The Most Unique Restaurant at Firehouse Hotel

It's difficult to find a place to live in Los Angeles. Shoot!..it's even more difficult to find the right location for a business. It's all about the location when you're talking a restaurant.

That's why it was so fascinating to see when a group of entrepreneurs decided to open up a place in the heart of Art District near the packing district. A firehouse was being remodeled into a boutique hotel with a cute outdoor patio restaurant and a bar in where a fire engine used to park at.

Here's the weird part, a firehouse that was left vacant for nearly 3 decades from being used as an active firehouse got remodeled into a full service 9-rooms boutique hotel on the top level with a restaurant underneath the rooms. I never did reserved a room, but I always want to see what the rooms looks like as many pointed out the rooms are "Instagram worthy", while remains for a staycation for some.

That early evening was a weird event as we were a few doors down from Bestia, but wanted a nightcap and stopped by BonTemps to keep the evening going. Right next door was this firehouse that has their own valet. Curiously, we all wanted to see commotion as we all thought it was an event space that is being used for parties.

Checking out the cool vibes of their patio seating for that intimate setting or their private dining room in the courtyard gave the place this elegant and very chic look. There were plenty of outdoor tables and a few indoor seatings next to the bar as it looked to accommodate about a good sized capacity of about 100 guests for dining.

Beef Carpaccio

With a few things in mind, some of us decided to come back to this restaurant to check out the New American dishes on the menu. We have heard the head chef was very distinguished and was from well known restaurants in New York and worked briefly in the much hyped Nomad Hotel in LA. The most exciting thing about our visit was to check out this reimagined decor of a restaurant from a former firehouse.

Grilled Branzino

One of the more recommended dish we wanted to try based on the praises posted on various online sites was the Grilled Branzino that was highly mentioned. Love the dishes we had ordered, especially the grilled branzino. The interesting part we noticed was that there was a wood fired grill employed in the kitchen as you can get some of the aroma of the dishes. Some of the buttery dishes really stood out when it was off the grill and ready to be served to the diners.

Quite possibly, this boutique hotel can be used a stand in for a high fashion clothing store as the hotel lobby stationed in front of the restaurant and hotel check-in gave it that chic nuance look to the fashion dissonance.

There are a lot of things to like about FireHouse Hotel. It can be a classy night out on the town or a very nice date night atmosphere for suggested place for an unique dining experience.

For me, I still want to visit the hotel for that overnight staycation.

FireHouse Hotel
710 Santa Fe Ave
Los Angeles, CA 90021

Best Discovery on a Return Visit at Pikunico

I am always bad with direction. This is something I can't denied. 

In any other times, my sense of navigation with my eyes and nose would not let me down. Somehow I didn't factored in that certain parts of downtown LA does not have a through street. I blamed that on the lousy google map app on my iPhone.

I was in a rush one night to get to this mini style cafe on one of the "newest" and "happening" plaza in southern California. There seemed to be a grass root campaign in opening up a trendy hub center for dining and shopping center that can generate buzz for the youngsters here. Yup folks, the mall is the blase of the 80s and we're living in the new Millennium.

In what was a overlooked decision on my research, I also didn't know that the hub center also holds a hip market/food stalls gathering where those Millennial would congregate every Sunday. That plaza is fabulous called ROW DTLA, a terminal market back in the old days with wholesale factory warehouses in walking distance close to each other. The Manufactory building is now a converted restaurant row while other parts of the factory warehouses become boutique stores, gentrified coffee houses and remodeled restaurants.

The wholesale farm market is now a weekly Sunday Foodies meet-up as new colorful, unique food are served on these food stalls.

So, what does it have to do with me getting lost? Well....google Map couldn't keep up the new happenings as the fences and walls are build up, while the neighboring warehouses bordered up the road with their mangy iron clad gates that used to connect to my destination.

Oh joy!

When I got there, I was assuming the place I wanted to visit would be closed up because I arrived a good 5 minutes after the reported closing time. To my astonishment, they pretty much welcomed me in on that frenzy Sunday. You can guessed I was in a much better mood to check out on parts of this cafe with picnic benches.

