Eat. Travel. Eat!

Maccheroni Republic specializes in "artisan handmade fresh organic pasta" at an affordable price point, and is quite popular in the city, having long waits (now made more convenient, with a Yelp waitlist feature ). We decided to check it out for lunch during their DineLA week earlier this year. Stopping by at its opening time for lunch (11 AM), we didn't need to wait long for a table, as the waiters quickly brought a small queue of customers waiting outside to their seats both inside and outside of the restaurants. The interior was rather cozy with tables located quite close to each other, so we opted to sit outside, which was kept warm in a rather cool morning with several heaters.  Alongside each table was bottles of oil (both olive and chili) and vinegar to accompany the bread, which was crusty outside and soft inside.

We've greatly enjoyed our past visits to Larchmont's Cafe Gratitude , and so we were glad to hear that Cafe Gratitude has also opened up in Downtown's Art District--making a for a shorter drive to enjoy their creative vegan and organic foods. The Arts District location takes more of a light colored approach (instead of an emphasis on turquoise), with white chairs and benches, grey walls, yellow chairs, green plants, and woods throughout the entire location. It's also much larger than the Larchmont location--we made reservations, given Cafe Gratitude's general popularity and dineLA, but found out that the restaurant was less than half full when we entered. Unlike some of the Yelp reviews about this location, service was great right from the moment we entered the restaurant. We were happily guided to our table, our waiters noted the dineLA menu and dinner specials, checked up on us to make sure we were ready to order (took a while given the many options!)...

Mario Batali, Joe Bastianich, Lidia Bastianich , and Nancy Silverton's Pizzeria Mozza and Osteria Mozza have been extremely popular restaurants in Los Angeles, commanding queues that were hours long. So when we were recently in the area and found out on OpenTable that we could reserve seats for lunch at a time just less than a half an hour prior to arrival, we took the opportunity. Pizzeria Mozza is a relatively small restaurant, located adjacent to the larger Osteria Mozza (open for dinner only) and Mozza2Go. Inside, light toned woods and yellows set the tone--a skylight, which was filtered with a yellow skin, provided most of the lighting. A friendly vibe was immediately set with the upbeat employees, who immediately seated us and went through the menu in detail once we told them it was our first time dining here. We found out popular items, and also some notable differentiations--pizzetta meant a smaller pizza, and that any pizza that didn't list "tomato" on i...

Trattoria Amici is a small, local, two location Italian restaurant chain (the other being in Brentwood ) focused on fresh ingredients, handmade pastas, and wine. On a recent visit to the Americana at Brand, we decided to visit it for lunch. . Inside, Trattoria Amici presents multiple seating areas and options, whether it be a covered patio or indoor seating with different setups. We were seated close to the main entrance, with plenty of sunlight flowing in from the windows. As we perused the regular menu and seasonal menu (spring) our waiter, who regularly checked up on us throughout our meal, brought us some warm, crust bread with fruity olive oil and balsamic vinegar. The soft interior and crusty exterior of the bread paired very well with the accompaniments, and were great to snack on while waiting for our main entrees. In curiosity of what handkerchief pasta would be like, I ordered the Fazzoletti Al Pesto, Gamberetti e Menta (19.95 USD) from the seasonal men...

A famous restaurant for Hainan Chicken Rice, Savoy Kitchen is a very small restaurant on Valley Boulevard that draws large crowds. But it isn't merely an Asian restaurant, but rather it serves both Asian and Italian options--you'll find pizza, pasta, bread, curry, and other options.

Over this summer, I have gone to Sesame Grill several times and have tried some new items that I'd like to share with you readers today. There are definitely more restaurant posts coming; likewise, more travel posts are coming along the way! (tell me what you want more in the comments section please!) One of our visits was during Father's Day; as a result, the restaurant was decked out with white tablecloths, brighter lights, and a special menu in addition to the regular menu. In the past, only special menus were available on holidays, but in this occasion everything was available-- good for those who like options! One of my companions ordered from the special menu, of which he selected clam chowder as the appetizer. Sesame Grill's clam chowder is quite refined; as you might notice in the picture, the mirepoix (onion, carrot, celery) is cut into miniscule cubes. Although the broth has plenty of clam flavor, (as expected from quite visits) it is quite heavy in the cr...

Sesame Grill has been one of the restaurants I've been frequenting for about ten years now, and I've previously posted two reviews on just their early-bird dinner specials . However, I had always meant to write a separate post on simply their lunch specials. With each month past those two reviews, I had always wanted to write this post on Sesame Grill. But then there were problems. The pictures to me seemed mediocre, and so I wanted to improve them with subsequent visits. Soon enough, the pictures were over the amount I would typically post! The time to post about a post of such length became shorter as time moved on, and this post was left to sit out for quite a while. Having not posted for two weeks I might as well do something interesting for this week! Today, I present you these pictures, from all the way back to May of 2009 to current time on Sesame Grill. There has been quite an improvement in their offerings and I think you will be able to sense ...