Food | fabliss - Part 25

Breakfast Burrito @ Corner Cottage | Burbank, CA

one saturday morning, we decided to search “best breakfast burritos in LA”. for two people who grew up hating eggs, this a pretty good beginning to eggs (a beautiful one in fact)… hence the genesis of our breakfast burrito list. so far, we’ve had lucky boy’s in pasadena (kyle’s #1), sweetsalt in toluca lake, huckleberry in santa monica (my #1. it has creme fraiche in it!), crown burger in noho, and tom’s in noho. this weekend, we ventured to corner cottage in burbank to try this baby out.

here are our thoughts:

breakfast burrito: served till 11am. comes with eggs, potatoes and cheese (base price $4.05). we added bacon and sausage (always) making the burrito 75 cents more! grand slam. so before coming here, kyle knew that the salsa here was what people raved about. its bomb and its on fire. even though he knew that, he ordered our (shared) burrito with extra salsa inside the burrito. mistake (for me at least). i can eat spicy but not like him. for those of you who love fast food like we do, on a del taco hot sauce scale…im a del scorcho but not quite del inferno.

yes, that is a guy is preparing little to-go salsa sides. it is that popular. they are serious about it. and yes, they make the salsa in bulk (in a rice cooker bowl too).

one bite in and my whole mouth was on fire and my eyes teared up. struggle city. but eating more of it helped so i slapped even more salsa on it. by the end, i had numb mouth. obviously salsa is great. bacon was crisp. hash browns provides a great fluffy cloud. we didn’t even really taste the egg. good, tasty burrito.

ambience: don’t be scared of their sign outside that says “breakfast burritos, teriyaki bowls and hamburger specials”… they make a golden burrito here and they know it. space is small. bar seats and two small tables inside and a few bench tables outside. you aren’t really here long. you order, you chow down and you’re done.

overall: i would come back here. but i also like lucky boy’s and huckleberry more if we were only comparing the burrito itself. the benefit of this one is that is it closer for us.

Corner Cottage
310 S Victory Blvd
Burbank, CA 91502
Neighborhood: Burbank

By vivilinh | May 18th, 2013 | Food, Restaurants | 1 Comment

Sugarfish | Beverly Hills, CA

we were excited that another sugarfish opened up in LA. to put your name in, you walk into an open seating area that is uber aesthetically pleasing. black with wood accents…simple, clean and very sugarfish. since sugarfish always gets crowded for dinner, i’m glad they have a waiting area at this location!

the only other locations we have been to are downtown and studio city so we can only speak to these when we say the quality of the fish is outstanding. this location has the same menu and same concept as the other two.

food: 5 stars. still my favorite sushi place in LA. kyle got the nozawa and i got the trust me. the difference is that the nozawa comes with two piece snapper and the daily special, which on this night was sweet shrimp. on top of that, we got two pieces of the fatty tuna. oh, fatty tuna, how have we gone our whole lives without you?! if i had to pick my two favorite (like had to pick even though i love it all)…it would be the albacore and the toro (fatty tuna)!

ambience: simple, clean, trendy. cool thing about this location: the nozawa bar! there is a room in the back of the restaurant that seats 15 (reservations only and have to be made online). $150 for dinner and $130 for lunch. we didn’t even know about the room until we talked to ernie, the manager… en amazing manager btw. good catch sugarfish! if you make a res, you will be enjoying a 20 course meal… omakase style (no ordering) in a japanese style room intimately with the chef. we have never done omakase but are so freaking excited to do this next time we come here!

we chatted for awhile about the omakase room (even got a tour before it started at 7:30pm but no pictures allowed) and found out that sugarfish’s potential expansion into NY. sugarfish is doing great things and we couldn’t be happier for them.

oh, and who walks into the restaurant while we were eating?! nozawa himself!

overall: great fish, great people, great experience. a little pricey but totally worth it. trust me.

212 north canon drive
beverly hills, ca 90210

By vivilinh | May 13th, 2013 | Food, Restaurants | 0 Comments

Geoffrey’s | Malibu, CA

our first time at geoffrey’s was more than 7 years ago (when we were young, broke and dating. those were the days)! we talk about it all the time as a great meal and about how we are going to come back etc. we just never made it back until now. this time we came for brunch!

we came here for my dad’s birthday. why this place is a gem: the view!!! perfect way to spend a sunday morning sipping on a cup of coffee.

what we ordered:

ahi tuna tartare
crab cake benedict over toasted croissant topped with hollandaise sauce
challah french toast
sautéed sea scallops with maine lobster risotto and a pomegranate reduction
seafood paella with saffron rice

the tuna tartare were delicious!! i would definitely get this again! great spicy kick. the french toast was eh. nothing special. go for the seafood.

another shot of the view. i could stay here forever.

pops was a fan of the paella. crab cakes were just ok. they were over a toasted croissant. not sure how i felt about it…mostly underwhelmed. my favorite dish (pictured above) were the scallops. great, great dish. it’s a little on the heavy side so you definitely dont want more than they serve. risotto was delicious (i’m not normally a fan of this), scallops were perfectly cooked and i was pleasantly surprised how well the pomegranate worked with this combination! this is the must get.

got the bread pudding for dessert. caramel sauce was burnt. it was ok.

service: great!
ambience: the view is to die for.
price: on the high side. you really do pay for the view. great for special occasions.
overall: i would recommend this to anyone looking (i) to get away from the hustle and bustle of los angeles, (ii) to wind down from a hectic week, and (ii) for some great seafood.

