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The Hollywood French Toast Tour June 12, 2011

Filed under: Dining Out,Food,Friends,Hollywood Events — Kelocity @ 10:41 am
Tags: Dining Out, Food, French Toast, Friends, Hollywood, Pancakes

I don’t venture “over the hill” often. I love living in the Valley and can’t stand the Hollywood traffic. But I made the drive twice this weekend with one of my favorites! Janet is pregnant and she’s been craving french toast. And when pregnant mama wants french toast, you go with her to get it. TWICE!

We called this weekend, “The French Toast Tour”, and it all started Friday night at the Larchmont Bungalow.

This was my second time there, and I loved it the first time, so I was psyched to go back again!

I looked at the menu, really I did, but really, I knew in my gut the decision was already made. I ordered the red, white and blue pancakes… again! But Janet came for one reason, and one reason only…. french toast. I think she loved the décor just as much as I do!

We sat outside and chatted for a bit before the food came out. It’s fun dining al fresco on summer nights!

My pancakes were every bit as amazing as I remembered. It’s such a unique taste, and it’s just so pretty!

Janet’s french toast looked beautiful too!

Served with a side of Bacon! Oh man, their bacon was delicious!

I think we had a happy mama!

Breakfast for dinner is fun! I ate as much as I could, and still couldn’t eat the blue velvet slice. I saved it for later!

Friday night dinner with friends!

Janet liked the french toast, but said she was still dreaming about the Griddle Café. We made plans to go for breakfast the next day for part two of the french toast showdown. Janet arrived promptly at 8am yesterday morning. We wanted to avoid the crazy lines and get in early!

Our plan worked, we were seated almost immediately! We ordered coffee, which each came in an individual french press! So cool!

Janet, of course ordered the French Toast. I stole a bite and it tasted like cake! I’ve never tasted anything like it!

Irving ordered a waffle. It was dense and savory and a little bit sweet.

And I completed the breakfast item trifecta by ordering the “Mounds of Pleasure” pancakes (coconut and chocolate filled pancakes topped off with whipped cream). I love coconut, so I ordered them. Holy Canoli! This thing was HUGE!

Three 12-inch pancakes with layers of coconut and chocolate in between. It was the size of a birthday cake. Literally. I can’t even put into words how big this thing was. I was in shock. Right away, I asked for a to-go box. I couldn’t even cut into it, it was so large! I ate about 1/8th of it before being stuffed to the gills. I actually needed a second to-go box just to fit it all in!

The taste was incredible, but next time, just ONE pancake will do! And even then you could probably split it!

We had a great time, the griddle café is a hollywood legend that must be eaten to be believed. I’ve officially been initiated in!

Oh, hi Irving!

So in the end, I think the Griddle Café won for “best tasting french toast”. And it also wins for best tasting and unique flavors of pancakes. And they win for size of pancakes too.

But in my heart, Larchmont wins for prettiest red velvet pancakes.

So much fun, thanks Janet!

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After the Griddle Café, Janet, Chely and I scrapbooked for a solid five hours! I got a few pages done that have been on my to-do list for ages! And when I came home, I took a three-hour nap. Guess I was tired! Can’t think of a better way to spend a saturday: friends, food, scrapbooking and a nap!

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Red, White and Blue….Pancakes! May 29, 2011

Filed under: Dining Out,Food,Los Angeles — Kelocity @ 5:45 pm
Tags: Dining Out, Food, Los Angeles, Pancakes

A while back, my friend Erica told me about Larchmont Bungalow. They are known for their Red and Blue Velvet Pancakes and ever since I heard about them, I’ve been DYING to go!
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Just a few days after I saw her post, it popped up in Groupon and I bought it right away! I was saving it for the perfect weekend, and since it is Memorial Day and all, it seemed appropriate!

It was such a great, cute restaurant with lots of tables scattered around and outdoor seating aplenty. You really do feel like you’re walking into someone’s house when you enter, everything is very cute.

You order your food at the counter and they bring it to your table when it’s ready. We had $30 to spend with our coupon and came up a few bucks short. So it made sense to drool over the dessert selection and grab one for later!

We got a chocolate chip cookie whoopie pie. I don’t know what it is, but there are cookies, chocolate, marshmallows and chocolate. I’m sure it will deserve it’s own post when we attack it, so just sit tight for now.

We sat outside and sipped our coffee while we waited. Boy, was their coffee strooong!

And then, this beauty appeared in front of me. Behold, the Red and Blue velvet pancakes!

I was expecting it to be cakey, but it wasn’t, it had the consistency and taste of a pancake, but with a hint of red velvet in it. It was awesome. In between the warm deliciousness was a layer of cool cream cheese frosting. Topped with walnuts and powdered sugar.

I don’t know how they get it to be so blue, but I’m not asking any questions. It was fabulous.

Irving got the Larchmont French Toast which is “Stuffed with Nutella and plantains, then topped with toasted hazelnuts and served with a warm hazelnut syrup.”

We both saved about half to have again tomorrow.

[Edited to add: I couldn’t wait til tomorrow and have already eaten the leftovers for lunch!]

On the way back home, we saw some angry looking clouds, but they were just passing through.

We’re looking forward to a cookout later today and a nice walk in the evening…. and a long night of playing video games too!

