Plan Check Review

Plan Check has a few locations and I’ve only been to this one, although I have been here multiple times. Since I worked across the street, I would take my staff here for meetings/lunches AND since we knew how to navigate Sawtelle so well, we never had to wait for a table. I also know how long the wait can be because I could see the line from outside my window, so my first bit of advice is… try to time your visit… if you can.

Whenever you go to a hipster-gastropub/New American joint like this, you have to know that you’ll be paying a lot for small portions. If you’re surprised by that when you arrive, I apologize for your ignorance of the LA food scene. So again, coming here is about managing expectations and being strategic. My staff would fill up on fries so they don’t leave hungry.

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Feb192017

Mutari: Serious Hot Chocolate in Santa Cruz, CA

Recently, we went on an amazing road trip up the California coast. Mutari is a little hot chocolate joint we visited in Santa Cruz, California. We stopped by to escape a rainy Santa Cruz night after dinner and before returning to our hotel on our trip up the coast. It was an experience. I’ll get straight to the point that I did not love their chocolate. But I loved their passion and it made everything taste a little better.

Nov132016

The Crustacean: Restaurant Review

Can we just avoid writing any words and let you eat with your eyes for a moment? As you can tell from all the pictures below, the food here is beautiful and a considerable amount of extra time is spent on presentation, which we appreciate, because it’s a testament to their high standards. The elephant in the room is that The Crustacean, owned and operated by the House of An from Vietnam, is a little on the expensive side, impossible to get a reservation, and requires you to dress up like you’re heading to a wedding, right? Wrong and none of these are necessarily true.

While you can’t walk in off the streets on a Friday night wearing sandals and a fitted cap, expecting to be seated quickly and fill your stomach with a $10 bill, The Crustacean is a lot more than a “fancy restaurant” in the heart of Beverly Hills. Its atmosphere can be magical with the elaborate indoor setup that makes you feel like you’re in the Vietnamese equivalent of a castle grand dining hall. As the host walks you through the entry into the two-level main room, passing over bridges made from beautiful wood, it’s impossible to ignore the glass-covered river underneath the floor filled with large koi. You’ve been successfully transported into a different part of the world and then you eat.

Nov102016

Pizza Press Restaurant Review

Another contender enters the ring, but this isn’t Super Smash Bros although you might think a Mario and Luigi have something to do with this. Good one, right? Looking back through the blog, we’ve talked about pizza… a lot. Can you blame us? We’ve highlighted our favorite pizza ever, our favorite pizza in LA, simple homemade pizza, a healthy homemade recipe, and much more. We even wrote a blog post about pizza on our other blog. More recently, we realized that there’s a growing market here in LA that is heavily influenced by the success of Subway, Chipotle, and other “build your own” food stops. At the time, we tried Pieology and Pizza Rev, and we wrote about our comparative review HERE.

Jul262016

LA’s Best Breakfast Sandwich

Pizza, bagels, deli sandwiches, Italian food… it’s hard to find an adequate option outside of the Tri-State area around New York City. It’s something in the water, right? Or some old Italian-American secret? Either way, that’s not necessarily the case anymore as Fat Sal’s and other great pioneers have brought us more than satisfying options to hit the spot at the right time. Despite the leaps and bounds we’ve seen over the past few years alone, there seems to still be a serious lack of quality bagels out here, and more importantly, breakfast sandwiches.

Sam’s on Sunset and The Original Brooklyn Water Bagel in Beverly Hills have tried replicating the NYC bagel experience but have failed miserably. (That might be a BIT harsh.) When it comes down to it, you can’t find a bagel the right size, texture, and value out here. They’re either too small, too dense, or too expensive. That effect only multiples when you look at breakfast sandwiches. The best breakfast sandwich I’ve ever had is from Bagel Emporium.

Mar032016

Chado Tea Room

My Nana passed away a little over a year ago and I wanted to celebrate her somehow. So, I started looking up places where the family could have high tea. After searching around a bit, I found Chado Tea. It was close by (we went to the Hollywood location), didn’t seem too pricey, and had good reviews. You may have seen some pictures from there in an earlier post. All in all, it was a good and fun experience.

Nov182015

The Carving Board

Whenever we move to a new place, it’s fun for us to explore new eateries around us. We have certainly not failed that mission, eating at all different kind of joints: Indian, Thai, American, English, and so forth. Settled in a West Hollywood strip mall with many other food choices, the Carving Board offers a variety of American plates; salads, soups, and sandwiches. I would say it specializes in sandwiches, but we’ve tried all the different types of fares. While it may be a little overpriced, the Carving Board is a regular stop for us.

Oct262015

A Pizza Revolution: Pieology vs Pizza Rev

It might not have been Subway, but it seems that the sandwich juggernaut gets the credit for redefining the fast food experience. That extra amount of ownership that you have over the finished product because you had more of a, say, than normal in the constructive process brings you back for more. Chipotle is the latest company to turn billions of dollars from this consumer experience and while small poke shops are barely keeping their head above water doing the same, the dream remains for chefs and entrepreneurs. They’re looking for the perfect food for an untrained chef to put together lunch-lady style. This food would have to be easy to assemble, use inexpensive ingredients, and popular. Was anyone else thinking of pizza?

Aug112015

Anima Pizza & Pasta

Right smack dab in the middle of Koreatown is Anima Pizza & Pasta, a restaurant that seems imported directly from Italy. It’s in walking distance of our apartment (think near Wilshire & Vermont) and we are so happy that it is! It’s actually in the same strip as another favorite restaurant of ours, so it’s twice the greatness. We discovered this gem late one night (think near 10pm) and we’ve been going back weekly ever since. The quality of the food far surpasses the dollar signs on their menu–it’s excellent food for a bargain.

Aug062015

Wiki Poki Review

As someone who grew up in the diner capital of the world, there’s some confusion when entering a restaurant that only serves one thing. Luckily, Wiki Poki also has miso soup. When you find an eatery that specializes in one particular delicacy, the execution of the dish has to be nearly flawless or success is unattainable. Just look at the fresh seafood that Wiki Poki uses to create their amazingly healthy and delicious containers of love. You walk in and out in no time with only $10 less than you entered with just a few minutes before. Secretly, I don’t want to write this glowing review because it will only lead to more traffic here and I want to keep it all to myself.