only lucky if my car wasn’t in the shop waiting for a part to be installed tomorrow (I thought this would be a one day deal–not) and fkn up my previous plans for Saturday which will in turn also rearrange my plans for Sunday. grumble. oh well……there are always other food opportunities in our city.
Boy… I’ve been out of touch. Look what y’all have been up to. There’s that awesome looking avocado toast again. Good to see they brought it along to their new home at Birch. I still have a chance to try it. I can’t keep up with you folks.
[quote=“Chowseeker1999, post:173, topic:4358”]
(I’m curious if he’s gone back to Cento or is staying at Birch?)
[/quote]I’m confused.
Hi @TheCookie,
Well Santos and Chef Avner founded Cento Pasta Bar (downtown LA), and then they announced a new Cento pop-up at Birch (doing pasta as well).
But they’re keeping Cento in Downtown LA still open.
So I’m curious who they hired / how they’re keeping up with quality at both places nowadays. Because before, it was always just a 2 man operation (literally - no busboys, dishwashers, etc.).
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[quote=“PorkyBelly, post:174, topic:4358”]
crispy meringue and crunchy clusters.
[/quote]
… Susina Bakery on Beverly Bl (closed) used to make a white cake with those clusters in the frosting. Boy I miss that.
You went! Good.
Yoghurt… of course they couldn’t serve anything as pedestrian as yogurt. What? No Organic Hen Egg today?
Love the description.
I had a couple of those at the City of Gold screening. Can’t remember whether I posted it. But I thought of you 
.
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You really are unusual. I say that most affectionately.
Oh wow. Okay, got it. Thanks!
Funusual?
Perfect
I found this menu on Eater LA and the prices seem so reasonable! Are the plates tiny or is it just a good deal?
I wonder if the Hollywood location has better parking. (When I lived near Cahuenga, it was a nightmare. We walked everywhere and felt sorry for the car people.)
It is a great deal, their goal is to provide affordable hand made pastas.
I think parking on a weekday during lunch is slightly easier in Hollywood than in DTLA, it’s definitely cheaper. Now I’m hoping they bring their uni, crab spaghetti to the Hollywood location.
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[quote=“Bookwich, post:194, topic:4358, full:true”]
I found this menu on Eater LA and the prices seem so reasonable! Are the plates tiny or is it just a good deal? [/quote]
HI @Bookwich,
It is a good deal, but note that the pastas are “primi” size (which I prefer). So it’s not a full dinner-size plate of pasta you see at some restaurants around town. One of my guy friends (when hungry) could finish off 2 pastas at Cento. 
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Perfect. I don’t like giant plates of food.
Maybe and dashes of Nordic cuisine and influences from Kinfolk magazine are my guesses. The plastic silverware seems quite odd.
The Lox sandwich from the Yeastie Boys truck in Brentwood was delicious, but seriously messy. The cucumbers and tomatoes slid out of the sandwich, and most of the lox cream cheese landed on my napkin.
I’ve been meaning to try Saj Bakery for months, but I live so far away from Granada Hills. I must say that it was worth the trek. Saj specializes in Lebanese baked goods. With about 50 - 60 items on their menu, it was difficult to narrow down my selections. However since everything is reasonably priced, you won’t go bankrupt trying several dishes. My total came to a little over $12.00 for three items.
The saj with zaatar, labneh, and cheese consisted of a thin griddled flatbread, which was rolled and stuffed with tomatoes, cucumbers, olives, mint. It was creamy, fresh, and really moreish where there were pockets of zaatar.
The mini spinach pie was pleasingly tart.
The cheese combo with olives mana’ish was a hefty pie-like flatbread topped with a mixture of akkawi, kashkawan, and halloumi cheeses. Since it’s liberally sprinkled with olives, the whole thing is quite salty, but addictive. I imagine this would go down a treat as an appetizer.
I was going to try some baklava at Vrej Pastry, but I read that their ownership changed, and subsequently their pastries have gone downhill.
Of course I needed some coffee to fuel this excursion. I read some glowing reviews of House Roots on Yelp and was pleasantly surprised by the quality of my iced latte with an extra shot of espresso. My coffee was bold and rich.
I later found out they were recently featured in Food & Wine magazine: http://www.foodandwine.com/coffee/coffee-gear-machines/when-coffee-cocktails-collide. Apparently the proprietors learned their trade at Cafe Dulce in Little Tokyo.
Since I’m a tea fanatic, I also ordered the Gold Mint, which is their take on an Arnold Palmer. They source their tea from Art of Tea, but unfortunately the lemonade was the dominant flavor. I was hoping for the tea to be stronger, but it was tasty enough. Next time, I’d love to try one of their cocktails.
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You had me at “Lebanese bakery.” 60 choices to boot? Cross-eyed in bliss! Very nice photos by the way - have I ever mentioned that? 
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Aww, thanks for the compliment, @bulavinaka! Here’s a copy of their menu for your perusal. They had so many items on their menu that I had to let four people go ahead of me since it was way too hard to navigate.
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