Geoffrey’s
27400 Pacific Coast Hwy
Malibu, CA 90265

By vivilinh | May 8th, 2013 | Food, Photography, Restaurants | 1 Comment

Salju Dessert | Alhambra, CA

our newest discovery: shaved snow! we are huge fans of shaved ice…but this concept of shaved snow blew our minds!

so one main big difference is that shaved snow is shaved…(wait for it)… frozen milk! think ice cream meets shaved ice… the milk makes it creamy/fluffy and just a nice place to call heaven when its a tad sweaty outside.

don’t be fooled by how it looks (not the greatest presentation). after a few minutes of research and a 40 minute drive later (on a slightly hot day), we fell in love. how do you go back to a life before this? we are still trying to figure that out.

at salju dessert, you can get it any way you want (like yogurtland, menchies, etc and put coco pebbles and then some gummy bears lol) but I like it with just fruit. what you need to decide:

size: we share a medium.
snow flavor: our favorite is lychee
syrup: condense milk is a must. (it is drizzled on top)
toppings: we get coconut jelly, mango, strawberry and red beans.

that’s all ya need!

cost of a medium $5. cheap price of a piece of heaven, agreed? we also like the strawberry milk tea!

find us here during the summer. fo sho.

Salju Dessert
35 W Valley Blvd Ste B
Alhambra, CA 91801
Neighborhood: Alhambra

Category: Dessert, Shaved Snow, Shaved Ice

By vivilinh | May 2nd, 2013 | Coffee, Tea, & Bakeries, Dessert, Food | 0 Comments

Bäco Mercat | Downtown Los Angeles

kyle read in GQ magazine that bäco mercat was the best new restaurant of 2012. since it was such a bold statement, we decided that it will be the next place on our list to try. so for my birthday, he made a reservation for two!

bäco = a sandwich. apparently, a special one. we decided to order:

el pesco bäco – crispy shrimp, sriracha, chive dressing. obviously we got this because of the sriracha.
bazole soup – noodles, pork broth, mushroom and a fried egg (haha, no we did not enjoy the egg).
caramelized cauliflower w/pine nuts, mint and garlic
hamachi crudo w/ avocado and hash brown ball
pork bell ricotta cavatelli (recommended by the waitress)
cocä bondiga (also recommended by the waitress)
tamarindo & mango soda (made in-house)

one thing we were blown away by: the bäco pop! before coming here, we heard that the soda here was amazing. amazing? psh. obviously i did not believe it. we got the tamarindo and mango soda anyway. …i was completely wrong. so wrong. the soda was delicious! i literally was blown away by it. (yep) i would come here for this soda. we actually wanted to buy a case of this for our home. nuff said.

hamachi crudo came first. this was delicious!! it was a great start to our dinner. a pleasant surprise was the hash brown in the form of a ball. great compliment to the hamachi and the guac.

onto the bäco! besides the fact that it is just a pita sandwich (i really dont know what we were expecting)…it was wonderful! the batter was still slightly crispy, the sriracha added a great kick! great, sandwich! we get the craze.

the bazole was something we did not expect. we really thought it was going to be pozole… ya know, the kind we eat during the holidays. nothing like it. think ramen…with a huge egg in it. broth was good but the dish overall was just ok.

the cauliflower was great. i was a fan.

the cavatelli (a pasta) was recommended by the waitress. this was awful. we did not like this at all. not only was the cavatelli green, it kind of looked like we were eating worms. so childish, i know. but it wasnt just that…the combination of the pork and the cheese…it didnt taste very good. do not get this. there are definitely better dishes than this.

cocä aka crispy flatbread…so basically this is just a thin crust pizza in our opinion. we were not expecting this…at all. we ordered the bondiga – three cheese, smoked jalapeno and meatball. anyway, it was just ok. we were not in love with this. the cheese is a little overpowering.

onto dessert (my favorite part)! we ordered the (i) caramel upside down cake w/ pineapple and hazelnut and (ii) chocolate banana cake. they were both just ok. my the caramel on my cake was on the burnt side, which i am not a huge fan of (some people love this).

overall: while some dishes were a hit or a miss, the hits were definitely worth mentioning and recommending. we would come back here for sure.
parking: street or lot. expect to pay…its downtown.
tip: make a reservation. this place gets packed!

Bäco Mercat
408 S Main St
Los Angeles, CA 90013
Neighborhood: Downtown

By vivilinh | April 22nd, 2013 | Dessert, Food, Photography, Restaurants | 9 Comments

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