My dad was here this weekend, which means there are many restaurant reviews to come on Left Coast Contessa. It also means tourist shots of LA.
Hiking in Griffith Park:
The Canals in Venice:
And of course, the beach!
anddddd sSan Vicente for almost no reason…
Ok, so potato pancakes are not part of my commitment to health. However, last night I got a job offer from a well respected public interest organization in Los Angeles. I figured a celebration was in order. My friends and I went to Jerry’s Deli in Westwood Village.
I had already had pound cake with lemon curd so instead of a milk shake, I got potato pancakes. It actually worked out because I had only had a small serving of soup before my driving lesson and a small portion of soup can hardly be described as dinner. Not that fried potatoes are packed with nutrients… In any case, the potato pancakes was good (my total guilty pleasure) and I am so relieved that I have something for this summer!
Hello world!
So tonight is driving lesson #2. This is a good thing. However, this also means that I will lose at least 2 hours of my precious work time this evening. That fact means that my already busy day is becoming busier. I’m a big fan of taking mini breaks during my day but that was just not really happening today. I had class, worked on my forthcoming graded memo, attended a volunteer meeting for the UCLA Public Interest Auction, and sat at a table for an hour selling tickets. In typical Katherine fashion I just signed up for a tabling slot without consulting my class schedule so my hour of tabling interfered with Civil Procedure. I ended up listening to the class on tape recorder and getting notes instead of going late. Oddly it feels less stressful for me to know that I can make the class up rather than going in late, getting stared at by my classmates and seeming like I have been blowing the class off.
So in any case, I ended up with a found hour in my day. As you all know the life of a law student can be pretty stressful (the never ending wait to hear back from places I’ve interviewed with, the emails packed with innuendos that they’ll hire me, the uncertainty of it all) so I decided that I should get out of the law building and take a walk. I was also craving something sweet. My feet led me to a nice sunny area with tables and chairs… AND FOOD TRUCKS!
Our good friends at the GastroBus were there today with a perfect dessert to cure a sweet craving, pound cake with lemon curd.
It hit the spot! The cake was light, but not too light, and delicious. The lemon and raspberry curd gave a subtle sweetness to the cake without being overwhelming. I also got to sit in the sun and get some reading done while enjoying my cake. With all the craziness going on (ramping up for the end of the semester, the summer job search, and for me, the wait to hear from places I’ve interviewed with) it was nice to just sit in the sun with a little pound cake and lemon curd.
My stress subsided slightly and now I have to trot off to Lawyering Skills and then to my driving lesson. Wish me luck!
Heirloom tomatoes and avocado in February!
I had this delicious salad for dinner with some roasted sweet potatoes!
Today I went on my first driving lesson and it went surprisingly well. Afterwords I treated myself to lunch at Corner Bakery while I did my Con Law reading. I had the tomato mozzarella sandwich with balsamic (of course, my favorite). Did you know you can substitute carrots for the chips with no additional charge? Excellent.
I love that the sandwich had arugula on it. So yummy.
W Hotel – Westwood
http://www.ninethirtyw.com/
…in the form of the Sprinkles Truck!!!
Today is another beautiful day in Southern California. I was enjoying President’s Day with a lazy lunch in Westwood with my civ pro reading. I was walking down Weyburn and I happened upon the Sprinkles truck! At first I thought it was a mirage. I had heard that there was such thing as the Sprinkles truck, but I never expected it to actually show up in my neighborhood. I hightailed it to an ATM and practically ran back, still thinking it was too good to be true.
There were four varieties on the truck. I decided to get one for now and one for a treat later. I got the Black and White cupcake and the Red Velvet cupcake. They come in little boxes, perfect for saving for later!
Anyway, I went on to have my lunch and when I got home I had my first cupcake, the red velvet.
Oh my god, do I love cupcakes. The frosting is perfect. Sugary, fresh, not too much and not too little. The cake is, literally, the moistest cake I have ever had. Yes, this cupcakes cost $4, but you know what? Sometimes it’s worth it and this is one of those times.
