Silver Lake

I am rich. I am rich, not by money nor by assets, but I am rich with friends. I have always been lucky to be surrounded by wonderful friends from every stage in my life--elementary school, high school, college, graduate school, and now residency--all of whom I value, trust and keep close to my heart.

I've also learned to value my independence, my alone time, my "me" time. The time when I can sit, relax, people watch, and be alone. Today was one of those days. Ironically, I decided to explore a part of town in Los Angeles with a name that speaks of richness--"Silver Lake", except today I was not surrounded my one of my life's riches: my friends.

I was by myself. And I was happy. In Los Angeles. Silver Lake, to be exact.

Los Angeles continues to amaze me with the different types of restaurants, cafes, and innovative dining options.

Intelligentsia (http://www.intelligentsiacoffee.com/) is a free-trade coffee cafe down Sunset Blvd that offers outdoor and some indoor seating, has free wifi, and serves probably the best coffee I've had. After tasting my latte with a nicely designed foam leaf, I was not surprised by how packed Intelligentsia was at 430pm on a Thursday.

I even watched the barista design the leaf on my latte and it was amazing how he did it.

Across the street was Forage (3823 West Sunset Blvd Los Angeles, CA http://www.foragela.com/ ) which is a market-driven type restaurant that had just opened January 2010 by Jason Kim, a former sous-chef of Lucques. The restaurant is white, plain and simple--characteristics that mirror the food. Ingredients that Jason Kim mixes up are fresh, simple and good. You can either pick 3 sides for $10 or 1 protein and 2 sides for $13.

I ordered the mac'n cheese, Glazed rainbow carrots, asparagus, fennel and chives, and the pork belly sandwich:

The mac'n cheese...let me just say, was the best, let me emphasize, it was the BEST mac'n cheese I have ever had. And I absolutely love mac'n cheese. The richness of the cheese, crunchy crust, and the balance of salty and creamy made it perfect.

Vegetables tasted organic, naturally sweet and was wonderfully tossed in an olive oil dressing.

Lastly was the pork belly sandwich. Amazing. It came as a layer of lean pork belly, followed by tomatoes, and a pickled cabbage salad, sandwiched between toasted baguette. It reminded me of the sandwich I had at Sandwich Story (see previous blog). It's rare that I've had a meal (or 3) at a restaurant where every dish I had was mindblowing.

Today, even though I was not surrounded by one of my riches (my friends), I was welcomed by another gift this Silver Lake city had to offer--delicious food. Today, my "me" day, was the most absolutely wonderful day I've had by myself...and I can't wait to share these new places with my friends.

Breakfast of Champions at Auntie Em's Kitchen

Auntie Em's Kitchen
4616 Eagle Rock Blvd
Los Angeles, CA

http://www.auntieemskitchen.com/

I've heard about Auntie Em's from one of my food-blogging-friend-slash-guru. She swore by the red velvet cupcakes here. Of course, my next step was look them up on Yelp. I found out that they have breakfast and red velvet cupcakes? My two favs! I'm there.

Auntie Em's is located in Eagle Rock (between Pasadena and Downtown LA) and stands out as a red building down a street of neighboring Filipino stores. They're known for serving food made from organic ingredients. It was an absolutely beautiful day in Southern California, it was only natural that we sit outside. The sun captured the boyfriend really well:

And there's excited me:

Auntie Em's had a fair amount of breakfast and lunch options. The boyfriend ordered the open-face steak sandwich, which came with eggs, salsa, gruyere cheese, atop ciabatta bread. And as you can tell from above picture, I ordered the french toast with strawberries and bananas:

The open-faced sandwich was delicious--the strong bold taste of gruyere cheese complimented the simple eggs and steak like yin and yang.

And of course, we couldn't leave Auntie Em's without trying their red velvet cupcake ($3.50):

The cupcake had a slight crumble and was topped with light cream cheese frosting--not too sweet and not too rich.

After trying Auntie Em's, I understand my foodie friend's love for their cupcakes here. I thought they were good, but hands down, the breakfast took the spotlight.

