Best Meals in LA: The 2017-2019 Edition

I thought I had the LA food scene pretty well-documented on this blog, but then I saw that my last LA Eats post was from 2016 – and I’ve been back five times since then!

Instead of sharing every single meal I had, which would be an enormous list, I have decided to curate it by sharing the best meals. Here they are in order:

Guerilla Tacos

My first Michele-star dining experience and boy did it exceed my expectations! I especially loved the Mexican-Japanese fusion. Where else can you eat a tostada with peach and uni?

Bottega Louie

I dine here on every trip to LA. At first, I was just ordering cakes and macarons, but after seeing all the delicious pizza sitting at other diners’ tables which walking through the restaurant to use the bathroom, I decided to order a pizza for myself one time and I became hooked. I love the TARTUFO pizza which includes mozzarella, fontina, truffle pecorino, crème fraîche, black truffle mushroom pâté and a soft cooked egg. Absolutely amazing!

Perch

My first experience at Perch was in the evening with a group of friends, and I was the only one who ordered food. Thank goodness I did because I was able to try their incredible Steak Frites and thus inspired to return on my next trip to LA. We made reservations and were lucky to get outdoor seating next to the edge so we had a fabulous view. The whole experience of being at Perch is awesome from the food, to the service, to the ambiance and view.

The Row at DTLA

The first time we went to The Row it was a Tuesday evening and everything was closed. So we decided to return on a Sunday afternoon to see the place when it was open. That Sunday was packed and people were lined up to get food at some lobster carts outside. I was tempted to join the crowds and line up at the most popular carts, but by chance ended up ordering a Patita, which is slow cooked then deep fried pork shank coated with special spoon & pork sauce served on jasmine rice & cucumber flower, from Spoon and Pork. This was one of the best meals we had on our trip and I am so happy I discovered them.

Daily Dose

Now, I am not a sandwich person. When someone suggests sandwiches I tend to decline. But a friend took me to Daily Dose in a group and I could not dissent. I am so glad I didn’t, because since that first time I tried their delicious sandwiches I retuned on every single trip since. Unfortunately the Daily Dose closed, but the owner opened a new café in the same location that I am eager to try.

Grand Central Market

I love this hawker-style food court and like to try a new restaurant there every time I visit. I have had bagels at a deli, Mexican tacos, and an egg sandwich from the popular Eggslut.

What I ate in Tijuana: An homage to one of the world's most delicious cities - 2017 Edition

I try to keep record of everything I eat whenever I travel. Looking back on all these delicious meals from destinations all over the world has given me a lot of personal satisfaction. 

Tijuana is a special case. 

This is an evolving list. 

I expect I will return here many times and each time I will need to update the list. This first list is from 2017. As always, I'll start with the usual questions and then list ever meal by category:

1.     Food I wished I had but didn't:  Mision 19…next time! Octopus pizza at La Justina, Chinese food

2.     Food I had but wished I didn't: one bad macaroon from Colectivo 9

3.     What should have been on the list: Birria tacos

4.     Biggest surprise: crickets in hot sauce are delicious!

5.     Most delicious meal: Alma Verde chilaquiles

Street food

Crickets in hot sauce

Huevos Ranchers and Birria tacos at 5:00am

Street tacos

Gastro- Mexican

Telefonica – soup and taco

Alma Verde

Verde y crèma: corn and Korean tacos

Desserts

Cake at Puestro

Macaron from Colectivo 9

Bread with Cajeta from the bakery

Ice Cream from street vendor

Western

Colectivo 9 - burger and fries

Loci bar truffle fries

Note, this list does not include all the amazing cocktails I had in Tijauna. I have dedicated another post to that....

Tijuana Diaries 2017

"It was 2:07pm when we walked past the cafe Baristi in the sun and it did not look like it was even beginning to open, although their website listed a start time of 2:00pm, which already seemed quite late. 

Time slides here, like ink across the page. 

A lone girl in a cafe writing about how and why she couldn’t sleep with a women from the bar she met the night before. Her thoughts filling the page of a notebook she would close and stuff into her purse and then take out with her info the world….

My friend took me to his favorite café instead, a place called La Stazione, for a drink that was not coffee but instead grapefruit with a jasmine tea. There I was surprised with the slow pace with which the barista squeezed the grapefruit juice into the glass. I was surprised that he used an entire grapefruit for this drink, and squeezed its juice by hand into the cup. It was like watching someone do it for the first time. His pace set the pace for the entire trip. Everything moves slowly. The pace of one’s walking was slow - to avoid potholes and dog poop no doubt. The service at a restaurant or cafe was slow. Double the time anything takes in America. No one rushes. No one checks their watches. I am alone in my worry of time.

We concluded the evening by having dinner and red wine on the top balcony of the Telefonica Gastro park. I didn’t see the sun set, I just watch the sky change colors and the lights come on overhead. It was peaceful, sublime.

Later that night we ventured out to every gay bar in TJ and we did not return until 5:30 in the morning. I had intended it to be this way. I would have been disappointed if it had been any other way.

At one point, we were sitting at Dandy Del Sur, the oldest bar in Tijuana. It was so crowded there was no room to stand, even line up at the bar. So we moved between tables, between couples sitting down, so that my body practically brushed up against their faces. My friend said they didn’t mind, probably didn’t even notice it. When we finally had a chance to grab a table after one couple left, the three of us were sitting close enough to kiss. I remarked how unusual that was in American culture. We had only just met and it would be uncomfortable to sit so close. My American friend explained that in Mexico people live on top of each other so that no one has any personal space. They don’t mind pushing past each other in a crowded bar, or having their limbs touch others in public spaces. I told him it was like sitting in the middle seat of an airplane, and asking the person beside you to move so you can use the bathroom. Then instead of getting up out of their seat, they just tuck their chin in. We laughed."

- Excerpt from my Diary,  October 21, 2017

Panteón Municipal Uno, Tijuana Cemetery

The last time I went to Mexico in 2010, I didn't get a chance to go to a cemetery, which I greatly regretted. I had been wanting to go to a Mexican cemetery ever since, so on my first weekend trip to Tijuana, I made sure to go to one, even though I was only there two days.

We took an Uber to Panteon Municipal Uno, which I gathered was the biggest and mot accessible according to the maps. Although it was only a 5-minute ride from the Cecut, it felt like the middle of nowhere. It was right at the edge of the border where the great wall loomed large. The neighborhood around it scared me slightly, and I wouldn't want to be there at night.

Unfortuantely I didn't think to check the timing and we arrived at 4:15pm when the cemetery closed at 4:30. The guards were eager to get us out so I had to rush the photos.

A few things I love about this cemetery...the wild growth of succulents and cacti around the graves, the full-color Virgin Mary, and this very special grave, made up of toys and an inflatable spider man in the trees: