MAKING THE ROUNDS

In honor of U Mini opening in Westwood today, a review of a totally different burger chain -- Rounds... Or basically a review of the one burger place that I snapped photos of in my foodie adventures (so far). 

Because I definitely also had the original Umami burger at Umami for the first time (a month ago) and a #3 at 25 Degrees, the burger joint in the Roosevelt Hotel (a week ago). I also really wanted to grab Hole in the Wall last night, since the rumor mill's been churning that the Santa Monica location is about to close down.

CAMERA STALKING

Remember how I said that I was bad at taking photos? I really am bad at / shy about it! Even if I did come back from NorCal with only photos of food... So what's a girl to do? Doodle!

Because I had to capture those food places in NorCal that I didn't snap photos of, like...

• The Tropisueño margarita at Il Tropisueño (San Francisco, CA)
  A margarita with the bright flavor of ginger? Delish. Perfect for those of you who don't like sweet drinks, but would like a little more flavor than straight-up triple sec, tequila and lime. Also amazing there? The chips and salsas that they brought out, as well as their mole. (P.S. I loved their mole, but it overwhelmed the meats on my taco... to the point of where I couldn't tell which meat was which.)
• The vegetarian eggs benedict at Bill of Fare (San Jose, CA)
  A diner with the tiniest of signs next to a gas station? Totally sketchtastic. Not so sketchtastic? The delicious food there... But it is diner food, so expect a little a lot of grease. My vegetarian eggs benedict were delish, piled high with spinach, but the amount of hollandaise definitely killed the health factor. I should've just gone with my friend's French toast, which was to die for! Plus, a place that pays tribute to my childhood dish of soy sauce and rice? Approved!
• The Siciliano pizza at Amici's East Coast Pizzeria (Mountain View, CA)
  Even without much of an appetite, I really enjoyed the combo of salty meats and sweetly roasted vegetables (broccoli and garlic). Really, the whole cloves of garlic on top did me in. I also barely noticed the tomato sauce that I had requested, so I might skip that the next time around.

Next time around?! I left my heart up in NorCal, so I gotta go back for it.

MONDAYS, BLEGH

Going to need some coffee tonight, since my accounting test will prolly start around 7:30 p.m., after I've been up since 5 a.m. (thanks, weird daylight savings time) and probably after my professor bores - I mean, regales - us with more stories of accounting. 

Clearly, I should fly back to San Francisco to pick up a cup of coffee from Blue Bottle Coffee... But since that's not possible, a return back through pictures. Speaking of which, I took ZERO photos of people on my trip the other weekend. Apparently, my trip could be visualized in food.

The rec came from a friend. She had a list of things to do, and I didn't do them. (Sorry, girlie!) Except for this. Thank goodness I listened.

SWEET ESCAPE

Currently getting a much needed vacation in the Bay! Loving that I get to reset and restart in a really gorgeous, lovely area.

The only bummer? I grabbed some food at Mitsuwa, thinking that it'd be light and easy on my tummy. It wasn't. 

Instead, it made me miss last week's little trip to Little Tokyo with my fellow grad students. After our bowls of ramen at Men Oh, we went on a little foodie adventure!

MEN OH MAN

Daikokuya might have some competition. Last week, a few friends and I went on a foodie tour of Little Tokyo, and our first stop? A brand new ramen shop: Men Oh. (So yes, more posts to come! I promise!)

A SIMPLE LIFE

After working for close to a month, I understand the value of little things, like your boyfriend watering the weed daily, or your roommate unloading the dishwasher. It's so easy to make life crazy busy and chaotic, but it's not so easy slowing down.

Something not so simple? Pie.

SEA THESE NOM-NOMS?

Freshman year, E.'s parents took us to dinner on the beach. I got crab cakes. I wasn't impressed.

Fast-forward a few years. Gladstones is still one of E.'s favorite places to eat, and the restaurant pops up on BlackBoardEats. I'm not too thrilled, but E. insists and points to a few good Yelp reviews... (Nevermind all the nasty reviews too that have been written since Gladstones's change in ownership.)

Will I write a nastygram about this place too?

DREAMING... THE FARMER'S MARKET

header image / one / two / three / four

Getting through Monday was a toughie with the Brentwood Farmers' Market still on my mind.

My mind keeps drifting to how homey that market felt, and obviously to how I wished I had these vintage-y, farm-y items! Don't these items remind you of farms and markets?