Luna Park

I had bought a $40 "groupon" for $20 (http://www.groupon.com/) for this place called Luna Park (http://www.lunaparkla.com/), so I decided to invite my cousins out for our monthly reunion.

This place is located right at the corner of Wilshire and La Brea in an area that I wouldn't expect to be "hip". It was across from blockbusters and away from other popular restaurants. To my surprise, my cousin who arrived first was asked if she had reservations. We didn't and had to wait 15 minutes for a table...not bad.

As usual, I was the late comer. As I stepped in, every seat at the bar was taken, and the wooden dining tables were filled with age groups ranging from mid 20's to early 40's. It was a happening place.

We started off with a large bowl of sangria:

I have bits of fruit in my sangria and be able to taste the wine in it. As you can tell from the bright cherry color, this was more like a fruit punch to me, and only had a lone piece of lemon to represent the fruit family. My cousin started to feel a buzz from 2 glasses, so it did it's job. :)

We ordered poke and a side dish of macaroni and cheese as our appetizers. The mac 'n cheese to me was my favorite out of all the dishes. I had a nice crusty topping and a cheese taste that isn't too overwhelming. One of my cousin's said she can make better mac'n cheese.

The poke, or marinated raw tuna, had tomatoes, ginger, poke, garlic, lime, and every ingredient necessary to make a salsa. It tasted good as a general dish, but if you order it, don't expect to get a traditional poke plate. I like to be able to taste more of the poke than it's supporting ingredients, and this one didn't really do it for me. "It's like a ceviche" said one of my cousins.

My cousin Lan got the pan seared Mahi Mahi with Morroccon couscous and baby bok choi. I thought the Mahi Mahi was good but lacked some flavor, and didn't realize that it was supposed to be "pan-seared" until I looked at their website. I always thought pan-seared meant "lightly cooked on the outside and raw in the inside"...but this one was cooked all the way. It didn't fit the bill.

My other cousin Thanh ordered the breaded pork cutlet, and I ordered the parmesan gnocchi bolognese.

The pork cutlet was very good...it reminded me exactly of the Japanese pork katsu...except this one had a dab of cranberries on it, making it more American.

My gnocchi were as big as big marshmellows and the texture of the gnocchi was almost as soft as marshmellows. It's with "ground Ninan ranch flat iron"...which basically means ground beef (I couldn't taste the difference if ground flat iron is supposed to be better quality). Overall, I think flavor-wise my dish was good, but again, it's not quite the traditional gnocchi I was expecting.

Overall, if you're looking for a happening place to hang out with your friends or a place to go out for a casual date, this is it. If you're looking for "the place" to go to for food, I'm sure there's better places out there. I had fun.

JJ's Bakery (Arcadia)

This is probably THE most popular JJ's bakery in Los Angeles. When my college friends found out I was moving to the "valley", they told me that I HAD to try this Chinese bakery. And of course by the time I moved up here, JJ's was no mystery...my co-residents already knew about it.

It's located in the chinatown of san gabriel valley--Arcadia...right off Duarte and Baldwin Ave.

Weekends are busy days for JJ's. Crowds are lined up trying to get their freshest baked goods--straight from the oven.

They use the same type of bread for almost all their baked goods--it's this slightly chewy and slightly sweet soft bread--probably very similar to the texture of hawaiian rolls. The main difference is what's inside (or outside), and it varies from dried pork, barbeque pork, coconut, taro, red bean, mochi, hot dog, corn, and more.

They also have more "baked goods" which includes moon cake, birthday cakes, mochi, and little fruit tarts. The other side of JJ's has a small "cafe" that serves coffee from Illy-the famous rich Italian coffee.

(from left: hot dog bun, red bean mochi, dried pork)


I've been here probably half a dozen times so far, and can say that I've tried half of their baked bready items. So I thought I can give my "tips" of going to JJ's:

1) Arrive early if you want the freshest and largest variety of baked goods.
2) If you do arrive early and they don't have what you want, ask them. Most likely it's in the back.
3) All of the baked buns have a unique look on the outside--if you know exactly what you want, you can tell by how it looks without reading their small signs.
4) Buns run out fast, especially the popular ones.
5) If you don't know what to get, look at what others are getting.