Click Play to see the interior

Pikunico have a modern look of a chic style cafe that serves Japanese Fried Chicken. They have a long communal table that is affectionately known as "The Bench". What I craved the most was their talked about "Golden Chicken Sandwich". When I was in a disparaged mode of trying to get into ROW DTLA, all my thoughts was on that sandwich. It was the only thing that was keeping me from falling apart in getting around the dead end streets.

Golden Chicken Sandwich

The lady that took my order was a cheery fella that was patient and more than happy to serve. She could have played it off as though they were closed. I probably would have been bummed, but I would have understand. To make one of their last order easier, I got the order of Chicken Sandwich and a mix tray of chicken as a takeout to go.

Mix Chicken of Wing, Thigh, and Tenders with Origni Rice

Let me just say that after tasting all of the chicken, I was ecstatic. One, I was pleasantly surprised by the evenly distributed of the breading in the fried chicken. My sandwich itself has one of the most unique turmeric bun that is filled with watercress, jalapeno, and a lemon flavored aioli. The part that conquered me over was their miso jam that was smoldered over the chicken. This sandwich not only won me over, but more importantly it made me go back to try something else.

Part of the weird journey was that I was in a happy mood to go back and try their other side items.

I decided to get their Chicken Egg Drop Soup. To my memory, they didn't included the diced up chicken bits in the Egg Drop Soup. I think that was a good decision to added on because it makes this bowl of soup more heartier.

The big ominous surprise that I will say was the onigiri rice. It's their housemade rice ball that seasoned with ginger and garlic that is wrapped with nori seaweed. That to many looks unspectacular, but in this was the best thing to arrive to my mouth in a while. It doesn't contained spam or meat, yet I was extremely in peace after chomping on those two onigiri rice balls.

The lady that took my order on my ill-fated trip to ROW DTLA? That was the creative chef Kuniko Yagi. Once I found out she was the executive chef at SONA, I knew there was a reason why I wanted to make that trip to this Fried Chicken cafe in the first place.

Truth to be told, I think I was searching up Japanese Fried Chicken and internet kept pointing me to that chain in Sawtelle Blvd in West LA. I was glad to be pointed here instead.

If that fateful trip didn't turned out well, I probably would missed out on the terrific Golden Chicken Sandwich. Worse... I wouldn't have discovered their onigiri rice.

My pro tip, ordered their chicken tray and skipped the fries by getting the onigiri rice. That would be winner winner chicken dinner any time. Pff...I can't believed that phrase was typed.

Pikunico
767 Alameda Street Ste 122
Los Angeles, CA 90021

Worth The Wait in Long Lines at Howlin' Ray's

I'm ready for the new Star Wars ride at Disneyland Park coming soon in a few month.

I heard the Star Wars Galaxy Edge ride will be phenomenal with the state of the art effects and plenty of excitement that will satisfied everyone in the whole family. Just like that... so are about 200,000 people expected to come to the amusement park and wanting to get on that ride. Just like that a reservation system is on hand as you might need to be on a waiting list of over 10 hours just to get in line for that ride.

Fear not folks, I got plenty of practice waiting in line this year. Good ol' Howlin' Ray's provides plenty of training for that long wait.

If you have not have heard of Howlin' Ray's, then you probably didn't have a pulse with LA food scenes or just hidden under the rock the past 3 years. Don't worry, you'll have plenty of time to catch up once you see the line to buy one of their famous Nashville hot chicken.

I had the pleasure of meeting Mr. Johnny Ray Zone when he first opened up his brick and mortar front after his sting of sling his chicken at his food truck. Funny part of the story was that he opened up this front in a plaza at Chinatown that was more known for souvenirs and imported Chinese goods. In the front of that Far East Plaza was abundance of Chinese BBQ takeouts and other Cantonese restaurants.

Medium Chicken

Time have changed obviously as there are more hip openings from a coffee shop (MIA), ice cream stand, a bao place from an east coast transplant, hip Taiwanese joint catered to the westerners, and an upscale version of Filipino restaurant all have opened up around the same time as Howlin' Ray's.

