BAFoodie On the Road: Los Angeles

Phew, what a whirlwind over the last few weeks! Right after getting back from Philadelphia, it was off to Los Angeles to visit my elementary school best friend, Mia. I'll spare you the squeals of joy that emanated from this 20-something-year-old-turned-13-years-old. They were shrill. They made the police officer at the airport smile at the reunion of two good friends who've known each other since they were 8-years-old

Anyway, not only did I get some sunshine and much needed relaxation, along with a brief sighting of Mario Lopez (cue me imitating Jessie Spano's "I'M SO EXCITED!"), but I ate at some pretty great places. Sadly, I did not manage to get to In N Out burgers. Next time. Before I break this trip down by all the tasty treats I consumed, I have to give a big thanks to my friend, Zack, who put together a fantastic list of places to eat and see on my trip. Here's what I ate in Los Angeles:

Pink's Hot Dogs

Okay, so it's a cliche tourist spot. But I had to eat here. One Today Show dog later (that's two all-beef hotdogs on one large bun with chili, cheese, onions and guacamole, thankyouverymuch), I was sold on this place. I will say that Ben's Chili Bowl has Pink's beat on chili any day.

Short Order

Oh, you thought the burger craze was all the rage just in DC? LA is essentially the burger maven's haven. Short Order, the Counter, Umami Burger, In N Out, are just a few of the places I spied as I roamed Los Angeles. I only could eat one burger during my trip. I'm only one woman, after all. Short Order did indeed deliver on a juicy, flavorful burger, though it could have used some more secret sauce on Ida's Old School Burger.

Pizzeria Mozza

I never would have expected to encounter so much Italian food in Los Angeles. But Mario Batali's spot proved to me that fantastic, thin crust pizza does exist on the west coast. Our other dishes were a little on the salty side, but the meatballs and fried zucchini blossoms were tasty. Mozza also reaffirmed my newfound love for (read: borderline obsession) the heavenly dessert known as budino--pudding with a salted caramel topping. Be still my heart.

Bay Cities

I practically thought I was back in New Jersey when I stepped into this place. Real Italian deli sandwiches, the biggest cans of Cento tomatoes I have ever laid eyes on, amaretti cookies and a case full of homemade antipasti and salads. Their salami and mozzarella sandwich felt like home.

The Coffee Bean

In the words of my friend Zack, "If you ever want a Starbucks, go to Coffee Bean instead; that's super LA." Indeed it was. And their coffee was pretty tasty (and not burnt!).

The Original Farmer's Market & Bennett's Ice Cream

While it's not exactly a classic farmer's market (read: there are booths with trinkets and other non-food items), this was a pretty cool location to wander through on a sunny afternoon. I stopped at Bennett's to grab a scoop of their delicious ice cream with chocolate-covered toffee bits in it.

Mashti Malone's

Rosewater and lavender ice cream were just the beginning of the unique flavors I found here. Perfect little treat on a hot day in LA.

So those were the highlights of where I ate in LA. Next up on my travel itinerary: Boston. Holler with suggestions on where to eat in Beantown!

Take a bite: www.bonappetitfoodie.com.

Fight Childhood Hunger in America at the DC Bloggers Bake Sale

Here's a staggering statistic: nearly one in five children across the country will struggle with hunger this year. That's more than 16 million children in the U.S. who do not get enough to eat. Share Our Strength's No Kid Hungry campaign aims to end childhood hunger in America, and there's a simple way that you can help support the campaign this week.

On April 26th, more than 30 of us DC food bloggers are participating in Share Our Strength’s Great American Bake Sale campaign. All you have to do is stop by and buy some baked goods this Thursday.

Here are the details: 

Who: DC Food Bloggers and Share Our Strength
What: A bake sale
When: Thursday, April 26, 2-6 PM
Where: 1150 15th Street NW, Washington Post building on the first floor

Here's a list of (some of) the participating bloggers:

• allacucina.com 
• annasaintjames.com 
• bonappetitfoodie.com 
• cooklikeachampionblog.com 
• cookography.com 
• domenicacooks.com
• feastie.com
• floridagirlindc.blogspot.com
• foodietots.com
• foodwanderings.blogspot.com
• frijolita.com
• healthierkitchen.blogspot.com
• motherwouldknow.com
• mrswheelbarrow.com
• notderbypie.com
• onevanillabean.com
• patismexicantable.com
• remakingchristine.com
• thebittenword.com
• thescramble.com
• trufflesbyemily.com
• whiskeddc.com

So stop by the bake sale this Thursday, buy some treats and help Share Our Strength try to end childhood hunger in America by 2015. Thanks to Cathy Barrow, aka Mrs. Wheelbarrow, for organizing this and getting this bake sale off the ground, as well as The Washington Post for letting us use their building to host the sale. Thanks in advance for any support!