My favorites:
Sweet buns: Red bean bun with mochi (outside: half of the bun has sesame seeds)
Savory buns: Barbeque pork bun (outside: plain), or the 3 miniature dried pork buns (comes in 3, has dried pork all around it)

Runyon Canyon

One of my dog-owner friends told me about Runyon Canyon. "You can take your dog off leash and stars like Ryan Seacrest run there!" What?!! (I run into the car, tires screeches off...Garmin searches this "Runyon Canyon")

Not that I have a special liking to Ryan Seacrest--but the thought of seeing hot tan celebrities running along Runyon Canyon in the scorching sun in nothing but their six packs? Ohhh yeah...I'm there. =) (hi boyfriend you also count as my personal hot tan celebrity)

Aside from my own superficial reasons of wanting to go to Runyon Canyon, this park is a really fantastic place to hike with or without a dog. I brought the boyfriend and Chewy and had an absolutely awesome hour and a half hiking experience.

Runyon Canyon is an 130 acre park 2 blocks away from Hollywood Blvd. There are 3 entrances, one off Vista St, one off Mulholland, and the one I took which was on 2000 N. Fuller Ave. There are a few trails to choose from--we followed everyone else up to the peak of the canyon that led us to an amazing view of Griffith Park, the Hollywood signs, and Hollywood Hills.

Along the dirt-trail hike, you can look over at the homes of the rich and famous on Hollywood Hills. If you look even more closely, you might even see Lindsay Lohan's house being robbed...again.

Unfortunately no celebrities were seen, but a handful of physically fit Southern California guys and girls did flaunt their sweaty tone bodies as they effortlessly ran past the "trail-walkers" like myself.

But don't let the "fit" people scare you! The hike is suitable for people of all sizes, shapes and levels. It's such an easy and enjoyable hike. Chewy loved it.

For more information, check out this website: www.lamountains.com/parks.asp?parkid=122

Orange Grove Dog Park

Having lived in San Francisco for 3 years with my dog Chewy, I've become so appreciative of their dog parks and how friendly and well trained the pups (and owners) are there. It was one place you can bring your dog to, unleash him, and let him run off to sniff Fido, Fluffy, and Foofoo's butts without a worry. I thought to myself...how can I find something like that when I leave SF?

Lucky for me, I found an LA version: Orange Grove dog park. It's located off Sierra Madre exit north of the 210 in Pasadena. They have 2 gated areas for dogs--one for the big dudes, and the other for the small and special-needs pooches. They even have 2 gates that you enter before coming into the dog park to allow you a chance to unleash your dog first. Well planned, I must say!

I took Chewy to the little dog side. As we entered, there were so many happy dogs excited to greet this new kid on the block. They exchanged their butt sniffs and were instant BFFs. Chewy immediately went off on his own to play--every now and then, he'd come back to his Mom (me) to make sure she's okay. Makes me think--shouldn't it be the other way around?

Well, to take care of the pups' parents, there's plenty of plastic chairs and shade around the park for people to sit in and relax in. I brought some reading material but quickly found that watching the dogs so much more fun. I'd say there were probably 30 dogs on the small dog side alone!

To take care of all the pouncing paws, they have a water fountain for dogs and trash bags all over just in case Rover or Odie makes a little doodoo.

Overall, I'm very impressed by this place. They have everything you need to keep both you and your dog happy.

I'm beginning to think that I can probably find anything in SF in LA.
I would just have to drive. A lot. In traffic.

Roscoe's Chicken & Waffles

Where: Roscoe's Chicken & Waffles (Pasadena, CA)...right next to another popular fried chicken venue-Kentucky Fried Chicken. I joked to the boyfriend that if Roscoe's ever run out of chicken, they can just run next door to KFC.

Being from San Diego, I always hear people rave about Roscoe's when they go up to LA. Honestly, the thought of chicken and waffles together doesn't really spark an interest in me. Chicken is for dinner. Waffles are for breakfast. Simple as that. But after trying those two simple meals together at Roscoe's, my ignorance for this southern comfort style food flew out the window.