After seeing the restaurant gain popularity from local media and social media presence, the place blew up with long lines from young and old seeking this Nashville Hot chicken people have often heard, but never able to experience it unless you travel farther east. Surprised no one ever caught on to that as there are many options of different fried chickens in southern California, but never this variety. Nowadays, you can't turned around without some announcements of a new Nashville style hot chicken being offered up.

Medium (level 3) and Mild (Level 2) Chicken Sandwiches

What makes this place that popular for a long line? I guess it all starts with the chicken. There six different spice levels you can choose. I often settled between Mild (#2 on the hot scale) or Medium (a step up from Mild). You can go on a dare and try their Howlin', which was taste numbing, sweat inducing, and nosebleed crotch of a hot heat.

The smell of this heat can already make your eyes watery. Just by touching it will already leave that smell on your hand for hours. The nosebleed is not exaggeration for some of us as we are never able to muster through the whole breast or leg without feeling sniffle and the cries of mercy. Not sure it's pain or tears of joy, as eating Howlin' level can be both at the same time.

The thing I admired about the chicken and why I was waiting in line every quarterly was the fact the meat was juicy and the crispy skin was not flaking like a weak butter skin. I hated the water down skin you see from a certain well known chain. The meat was important, but the battered fried skin was one of the few things I enjoyed about Howlin' Ray's version of fried chicken.

When I first started coming here, the line was probably less than 20 minutes. Gradually as the words of mouth got out, it expands to 40 somewhat minutes. Then you know it got serious when it is over a hour. Then for some eff'd up reason, it now gets ridiculous at weeknight for 100 minutes. (I had been told the line can be 4 hours on weekend afternoon at times).

Whole Bird - Medium

For those might be getting discouraged, we heard expansion is coming. When there is more places opened up, dividing up the crowd to various different joints work. It is often a line killer. Remembered the first "Salt & Straw" opened up and there was a wait? With more locations, it destroyed that long wait. We are hoping this would be case as well for another Howlin' Ray's joint.

For me, I'm getting the hang of waiting in line and practicing in advance of the new Star Wars ride. Pro tips on waiting in line, get a few friends to wait with you. There is never a dull moment and the excitement can be heightened.

After waiting more than a hour, I still have favorable impression of the fried chicken.

Now as in for that wait for one ride...... let's hope it doesn't take up the whole day for one ride.

Howlin' Ray's
727 N Broadway #128
Los Angeles, CA 90012

Discovering Bougie Chinese BBQ in a RiceBox

Dang! It's been so long and I think I was just awoke from another long slumber.

I think I was trying to figure out how I can find more inspiration of writing more posts without being repetitive. In most cases, it flow fast out like a gush of water for a ride on Raging Waters. Other times it can be dormant like the past 4 months.

Luckily for today, I decided to make some trips down to downtown LA. I think was doing some weird errands and was planning to check out a restaurant nearby (Orsa & Winstons perhaps?). Then on a peak of my eyes, I saw a small take out place with a few tables in an arcade mall. 

Soy Sauce Chicken with Fried Egg

RiceBox is similar to what you find on a Cantonese BBQ place that serves a bevy of different meat proteins that prepares in Cantonese roasted style. Probably the most famous is the Char Siu, where the pork  or any meat is roasted on a long fork over a fire oven. There is also ingredient of sauce embedded on the meat to give that succulent taste and flavor.

While I was looking over the menu, I also happened to stumble upon the soy sauce chicken with bok choy that it was offered. Adding a fried egg on top seemed to be a bit bougie, but without a tea egg or hard boiled, I thought it would be suffice.

OG Char Siu Pork with Fried Egg

While I was there, I might as well get their version of the "OG Char Siu Pork", which I gathered was honey glazed with the aroma of sweet smell from the slow cooked method.

Now of course, what makes me wanting to go to this nondescript place in middle of downtown for Chinese food? The place have a cute little tables set up for dine-in, but with a tight place like this, it probably managed a dozen people for the capacity. I highly support a place like this instead of glorified take out place that doesn't do justice.

For me, I had a good impression on a take on Cantonese BBQ in the middle of an area that seemed bustling with hip taco joints and divey bar actions. This bougie Chinese bento is a welcome sight. In a perfect world, this would be my kind of Chinese take out or delivery places. Love how they prep and present the rice bowl of either the succulent char siu pork or the soy sauce chicken.

