L.A. Favorites

October 4, 2004

Now that I've left L.A., I can be nostalgic about it. Here are my top spots.

Restaurants:
- Cafe Stella: Recipe for a perfect night: Sit at the bar and split a bottle and the charcuterie plate with your friend.
- Pho Cafe: It's on Sunset in Silver Lake next to the Escrow place. No sign. 2148. Get the Bahn Xeo.
- Gingergrass: Another Vietnamese place. Yummy pork sandwich, though it can be spicy. Grab a bottle of wine across the street beforehand.
- Ruen Pair Thai: Order the coconut chicken soup, but don't eat the lemongrass, bay leaves or chilis. This is the best version of this soup I've ever had.
- Pattaya Thai: Eat the red curry and try to ignore the warbly karaoke.
- Sa Rit Gol: Best sides dishes at any Korean restaurant in L.A. The decor is rustic Korean, like what you'd find if you happened upon a place to eat while hiking in the mountains of Korea one day.
- Kang Nam: A more modern Korean experience with a good dumpling soup and a yummy beef soup (kalbi tang?). The garden out back is nice.
- BCD Tofu: Best at 3 a.m.
- Cafe 101: Such a better alternative to Fred 62.
- Inaka: The only really good health food joint in L.A. Real Food Daily is inedible.
- Luna Park: Festive SF joint. The caramel apple dessert is the best invention ever, and I like the plastic monkeys that come with your drink.
- Cafe Noura: Cheap, delicious Mediterranean food. Perfect for a lunch out back in the garden with the bougainvillea.
- Koi: Fancy sushi. I love their tuna with jalapenos on seared rice. I could eat that every day. Celeb sightings: Jennifer Garner and Michael Vartan, Mary-Kate Olsen and Gael Garcia Bernal.
- Belvedere at Peninsula Hotel: Beverly Hills. Yes, it's expensive, but this chef is famous for a reason. Get the mac 'n' cheese.
- Javan: Yummy, slightly upscale Iranian in Westwood. Only went here once, but the appetizers were amazing and they entertained us immensely with the 80s music they played on the white grand piano. Decent wine list.
- Guelaguetza: Oaxacan south of the 10 on the West side somewhere. Again, only went here once, but if it had been closer, I would have tried every mole.
- Asahi Ramen: On Sawtelle. Never had a bad dish here.
- Shabu Shabu: On Sawtelle, east side of street. Get the seafood to share. It's great when you eat with someone who will respect your slow eating habits and not eat all your food while you're still munching.
- Corn Maiden Tamales: On the east wing of the Sunday morning Hollywood Farmer's Market. The best is the goat cheese tamale. And just $2.75!
- Pita chips: The west arm of the Sunday morning Hollywood Farmer's Market. Greasy and crispy at the same time. So addictive I would never let myself buy a bag.

Bars and Clubs:
- Golden Gopher: The people are good (read: not all Hollywood).
- Smog Cutter: Good, drunken karaoke, Kiefer Sutherland sightings, really cheap alcohol and these Asian waitresses that hilariously don't feel any qualms about placing their hands on another woman's hips to move her aside.
- Chateau Marmont: This is where to go when you feel like doing nothing but sitting and enjoying the breeze on a weekend afternoon at 3 p.m. Split a bottle with a friend and order the fried calamari. I've seen Natalie Portman, Leonardo DiCaprio, Claire Forlani, Jake Gyllenhaal and Kirsten Dunst (post-breakup) here.
- The Well: Well laid-out bar, though too high on the wannabe Hollywood factor.
- HMS Bounty: Only went here once, but I liked the people.
- Elixir: Technically not a bar, but it is a place where you imbibe - the main differences being that your drink has ginseng in it and you're surrounded by bamboo. A different sort of high. Plus, they have highly effective retail therapy.
- Karma Cafe: Okay, might as well add this if I put a teahouse in this category. The drinks aren't great, but the couches are comfy and you can watch the cowboy with the Paris Hilton Tinkerbell lookalike oversized rat cutting people's hair outside.
- Deep at 1650 Schrader: House music on Sunday nights. Don't park on Hollywood if you stay till 2 a.m.
- King King: Everyone dances on Saturday nights.

Shops:
- Aunt Vi's Garden: Across from the Urth Cafe. So what if it's New Age? Look at all the pretty colors and smell the yummy smells.
- Happy Six: In a strip mall on the west side of the street on Sawtelle. A place that sells T-shirts that so innocently discuss bunny sex is my kind of place.
- Melrose in general: I didn't go here often, mostly because I don't shop too much, but they have some great shops, like for funky shoes and teensy tops.
- Patty Faye: In Silver Lake. Obscenely overpriced unless they have a sale. Then it's just overpriced. But I bought a dress that I love here.
- Used bookstore: Don't know the name of it, but it's next door to Lulu's on Beverly, west of La Brea. Good selection and the guy is nice.
- Venice Boardwalk: I was very happy with the butterfly henna tattoo I got here. But you have to shop around first and haggle. Watch out for the creepy rollerblader with the electric guitar.

For the Benefit of the Body:
- Pacific Palisades Trail in Topanga State Park: You see trees, you see red clay, you see the ocean, then you walk back and see them in reverse.
- Vermont Canyon in Griffith Park: On a clear day, a great view of downtown.
- Busch Road trail in Malibu: I like this trail for a weird reason: in the spring it reminds me of England. Not sure why -- yellow flowers?
- Rollerblading on the beach path in Venice and Santa Monica: Or walking, or whatever.
- Center for Yoga: Home is where the yoga center is. Take Peter's, Lucy's, Colleen's, Jeanne's and Whitney's classes.
- Liberation Yoga: Lovable yogis. Take Christine's, Michelle's, Maurice's and Trampas's classes.
- Fumbling Towards Ecstasy: Let out all your rhythmic angst in a sun-filled, dancer-filled room on Sunday morning.
- Glen Ivy Hot Springs: Water all day long. I love, love, love, love, loooove this place. Worth the drive, I swear.
- Devil's Punchbowl: This is way out near the Mojave, but so worth it. The towns Pearblossom and Little Rock are so cute, and Little Rock has the world's best pupusa place. Also, lots of good fruit -- to buy or pick.

Have I forgotten anything? Perhaps. Honorable Mentions go to Table 8 (salt encrusted steak for two), 4100, the Short Stop, Nacional (don't order a mojito), Little Door, Good Luck Bar, Marouch (get the mezze platter), Siete Mares, Eastside Deli and Italian Market, Zip Fusion (sit in the garden and eat the spicy tuna salad, the BSCR and the Whisey and Soda Back roll), Norman's (corn chowder), Paru's, Il Capriccio (black pasta), Cafe Figaro, Vine, Sokongdong Tofu, Little Tokyo, Sunnin Lebanese Cafe, Matador Beach, The Standard and its tippable chairs, that Korean bar that feels like Seoul with the soju drinks on 6th west of Vermont somewhere and Mrs. Lin.

Okay, I have to just get it on the record. There are some places I don't like in L.A.: Third Street Promenade, Real Food Daily, Star Shoes, Beauty Bar, Palms Thai, Toi, Cirxa and the Sunset Strip (except for Marmont).

Now, did I miss anything? Let me know your thoughts.

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