The boyfriend and I ordered the "Scoe's 1/2 chicken (southern style) and 2 waffles" to share. The chicken was perfectly crispy on the outside and the meat was very tasty and tender. The waffles too were very good and wholesome. The best way to eat this dish is to take a piece of chicken and eat it with a nice forkful of maple syrup-smothered waffle. The sweet and salty combination made it sooo surprisingly good.


Ok Roscoe's...I hope you never have to borrow chicken from KFC, because yours is so much better.

Hot dog days of summer

Plan: Hot day at the dog beach + hot dog day

The boyfriend came up to LA on a Sunday to visit, so what a better way to spend the summer day than to take Chewy out to the dog beach and then go out to places that we can eat at as well. A quick yelp search resulted in multiple hot dog joints throughout LA. The plan? Dog beach and hot dogs.

The only dog beach in LA county is at Long Beach between Argonne and Roycroft Ave in Belmont Shore. The dog zone is separated by bright orange cones and in between is a hard to miss crowd of ~30 tail-wagging, tongue-hanging unleashed dogs. Chewy is a 5.5 lb yorkie/maltese, and even though he was the smallest of the pack, he fit right in. He even found a few friends about his size...perhaps even a puppy love with a little maltipoo.



After a long playful day at the beach, we gave Chewy a quick rinse at one of the showers located by the bike path and were off on our way to our hot dog tour!

First stop: Fab Hot Dogs (http://www.fabhotdogs.com/)

This place may be easy to miss because it sits humbly in the middle of a strip of stores. They feature hot dogs with creative names such as "The Ripper" and "Carolina Slaw Dog" and its share of double dogs. We decided to go with the "LA Street Dog" which consisted of a bacon wrapped all-beef dog with grilled onions and bell peppers, diced tomato, jalapenos, mustard, mayo and ketchup. It's a conglomeration of ingredients that surprised my taste buds. Who knew mustard, mayo, and ketchup would go so well together?



With the help of a paper hot dog holder, the frank stayed in one relative piece more than halfway down the bun. The meat was nice and plump--each bite produced a slight crunch that broke the barrier into its juicy meat. Not bad for a $3.75 dog.


Next stop: Vicious dog (http://www.viciousdogsnoho.com/)
This place would have been good...if was open on SUNDAY. Note to self: check store hours before driving across town for a hot dog.


Third stop: Skooby Dogs (Hollywood blvd)
Luckily, Skooby Dogs wasn't to far from the above mentioned joint. This place is located right along the Hollywood Walk of Stars/Fame. They have a very basic menu--classic hot dog, chili dog, garlic lovers dog. We decided to go with the chili dog, lemonade and french fries ($10.57).


For all the chili lovers, this one may be for you. The hot dog is drowned in meat chili, shredded cheeese, and you are given options of condiments including ketchup, mustard, and my personal favorite--Sriracha (an Asian hot sauce that is easily recognized by it's green plastic tip and rooster logo). No extra condiments were necessary for this hot dog--however, something about it was missing for me. The boyfriend however, ranked this dog pretty high. Oh and get the fries, they're known for them.


Last stop: Pink's hot dogs (http://www.pinkshollywood.com/)

This reknown hot dog joint started off as a true hot dog cart in 1939. Over the years it evolved and grew walls, a roof, and a constant long line that always seem to wrap around the building. There were over 20 different choices to choose from, including dogs named after celebrities such as the "Ozzy dog". After 45 minutes of waiting in line, we ordered the Guatalajara and the Spicy Chicago Polish Dog.




I thought at this point of this hot dog tour, I would be so full...but one bite of this hot dog made me want so much more! I don't know if it's the fresh ingredients, quality of the hot dogs, the bun, or what, but everything put together made the whole hot dog sooo good. Just a word of caution, the spicy Chicago Polish dog...was indeed spicy. Overall, Pink's was hands down, our favorite hot dog joint of the tour. If you have nothing else to do with your time, it's worth the wait.