How I Ate My Way Through LA - Day 1

I have returned from our latest trip! My cousin Joel got married down in Southern California this weekend, so my husband and I took this opportunity to take a little tour of the area like we had never seen it before. We planned the little time we had around what I love best: food. Here are all of the sides a city I came to know through its cuisine.

Day 1: We have lunch at Clementine's, an adorable little cafe suggested to me by my friend Rachel. It's the kind of place where the menu is written in chalk and the upscale clientele isn't too intimidating, despite its location just minutes from the gates of Bel Air. Paul, ever the carnivore, ordered the grilled cheese with bacon and chili; I went for the grilled eggplant and tomato confit with goat cheese. Delish!



The Battle of the Cupcakes: Next, we hit our first iconic stop at Sprinkles. Prepared to wait an hour if needs be, we were relieved to obtain our 4-cupcakes sampler in under 15 minutes. We tried the coconut, red velvet, lemon, and dark chocolate marshmallow varieties. (By the way, did you know that they only prepare a handful of what's on their menu each day? It took us several tries at ordering to catch onto that. They put a little dot on the menu next to the cupcakes that are being freshly made that day.)

We compared the cupcakes at Sprinkles to those of the competition down the street at Crumbs, ordering a Key Lime cupcake there as well. Our conclusion? Crumbs is all about appearance, but were a bit stale. Sprinkles was the clear winner when it came to a quality, buttery taste and for freshness. However, the best cupcakes we have ever tried are still nearer to home in San Francisco. Kara's Cupcakes (located across from Ghirardelli's) are still the best we have ever had, hand's down. While I'm giving out cupcake advice, may I suggest that eating more than, say, two gourmet cupcakes on any one day is not a great idea. Thank goodness we had something light planned for dinner...


Celebrity Sighting: Finally, we conclude our day with dinner at Real Fresh Daily, a vegan restaurant. I tried tempeh for the first time (that's fermented bean curd) with my Asian stir fry. It was odd. Paul ordered the Mexican salad, pictured below, and really liked it. Like I said, this comes from a die-hard carnivore, so that really is significant.

Randomly, we ate our meal next to minor celebrity Mike White (aka Ned Schneibly from School of Rock). He was eating dinner there with an incredibly obnoxious blond companion, who kept debating whether or not to go to New Orleans with him and their friends this summer. As it turns out, IMDB reports that he is, in fact, a vegan. And Paul swears that Kevin Bacon was there too, but I doubt that one. The famous actor appeared to be sitting with two twenty-something thug-like young people. I simply cannot believe that Mr. Bacon would keep such company..... Or would he? Opinions? Conspiracy theories?


To be continued...