Los Angeles, I’m so back!
Well, it was just for 10 days, but I felt so back nonetheless. Back to my old stomping grounds, I felt so thankful that I was able to come to town to celebrate some of my best friends’ graduations and catch up with some of my pals who I’ve been away from for almost a year. While I relived many old memories, this trip was also about making quite a few new ones, many of which had food involved.
In (mostly) chronological order, here’s almost every meal I had in LA.
The Original Farmers Market became a tradition between me and my friends, Amor and Maria, when we were in the process of getting our sashes embroidered at Lana’s Embroidery on Fairfax, not too far from The Grove. Unlike most farmers markets, TOFM is open daily and offers a rotation of mostly permanent vendors who offer farmers market products and delectable dishes.
This May, we revisited to pick up Amor’s sash for one last time and hit TOFM with our friend Tiffany. We got our favorite pickle flight from Kaylin and Kaylin Pickles – I don’t meet many pickle lovers, and neither Tiffany nor Amor were big fans either, but this flight is such a fun little treat despite one’s preferences towards pickles. For $3, you can choose 6 different pickles to sample, and that money can go towards a bigger purchase if you choose to buy a little (or big tub). Shoutout to the honey mustard pickles, they’re phenomenal, and I wish I could’ve brought them back to Florida with me!
Amor and I also love Noodle Art for their handmade noodle dishes and beef fried rice. We also got these mini bottles of juice from one of the fruit vendors – perfect to quench our thirst on this typical sunny day.
We weren’t there at happy hour this time, but Bob’s Doughnuts runs a happy hour deal after 8 pm every night (except Sundays, in which the happy hour starts at 6) that will run you $1 per doughnut if you buy at least 6, and the doughnuts are FANTASTIC.
I LOVE HEYTEA. It used to be a China-exclusive chain, but it is rapidly expanding worldwide, and I am so happy to see it. HEYTEA finally opened a location by USC, and I happened to be there opening weekend. In typical HEYTEA fashion, there’s a BOGO during opening weekend, in which I went two days in a row. Their Triple Matcha Supreme and Coconut Mango Boom (or Blue, if you want a blue spirulina touch at no additional charge) kept me cool and hydrated on far too many days of this trip, but I justified all the HEYTEAs I had because there aren’t any in Florida yet.
Out of all the foods I miss from LA, tacos are easily at the top. You cannot beat the prices and quality of tacos, burritos, mulitas, and other dishes from the many stands across the city. I wince every time I pay $5 a taco at Taco Tuesday in Florida, because the ones in LA are half that price (and oftentimes, twice as good). I ran by this taco stand near the intersection of Trousdale and USC Village twice during this trip, and it simply wasn’t enough.
My friend Tiffany told me about this place with Portuguese egg tarts for less than a dollar, and I was amazed. There are two tell tale signs of a perfect Portuguese egg tart - a creamy interior and an unavoidable cluster of pastry flakes on your table after you finish. This egg tart was perfect, and I can only say thank you to Patisserie Too for making it an affordable sweet treat. Their salted egg yolk croissant was also a delight!
For my friend Amy’s 23rd birthday, we headed to Hatchet Hall! They describe themselves as a Southern-inspired, Californian-influenced neighborhood restaurant, and I could definitely feel the influences from both those cuisines. The menu was adorable, and I’m so glad I got to try their famous Cast Iron Cornbread – I’m still dreaming of its beautifully caramelized exterior and soft, crumbly interior lined with shishito peppers. All with that butter…wow.
No return to USC could be complete without at least one dining hall visit. Several of my friends are resident assistants, so they had some guest swipes to help feed me throughout my time there. I have never been a dining hall hater, so I was actually quite excited to do dining hall life again. Shoutout to the meal on the left: chicken nugget bar with mac and cheese, Texas-inspired pasta, sweet plantains, and some pesto pizza, all complete with a diet Coke.
I’ve shared my love for BOPOMOFO time and time again (throwback to my IRVINS x Bopomofo Giveaway), but they’ve expanded so much in the last few years! My friend Kaylin and I stopped by the Hollywood location to cool off after our Ferndell Trail hike up to Griffith Observatory in the open sun. Their boba is always of great quality, and they’re a reliable source for all-natural ingredients.
Blending together a sports bar and Indian food, Pijja Palace is one of those places that is quintessentially LA. I’ll never forget the hype of it when I was in LA, and how it was nearly impossible to even get a table there without waiting hours. I always wanted to try it, but the big lines discouraged me, and in a food scene as big as LA, I have to be okay without trying some things. It seems they’ve gotten their crowd control set though, as it was painless to make a reservation for my party of three.
