Villains Tavern was the third stop on our grub crawl. We felt like a little day drinking was in order, and this rad downtown bar totally fit the bill. It’s got sort of an old-timey, prohibition-era, alchemist vibe. It’s definitely more of a nighttime spot, so the crowds hadn’t arrived yet and we had the bartender AND the shuffleboard table all to ourselves. We killed a couple hours sipping on fancy cocktails and craft beers as the sun set, then planned out our final stop on the Grub Crawl.
Villain’s Tavern
1356 Palmetto St
Los Angeles, CA 90013
(We ended up eating dinner at Baco Mercat, then catching a movie. Baco Mercat was kind of underwhelming, and we were sitting outside in the dark so we didn’t attempt to take any pictures anyway… so we’ll spare you the recap of that meal.)
- Jessica
After nomming on some incredible tacos at Guisados, we made our way into Downtown LA for a post-lunch sweet treat. If you live in SoCal and haven’t checked out DTLA’s Arts District recently, you’re really missing out. It’s quite literally a diamond in the rough. It’s still got the same industrial feel as the rest of the area, except there’s amazing street art everywhere you look, cool pop-up shops and galleries, amazing loft apartments, and no shortage of great food.
The highlight of the ‘hood, as far as we’re concerned, is The Pie Hole. Sure, there’s always a line out the door at the Wurstkuche across the street, but sausage has had its moment in the spotlight and frankly we always kinda thought it was overrated. It’s all about pie right now. This was actually our third visit to The Pie Hole, but on our second attempt we were met with a “Sorry- Sold Out” sign outside the door… so this was only encounter #2 with the pies. We got three slices to share among the four of us: Mexican Hot Chocolate, Caramel Chocolate Sea Salt Crostata, and best of all, the “Lonely Pie,” which consisted of a rich chocolate ganache layer on top of a thin layer of peanut butter and potato chips (apparently it was created for sad single people to eat on Valentine’s day, and then it was such a hit that they kept making it!).
The dessert pies are undeniably epic, but TPH also offers savory pies if you don’t have a sweet tooth (or if you just don’t want to eat dessert on an empty stomach). I’m told the chicken pot pie and the mac n’ cheese pie are both wonderful. They’ve also got locally roasted organic coffee and espresso if you like a little caffeine kick with your pie.
The Pie Hole
714 Traction Ave
Los Angeles, CA 90013
From daytime dessert to daytime drinking… our next stop was an indoor/outdoor bar with a bit of a Prohibition-era vibe. That’s Part III, coming up!
-Jessica
That’s right. Not a Pub Crawl, a Grub Crawl. Cuz that’s how we roll.
Back in February (yeah, February, I’m a terrible blogger I KNOW), we grabbed a couple friends and set out on a culinary adventure covering parts of East LA and Downtown. The goals were to: a.) eat. a lot. b.) explore parts of L.A. we don’t typically hang out in, and c.) break our friends out of their South Bay bubble on a rare no-kids adventure. We definitely succeeded on all 3 counts, particularly the first one. Early on we dubbed the day “Faturday.”
Our friends Manoj and Alexis appreciate progressive dining almost as much as we do, so we knew they’d be the perfect companions for our inaugural grub crawl (this was the first of many more to come, trust me).
Stop #1 was Guisados, a modern (but super authentic) taqueria in East LA. Based on Jonathan Gold’s glowing review, not to mention the hundreds of others on Yelp, we knew we had to venture over to Boyle Heights and see what all the fuss was about. Let me just, tell you, I LOVE THIS PLACE. We don’t make a habit of driving an hour+ in LA traffic, but ever since the grub crawl I’ve been scheming about how to get back to Guisados.
So here’s what you do when you get there: You get the mini taco sampler. Especially if it’s your first time (but even if it’s not), I can’t imagine a better introduction to all the incredible flavors you’ll find at Guisados. And the handmade tortillas, Oh, the tortillas. So fresh, so soft, slightly thicker than you might expect. They’re the perfect vehicles for tasty braised meats like tinga de pollo, conchinita pibil, and mole poblano. After you select your meats (or seafood or veggies, if that’s your thing), you’ll pick your heat level for certain tacos. Be careful. Their 4 is like a 7 or 8 by white people standards. Even though my spice tolerance has vastly improved in the last 2.5 years of living in LA, I’m still a white girl and my tongue just isn’t designed for that kind of spice assault. I downed so much horchata trying to put out the fire. Or maybe that was just my excuse. That horchata was delicious.
