Awesome! We should start a thread of “the food we carried back”.
You drove to SF for a slice of pizza, a loaf of bread, a chocolate croissant, and some quiche?.. (I guess also some canned tomatoes and bags of beans and potatoes)
I feel I must be missing something…
You can get almost all of this in LA…
No, I drove to San Francisco for other reasons, not to grocery shop, dork. They do have better groceries, though, so when doing errands with people, I grab stuff for myself.
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You should check out some restaurants if you ever go back to run more errands. It’s kind of a small city, but it’s really been taking off the past couple years!
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Hi @Bookwich,
Nice shopping! 
How’s Tartine these days? The Ham & Cheese Quiche sounds delicious.
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@Chowseeker1999 Tartine was great, as usual and crowded, as usual. I don’t really go much for sweets or baked goods, but they don’t have baguettes until late afternoon, so I wasn’t able to get any this time.
@Aesthete We eat out some, but it’s not usually the focus of a trip. I’m up there a lot. This time around, I did eat at Hog Island Oyster Co., Mission Chinese, a dim sum place, and grabbed soup, pickles and chopped liver from Wise Sons. But mostly it’s wine, cheese, fruit and bread, or cooking up some lentils and greens when hunger strikes. Like home, eat whatever is around.
Edited to add:
But if you have any great recommendations, throw them at me!
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[quote=“Chowseeker1999, post:16, topic:4713”]
fantastic Loup de Mer
[/quote]Does look delicious. I love fish cooked that way.
Too bad the chef is tongue blind. My cousin is a chef. He says they do become immune to the salt.
[quote=“Bookwich, post:21, topic:4713”]
my favorite thing I ate this weekend. Ham and cheese quiche
[/quote]That’s my favorite thing you ate this weekend too.
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My kids had a lunch with the mayor thing at the Rose Bowl on Sunday so while waiting for them to get back, my wife and I had a nice lunch at Ramen Tatsunoya. Got there a little after 12pm and was seated immediately.
Spicy miso tonkotsu extra chashu. $15.40. Egg $1.80. I think the pint of Sapporo was only $4.
After walking around Old Town for awhile, stopped at Amara for some churros and an Aztec latte.
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Pork fat, beer and fried dough. 
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That says it all - The Whole-y Trinity.
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Dish of the Month for January
“Meals with the Whole-y Trinity”
Pork cheek yakitori, Suiyoubi White Ale and Primos donuts sounds like a winner
@kevin would approve
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Stop counting and dig in - you deserve it.
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[This belongs in What’s Cooking in Home Cooking]
Noodles.
I had chanterelles, shallots, thyme and butter. I had Meyer lemons and cream and about a cup of some squiggly dry pasta from Italy that I don’t know where it came from. Pecorino in the freezer, of course.
So I made a little pan of noodles and now I’m eating out of the pan. Happy Friday. 
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Damn, that pasta looks amazing!
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Caught the premiere of La La Land at the Arclight Hollywood (the movie was SO GOOD! A love letter to the Golden Era of 1950’s Hollywood Musicals, overflowing with a genuine, unabashed enthusiasm and great songs and orchestral score! 
).
So we figured we’d try the Sweetgreen branch nearby for dinner.
Sweetgreen
Sweetgreen is supposedly a popular East Coast brand of healthy salads-based eating that recently started expanding into California. I was curious how it compared with our own Tender Greens. We also stopped by the Santa Monica Sweetgreen recently.
Jasmine Green Iced Tea:
Their Aguas Frescas are not that good. At least the Cucumber Ginger Lime Fresca and Cranberry Ginger Fresca tasted like unsweetened lightly-flavored water more than anything else. I don’t need added sugar in my drinks, but compared to freshly-made Aguas Frescas at places like Guerilla Tacos, or fresh-ground/squeezed juices of Gjusta, this tastes really watered down (mainly water).
Their Jasmine Green Ice Tea is better, refreshing and clean.
The Sqirl Dinner Bowl:
First off, most of their menu offerings have far more ingredients than Tender Greens. Their Sqirl Dinner Bowl is a special collaboration between Sqirl’s Chef-Owner Jessica Koslow and Sweetgreen. What you get is an interesting mix of Warm Quinoa, Shredded Kale, Pickled Carrots, Cucumbers, Parsley, Dill, Basil, Avocado, Lemon, and a nice slab of Roasted Steelhead.