Be prepared though to find parking. This place is great for that take out meals if you live around that area, but rough for destination travel meal. Hope they decide to open late for that late night snoosh after the last call.

That to me would be perfect.

RiceBox
541 S Spring St Ste 131
Los Angeles, CA 90013

The Southern Way to Dine at Preux and Proper

Here's one for the books. What's the best way to have a gin or a southern tea? The preux thing to do is to serve it with fried chicken. The proper thing for the southern tea is to have with biscuits.

In no time, people put it together and have biscuits and fried chicken. Don't get me started on the waffle business mixing with fried chicken... never understood it. Butter goes better with biscuits than syrup on a waffle.

Punk Evans - Beluga Vodka, Lemongrass, Thai Basil, Watermelon Balls

Preux and Proper is an unique dining experience of having an upscale Southern comfort food that locates at the heart of the fashion district in downtown LA. If you ever seen the Triangle shaped restaurant that is in the middle of two converging streets that overlooked on the "A" shaped corner of the street, you'll know you hit the spot.

Honey Lavender Earl Grey Old Fashioned

This Cajun and Creole hot spot didn't always attracted the crowd that they have right now. I think it was the fact it was trying to cash in on the New Orlean's burbon street atmosphere crazy of the Mardi Gras. In my recollection, the frozen daiquiris with the happy hour crowd was a big reason I didn't think much of coming here, but it was a big hit. So never had a good reason to dine here.

Out of the blue, I swore... something changed overnight.

Maybe it was the fact a new chef who  came in two years and decided to overhaul the concept of this southern comfort food restaurant and make it a dining destination. Why not take advantage of the place having the piazza that oozes comfortable chic vibe. It's a gorgeous view from the patio seating (fight for that table spot for reservation should be an Olympic sport). Revamping the cocktail menu, abet the frozen daiquiris get to stay.

Upscale dining on a fried chicken and corn on the cob with some amazing drinks? You'll be amazed  how some of it actually paired up and worked to the right tone. The biscuit that comes with the fried chicken works great with the Old Fashioned I had. Although I think I should have gone with an ice tea at the time.

The menu consists of everything you would have gladly ordered down at the Louisiana like po boys, grits, cornbread, hush puppies, jambalaya, catfish, and gumbo. It does bring a perspective on how a simple comfort food can be re-imagined. Remembered about my post on Taiwanese food (Kato) ?

Thoroughly unexpected as I was trying to imagine a Mardi Gras crowd with the frozen daiquiris, but it's much more of mix of middle aged and younger hipsters. No where near the USC students I was expecting. A classier vibe I guess than a rambunctious chaos of party zone.

My big take on this over is to try their catfish next time. With all the great cocktails and other southern influenced drinks, it's hard not to come back here for dining. Who knows? Maybe I'll be adventurous and get the frozen daiquiris.

It's the Preux and Proper way to have a southern dance.

Preux and Proper
840 S Spring Street
Los Angeles, CA 90014

There's LA Pizza Finally at Superfine Pizza

Is there such a thing as "Los Angeles Pizza"? If other cities gets a distinction, why poor ol' Angelenos down here never gets a special pizza?

Many pizza lovers associated thin fold-able pizza as New York style. If you ever seen pizza stuffed with toppings and cheese in a pan like a shepherd's pie, we automatically assumed it as Chicago's style or Deep Dish, which again associated with that city. Fear not, we might actually have something for the City of Angels.

The menu for their six pizzas are on the right hand side in large display

Superfine Pizza, from the fantastic team that gave us Angelenos some of the finer restaurants in Los Angeles such as Rossoblu and Sotto. Those two places already serves some of the finest Italian cuisine, which dazzles many fine dining crowd here. You can bet pizza will be one as well.

If that's the case, why opened up another one in LA? More importantly, foot steps from their critically acclaimed winner Rossoblu? Oh, did I also mentioned in that Superfine is more of a take out window, than a sitdown restaurant?

Press "Play" to check out the courtyard in front of the place

Several observations off that bat on my few visits. I noticed in that you can ordered a few ways. Either an entire 18 inch pie cut into slices or by the slice which average out to $4 each. If you are in big party or have major hunger, the 18 inch would be better deal. If you want to try one of each or just want to take photos of the entire collection, then be my guest on ordering per slice.