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Bean Burgers & A Bookstore May 13, 2011

Filed under: Dining Out,Food,Pasadena,Travel — Kelocity @ 9:26 pm
Tags: Black Cow Cafe, Books, Dining Out, Distant Lands, Food, Pasadena, Travel

Irving and I won’t see each other much for the next two weeks, so we decided to make tonight special and go on a date. We’ve been married for almost two years, but I still like to go out on dates once in a while. I even made Irving open my car door for me <— That makes it officially a date.

I even got all fancy and put fake silver earrings on. I go on dates in STYLE, people.

We headed over to Montrose, which is a cute little neighborhood off the least used highway in California. Seriously, there is never any traffic on the 2. Gorgeous!

Our destination was The Black Cow Café. We’ve had a coupon for ages and decided it was about time to use it. (We are not ashamed!)

This place was AWESOME! It felt like a restaurant straight out of a movie. You could totally picture two random strangers bumping into each other here and sipping coffee for hours (they hand drip all their coffee!) It was so cute and everyone seemed to know everyone else.

Right when we sat down, we were presented with some Ah-Mazing bread. It was doughy and had the most delicious seasonings on it. (We even asked for seconds).

Our waiter, Victor, was probably the best waiter I’ve ever had in my life. He was funny, to the point, and offered great suggestions. I ordered the Black Bean burger. He asked what I’d like on the side: “Fries, Soup, Caesar Salad or House Salad”. I told him caesar salad. He shook his head and said “nope, go with the house salad, you will love it”. Ok house salad it is!

Victor, you were right, it was epic. It had sprouts, rasins, sunflower seeds, chinese noodles. And the dressing. Oh, the dressing. They make them all in house. Perfection.

The burger was great too. I don’t order veggie burgers often (ok, this was my first time EVER ordering a veggie burger), but it was really great. It tasted like a falafel.

Irving got the meatloaf sandwich that he devoured in about 15 seconds. Victor brought him ranch to dip his fries in and instructed him to mix some hot sauce in it. Well when he walked by and noticed Irving hadn’t mixed the hot sauce in it yet, he gave him a stern look and Irving got scared and mixed it in. You should have seen Irving’s face light up when he tasted it. He declared it “out of this world”. Yea. We’re going back to this place for SURE.

Then we took our party to Pasadena where we walked around a little bit. Our first stop was Distant Lands (our favorite travel book store in Los Angeles). We were on a mission to find a travel book for our trip to Europe. We LOVE the DK Eyewitness series, so we quickly found what we were looking for. We bought the Eastern Europe book. I’m so excited to read through it!
DK Eyewitness Travel Guide Eastern and Central Europe DK Eyewitness Travel Guide Germany

They probably thought I was weird, but I was so excited to take a picture in front of their bookcases.
Travel + Books = LOVE!

After walking around Pasadena a bit more, we headed back home. Date night was a success.

Any suggestions for things to do/see in Germany?

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MMmmmatzo Balls! April 11, 2011

Filed under: Dining Out,Food,Friends — Kelocity @ 4:16 pm
Tags: Canters, Dining Out, Food, Friends, Soup

We went out to eat last night with Erika and Timmy. Seems to be a regular Sunday Night tradition. Such a nice way to end the weekend: good food with good friends.

Last night, we headed to Canter’s Deli in Hollywood. They haven’t been before, and it’s kind of a Los Angeles staple. (Plus I really wanted Matzo Ball Soup!)

The food is great, the decor and the prices however are not. But like I said, the food is great.

That being said, want to see what $40 buys you at Canters?

Bowl of Matzo Ball Soup (with Bagel Chips)

Grilled Cheese (with Ruffle? chips) —Check out that AMAZING cheese!

Monte Cristo (The husband has to eat too!)

Yep. We paid $40 for grilled cheese, soup, a fried sandwich and some chips. And it was awesome. Sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do.

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The Riverside Cafe April 8, 2011

Filed under: Dining Out,Food — Kelocity @ 7:33 pm
Tags: Dining Out, Food, Soup

Not long ago, Irving bought a Tippr coupon for The Riverside Café in Burbank.
The Riverside Cafe

We used it last night because we didn’t feel like cooking, and wanted a low-key restaurant. They are known for their French Onion Soup, which we of course ordered. It came in a piping hot bowl, fresh out of the oven. It was pretty good and actually did taste homemade (in a good way). The gooey cheese was the best part.
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Served with a fresh-out-of-the-oven baguette.
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On the side, Irving got a sausage sandwich, and I got the grilled zucchini and eggplant. Why do veggies off the grill taste SO GOOD?

Perhaps it’s the butter seared on the grill that keeps me going back. HAHA Either way, it was excellent.
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The only thing I didn’t like about this place was the décor. It’s an older place that could really use some updating. Everything was dusty and a little gritty. The plastic chairs also felt a little makeshift. And we dined with huge sunflowers in our face.
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Where’s my husband? ((But I was entertained by the picture frame behind him that is outlining the wall socket. Clever!))
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We agreed the food was right on, but they should think about some new table cloths and an upgrade. I know that sounds pretty snobby, but their prices are extremely high for what you get, so I thought the atmosphere would have been a bit better. That being said, it’s hard to find these cute little hole in the wall places in LA and it did remind me of home, so it was kind of nice. I’m a tough critic.

We’d give it a shot again when the weather is nicer and we can eat outside. The neighborhood itself is pretty cool. It’s in the equestrian district where everyone has a barn attached for their horses. We saw quite a few walk by when we were eating. We should definitely explore the area more.

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The Hollywood French Toast Tour June 12, 2011