36 Hours in LA, Pt. 1

LA, it’s been too long. You know it’s been too long when you’re willing to drive 12 hours just to spend 1.5 days there. A weekend is way too short, but hey, can’t say I wouldn’t do it again. There’s so much good food in LA. It’s been almost a year since I last visited…and since my last visit, I’ve racked up quite the list of places to try. But you only get so many meals a day, yo. So despite this weekend of literally all food, I’m already planning my next LA food tour. Anyway, we drove down Friday night (after work, aka rush hour, aka bad idea). Traffic wasn’t terrible, but it still took us around 6 hours to get down there. And I already had my first meal planned. ETA: 12:30am.

I’m pretty sure I’ve talked about Tsujita on the blog many times, so I won’t repeat myself. BUT. It’s the best ramen place ever. It’s a different kind of ramen. Well, they have both regular ramen and tsukemen (dipping noodles). They’re definitely more known for their tsukemen, though. And they have, hands-down, the best soft-boiled egg I’ve ever had. Best part about this place? They’re open until 2am. So even though we got to LA super late, our first meal was glorious. They’re cash only so keep that in mind, although they do have an ATM machine in the back (it charges a service fee).

We were all pretty tired from driving down the night before, so we skipped breakfast on Saturday. Definitely regret it now…sigh…there were so many breakfast places on my list too. But first meal of the day was lunch at Sugarfish, so I can’t really complain. Sugarfish is my favorite sushi restaurant (outside of Japan). They have a number of locations in LA–we ended up going to the Pasadena one. I highly recommend their “Trust Me” set meal. You get to try a little bit of everything, and you can order more of the ones you like. The fish at Sugarfish is incredibly fresh. I didn’t realize what “melt-in-your-mouth” sashimi was until I tried Sugarfish. You’ll definitely leave wanting more. That being said, don’t come here on a completely empty stomach. The serving sizes here aren’t that big. Still worth, though.

After an amazing lunch at Sugarfish, we made our way to…Panda Express. Don’t worry, I can explain. So my friend saw a video on FB a while back featuring an orange chicken burrito from Panda Express (they use a scallion pancake instead of a tortilla). The thing is, there are only 4 Panda Express locations that have it. So we decided to go to the one where it all began–the Panda Express Innovation Kitchen in Pasadena. Yep, we planned the Sugarfish location accordingly. Anyway, the burrito definitely looks better than it tastes. I don’t think Asian food was meant to be eaten burrito-style. They literally replace the white box with the scallion pancake wrap. The inside is exactly the same. You pick your base and up to 2 sides and they pack everything in and roll it up. I personally prefer eating Asian food with chopsticks out of a plate/box. But to each their own. It did make for a wonderful picture 🙂

By the time we were done at Panda Express, it was already 2 pm in the afternoon. But dessert! We ended up going all the way back to where Tsujita is (there’s a street called Sawtelle with amazing Asian food/desserts). We stopped at Honeymee for ice cream. And not just any ice cream…pure milk ice cream with honey drizzled all over. It’s quite something. The ice cream is very light and goes incredibly well with the honey. Their menu is growing with a lot of interesting options, but I find mnyself always going back to the “Sweetie” (the classic). After Honeymee, we made our way to Churros Caliente (dessert round 2). Best churros ever. Get the churros largos with guava sauce!! It sounds weird, but the slightly sour taste of the guava goes so well with the hot churros. The texture is perfect and the serving size is just right!! It can definitely be shared by two.

And then…it was dinner. Just kidding. We had about 2 hours to digest before dinner, thankfully! And dinner was of course at my favorite restaurant in the whole world: Lawry’s! I kid you not, I hated beef before Lawry’s. My friend literally had to drag me here the first time. But after one bite of the prime rib here, I was in love. Best prime rib I’ve ever had. The dining experience here is amazing! Everything from the service, to the spinning bowl of salad, to how they carve the meat right in front of your table. Prices are very reasonable for the amount and quality of food that you get. Highly recommend the creamed corn! The prime rib dinner comes with salad, bread pudding, and mashed potatoes. The California Cut is the perfect size for me (~8 oz.), but if you’re feeling extra hungry, they definitely have larger cuts on their menu as well.

By the end of the night, we were all stuffed. Totally worth, though. No regrets. Sunday was only a half-day, so we didn’t eat nearly as much. But we got to check out a pretty cool outdoor food truck event. Stay tuned for part 2! 🙂

XOXO,