MMMMMMEZZE (and my recipe to job-hunting success)

Now that I have a full-time job, I can make this food porn a reality again. 

And yes, that's me bragging about finding a job within two weeks of graduating from college! My recipe? A lot, a lot of luck -- and an intense program of sending out at least five resumes every night, emailing alumni contacts (some randomly), hooking up to LinkedIn, etc. Also, I learned a lot, a lot about crafting my resume and catering to different employers.

All that said, the job market is so cruel. I can share my recipe for success, but you may find that there's more to it for you. Still, best wishes for anyone hunting for a job right now!

But rather than talk about the dismal job market, can I share with you some beautiful dishes from Mezze?

[ left: moroccan mint iced tea; right: farm egg shakshouka ]

[ left: hokkaido scallop; right: merguez sausage flatbread ]

[ left: hashweh risotto; right: chocolate mousse ]

COFFEE, COFFEE, COFFEE

Remember my foodie resolutions? Oh yea, I've been keeping up with those!

So here's my update on #5 -- Visit a coffee shop in FIVE different cities. In one weekend, E. and I managed to hit up two new-to-us coffee shops.

You think that's too much coffee? It probably is, but we're addicts (kind of). We can go through two or three cups a morning. No joke, and we like our coffee black as night, no cream, no sugar.

So for us, a coffee excursion is a ton, a ton of fun - and two in one weekend? Glorious! (We also visited Mezze, but that's definitely another post.) So what'd we think of these two places?

SWEET OR SAVORY?

And as I look at this image, I see a big fat spelling mistake. *sigh* That's what you get when you're totally running around crazy, in a rush. I'm packing my bags for a quickie weekend trip to the Bay Area (which should be fantastic). Ah, so much to do and so little time.

But I just wanted to remember this stop in D.C.

D.C. was being rather gloomy the day that we visited. We needed a quick bite to eat, as we were just wrapping up our window shopping around Georgetown, and this place popped out with its bright yellow sunshine-y decorations.

HAPPY PRESIDENTS' DAY!

A day late, but here's hoping that all of you had a lovely Presidents' Day Weekend!

To celebrate, I thought that I'd share Ben's Chili Bowl. It's a D.C. staple, and President Obama gets to eat for free there. Pretty cool perk! (Although he apparently didn't take them up on it?)

LA CLASSIC

Told ya that there were some posts backed up. This one comes to you from two weeks ago.

My friends and I needed some nom-noms late at night, and after a solid win in basketball, we piled in the car and said, "Let's drive!"

We were planning on eating somewhere sketchy, but E's never been to Apple Pan, and when we drove by and saw how (unusually) empty it was, we parked and headed in.

LET THEM EAT CAKE

[ clockwise from top left: peanut butter fudge, red velvet, salted caramel, strawberry lava fudge ]

Oh my goodness, every other block in D.C. there was some kind of cupcake place. I saw Crumbs, I saw Sprinkles -- but once my friend and I got to Georgetown, we knew that we had to get in line for Georgetown Cupcakes. It's like UCLA's Diddy Riese.

(FOGO DE) CHAO DOWN

As E. aptly put it last Tuesday, Fogo de Chao is just something that you've got to do as an Angeleno. Well, we did it - as part of DineLA.

Now I've done DineLA a couple of times now. To me, it's not really that much of a deal. I usually feel like I could've had a cheaper meal at the place, had I gone without DineLA. (True story: I had a fun, lovely and delicious meal at Starry Kitchen that was cheaper than its $16 Dine LA prix fixe.)

Fogo de Chao really did not disappoint, though. $28 (not including tip) for lunch? Completely amazing.

WHAT JUMBACO?

Have you seen the ads for the Jumbaco? Jack-in-the-Box's Jumbo Jack and two tacos deal? Have you tried it?

I have, and I didn't even have the whole thing. I took a bite of Evan's Jumbaco! It is so much food - and thus such a steal, but thus really, really unhealthy. (Luckily, for you, there's not a soapbox in sight.)

So instead of getting a Jumbaco again on Monday night, Evan and I went out in search of a better taco. We found El Paladar Oaxaqueno, supposedly the best taco truck on the Westside (source).

THREE PIES, THREE DAYS

How was your weekend?

Mine was awesome. See evidence above. Gotta love and cherish these three-day weekends when I can get my foodie on.

So which pizza was best?