A Full Day of LA Eating
Author and Photographer: Emily Bae
Think of any type of cuisine. Mexican, Korean, Japanese, New American, the list goes on. It seems impossible to have a bite of all of these different cuisines in one day, but Los Angeles, the “land of endless culinary possibility”, as Eater LA coins it, offers the perfect opportunity. Whether you crave Asian food or a light brunch to start off the day, LA is like a buffet where you can enjoy dishes from all over the world, and sometimes even fused together! One of the best things about food in LA is that quality does not depend on price. Sure, there are lots of fine dining restaurants especially near Westwood, but you can still enjoy good food on a reasonable budget. Now that that’s said, I’m here to introduce some must-try places in LA. It’s hard to narrow them down into a couple selections but here’s my take at it. Hope you enjoy!
1. Cafe Dulce
Dulce is located in USC Village and is a popular destination for USC students. It’s the perfect spot for a light breakfast or a grab-and-go drink. It’s popular for two main reasons: the blueberry matcha latte and the pastries. The Blueberry Matcha Latte is a drink that has been buzzing amongst USC students for quite a while, and I’d say it’s definitely worth the hype. At first sight it looks like a typical green tea latte, but the fresh scent of blueberries hits you hard once you take a sip and a natural fruity sweetness fills your mouth before the matcha’s bittersweetness. Their sandwiches are the perfect complement to this drink. The Chicken Pesto sandwich and the Dulce Club are my two favorites. They make their sandwiches on the spot as soon as you order so the bread is especially warm and crisp. That’s their secret recipe to making good pastry. Their sandwich fillings are super fresh and flavorful but it’s the softness and crispiness of their bread that makes all the difference. To finish off your breakfast with something sweet, their donuts are the absolute go-to. While their Berry Danish and Blueberry Roti Bun were also sweet and savory, they didn’t melt in my mouth as much as their bacon donut. If you’re up for great ambience and amazing bread, Dulce is the perfect spot to munch on a sandwich while sunbathing in LA weather.
2. Kinari Aburi Sushi & Noodle
After shopping in Melrose Trading Post (an amazing thrift shopping destination), there’s no other place for a filling lunch than Kinari. Kinari’s cream ramen is a must-try and a chef's favorite. Because of the name of the dish, I expected it to have a heavy and oily taste. But Chef Yukinari Yamamoto decided to switch things up a little and make a plant-based broth using kelp, mushroom, and onion. So even after clearing a bowl, the ramen goes easy on your stomach. If you’re looking for a more clean and refreshing taste, the shobu ramen is your go-to. You can also customize the spiciness level and add toppings as you wish such as garlic, which I’d definitely recommend to enhance the savory flavor of scallion and chashu pork inside the ramen. Another one of the chef’s favorites is the Aburi combo special. Aburi in Japanese means flame-seared so Aburi sushi means torched sushi. It’s a type of sushi that originates from Osaka, Japan. The flame adds a burnt flavor to the sushi, leaving no “fishy” taste and is the perfect introduction for newcomers to sushi. The combo special lets you pick a hand roll from the menu so that’s an added bonus!
3. Mochinut
LA has a lot of good dessert places like Oakobing and SomiSomi in Koreatown. But as an avid lover of pastry, Mochinut is a go-to. Mochinut is located in Westfield Century City and its name is a portmanteau derived from mochi, which are Japanese rice cakes, and classic American-style donuts. Their donuts are trending for their unique shape of eight small, round dough balls connected in the shape of a ring. Interestingly, their mochi donuts are made of sticky sweet rice flour which gives them a completely different texture from traditional donuts. Crispy on the outside and soft and chewy on the inside, mochi donuts have an addictive stickiness to each bite that keeps you chewing. Mochinut offers a wide array of flavors, including sugar-glazed, chocolate, vanilla, earl grey, and matcha. My favorite was the blueberry-yogurt which was topped with a Quadratini blueberry-yogurt wafer. It’s both sweet enough to give you that magical cotton candy feeling and chewy enough to keep you munching effortlessly. Mochinut also has Korean rice flour hot dogs, which are coated in rice flour batter and come with a selection of spicy sausage and mozzarella cheese as their filling. If you visit Mochinut, I’d suggest giving the mozzarella cheese hot dogs a try.
4. Meizhou Dongpo
Century City has many different types of Chinese cuisines to offer, from Din Tai Fung’s dim sums to Haidilao’s hotpot. If you’re going for a Sichuan-style meal, known for its ma la (hot and numbing) flavor, I’d highly recommend Meizhou Dongpo. This place gives a modern touch to classic Sichuan dishes and while their menus are mostly Sichuan-inspired, their signature dishes include crispy duck and Dongpo pork. The crispy duck here is phenomenal and pairs especially well with the chili oil and sesame paste sauce that comes along with their Sichuan dim sum menu. Although they provide you with a special sauce for the duck which has a tangy, sour flavor, I’d suggest ordering both the crispy duck and Sichuan dim sums so you can enjoy the perfect combination of roast duck with the dim sum sauce. Honestly, the chili oil and sesame paste combo bedazzled me so much that I’d recommend ordering anything off the menu that pairs well with these two sauces. Their fried rice, for example, is a great complement. If you’re looking for something more Sichuanese, their Dan Dan noodles have a deep flavor and a little bit of spice that lets you experience the addictive spiciness of Sichuan cuisine. Although a bit on the pricey end, the ambience here is perfect for a special occasion because you can dine outside in the terrace area and enjoy the nice weather outside.
Hope you enjoyed this guide! To finish off, here are some of my top pick menus that I’d like to bring to Chicago if I could:
Blueberry Matcha Latte at Cafe Dulce
Crispy Duck with Sichuan Dim Sum sauce at Meizhou Dongpo
Blueberry Yogurt mochi donut at Mochinut
Aburi Combo Special at Kinari