LA eats – lifeofacitygal

Yok Ramen

Okay guys, I have a confession. After moving to LA, I’ve become overly obsessed with ramen. I mean you’re thinking it’s just noodles and broth right? In actuality, they’ve gotten really fancy with this and the combinations are unmatched. You can have chicken or thinly sliced pork, flavored egg, seaweed, mushrooms, scallions, bean sprouts and even top it with cheese at some places. The add-ons are endless.

One thing I learned to appreciate about my job is the location. I know the thing in LA is to either live by your job or live where you like to hangout. I think I live in a pretty fun area but its not my best place for hangout options and although its technically close to my job since it’s within a 9-mile radius. However, here in LA that can translate to an hour commute. My job location actually gives me life in terms of the many food options I can have for lunch or after work spots. Recently, I tried Yok Ramen located in the Sherman Oaks area. For me, I’m always looking for a good broth. The veggies and add-ons are all great compliments but the broth should be flavorful with good taste and just enough spice.

I tried the Tori Tonkotsu and this entree did not disappoint. I will say I have gotten used to a flavored egg and these were just like regular soft-boiled eggs but nonetheless the ramen was great. I also tried the Hawaiian specialty fried Moa chicken as an appetizer and this was equally as good. Flaky and fluffy with just enough crunch. The Bruce Lee theme was very captivating as well. Take a look at the pics below.

Gracias Madre

If you were able to catch my last post, I talked about completing a fast which basically boiled down to eating only fruits and veggies for 3 weeks. Since I’m a foodie at heart, I love looking for new restaurants to try so I just had to incorporate finding vegan/vegetarian options during this time. I learned that this community is huge and LA offers a ton of restaurants catered to both vegans and vegetarians. I often opted for places that had dishes like a Tex-mex bowl with rice, beans, sautéed vegetables, pico de gallo and guac. Anything with guacamole and I’m sold 😊. This was the simplest route to take food wise and easy to find everywhere. However, I did venture out a few times and stumbled upon some wonderful places. One being Gracias Madre, offering 100% organic, plant based Mexican cuisine.

Gracias Madre is tucked away in West Hollywood on Melrose Ave. I’ve probably passed this place a million times and never noticed it before. It kind of resembles a nice house from the street view but when you walk in you are totally taken aback. The décor and ambiance is just so chic. There was a lounge area with comfy chairs and couches adjacent from the bar area. The outside dining area had communal tables with the heated lamps for those cooler days/nights in LA along with cute little tables for smaller parties. From the outside, the space looked so quaint but once inside it was a huge space and very accommodating for the large crowd in attendance that day.

To stick with my go to bowls that I’d been consuming, I went with Bowl Tres as my entrée. This bowl has quinoa, kale, roasted squash, white beans, peppers, onions and pesto cashew crème. Okay let’s start by saying the roasted squash was the best!!! The kale was also very seasoned and added a nice taste to the overall dish. Before I ordered this, the waiter did let me try the pesto cashew crème and I went for it and decided to order this bowl. I will say I did not know the bowl was heavily dressed with that sauce. I think sometimes dishes are overly compensated with a sauce to make sure we get a good amount of flavor and I probably should of asked for it on the side to be safe. That being said, the sauce did compliment the dish well and I was pleased with this entrée. I heard the drinks are pretty good too so I will definitely be back to give those a try as well.

Frankland’s Crab & Co

Coming from the east coast, moreso NYC, it’s always good to find a place with a tasty lobster roll. I remember in the summer mostly always wanting to find the perfect roll. Well here in California, I stumbled upon Frankland’s Crab & Co. Particularly during DineLA week in which they offered a nice lunch combo that included a drink and an ice cream sandwich; double win 🙂

So here we have it. A nice, toasted brioche roll with succulent lobster meat tossed in a melted butter. This sandwich literally melted in my mouth. I mean pure perfection. I was worried about the sandwich not being dressed since I was used to a mayo base but they’ve nailed it over at Frankland’s. The homemade ice cream sandwich was also a hit. Way to top off a cute lunch. As I continue to let you in on my LA food adventures, please mark this one down as a place to try. I will be coming back for sure!

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LA Edition: Part 3

LA is a place known for many notable things. Hollywood, celeb sightings, production and die-hard Lakers fans to name a few. Whenever I travel, I’m always in search of the best food and LA does a good job of providing new places to try. Being a foodie at heart, I will always fit in a nice dinner, new dessert place or quick bite to go. While in LA for the Thanksgiving holiday, I was able to add some new places to my growing list of favorite food spots. I also came to find out a lot of places are open extremely late or, even better, 24 hours! One of those 24-hour places happens to be Birdie’s in DTLA. I made it by here to try some of their delicious donuts. Another place, famously shown in a John Singleton classic film ‘Baby Boy’, called Lucy’s is also open all day and night and the food here is definitely comforting when its late night.

On this trip, I was actually able to spend a lot of time in Los Angeles. I didn’t even make it to Santa Monica this time around or Malibu and both are 2 of my favorite hangouts, particularly for the beaches. I did stop by Venice beach, because its only right that you do and had cocktails at Wabi Sabi on Abbot Kinney. This is also one of my favorite areas and I made a point to enjoy at least an hour or so in the area. I saw the Farmer’s Market in the Grove on a ton of vlogs so I definitely made a stop there. The Farmers Market seems like a good place to visit when you’re indecisive about what you want to eat because the market offers a variety of food and different types of cuisine. I think I grabbed tacos and a horchata to hold me until we made it to the infamous In-N-Out Burger. In-N-Out is a must try if you never had this before. The menu is so simple and apparently, the way to go, is animal style for your fries. Never disappoints. I also went to another market, Grand Central, located in DTLA solely to try the bacon, egg and cheese sandwich from Eggslut. Eggslut is a pretty popular sandwich joint, so much, that another one has opened in Venice. The line was pretty long at the time I went but it was definitely worth the wait. To go with this, I went to G&B coffee for a nice cup of coffee and later found out this is one of the most popular coffee shops in LA, according to Time Out magazine.

BOA Steakhouse was the choice for the LA finale dinner. I normally do at least one nice restaurant when vacating here so why not spend it in West Hollywood for that evening? We started with the blue colossal crab cocktail. As the entrée, I went with their rib eye and added both mac and cheese and creamed spinach with crispy shallots. Wayyyyyy too much food to indulge in at once but I couldn’t resist. Everything sounded so good. Not to forget the cocktail I had for the evening too. I cannot recall the name of it but it was a great choice! To say the least, LA never ceases to amaze me. The vibe is enough to fall in love with but when you start adding all of the other great things like picture perfect sunsets, countless beaches and warm weather all year; it’s just a place you never want to leave. Check out pics of some of the food I was able to enjoy while there. Until next time LA….