Secondly, it's credit card only. Not saying most dining establishments are looking towards electronic payments over cold, hard cash. Based on what I read, it basically protect the place from carrying cash as they do opened towards late of the night. Not surprisingly, they do get the fallouts from people who just left the bars and cocktail lounges nearby. Pizza would be great to soak things up.

Salami Honey Pizza

To my initial thought, this place has something to offer that may give a distinction of a LA pizza. Initially Superfine named a combination of buckwheat honey and spicy salami as Spicy Honey Pizza. This pizza's two star attraction ingredients on top of provolone and Grana Padano cheese makes it an absurdly mouthwatering pizza. You have to imagine on how the crust is being appreciated. If you love a Neapolitan style dough, you definitely will love this.

I have heard they might integrated other style pizzas. My best hunch was that a thinner crust will be easier and faster to churn out if the idea of fold-able pizza is in play for customer who are looking for something simple. So far, the menu are kept in manageable numbers of items with some sides in their repertoire. There are plenty of sodas selections in stock as well for that quench of thirst.

Several thoughts on opening up a take out joint near there flagship would be the fact that the staff can be interchangeable.. for now. More importantly, I can see them opening something similar to this stand at other venues/food hall. This would be an easy cinch when it catches on.

Here's one down of this Salami Honey pizza for LA. Spicy Honey is the bet for LA pizza. It may not be a square or fold-able, but it is spicy and sweet that we can't forget.

Superfine Pizza

1101 San Pedro Street Unit F
Los Angeles, CA 90015

Let's Go Grub at Cilantro Lime

I rarely do food stall or places to eat in food court.

Press Play to see the restaurant located at

Deep inside, I think my biased has to do with the fact that it's all about quick and easy. Hence, probably never that good in the first place.

Hot Dogs on a stand, yup. Grilled chicken with teriyaki sauce? Simple enough. Chinese food that looks like it is sitting out too long? Check. Sub Sandwiches.. pizza... wings.. and burgers. I'm sure you got the point.

The aforementioned Let's Go Grub Tacos

In a fascinating twist, I was following a blogger who loves all things taco and had a menu item named after him. This unique crunchy taco was called Let's Go Grub Tacos (obviously named after himself) is taken a place at food court of a destination shopping center in the Fashion District area of the downtown area.

Cilantro Lime is a no-nonsense type of Mexican fare that catered to the bustling part of the downtown area where the clientele are of the hustle and bustle. You can tell by this part of the town where a tons of actions take place. I forgot about the wholesale businesses are centered in this part of the town and there were tons of negotiations of prices and merchandise being discussed.

Their famous Carne Asada Fries

With that in mind, you probably think Mexican street food or something where street carts are the norm here. You're not to going to be wrong, but Cilantro Lime is here to elevate that and provided with some fun twist.

Looking around the shopping center where the food courts are located right in the middle of that indoor plaza center, I can see many various type of ethnic cuisines. A few of selections of Pakistani, Vietnamese and other Asian cuisines are in order.

This somewhat surprised me, but I have always known our neighbors to the south have an affinity for this type of grub where some of the influences matches on what they had growing up. Yes, pho and kabob are popular here.

Taquitos

If the street fare can be had anywhere, where does Cilantro Lime stands? If you ever get a good look of their homemade tacos and taquitos, you can already tell they are aiming for the people who are looking for the essential familiar food. What stands out are the quality and taste. Reminds you of the homey down to earth comfort food many enjoy, but get eye pleasing presentation as well.

The Pamboza - the wet Torta

The dish I came all the way to visit for was the Let's Go Grub Tacos. Named after a big named Instagram pal of mine who I followed (as you can tell, Let's Go Grub), where it amassed a delicious taste not just in meat, but in this unique deep fried shell. Oh, the loaded Carne Asada fries and taquitos are bomb as well.

If there is one dish I would highly recommend for people to absolute try is to get the Pamboza. Think of it as a wet torta sandwich. Absolutely amazing when you cut into it and get a good bite into that wet bun. It goes well with the aqua frescas drinks they have in stored.

