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28 05, 2013

SunCafe | Studio City, CA

By vivilinh | 2014-07-24T09:16:58+00:00 May 28th, 2013 | Food, Restaurants | 0 Comments

i’ve always been a meat lover (even when my parents turned vegetarian). if anything, i became more of a meat lover after i started my job and frequent steakhouses (hard life, i know). it was not until my cousin dragged me to native foods cafe in costa mesa that i fell in love with vegan food! (vegan / vegetarian food has come such a long way) since then, i’ve been on the prowl for a good vegan place in los angeles! lucky us, we have suncafe! what we like to get:

lettuce leaf tacos – sun chorizo, cashew cheese, pico de gallo, avocado, green onion, pecan pieces & basil ranch
sun nachos – sun chorizo, nacho cheese, cashew cheese, guacamole, pico de gallo, olive, jalapeño, green onion with 50/50 thin-sliced jicama chips and baked blue corn chips
portobello sandwich – with avocado, spinach, garlic pecan crumble, cashew cheese
the kale colossus – kale, sun chorizo, mushroom, bell pepper, onion, pico de gallo, raisin, banana
kale shake – they won best shake award. try it, you will know why
supreme pizza – marinara, sun chorizo, tomato, marinated bell pepper & onion, cashew cheese, on ﬂatbread (if you feel adventurous try it raw)
sliders – on the special menu

we are not fans of:

mac and cheese
pad thai

we always, always get the shake. two people can split one since it is pretty large. the lettuce leaf tacos are kyle’s favorite.

nachos are great! get the 50/50. if you get sick of the jicama, just jump over to the tortilla chips and vice versa.

ambience: this place is relatively small and can get a little hot. we’ve been in there when there was just a small fan blowing around warm air. at least its clean.
service: very friendly. they know their food.
parking: metered street. good luck!
overall: this is now our healthy spot (relatively healthy). food is great here. some items are better than others but still would not hesitate to recommend this place.

don’t worry, i still love meat. if i’m feeling sluggish, heavy and in need of a lighter meal, suncafe is my first choice.

SunCafe
3711 Cahuenga Blvd W
Studio City, CA 91604

20 05, 2013

Japanese Dessert @ Mitsuru Cafe | Downtown Los Angeles, CA

By vivilinh | 2014-07-24T09:17:36+00:00 May 20th, 2013 | Coffee, Tea, & Bakeries, Dessert, Food, Restaurants | 1 Comment

i’ve been going to mitsuru cafe in little tokyo since i was a kid. what do we get here? imagawayakis! think hybrid pancake/waffle filled with sweet red beans. have i ever told you that i love red beans? love.

it is best when you get it fresh / hot. if i am ever in little tokyo, i cannot (i repeat) cannot walk by this place without buying at least three. usually i buy a 10 and eat it all day. a tip: keep it warm or warm it up if you eat it later. it is better that way.

it is one of my favorite desserts in la. i do understand that it is not for everyone but if you want to try a little japanese treasure and what i consider a staple in little tokyo, come here and eat this. it’s fabulous.

yum.

Mitsuru Cafe
117 Japanese Village Plz Mall
Los Angeles, CA 90012

18 05, 2013

Breakfast Burrito @ Corner Cottage | Burbank, CA

By vivilinh | 2014-07-24T09:17:53+00:00 May 18th, 2013 | Food, Restaurants | 1 Comment

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

13 05, 2013

Sugarfish | Beverly Hills, CA

By vivilinh | 2014-07-24T09:18:11+00:00 May 13th, 2013 | Food, Restaurants | 0 Comments

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

8 05, 2013

Geoffrey’s | Malibu, CA

By vivilinh | 2014-07-24T09:18:29+00:00 May 8th, 2013 | Food, Photography, Restaurants | 1 Comment

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

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