I literally may never leave LA. It’s 80 degrees and sunny today and this city has a roving cup cake truck with possibly the best cupcake I’ve ever had. Any city with a roving cup cake truck can’t be wrong. I’m saving the black and white cupcake for later. I can’t wait til later.
Dare I say that Sprinkles is better than Sweet in Boston? It’s a close call…
There is an amazing place on the UCLA campus where food trucks come during the lunch hour. Despite this being “commitment to health” week, I made an exception for this lunch. Gastro bus is a food truck based out of Los Feliz and has fresh food from the farmers market in that eastside neighborhood. They refer to themselves as a “bistro on wheels”. Apologies for the poor photo quality. The iphone really does not compare to my canon.
I ordered sweet potato fries (of course, because they are my favorite!) and the chicken curry sandwich. The sweet potato fires came with tangy honey mustard sauce which was perfect for dipping. The fries were fried as opposed to baked, which is how I normally enjoy my fries. Its been a long time since I’ve had a fry (ok, that’s a lie) but these were perfectly fried and so delicious.
And the sandwich. It was on a dark rye (probably my favorite) and was very good.
Overall, the moral of the story is never to waste money on lunch from Lu Valle. From now on, I will only dine at the food trucks when I forget my brown bag. You can check out Gastro Bus for your self here… http://www.thegastrobus.com/www.thegastrobus.com/home.html
Last night was Thursday, which means going out. Bar Review this week was at Busby’s and I had my favorite cocktail: Dirty Bombay Martini, extra olives. So delicious.
Today I walked to the library in the rain which was wonderful. I love walking in the rain with music and a latte because it reminds me of Boston. When I got home my new fun reading book had arrived, “Game Change: Obama and the Clintons, McCain and Plain, and the Race of a Lifetime”.
I don’t have tons of time or desire to do free reading but I am very excited to read this book.
Last Tuesday was a sad, rainy, dreary day in So Cal. After Con, Prop, and Civ Pro the gang and I decided we needed to go out to eat to lift our moods. We decided to go to Father’s Office.
escaping from Westwood
Father’s Office is a restaurant in Santa Monica that I have heard buzz about since I landed in LA 6 months ago. Allegedly the burgers are better than In & Out and the sweet potato fries are out of this world. Not too far from UCLA, it is located on Montana in the small commercial area teaming with adorable shops and a William Sonoma (a personal favorite).
my beer, which I forgot the name of
The restaurant is basically a bar with tables, no waiters and waitresses. You place your order at the bar and take a number and sit. While this description might sound a little trashy the interior was nicely decorated. Small, but not a hole in the wall. The bar is small though. We were there on a Tuesday at 7 when it was raining and we had to wait about 5 mins for a table. I can hardly imagine what it is like at peek time. You would have to be a shark to snag a table.
There was an extensive beer menu with many imports and microbrews. The bartenders were really knowledgeable about the beers and the flavor pairings. I had a Belgium beer, which I can’t remember the name of, but I can tell you it was light and had notes of citrus.
The menu is pretty small, probably because everyone is ordering the burger. Three of us had the burger and Eric had the beef kabob thing. The burger itself was $12, which I don’t think is too bad for a big gourmet burger. I will say that it was an extra $2.50 for fries and $6.50 for sweet potato fries which was disappointing. I ended up getting regular fries because I didn’t want to pony up the extra $4 for sweet potato fries. The fries came with this amazing aioli sauce which was so much better than ketchup.
looks good... but I want a burger!
Now for the burger. It was possibly the best burger I have ever eaten. It is a good size dried aged beef with caramelized onion, applewood bacon compote, gruyere, matag blue cheese and arugula. Normally i do not like burgers. In fact, I rarely eat them. Generally I only eat in and out but I can tell you, this was HANDS DOWN the best burger I have ever had. The toppings compliment the beef so well it is unbelievable. I can never argue with two types of cheese. The arugula was perfectly warmed as were the onions. The toppings balance so well, you don’t notice one as dominant. This burger was like a perfect harmony and melody. Absolutely going back to Father’s Office.
fin
Left Coast Contessa 