Many selections of Aqua Frescas (Hibiscus, Lime, Coconut)

Now, if there is one emergence theme about coming here to try a place at a location I rarely ventured out to, was the fact that many of these places are worth trying but sometimes need to pointed out. This restaurant obviously not only catered to the people who worked in the area, but lovers of good Mexican fare as well.

Here's hoping for more retail centers opened up to draw in more foot traffic. I think this fantastic place shouldn't be hidden for long.

Cilantro Lime Restaurant
934 S Los Angeles St Ste 2
Los Angeles, CA 90015

The Eternal Sunshine of Spring

To my little surprise, I don't often visit that many French restaurants in Los Angeles.

Not one bit at all. I actually needed to check on list of cuisines on the right hand side column to verify.

To some degree, I think I attribute to my lack of institution of what constitute as a French cuisine. Often times I think I get confused with provincial dishes or classic comfort food as French dishes. To this day... I still thought French Fries are what the French are known for. Yes, shame on me.

My introduction to Spring was made by an old acquaintance, a French restaurant situated in the bottom floor of the Douglas Building in downtown Los Angeles. A building many in LA considers to be a "Xanadu" for some of the wealthiest back in the olden days.

The old acquaintance and I met up at the bar in front of the dining room. It's quite a cozy parlor room that has a great view of the corner street of 3rd and Spring. To get to the fabulous dining room, you would just need to hit up the hallway like it was a speakeasy. Let me tell you, once you get into the dining room, the center of the room has a breathtaking view of the skylight. Like a tree in the view of  a park!

Click on the play button to view the video

Even though I came in for dinner, I feel like a brunch would be perfect situation especially with the daylight beaming down in the middle of the room.

At the very first occasion, we decided to get the tasting menu to see how the dishes were set up. To my astonishment, I think some of these seasonal dishes were the most beautifully dishes ever presented. So Instagram-able worthy in fact.

Maple Leaf Duck Breast

The dishes were concocted based on the ingredients available for the chef to create with his imaginative presentation that was out of this world. In many instances, I was in awe from dish to dish, all the way to the dessert.

Hamachi Crudo

I think in my first visit, the hamachi crudo and the maple leaf duck breast was the stand out dishes on the tasting menu. This actually got me excited in wanting to go back and tried out their other main courses.

Lamb Sirloin with Couscous

The one dish that people seemed to rave about was the lamb sirloin, which was a fine dish itself. I personally love the desserts that creatively was some of the highlights at this fine establishment.

Beautifully presented, great atmosphere & vibes, and delicious dishes as well. My only beef was that I think they can do better in certain aspect of their services. I know this is not a place to rush people in and out, but I think improvements can be made where attentions to details can be acquired. That will be saved for people writing a Yelp type review, but I do think this is classy elegant restaurant that does strives to be on the top of French restaurant.

I do hope some kinks can be worked out as I do love coming to this restaurant. Especially on how tough LA can be, this restaurant do stands out as one of the best French cuisine restaurant in LA.

Spring
257 Spring St
Los Angeles CA 90012

Fast & Fiery Furious at Olio Wood Fired Pizzeria

Funniest part is that I rarely do food court dining.

I wish I can tell you why or why not in wanting to something of this sort. I feel like in a bad sense of deja vu of having a cafeteria food back in my younger days in school. Remembered all those stale pizzas, sloopy joes, or tater tots that barely passed as edible gourmet chow? Yup, the food they feed to youth those days are worse than rations you give to the military. At least the military can use the excuse of there is no working stove in the front line. 

Want to know something so funny? Apparently now, some of the new or old exciting eatery can be found in food hall. Food court dining are making a huge splash.

One of my favorite pizza place can be found in a downtown food stall / Farmer's market called Grand Central Market. It is sort of an exciting time for this venue of a wide open space where they now houses some of the quick eateries of different cuisines, desserts, coffee shops, and breweries.

In the past, all you get a run me down Chinese food or Mexican food as they were catered to the surrounding employees that worked in the office buildings of downtown. Hustle and Bustle as how they do when they need bites on the run as most can walk in and out of the joint within their hour lunch break.

