California Road Trip: LA

Last summer, I graduated with a Master’s degree and took a road trip down through California with two of my best friends and my partner. I grew up in Northern California (Sacramento to be precise) and often miss it. There’s just a different culture and vibe than up north in Oregon. I’m kicking off my travel section with some reflections on the food we ate last summer. To give a timeline, we started in Portland and drove in one day down to Sacramento where we stayed with my parents. After a few days of Sacramento heat, we decided to take day trips to the Bay Area. We then drove down to Santa Cruz for a few days where my boyfriend stayed with our dogs. My friends and I continued south to LA and ended our trip in San Diego with one of my friend’s families. The whole trip was a whirlwind and a blast. We ate so much incredible food and even cooked some incredible food. In no particular order, I’m kicking off my reminiscing with Los Angeles.

Almost as soon as we arrived in LA, we went to Yuchun Restaurant at the recommendation of a friend (and incredible influencer, check her out on instagram []). Yuchun specializes in naengmyeon, Korea cold noodle soup. This was maybe the best naengmyeon I’d had outside of South Korea. My time is South Korea will be a story for another time. It was so refreshing and spicy. There were non-spicy options as well, but I personally love to sweat it out a bit on a hot day. The banchan was delicious and simple.

The original headshot of one of my culinary icons from the Academy Museum.

We hit up the Academy Museum and then were off to dinner. One thing to know about my friends and I- we love food! When we travel, we travel for the food. Most of my travel budget (beyond flight, gas, or accommodations) goes to trying food I haven’t had before. We had to go to Sun Nong Dan (allegedly BTS’ favorite restaurant in LA. They are known for their flambé galbi jjim, juicy, flavorful ribs covered in cheese and set on fire. Luckily we all travel with Lactaid to mitigate the cheese. As we waited for our food, we split a bottle of soju, found a Lactaid wrapper on the floor, and knew we belonged. The banchan was very tasty, though I think I enjoyed the banchan at Yuchun more. Nevertheless, the fireshow was pretty incredible and the flavor really packed a punch. If you’re looking for a hearty, meaty, filling, and delicious meal (and you can either digest lactose or have a Lactaid stash), this is your spot!

The next day, we woke up bright and early to hike Runyon Canyon and try to spot celebrities. We did not see any celebs, but did get some great views, watched people fly up the trail past us, and worked up an appetite. I think by the time we made it to the top we were all a little hangry. We decided we HAD to have arepas and journeyed to this strange industrial area to find the top arepas spot on Google Maps. After driving into a warehouse, talking to a confused security man, and finally finding a super cute food cart fair, we ended up at Sus Arepas. The arepas were amazing- spicy and fresh and paired perfectly with a glass bottle of Coke. The tostones (fried plantains) were the real highlight for me though. I love the savory saltiness. We snagged some ice cream and wandered around a bit before we were so exhausted we had to head back to take a nap.

Once we were feeling refreshed, we headed back out for dinner. We stoped for a spot of coffee at Dinosaur Coffee, a theme my dad would love, and made our way over to Bacari Silverlake. On our walk around, we stopped by this super cute vintage, sidewalk sale and I got a super fun Thai dog shirt.

We arrived at Bacari and were seated on the patio. The space was gorgeous and patio seemed to be built around an old tree. I’ll be honest, this place is not cheap and we went a little too hard, but the food was incredible! We started with the watermelon margaritas. It was a hot day and the margaritas were so refreshing. When I say we went hard, we went hard! We started with the ceviche. It was good, but nothing crazy. It was refreshing and the chips were excellent. They seemed house-made. Then came the brussel sprouts and glazed pork belly. The brussel sprouts were delicious with creme fraiche and red beets. They were cooked perfectly and the flavors were so balanced. The pork belly was next level. The meat was so tender and delicate and the flavors were the perfect balance of sweet and savory. Next up was the ricotta and beetroot gnocchi in chèvre fondue and topped with chimichurri. This dish also hit the mark. The gnocchi were so tender and the inclusion of the beets inspired my beet risotto.

One of my favorite dishes came next— charred snow peas topped with fried shallots over beet creme fraiche. This is a dish that I’ve recreated since and I adore it. The charred peas are sweet and bright paired with the earthy beet creme fraiche and the crispy shallots. It was truly a masterpiece. I feel like the highest compliment for a dish is to inspire the eater and this dish was inspiring! After we drooled over the peas, we had the chipotle wings and finally stuffed ourselves with the asian pear and brie pizza. The wings were just okay in my eyes, but I’m not the biggest wing or chipotle person. The texture was wonderful and they were very juicy. The pizza was excellent, though we were definitely struggling through at that point.

