It’s easy to dismiss expensive gourmet food as a needless luxury, and in some ways, that’s true. We don’t need a fine dining experience to sustain our bodily functions, and we certainly don’t need to spend a lot of money to get really tasty food! Still, I believe there’s value in meals that are so painstakingly and artfully prepared that we have no choice but to be deeply thoughtful about each bite.
Read MoreManhattan Beach Post: Everyone's Table
Manhattan Beach Post is as American as apple pie. Or bibimbap. Or chimichangas. Or har gow. Wait, they don’t actually have the apple pie? Didn’t Google Maps say this is an American restaurant? What even is an American restaurant?
Read MoreBay Cities Italian Deli: Home of the Godmother
Bay Cities opened in 1925 in Santa Monica and has been serving authentic Italian deli fare ever since then. It wasn’t always a full grocery store like it is now, and you can tell that the deli recipes are time-honored traditions.
Read MoreBahay Kainan: Bless This Mess
Lumpia is a Southeast-Asian snack similar to a spring roll. Lumpiang Shanghai is the simplest form made of ground pork, minced onion and carrots, spices, and a binding of beaten egg. Lumpia is amazing. When I learned that there was a place that sells lumpia burgers, I had to try one.
Read MoreThe Window: A $4 Cheeseburger in Venice
It’s hard to find a good $4 burger in most of LA — let alone in Venice. In-N-Out is probably the best value in the under-$5 price range, but it’s still a fast food burger. Not to say that In-N-Out is bad, but it lacks the heartiness and grandeur of a full-on, cow-to-bun sandwich. The Window gives you that something special, and it does it for about the same price as a Double-Double.
Read MoreRutt's Hawaiian Cafe: As American as Spam Musubi
I recently wrote about Pacific Diner, one of my favorite diners in the area. It’s the quintessential American restaurant where hard-working locals hunker down at the worn counter to chew the fat — both literally and figuratively. But there’s another version of the American restaurant that I’ve only recently discovered. It’s similar to a diner; anyone is welcome and everything is affordable and comforting. The difference is in where the food itself originates.
Read MoreTsujita Annex: Cozy Tsukemen
I love the comfort of a good bowl of ramen on a cold night, and Sawtelle has an incredible number of options. One of the standouts is Tsujita — an entry in most “Best Ramen in LA” lists. They are so popular, in fact, that they are now running four different restaurants in the heart of Sawtelle.
Read MoreTop Round Roast Beef: A Reassessment of Cheese Wizz
Top Round is an upscale, old-school roast beef joint. I love this place. It has an awesome retro vibe, and it’s so fun to go here — especially on a hot summer day. It isn’t all just novelty though; this roast beef is the jam.
Read MoreJitlada: My Tongue Is Thai'd
Chinese food in America has a reputation for being a wildly different and lesser version than that found in China itself, and to an extent, that’s true. However, I feel Thai food has it even worse. Where Chinese food is Americanized with stronger flavors and more familiar textures that can still result in a good meal, Thai food is only a ghost of itself. The dishes are the same, but they are blander and less colorful. I didn’t realize this until I ate at Jitlada.
Read MoreHumble Potato: I'll Take Another Obaasan to Go
Humble Potato takes a classic diner menu and adds several twists. It feels very much like a fusion restaurant, but as their name implies, the changes don’t completely transform the meal. Instead, every ingredient only enhances the essence of its base.
Read MoreMax's: A Reminder of Home
Am I Filipino? No. Have I even been to the Philippines? Nuh-uh. Did I have a lot of Filipino food growing up? Definitely not. Then how can Max’s, a Filipino restaurant, make me feel so at home? It’s hard to put a finger on… So I’ll just start with the food.
Read MoreBitterballen in the Netherlands
Bitterballen! I came across these meatballs in my research for a trip to Amsterdam, and I knew I had to try them. Now these are not traditional meatballs that we're familiar with in the States; these are balls of beef roux that have been breaded and fried. SIGN ME UP.
Read MoreTaco Bell Naked Crispy Chicken Taco Review
What is it? Officially, it’s the Naked Crispy Chicken Taco. Think of it as Taco Bell’s version of the KFC Double Down. You got a normal taco inside (lettuce, tomato, cheese) with a crispy chicken shell on the outside. It also has an avocado ranch sauce. Let’s check it out!
Read MoreHomemade Spaghetti for Christmas
Being from an Italian family, I've enjoyed a number of benefits. Chief among them is the fantastic food. Gnocchi, lasagna, cookies, and all other manner of carb-saturated goodies are taken for granted at any family gathering, and the star of the show for me is my grandma's homemade spaghetti. It's dense without being heavy, is perfectly textured, and has a subtle, glorious flavor that is difficult to describe but which I can guarantee cannot be found in a 1-pound box of noodles from the grocery store.
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