Take a bite: www.bonappetitfoodie.com.

Restaurant Review: Mama Chuy's

I've got a thing going lately of trying to find the hole in the wall places with good food in DC. The places that are a little off the beaten path. So when my friend Tony suggested we head to a spot not far from our friend's house and one that I had never heard of, I was in.

Mama Chuy's is a family-owned Mexican restaurant over on Georgia Avenue NW, near Howard University. The brother and sister team, Joe and Dinora Orozco, started the restaurant earlier this year and named it after their grandmother. The menu is mainly made up of smaller dishes or sopes, though you can order entrees as tacos if you're particularly hungry.

The meal started out on a good note with the guacamole that was creamy and zesty with the homemade chips. While the quesadillas on the menu seemed like standard Mexican appetizer fare, the vegetarian ones with a chickpea poblano puree were a different, savory twist. Mixing and matching up dinner, I tried a variety of sopes and tacos--al pastor, carnitas, carne asada and pollo. The standouts I would go for would be the al pastor or the pollo (read: tender pork, flavorful chicken). Opt for tacos if you want the soft tortilla or sopes if you want a crunchy base piled high with toppings. While the location itself might be no frills, the presentation on all of the platters was nice and the ingredients were fresh.

Mama Chuy's is a good pick for cheap eats in the vicinity of Columbia Heights and for when you want to try some place that isn't the tired and tried Tex-Mex cuisine.

Take a bite: www.bonappetitfoodie.com.

BAFoodie On the Road: Philadelphia

I won't lie that I was probably more excited about where I was going to eat in Philadelphia than the work conference I was there for. I had visions of cheesesteaks and legit Italian food dancing in my head before I snapped to and realized that I was going for work, and thus there would be just about no free time to take my tastebuds on a field trip. However, I did make it to a few places worth noting. And I discovered that Philadelphia has a pretty respectable restaurant scene that I hope to get back to soon.

Barbuzzo

 

If you have time for just one meal, go here. Don't second guess it, just listen to me and pony up to the cozy spot on 13th street. This place--the food, the vibe, the decor, the drinks in glass Ball jars--is practically everything I dream of having if I ever own a restaurant someday. The cheese-stuffed meatballs, their whipped ricotta, the uovo pizza with the creamy white sauce and a runny truffled farm egg in the middle, the brussel sprouts with pancetta and the six-hour smoked pork ragu with broccolini known as tufoli calabrese. Oh, the tufoli calabrese!

You think you can't make it to the finish line and that you've consumed far to many carbs to push yourself any further--but then there's the budino: a pudding with a dark chocolate cookie crust and a layer of thick, gooey, salted caramel on top. I file that little jar of happiness under categories such as "heavenly" and "divine." The budino was so good that I came back for a bonus round two nights later (and mainly because I had the most disappointingly bland dinner at Marc Vetri's Amis, that my friend and I decided to skip dessert there altogether).

Tommy Dinic's 

I'll cop to being slightly misguided when I first heard that I had to go eat at Reading Terminal. "Food court," I thought. Nay. Rather, Reading Terminal delivered the largest sandwich I have probably consumed in my adult life complete with hand-pulled, roasted Italian pork (plus all the drippings and tasty pork juices on the sandwich), broccoli rabe and slices of provolone that buckled under the heat of the fillings. Be prepared to skip dinner after lunch there. But if you do have room, hit up Bassett's for some good ice cream. I recommend Preston & Steve's Gadzooks or Guatemalan Ripple.



Pat's King of Steaks

If I could, I would complete a study in the cheesesteak. I would make my journey through every place in the confines of Philadelphia that serves a cheesesteak, take a very long nap, ponder the merits of phosphorescent whiz-drenched onions, and then write about it. Alas, I only had time for one. Apparently, it is frowned upon to eat at Pat's and then directly cross the street to try Geno's, and I suppose I'm glad I did not make that faux pas. The cheese whiz, the hot, seared steak on a flat top that is the cornerstone to such a classic institution, the crusty, toasted roll all culminate in an experience every man, woman and child should have upon visiting Philadelphia.

So thanks, Philadelphia, for showing me some good eats, and to the friends who recommended places to go and see in their fair city.

Take a bite: www.bonappetitfoodie.com.