When the check came, we gasped. It ended up being more than $50 per person. It was pretty pricey, but was worth it. We spent some time wandering around Erewhon in Silver Lake, every foodie’s dream ostensibly. There were some fun options, but it wasn’t too different or too much fancier than New Seasons and couldn’t compare to Providore Fine Foods in Portland.

We made our way over to Griffith Observatory for sunset and to have our Lalaland moment. Of course it was jam packed, but the building and the views were gorgeous. As the sun set, we saw there was a line up to view the star, Arcturus, through the telescope. We waited for a little over an hour and the star was a bit underwhelming, but we did see it. Though the star itself wasn’t mind blowing, the excitement of the Observatory staff made up for it. They were so excited to share their passion for stargazing and it was lovely to have such a positive interaction. After the observatory, we were off to bed for our final, jam-packed day in LA.

Our final day in LA— parting is such bittersweet sorrow! We started the day at Cafe de Leche, which was near an instagram famous pottery studio that one of my friends loved. A friend of my other friend met us there. They were so wonderful and agreed to meet up with us later in the day for a mini trip to Malibu.

We met up with one of my friends from college for lunch at Chichen Itza, a Mexican spot that serves Yucatecan cuisine. It was located in this super fun, shared food space. The food was delicious. At my friend’s recommendation, I got the cochinita pibil and a tamal. The cochinita pibil was delicious. The marinated pork was so tender and the amount of spice was perfect. It had a bit of a kick, but was not overwhelming. I love anything pickled, so the picked onions were a perfect touch. The tamal was alos delicious. I think my main recommendation would be to get there early. They were already sold out of some of their tamales. I had the tamal colado. It was a pretty classic banana leaf tamal, but hit the spot.

After lunch, we met back up with my friend’s friend and hit the road. We cranked some country music and drove down to Topenga first. We stopped by the cutest cafe, Cafe on 27. I had a little fruit tart and a mint lemonade. We hung out on the outdoor balcony that truly feels like you are sitting in a treehouse. After our refreshing snacks we were back on the road to Malibu. The car was warm, George Strait was singing Amarillo By Morning on the speaker, and the sun was shining when we got to the beach. None of us were really dress for or prepared for the beach, so we wandered around a bit before returning to the car. We rode back just in time to change.

One friend was going to see The Chicks, so my other friend and I met up with our Topenga/Malibu friend for a quick bite. We decided to do karaoke while our friend was at the concert. We met up at our friend’s apartment in North Hollywood and walked to a karaoke bar they liked. When we got there, we could not tell if the bar was open and honestly couldn’t tell what door would be the entrance. There was a vague sign for a scavenger hunt, so we momentarily thought it might be one of those bars where you have to solve a puzzle to get in. We eventually figured out that this was not the case and the bar was just closed, so we wandered around for a bit. We stopped by one bar our friend had not been to, but thought might have karaoke. We peeked inside, saw porn playing from a projector, and promptly turned around and left. We ended up at this bar called the Good Nite.

This place was like a dream. When we first walked in, we were met by a very high energy adult softball team. It was pretty empty, but they were chatty, friendly, and sang a few tunes. We found some seats and settled in for some great karaoke. There were two guys by the bar in a black and white cowboy hat. They seemed very stoic, but eventually the man in the black cowboy hat went up to sing and surprised his friend with a duet of Dragging the Line. The man in the white hat was very tall and we were surprised that he sang the baritone part perfectly. I love karaoke, so you know I had to sign up. I sang What Hurts the Most by Rascal Flatts, a favorite from middle school and my go-to karaoke song for this trip. I think it went over well. Some guy came through offering samples of fried catfish and other goodies that he was selling from a food truck across the street. The fried catfish wasn’t bad. We knew it was about time to go when one person requested an EDM song from Youtube and the KJ came out and sang a theater version of I Want You To Want Me by Cheap Trick. We stepped out of the alternate dimension that was The Good Nite and back into LA reality. Our friend went home and we headed to a late night taco truck to catch up with our friend who went to the show. She had a great time and we had some great tacos. It was the perfect end to a truly out-of-this-world night.

The next morning we woke up and stopped by Pro 8mm for some film for a Super 8 camera one of my friends was borrowing and Cafe 1802 for some coffee and a snack. Then we were on the road to San Diego. Stay tuned for a recap on that trip and for a rundown of what we ate!