When Cameron and I were here back in March for a visit to UCLA, we ate at this place called Kitchen24 because of a recommendation from a friend of mine. Holy moly, is this my type of place. Cameron calls the decor "girly" (it's pink and brown themed and a bit on the feminine side, I will admit) but they are open 24 hours and within walking distance of our place. What I love about Kitchen24 is the fact that they offer breakfast 24 hours a day. I am all about brunch, even at three in the afternoon. One of the challenges I often face whilst choosing a brunch item is my leanings towards having something sweet or savory. When I was younger, I was all about getting waffles, french toast, or pancakes. As an adult, I start thinking more in terms of "what will keep me fuller longer," which are usually omelets, breakfast sandwiches, and things of that sort. Kitchen24 has solved my dilemma; they have a dish called the "Bartender's Banquet," and it is 1/2 a waffle (with strawberries! My favorite topping) and a breakfast quesadilla. I got the Bartender's Banquet in March and knew immediately when we decided to take Robert and Will there what I was getting. In fact, Cameron and Will got it as well and agreed that it was very tasty. (Sorry, no photos of this one- we were starving when we got there and scarfed down our food pretty quickly.)
One of my favorite aspects of LA is the wide variety of ethnic food available, and good ethnic food too. I wanted to eat at a ramen bar at least once here, and, surprisingly, it was one of the first places we went to. Now, when I say ramen bar, I mean a legit ramen restaurant. Real ramen noodles are much more filling than the $0.70 packets you buy at the grocery store. Real ramen is usually made with a heavy broth, veggies, and a type of meat. You can get different broths and toppings: chicken, pork, beef, miso etc. I have even heard of ice cream ramen! (There is a soft serve ice cream cone in that one. Not something that speaks to me.) We tried the "Takara Ramen Bar" for lunch one afternoon and the boys loved it. I thought it was tasty, but probably not my favorite place. I will say that the California roll I got with my combo was the best California roll I've ever had in my life. All three of us got the 'spicy miso' ramen- it's a soy based soup- and had enough leftovers for a second meal.
Cameron and I tried for two different meals to take Robert and Will to a place we had tried in March and liked. A lot. It's called the Griddle Cafe, and what they specialize in is pancakes. Pancakes the size of your face! They have a ridiculously awesome sounding menu. In March, Cameron got a stack of "The Golden Ticket" pancakes. They are banana pancakes with caramel, walnuts, and streusel topped with whipped cream, streusel, and caramel. Since we are now residents of the area, we let Will (Robert had unfortunately left by then- next time you're in town!) pick the pancakes and we split a breakfast burrito that even the menu described as "huge." Will picked the "Scotch on the Rocks" pancakes, and holy moly were they beyond delicious. They are coconut, pecan, oat and butterscotch pancakes. Oh. My. Goodness. Between the two items, there was more than enough food for the three of us, so we happily took home the extra pancakes. We have learned that you can get just one pancake instead of the three stack, but the three stack can be split between several people. The fun story from The Griddle Cafe came from our waiter. We asked him if anyone actually finished a whole stack of pancakes, which lead to him telling us that the wait staff actually hold competitions of who can finish a stack of pancakes the quickest. He said it takes him about two hours to finish a stack, but some of the larger guys can do it much faster. He called over another waiter and asked for his record, to which he nonchalantly replied "about five minutes." WHAT?! And it's not like this was a big guy either! Needless to say, we were very impressed by that particular pancake-eating record.
The Scotch on the Rocks pancakes. There is Will's hand to give you a size comparison.
What I'll wrap up on is what Cameron has a long list of: food trucks. One of the food trucks Cameron really wanted to try is called "The Grilled Cheese Truck." You guessed it, they make gourmet grilled cheese sandwiches. We drove to Van Nuys to eat there one night (about a 1/2 hour drive when we got on the interstate) and, boy, was it worth it. There were about three more food trucks in addition to The Grilled Cheese Truck- they were in a Pep Boys parking lot, which I found interesting. There was a Boba truck, a Hawaiian food truck, and a corn on the cob truck. I got a grilled cheese stuffed with macaroni; Cameron got a buffalo chicken grilled cheese; and Will got a Brie melt. I eyeballed getting one of their dessert melts- the Banana French Toast Melt to be specific- but was too full to get it, so I settled for a Boba tea instead. Cameron hadn't had one before, so it was also for him to try too. Boba tea is often called Bubble tea in other areas, but it's all the same if you know what Bubble tea is. Boba tea is comparable to a non-coffee frappacino or a smoothie and has large tapioca balls at the bottom. I first had one in California back in 2001 when I was visiting family. My cousin warned me to drink slowly because "the balls can shoot out at you if you're not paying attention." And, she was right; I nearly choked on my first Boba tea. You can get a bunch of flavors, both normal and more exotic, depending on the place. My mom got me hooked on the taro flavor- it comes out bright purple- and it's not as sweet as some of the flavors can be. Cameron did like the taro flavor, but wasn't a huge fan of the boba aspect of it.
Tori, if you've been paying $0.70 for ramen noodles at grocery stores, you have been swindled. :)
ReplyDeleteP.S. I'm hungry now.