california

You’ve got to love Yelp and Thrillist when it comes to finding the best restaurants near you. On vacation I feel like I’m always lost somewhere between taco Tuesday and fit Friday. We love to eat when we go on trips and that is basically all we do aside from the city exploring. It is so hard to resist the incredible food and Los Angeles has over 10,000 restaurants. (Side note, I wonder if any LA natives have ever tried to eat at every single one. Apart from being super expensive, it would take almost 28 years if you tried a new one every day).  I have to say that every restaurant & bar we visited in the Santa Monica/LA/Malibu area had really friendly staff who were also super helpful and cheerful. We definitely did not experience any negative stereotypes that are out there. One of my favorite things about the Los Angeles and surrounding areas was all the street art and walls/buildings. They make the best back drops and I was kind of wishing I had Henry with us to show him. But then I remember how fun it was to drink at 11am and sleep in.

Friday morning we had breakfast at M Street Kitchen near Venice and enjoyed bottomless mimosas and bloody marys while we talked about how much we missed the kids (typical right? parents always want a kid free vacation but end up talking about how much they miss their kids while on vacation).

After Croissant French Toast topped with caramelized apples. bananas, walnuts, cinnamon, and vanilla ice cream with a side of iced vanilla coffee we headed back to the condo to pack and take a little nap before heading south for the night. We ended up renting a hotel room about 5 minutes away from the venue so we wouldn’t have to drive 60 + minutes home at midnight after a night of drinking. The wedding decor was so nicely done and the bride looked incredibly beautiful. She chose such a pretty color pallet for the wedding and I loved that her and groom both wore white. The food during cocktail hour was my favorite and I probably ate my weight in hors d’oeuvre’s. The weather kept cooling off as the night went on so luckily I wasn’t a sweaty mess by the end of the wedding because that is usually what happens when my face meets heat.

After parmesan garlic fries, pretzels as big as my head and enough cocktails for a football team, we hopped on the plane and headed home. We had such an amazing anniversary trip but it was good to get back home to our kids and house. And my waistline wasn’t complaining either 🙂

Tuesday morning starting with a 5am wake up call and a 8am flight. The flight was uneventful and went by pretty fast thanks to a lot of Jack Daniels. We arrived at LAX around 9:30am which was perfect because the time change allowed us to have another full day of vacation not wasted by traveling. The first order of business was UBERing to our condo in Santa Monica. Jan picked the perfect one right on Ocean Avenue on the 18th floor with a beautiful clear view of the ocean. It is so close to the beach and we ended up walking there daily. We wanted to keep lunch simple and close by so we yelped and were brought to Toms Sushi. A little hut in the front of a parking lot with some of the best and freshest sushi I have ever tasted. And surprisingly an A rating by the health department (come to think of it, every restaurant we ate at had an A score).

We drove up the Pacific Coast Highway towards Malibu to V’s Restaurant + Bar for dinner. The drive was beautiful and overlooked the water the entire time. This was a place we found on yelp because the reviews were excellent (4.5/5 stars and 131 reviews). Still being on Atlanta time and being up since 5am, we decided for an early dinner at 5:30. Not surprisingly we were the first ones there but did not mind at all because it was nice to eat a meal alone at a fancy restaurant without the kids and no crowd noise. The waitstaff were so helpful and friendly and the food was incredible. I had the organic spinach pizza with fresh ricotta and parmesan. Jan had the special which had two huge shrimps … almost like prawns over mashed potatoes. The best item of the night was the truffle mac and cheese. We talked about that the entire trip and if there was one thing I could go back and eat, it would be that.

We stopped at the beach on the way back while looking for things to do in Long Beach and watched the sunset and the waves splash against the cliffs. It was breathtaking and so relaxing … something we hadn’t had for a long time before this trip. Probably not in over 2 years since our last vacation to San Francisco (for a trip down memory lane, you can read about it here, here  and here).

Since we were still on east coast time Wednesday morning, we woke up about 5am, had some coffee on the balcony and headed to the beach to watch the sunrise together. The weather was perfect and it was so quiet and peaceful outside. Listening to the waves crash and feeling the ocean breeze was one of the most relaxing parts of the trip.

For breakfast we headed up Santa Monica Blvd. to DK’s Donuts & Bakery, which like their sign states, is probably exactly what donut heaven would be. They have nearly 70,000 followers on Instagram (what??) and they make the most ridiculous donuts which turned out to be the best sweet treat I have ever tried in my life. They even make donut waffles with cereal on top. If you are in the LA area even for a few hours, you have to come here. No excuses since they are open 24 hours!

 

Wednesday night we walked along the Santa Monica Pier, which was very touristy but still a fun sight and then had dinner at Blue Plate Taco with some old friends from middle school/high school. It was so good to see them and they have been such a godsend in planning this trip by giving us advice on everything. We sat outside on the patio and could feel the ocean breeze. The lobster tacos and house margaritas were the stand out items for us but I honestly didn’t even pay attention to the food that much because it was so fun catching up with our friends and we jumped back into conversation like no time had passed.

After dinner we headed to Bar Chloe which was very classic (the bartender wore suspenders and knew how to make an excellent drink). It was recently named the best bar in Santa Monica by LA Weekly and even though it was around 10:30pm when we got there, we were able to snag a bunch of sofas. We stuck with prosecco & IPA since it was getting late and our friends had to relieve their babysitter. I could have stayed and talked and hung out for hours but one thing about visiting people while you’re on vacation is that they are not on vacation and have jobs to get to the next morning.

Thursday morning we walked down to an ocean front cafe at the Back on the Beach, which is part of the Annenberg Beach House (a super nice community pool and bike/ocean rentals). The restaurant was right on the beach and we sat at a cute table with our feet in the cool sand. I ordered the Huevos Rancheros … crispy corn tostadas, fried eggs, ranchero salsa, black beans and queso. My tastebuds were very happy with me and it was my first time ever trying that dish. Jan got the eggs benedict … he totally thinks outside the box 🙂 I seriously ate like I was going to the chair on this trip and it was so worth it.

We did a ton of exploring that day (thank God our condo rental came with a car, because we were able to see SO much). We went all over Hollywood and up Mulholland to see the Hollywood sign and LA from up in the hills. Lunch was at the famous In-N-Out Burger on Sunset Hands down the best drive through burger we have ever tasted. The fries were just okay and we didn’t even eat them all but that’s probably why they’re not called In-N-Out Fries.

For dinner we headed to Korea Town to eat at Pot in the Line Hotel. I had heard of this place through Instagram and it did not disappoint (except for the lighting, it was super dark and full of random spot lights). But we came for the food and it was delicious. Jan had the Grilled Steak Ssam: Crispy Rice, Kimchi & assorted Lettuces. I opted for the Steam Room which was beer braised pork belly, sautéed kimchi and steamed tofu. I added the poached egg on top because I always add an egg to nearly everything. It enhances the meal and you should definitely try it. The Line also has another cool restaurant called Commissiary, which is a greenhouse next to the pool with farm to table style atmosphere. That is on our list next time for sure.