Everything I had tasted like an item I could only get at Pijja Palace, which is a rare quality to find in a restaurant. The standout was the malai rigatoni, which I wasn’t expecting to be the star, but it takes all the best parts of a creamy vodka-like sauce and adds a wonderful spice blend that accents the tomato-based sauce. I really enjoyed the unique batter of the onion rings, though, and I think some fresh herb- or vegetable-based topping sauce should be a requirement for all pizzas – it cuts through the richness wonderfully.
I’ve sung enough praises about Zombie Chicken, particularly in My 15 Best Bites of LA. Let’s just say most trips to LA in the future will have to include Zombie Chicken, if I can help it.
The Park’s Finest is repping Echo Park by infusing Filipino flavor into American cuts of barbecue. This was a spot I meant to hit during my time in undergrad, but I never got around to it. But when I had set up a hangout with one of my foodie friends in LA, and it happened to be a Wednesday, the stars had aligned for me to finally make the trip.
Available only on Wednesdays, the Worker Wednesday offers coconut beef, hot link medley, pulled pork, candy-coated chicken, veggies, cornbread bibingka, and rice all in one plate, running you $18.50 plus tax. The coconut beef was phenomenal, and the cornbread bibingka was worth all the hype. I was able to stretch this plate into a smaller lunch portion for the next day, and the mish-mosh of flavors soaked into the rice the next day were the most exciting leftovers I had in a while.
I mean no explanation needed for In-N-Out. I was walking with Amor to her commencement ceremony, and we got stopped by some folks advertising for a local apartment complex. They were offering up free burgers for anyone who took a photo with their sign, and that kind of advertising is something I will never turn down.
Before getting stopped by the In-N-Out truck, Amor and I had planned to head to Shawarma Express, a food truck parked on Hoover by the Village. Tiffany had told us about a $5 chicken shawarma express, which included a 10” pita bread, garlic sauce, lettuce, tomato, onion, french fries, and chicken. The In-N-Out became a welcome addition to our plan, and it wasn’t going to stop us from securing this wrap to hold us over for the night.
It was pretty much everything we were hoping for, and it’s simply not a USC snack you should miss, especially at $4.99.
Honestly, we stumbled upon this spot after one of the Koreatown BCD Tofu Houses had the most horrendous line following USC commencement on a Thursday night, but we couldn’t have been happier with this happy accident. The kimbaps ran about $9-12 each and were insanely long (as pictured), and the kalguksu and tteokbokki hit the spot as well. Kimbap Paradise saved our post-commencement dinner plans, and for that, we’re forever thankful!
The Destroyer menu had some amazing combinations of flavors picked out, and I love a menu that makes me question what I’m going to get. We ended up getting:
I love a thick-cut bacon with a good sauce, and the tartine delivered. Because my friend and I had split the sweet potato waffle and BLT tartine, thus eating both on the same plate, they both started to blend in together as one dish. Despite its high price point, I do think the ambience is really nice, and the dishes are of good quality. The porridge is what I would come back for – we thought it was like a delightful cheesy soup with some fancy toppings.
Tiffany and I had been aiming to get our hands on these salted egg yolk pineapple buns, together, for almost a year. I am so happy to report we did that!
Long story short, they had some miscommunications in the kitchen, and we were told at some point after waiting that they actually had no more. We were quite sad about that, but a new batch suddenly appeared, and my entire trip ascended to a new level of excitement. Few things compare to biting into arguably, one of the best breads ever (a bolo bao) and having the silkiest salted egg yolk lava spilling out of it.
I had actually been to Borneo Eatery last year, so when my friend said she wanted Indonesian food, I had just the place! We ordered:
The flake of the roti prata is one of the most special textures I think one can experience. It’s also always caramelized to perfection (as they promise on the menu), and I think this dish would have to go on my dream appetizer rotation. The rojak was also a light appetizer to pair with the heavier fare I had already consumed – due to how plans played out, I actually went here right after dim sum, so I was already a bit stuffed. But how lucky am I to enjoy two spectacular back-to-back meals!
I wish I got a better picture of my sandwich, but this Korean cheesesteak was one of my USC comfort meals. It’ll run you about $13, but a beef sandwich that’s a decent portion and topped generously with slaw is a win in my book. Plus it comes with a mango jicama salad that’s always the perfect complement to this sandwich.
My final purchased meal in LA was with my friend Amy, and Yunomi had a little special on Uber Eats, so we made the leap. I had Yunomi once, back when I was in the hotel to isolate for COVID and gifted $70 DoorDash credit every day.
The four cutroll box is great for a satisfying dinner, as it’s complete with some edamame and other vegetable side dishes. It’s a mix of tuna, albacore, salmon, and shrimp tempura, and we took a nice three mile walk to follow.
Overall, this was a phenomenal foodie adventure to pair with all of the fantastic company I had this trip. I am so thankful I got to see this great city once again, both returning to some old favorites and finding some new gems. Bye LA, I love you!
See you soon,
Carissa 😊