What set this food court apart was having this gorgeous of a square space that houses one of the best personal pizza you'll get. Olio's, a casual and somewhat of a fast, made to order pizza operation. This is the 2nd installment after the popular Santa Barbara eatery. Even though this is not intended to be a food stall, it worked out to be a popular dining destination for many diners of all ages.

Margarherita Plus

Personal Pizza can be had in one size with four slices cut immaculately into equal triangle shape size. Because of the fast pace action here, customization are only available on what the menu will be offered. This will not be like your local made to order pizza operations (ie Pizza Rev, Mod Pizza, Blaze Pizza, etc etc).

Wild Mushroom & Speck

What they do offered are some of the best wood fired pizza you'll get. Especially in a closed indoor proximity such as Grand Central Market. 

This is the type of food court dining most people crave for these days. It's weird to see a farmer's market that predominately sells farmed produces got changed into a fall hall in matter of years. Baked goods are still sold in some space and a few candies shops are left.

Spicy Sausage & Peppers

I guess if this fast paced, made to order pizzeria can be part of the new trend in dining, then I'm all for it. In a way, craving for these terrific pizzas are worth the long search of parking in this surrounding area. That's the only drawback of going to Grand Central Market these days in burgeoning downtown.

One more notch on my food stand category!

Olio Wood Fired Pizzeria
(Inside of Grand Central Market)
317 S. Broadway
Los Angeles, CA 90013

Best of the Best of 2017 - Bestia

I guess it's so cliche to do an end of the year list of best bites or best places you have gone to. Ever since so many of the end of the year lists are coming out with their own best places to visit, I was tempted to do one myself. Alas, it's just not meant to be.

The criteria I was thinking of was do one I have visited this year, regardless if it was opened this year or in the past year. Regardless of type of cuisine as well. More importantly, which place would be the one I can go back without a hesitation of a 2nd thought?

There was only one.

Bestia, considered by many as the standard bearer of Italian restaurant that is being measured upon for both its excellence in taste, but more importantly how it is compared for its buzz and energy that is captured on the place by its patrons. It's easy to judge by the taste and the decor, but it's harder to capture the feel and the liveliness of the places when people wanted to enjoy the night out.

Roasted Marrow Bone - spinach gnocchetti. crispy breadcrumbs. aged balsamic

People tend to go for the most newest and most decorative ambiance, but for a place that has been considered the highest revenue generated restaurant in Los Angeles, this place has all the menu of what people expect for Italian cuisine.

If you must order anything, you must go for their pasta dishes as the dish that are must order. All of the pastas are handmade at the restaurant with the ingredients you can only find at true authentic Italian locales. Under duress, I would chose the lamb ragu of Pici al Sugo di Agnello as my choice of pasta dishes.

Pici al Sugo di Agnello - Lamb ragu with Saffron and Capra Sarda

32oz Bone-in Dry Aged Prime Ribeye

Pizza - Burrata, Mozzarella, chili flakes, fresh oregano, and paprik

Burrata Pizza - (san marzano tomatoes, castelvetrano olives, oregano, fermented chilies)

The Pizza itself was the made of the quality of the highest order. You can tell that was the dishes we wanted to try the most in a city that is full of many pizza options. I must say this was on top of any pizza lover's wish list. Try the clam pizza, the acidity of the burrata with clam was just right.

Coffee & Donuts - Spiced Chestnut Zipole, Whipped Cream, and Coffee Ice Cream

If there's a dessert that is must try is their ever popular donuts that are made at the restaurant with ice cream and whip cream. It made look ordinary, but I assured it's not. Absolutely a try if you must.

Overall I do think it's a place I have no hesitation in going as you can see by the many dishes I have able to taste, but I do want to stress one thing about this place. You do need a reservation for dinner or expect the long wait for any possible chance of cancellations by others.

If you are waiting for the almost impossible cancellations made by others, you are going to waste at least a hour or two. So be smart and booked a ressie in .... a month in advance.

Bestia
2121 E 7th Place
Los Angeles, CA 90021

Friday Night Out at Rossoblu

Let's get some suggestions on where to go on a Friday night! Luckily for us Angelenos, there are plenty of options, but it's just hard to pick one that stands out.

