TRAVEL BLOG THURSDAYS – LOS ANGELES 2018
WINTERTIME FOOD. FRIENDS. FUN. SUN. || LOS ANGELES || CALIFORNIA || USA || JANUARY 2018
The first time I visited Los Angeles I was in my early twenties; like 22 or so. I came with my brother (Founder, Owner, CEO, HNIC of Muddaland Supply Company. Ha! I’ll warn y’all about shameless plugs next time. :) He’s my favorite travel buddy because our travel styles are very similar; down for whateva, spontaneous, and life hacky when it comes to lowering travel cost. We did ALL the “touristy” stuff and checked out San Diego in the same weekend. It’s not a game with us. [Laugh Out Loud]
I’ve been to Los Angeles several times after my first trip and ate so much brunch there over the years! But I didn’t have Taste Tutor back then to document. I’ll have to hit the archive photos and post about my other LA trips because there is so much good food I want to tell y’all about!
This post is about the trip I took this past weekend for a friend’s birthday. It was so chill and so much fun to hang with these folks.
Friday Night, January 19, 2018:
One of my best friends and now an LA resident came to pick me up from LAX. It was late so we headed to one of our favorite places in Korea Town for Korean BBQ, Hae Jan Chon. It’s perfect because it’s open late, they have heaters outside in case it’s cold while you’re waiting in line (very important cuz I be cold yo!); it’s all you can eat, and most importantly, the food is really good! While we waited for our table, we headed over to Mr. Boba, in the same shopping center, for a guava green tea bubble tea. Bubble tea is kind of our thing in any city; others meet for coffee we meet for Bubble tea!
Tangent Alert!
The homie and I love trying new places together and when said homie moved from Seattle to LA, it was a bittersweet experience for me. While I was losing my on-call brunch buddy, my food friend, my home skillet biscuit, I now had a place, with, say it with me “FREE LODGING” to visit to experience new foods. That’s always a blessing. We often frequent Brunch locations, Ethiopian spots, sandwich shops, Salvadorian establishments, and Caribbean places, but really anything is open for consumption!
Back on Track…Saturday, January 20, 2018:
My Airbnb was right on Venice beach, close to the Marina Del Rey area, so while I waited for my Lyft to show up, I took a stroll on the beach every morning. It wasn’t too hot or too cold, there was a breeze, and the sun was OUT HERE! Which is a nice change from a Seattle winter.
Side Note: Homie was going to Seattle the Saturday of the same weekend I came to LA -_- hence the Airbnb.
Other Side Note: My host Noelle was awesome and her place had a super beachy feel to it!
Most of the group I was with had never been to Los Angeles before so I got to relive all the fun “must do” things when one first comes to LA, including going to Roscoe’s Chicken and Waffles. The chicken was on point as per usual but most of all, I loved having breakfast with everyone. If I’m honest with myself, I can seem to be lowkey antisocial because my “stay in the house” game is undefeated and my introversion is on par with the very top of the Burj Khalifa BUT I do enjoy spending time with this group and it was a nice change from solo travel, which I also love.
Throughout the day we did all the “LA stuff” like walking down the Hollywood Walk of Fame, going to the Santa Monica pier and dodging the seagulls, checking out Venice Beach boardwalk, and grabbing a slice.
Everyone met for dinner at 1212 Santa Monica and we had a pure wang dang doodle, laughing, eating, drinking, and carryin’ on (auntie terminology). The food was just okay but the menu definitely gave me inspiration for recipes to try. I got there a bit early, so I sat at the bar and ordered a Whiskey Old Fashioned. Here is a recipe for my version of a Whiskey Old Fashioned. It’s also a sneak peek to my next blog post “Brown Drinks for Brown Girls”. I’m just hurling plugs all up and through this post!
Sunday, January 21, 2018:
The next morning was more relaxed. People broke off into smaller groups and explored on their own. My initial plan was to check out of my room and walk to Egg Slut for breakfast and then to Salt & Straw for ice cream but someone said, “bottomless mimosa brunch” so I adjusted my plans accordingly. A few of us went to brunch at Post & Beam in Baldwin Hills. They have a 90-minute bottomless mimosa brunch so we set our timer and went to town! The food was amazing; order the Pecan Pie French Toast with Cinnamon Cream and Bourbon Caramel; it’s delicious! We had intellectually stimulating conversation (or ISC as my mommy likes to refer to it). We laughed so much that it felt like I got an ab workout! I headed to the airport with a jovial pep in my step from the great time spent and because of the mimosas obviously. Ha!
...but someone said, “bottomless mimosa brunch” so I adjusted my plans accordingly.
Los Angeles is always a great food experience, especially when spent with friends in the sun!
Thanks for reading all these words!
Love ya!
Taste Tutor