What makes it interesting is the Warm Quinoa and Warm/Hot Roasted Steelhead helps to make this more approachable than a standard cold Salad on a chilly day.
I really liked the Tahini-Marinated Yuba Noodles when mixed with the Sorrel-Pesto Dressing. That helped center everything in the Salad/Bowl. This was pretty tasty, although the Roasted Steelhead was a touch too salty (but balanced when you ate it with a bite of the Kale, Carrots, Cucumbers, etc.).
Pesto Portobello Warm Bowl:
Just like the Sqirl Bowl, their standard Pesto Portobello is composed of a massive list of ingredients. Thankfully, in a good way: Warm Quinoa, Organic Arugula, Roasted Chicken, Warm Portobello Mix, Raw Corn, Hot Chickpeas, Spicy Broccoli, Pesto Vinaigrette.
It was delicious! 
The Warm Quinoa and Organic Arugula form this interesting base: It’s warm, grainy, softening the Arugula’s bitterness and literally softening the leaves with the warm/heated Quinoa. The Roasted Chicken is fine (tasted fresh), although it’s not as satisfying as the larger, fresh-grilled slices / chunks of Grilled Chicken at Tender Greens, especially when it’s busy, since the high turnover means they are constantly grilling Chicken, making it really fresh and piping hot.
But the combination of their Roasted Chicken with the Warm Portobello Mushroom Mix is what makes this Bowl standout: Truly if the word “umami” could be used in its most direct meaning, it might be referring to Mushrooms cooked down like this Portobello Mushroom saute. It was so good, bursting with deep Mushroom flavor that only something that Portobello has.
Their Hot Chickpeas and Seared Broccoli added some textural contrast (and more warmth), and their Pesto Vinaigrette was great.
This is purely in the fast-casual space, but the board on their wall proudly shows off the variety of local farms they interact with:
For a quick, healthy bite to eat, we don’t mind stopping by Tender Greens or Sweetgreen. We’ll be back to try their other Salads & Bowls (hopefully they are just as good).
Sweetgreen (Hollywood)
6115 West Sunset Blvd.
Los Angeles CA 90028
Tel: (323) 498-5558
Sweetgreen (Santa Monica)
1343 4th Street
Santa Monica CA 90401
Tel: (424) 744-8321
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Macchiato at Cognascenti Coffee.
I’ve decided I don’t like third-wave coffee. Somehow all the roasty flavor is taken out and all that’s left is sour-tasting coffee. Like a slightly stronger, less stale version of Folgers or 7-11 coffee.
The boy liked the chocolate croissant (sourced from Proof Bakery) a lot, “better chocolate” than Tartine. I agree, and it’s very flaky, but not as buttery tasting. (No photo, chocolate croissants are hard to make look good in a picture.)
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Honeybird
Fried Chicken (28 hour brine in herbs & spices):
Bacon cheddar biscuits (with maple vanilla butter):
Curried carrots & broccoli (vadouvan carrots & broccoli, garam masala carrot top, gremolata, farro, cashews, golden raisins):
Collared greens (applewood smoked bacon, brown sugar, cider vinegar):
I know Honeybird is no Howlin’ Ray’s but I think it’s very good in its own right. The chicken is always crispy, nicely seasoned, and moist. The biscuits (mmm, that butter!) and the sides are delicious, as well. Plus after a full day of birding and hiking up in the San Gabriels, it always hits the spot! 
Honeybird
714 Foothill Blvd
La Cañada, CA 91011
www.honeybirdla.com
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Utter disaster at Mei Zhou Dongpo. I should have known as soon as they set down the cheap, lightweight, extra long black plastic chopsticks. So very cheap.
Dan Dan Noodle
Okay, but not really, considering the place. (Don’t you love the sloppy bowl with sauce dripping down the side?) Like generic Chinese take-out. I took it home, but tossed it.
Tomato Oxtail Soup
Meat was so dry I had to delicately remove it from my mouth into a napkin. The broth was utterly flavorless and insipid, like boxed low-sodium broth, I didn’t bother trying the tomato. I sent the soup back and asked for the check.
On a positive note, I got to watch a cheerful chef carve a Peking duck tableside for some other guests.
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