A chic place opened up on industrial section of downtown have come on strong lately in that it caught the buzz of many critics and was on so many blog's to go list for 2017. To be quite honest, I was skeptical for only one fact.... it's in the boon dock portion of the town. OK, it's been gentrified where that part of the town are now home to many top restaurants, but it still kept me alarmed.

Going in, the decor was actually nicely done on the modern side of upscale power luncheon. In fact, the energy in this room was abuzz with allure of important people socializing and catching up on the ongoing of today's events. More so than taking a date on a romantic evening. It can be done, but this is more of settlers going in to shoot the breeze than dress to impress kinda night.

The restaurant itself serves a modern Italian fare with recipes of traditional ingredients from local farm to table ingredients. I just have to check out the famous Nonna’s Tagliatelle Al Ragu Bolognese (Beef, Pork, Not Too Much Tomato Sauce).

This did not disappoint in one bit. I was pleasant surprised by the fresh hand made pasta. I was told it better be good because this is what it is known for. I can also guess that probably got more ordered than any other dish at any given night. The dish may look ordinary, but I assure you it's not. It pops with so much flavor, you will keep putting these in your mouth without any worries in the world.

Nonna’s Tagliatelle Al Ragu Bolognese - Beef, Pork, Not Too Much Tomato Sauce

The other sure fire hit among the diners seemed to be hand made meat ball. The sauce and the bread that came out with it seemed to be very unassuming as well, but let me tell you in that nothing was simple or ordinary. There were too fabulous for words. If you can make something that looks easy to make, but wound up psyching people out, you're doing a fine job.

Braised Pork Meatballs - Tomato, Grilled Polenta, Bread

I also think dessert and drinks were a winner here as well. Their cocktail program seemed to be inspirational and with subtle touch of creativity on their side.

Molto Forte

Hey Mambo

Overall, I believe this place is right up there with Bestia and Officine Brera as my go to place for an exciting meal on a Friday night. The buzz and energy of people watching is too much to pass up. I definitely would come here for a drink in the bar on any given night as well. You will turn down a chance to come here if any of your friend suggest it.

Rossoblu
1124 San Julian St.
Los Angeles, CA 90015

Tea Master Matcha Cafe & Green Tea Shop

There were things to contemplate now that I am somewhat back.

First, I looked over some of my old...very old...posts I had written years ago. I do admit some were super outdated. For an odder reason, I even have posts "draft" of old places I was going to publish and never did. Now I definitely won't publish those. C'mon 7 years later and majority of those places are dishes were cease to exist.

I even now asked if it is worth putting posts as a musing, straight on review like I did before, or go totally in different format? It's a toughie for me and I still can't shake the rust I had completely.

To be quite fair, I'm a lone wolf now with maybe a few colleagues I kept in touch with. Majority of them venture off to something else altogether. They all seemed to disappear around the same time as I do. Which was quite a bummer for me. Not depressing, but more to a fact of "oh well".

Coming here to this dessert/coffee/tea joint, a very minimal kind of store that probably can probably swapped to a donut shop in a quick hurry if things were going down. The Tea Master as a name gave an indication that they are a tea shop.

Yeah...... good luck with that. 

Tea shops selling tea leafs are going to get really tough as it is, but I realized that that's not what kept this shop going. It's the soft serve matcha ice cream (dairy flavor). With a topping of matcha powder and hint of green tea flavor, this was an online sensation among people looking to share photos. They don't show the latte (no latte art to show off), definitely won't show off any tea (no fancy tea cups to show off), and no pastries to speak off.

No, their attraction is just one simple thing. This matcha soft serve comes only in one size and one flavor. It's a take it or leave it kinda deal and was a sensational phenomenon that gets volume of small foot traffic sporadically throughout the day.

Hence that's why I was thinking of doing something similar to what Tea Master is doing. Going small until you can really grow or expand. If a donut shop type store can make it in an expensive lease plaza in little tokyo with just one minor dessert, it gives me a bit an array of upbeat feel for the day.

Cheers. May the little guy grow!

Match Soft Serve - $3.75

Tea Master Matcha Cafe & Green Tea Shop

450 2nd St

Los Angeles, CA 90012