Also, if you check in on foursquare and show the cashier your phone, you get a free cheese quesadilla. If you think that doesn’t really sound special or exciting, well, in most cases you’d be right but in this case you’d be wrong. so wrong.
Guisados
2100 E Cesar Chavez Ave
Los Angeles, CA 90033
(323) 264-7201
Our next stop was a mid-day sweet treat in the Arts District of DTLA, so stay tuned!
- Jessica
Did you all have a nice weekend? Ours was super lazy and relaxing. We survived Carmaggedon, which turned out to be not such a big deal… it seems like everyone left town for the weekend or stayed home. Even downtown Santa Monica, which is usually swarming with people all summer, was relatively calm. It was so nice to stay local and have absolutely no weekend agenda!
We thought we’d share two pretty treats we’ve made recently. On the left is a cranberry margarita– we swear by Dr. Swami & Bone Daddy’s Top Shelf Margarita Mix. It’s a long, silly name, but it’s the best! On the right is some homemade strawberry chocolate chip ice cream. We got these delicious (and huge!) organic strawberries from Whole Foods, and we mixed them with sugar, cream, vanilla, and a little lemon juice… it made the. best. ice cream. ever.
I think I’ll try making peach ice cream next. We’ve been eating tons of sweet juicy peaches lately. Summer fruit is the best!
- Jessica
Did y’all have a nice 4th of July weekend? We celebrated with made-from-scratch waffles (I’ve been tweaking the recipe for a couple years and it’s finally perfect), topped with homemade whipped cream and tons of berries. We set up a table in the backyard and basked in the nice warm sunshine– it was lovely! I have a feeling our little 4th of July brunch might just become a yearly tradition.
We watched fireworks (LOTS of them) from the top of the parking structure at the Grove. It’s a great spot for a panoramic view of L.A. and when 9:00 hits there are fireworks shows in every direction. I think I counted 13 different shows! AND it wasn’t super crowded so we didn’t have to deal with grumpy crowds and insane traffic. WIN.
Where do you go to watch fireworks (or fire off your own)?
- Jessica
P.S. last year’s 4th of July post
We’ve never really been wine drinkers. Up until about a month ago, most of what we’d tried kinda reminded us of drinking stomach acid. But we’ve slowly started introducing some red wines into our repertoire, and you know what? There’s some good stuff out there! We’ve discovered a few bottles that we’ve really enjoyed sharing with friends. Of course, since we don’t really know what we’re doing, we’ve made all of our selections based on the design of the labels. We pay way more attention to typography and graphics than we do to the description of the wine. Above are a few of the wines we’ve tried recently, along with a couple that look pretty intriguing.
My personal favorite was the Jam Jar Shiraz… lots of yummy berry notes! Curt liked the Luchador (but mostly because the label is freakin’ sweet), and Jen was a big fan of the House Wine.
For those of you who are wine drinkers… got any recommendations for us?
- Jessica
This is what happens when Curt goes grocery shopping with me.
- Jessica
Last week a friend asked me “what type of beers do you like?” and I drew a complete blank – total deer in the headlights. I really like beer and I had nothing, zlich, brain fart. I’m by no means a snob or an expert on beer, but when you don’t like wine and frosty brews happen to be the new “it” gastro pairing, I’ve found ways to try a lot of great beers. Unfortunately, I forget the names of most of the micro brews I come across, but here’s a few that I could remember. Maybe there’s a few up there that you haven’t tried yet. Let us know what your favorite brew and pairing is!
- Curt
We’ve been eating really healthy lately, which means no sugar. And while it’s nice to fit into old jeans again, it’s not nice when bloggers post all these enticing pictures of sweet treats! Doesn’t a s’mores cookie sound like the most amazing thing you’ve never tried?!
1. Crustabakes‘ Chocolate Peanut Butter Mousse Tart via Creature Comforts
2. Donuts from Butterflyfood spotted on Celia‘s blog
3. Meringue-encased Lemon Cakes on {this is glamorous}
4. S’mores cookie from Etsy’s Cookie Crowd via Oh Joy!
- Jessica
January 12, 2011 | In
Food
Plenty of our blogger friends are offering up their 2010 “best of” lists. For most of them that means albums, movies, or significant events from the completed year. For us, it seemed fitting to recap with food. We tried lots of new restaurants (whether new to the world or just new to us). We cooked up new dishes in the kitchen and put the stand mixer to good use with various baking experiments. We even went on a couple of foodie vacations! So, if you’re ready for the fully food-tastic review, read on…
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