shake Shack, Danny Meyer's "roadside" burger joint in Madison Square Park. I happen to live very close to the park and often shake (no pun intended) my head at the huge lines there almost day and night. The lines are so legendary -- meaning it could easily take an hour or more to get your burger fix -- that Shake Shack's website has a live cam that you can check to see how long the line is before heading out. The burgers are LA-style, not too big, served on a classic soft hamburger bun, and if you want cheese, there is only one choice -- American cheese.

As much as I love burgers, I usually do not have an hour to stand in line. However, the other day, on a blistering cold weeknight, my husband and I noticed that there was no line and decided to grab some food. The only other time I went to Shake Shack, I had the Shroom Burger, which was a revelation -- a portobello mushroom covered with cheese, breaded and then deep fried. This time, I decided I needed to try the real deal and got a Cheeseburger. The verdict? Shake Shack makes a fine burger -- fresh ingredients, very moist, and not too greasy. The burgers perhaps are not "stand in line for 1 hour" good but definitely "stand in line for 20-ish minutes" good. The fries were just meh, though. My husband got the Double Stack, which combines a Cheeseburger with the Shroom Burger (pictured). It is definitely the way to go!

Ladies (and Gents) Who Lunch

My husband and I have been on an unusually long respite from work due to some accumulated vacation days and confluence of holidays. During our staycation, we tried to eat lunch at a few restaurants we would usually avoid for dinner due to weekend crowds and, frankly, the cost. One of my favorite things about living in the city is that I can check out trendy restaurants that are too packed on Friday/Saturday nights to be enjoyable on odd days and times where you can get a truer feel for the place. Some of the most famous restaurants in the city have great deals for lunch. Unfortunately, this blog was not in existence when we had our second amazing lunch at Perry Street, Jean Georges' more casual restaurant, which offers a lunch deal where you can get two entrees plus a dessert for $24.

Today, we went to a less lofty but tasty Japanese restaurant called Momoya in Chelsea, just a few blocks from our apartment. Momoya fits nicely into Chelsea with its slick decor of brick, white walls and floor-to-ceiling windows. I generally prefer more cozy restaurants but the decor was right for a sushi restaurant and not too over-the-top. The choice was my husband's, who has been craving fish for days, which is around the same time that I decided to limit my intake of mercury.

Thankfully for me, Momoya had many non-sushi choices, including a delicious eeldon -- broiled eel with rice. The dish was flavorful, rich but not too filling. As one might expect, taking an appetizing photo of eel is quite a challenge but I have done my best for this post. My husband got a sashimi box that came with very fresh fish, miso soup, rice, and a seaweed salad. Overall, Momoya was a good choice for one of our staycation lunches.