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Sqirl: LA Restaurant Review

Recently, we launched one of our most exciting projects of the year: LA’s Must-Visit Restaurants of 2018. What does this mean exactly and why is it so exciting? Well…it means instead of ordering Indian for the fifth week in a row, we are going to try new places! Each week, from this list that you’ll find in the post linked above, we are going to try a highly-rated (from someone or another) restaurant in Los Angeles and then tell you, our beloved readers, about it! Our first stop in this epic adventure was Sqirl, a “contemporary breakfast and lunch” as they word it. 

It was rather a chance occasion that we did this; my brother’s girlfriend’s cousin (I know, it’s a mouthful) was in town and they were all going to breakfast at Sqirl. We got an invite and said, why not! Sqirl is just on the border of Silver Lake and East Hollywood and boy do you notice. No parking and plenty of hipsters abound! We parked a few blocks away and hiked down one of Silver Lake’s many mountain-like hills to a little cafe. The cafe is “hip” with plenty of hipsters both in line and cooking, serving, and/or cashiering. If you don’t know the exact address, you’ll find Sqirl by the at-least 15-person wait line (and that’s if you’re lucky and/or smart and go at 8:30am) outside. The format of food-getting is wait in a line to get to the counter, order your food, and hope for a table. Like I said, it’s a little place, so there aren’t many of them. The smartest thing to do is split your party into table-grabbers and food-orderers. 

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LA’s Must-Visit Restaurants of 2018

As we wrap up the last weekend of the first month in the year, we consider what else does 2018 have in store for us? Well, how about you switch roles, sit in the driver’s seat and ask yourself, what do we have in store for 2018? You’ve followed us on our move from New York City to Boulder, Colorado. (That road-trip, with a long stop in Mason City, Iowa, is when we started this blog!) After two years of eating all the delicious food in Boulder, we packed the animals in the car and headed to Los Angeles.

While we’ve been in LA for about three and a half years, we realized that there are so many top-notch restaurants that we haven’t been to yet! With a move coming up at the end of the year, we decided to show some restraint, avoid going back to our favorite eateries for the 10th time and make an epic list of LA’s must-visit restaurants of 2018! Every week of 2018, we’re going to try one new restaurant on the list, try to take some amazing photos for you (if the lighting is right) and review our experience there! 

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The Impossible Burger

Intriguing. When you think about it, that isn’t a word that you would normally associate with food. You might think, ‘wow, this is intriguing’ at first, but after some thought, you’d find a better-suited word. Sometimes for better and often for worse, we have a tendency to give more credit than is due when it comes to food. Just think about the hysteria that erupts when well-known foods (such as poke and ramen) are brought to areas where the population aren’t familiar with them. Hysteria.

Then, there are the few times that you really are truly intrigued by what you’re eating. The thought of it is so complex, so mesmerizing that you can’t help but learn more about it. And no, we’re not talking about a sushirito here (aka a sushi burrito) or any other nonsensical scheme to be different, cool, or earn money fast–we’re talking about the true gems out there.

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Sharky’s: A Local Chain We Can Get Behind

You know… there’s something special about chains. There’s this attraction to Subway and McDonald’s. No matter where you are, you feel that magnetism around something familiar and it draws you in. Whether we’re driving cross-country or I’m studying in Korea, I know that there is something I like here, but dang, do I feel bad eating it. Imagine there were chains with that sense of familiarity and comfort, that you didn’t feel bad visiting? 

Fortunately for all of us, those chains are emerging and while they might not have 100 billions customers served yet, they’re steadily growing. One of those chains, for those of us in Los Angeles is Sharky’s. In short, Sharky’s provides you with healthy and delicious Mexican food options so that you can enjoy all of the classics at their many convenient locations, without worrying about eating unhealthy. 

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High End in Venice? (Barrique Review)

When you’re going out to have a nice, romantic meal for your 1-Year Anniversary, we weren’t expecting to be Hungry & Fit… just Alana & Chris, but we all know it can’t be that easy. If you put food in front of us, we’re probably going to return the plates to you clean, but we’re always going to have a strong opinion about what we just ate. We can’t help it!

You’ll notice that this review is missing something that we normally try to flood you with…our own photos. There are two reasons for that. First, we didn’t bring the fancy camera we use for our reviews. Second, it was extremely dark and every picture that I took with my phone was just blurry, no matter how many filters we applied. We could have used the flash for better results, but that would have taken away from the dining experience of the other guests, and when you’re paying this much for food, you expect an amazing dining experience. Bright lights flashing in your face isn’t the nicest way to enjoy a meal.

When I originally wrote out quick Yelp review for Barrique, I started high… mainly because there was this sense of… it was our anniversary dinner and we were so happy to be together, etc. As I started to think of everything we ate, those feelings faded and that mysterious veil disappeared. All that was left was the service, atmosphere and… the food. So, as always, let’s look at those factors and see just how high-end Barrique really is.

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LA’s Best Burger and Fries? (Humble Potato Review)

It’s a very dangerous game at play when you declare that your goal is to go out to eat every week at a different place. Why? Because temptation. Desire. Lust, if you will. While fighting off all of those primal feelings, and avoiding ordering our favorite pizza, we ventured into areas surrounding Culver City to find new eateries. Why? Maybe we were feeling adventurous or maybe we thought we’d been slacking as food bloggers. Either way… this happened.

Stumble to Humble. I can’t remember how this happened. I think we were wandering around Washington, knowing that it is full of amazing eateries. While Humble Potato wasn’t on our list before, despite a very chilly meal there, it is now. Why? Because they have the best burger and fries in LA. But don’t take my word for it; we want you to go and tell us if you think we’re out of our minds. (We already know that we are!)

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Seasalt Fish Grill

After looking up churros on Yelp and finding that this place offered churro waffles, we decided to check out Seasalt Fish Grill. It helped that it was a seafood specialty stop because we both favor fish-based diets. We expected to be walking into some busy and posh new spot in downtown Culver City, but that isn’t the case. It’s easily accessible and even has free parking. The spot itself offers both outdoor and indoor seating with your very casual order and take a number system. Again, this wasn’t what we were expecting and while I thought there was going to be a small, specialty menu, I was wrong again.

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Fit’s plate (the garlic fries were for both of us)

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The Ramen Joint (Westchester, Los Angeles)

Ramen in LA is as common as concrete in K-town. It’s everywhere, and every single place, claims to be the best. Every single place has a cult following of people who will tell you the same. This happened when I went down to visit a friend who worked in Westchester and wanted to go to The Ramen Joint and I told her… this better be good.

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