May 11
Dear ESB,
I have a close-knit group of high school friends from Minnesota. Over time we've all moved away from home and live in various parts of the country, but we still keep in contact and are involved in each other's lives. We get to see each other during holidays, but that's usually a hectic time filled with family obligations. Weddings are our best chance to party together, and now one of my dear friends is getting married in L.A.! All of us are super excited about our friend's wedding. Not only is he marrying a kick ass girl, but we will be meeting up in California instead of Minnesota, which will be a fun vacation for us pasty Northerns. We are planning to stay several days for the wedding and explore the city as much as possible.
I thought maybe you and your L.A. readers, as insiders and very cool people, could suggest fun and interesting things for us to do in L.A. Or restaurants. We love food, especially strange food. The wedding is in July.
On a related note, I'm also getting married this summer, and my FH and I are going to Coronado for our honeymoon. If people in the San Diego area have any suggestions, those would also be welcome as well.
Sincerely,
Wannabe in LA
*****
June 13
Make a reservation at Animal (ANY RESERVATION YOU CAN GET, trust me) and await further instructions.
*****
July approaches!
Hokay. Rather than giving you an exhaustive list of my favorite spots in LA, I thought I'd narrow it down to five or so and let everyone else chime in.
Animal
I hope you made that reservation. Be sure to order the foie gras loco moco. It's the most expensive item on the menu, but I swear to you it's one of the most amazing things I've ever eaten. The bacon chocolate crunch bar is also killer. All of it is killer.
Yuca's
A James Beard Award-winning taco stand. You have to get the cochinita pibil torta (slow-roasted pork sandwich), which is the specialty of the house. I can't do tortas because of the whole gluten thing -- I get the tacos -- but H always orders at least two tortas for himself.
In-N-Out Burger
You know you have to visit In-N-Out while you're here, right? There are all kinds of secret ways to order that are not listed on the menu. I order my burgers "animal style" (with pickles and grilled onions), "protein style" (on a bun made of lettuce), "with mustard instead" (mustard instead of the special sauce).
Jumbo's Clown Room
This is a super fun place to have drinks in the early evening, when it's easy to get a table and the hipster pole dancers are the most skilful. Legend has it Courtney Love once danced at Jumbo's, and David Lynch used to come here to write. Bonus: It's just a few blocks away from Thai Patio, one of our perennial faves. The food is delish and there's usually an ambiguously gendered Thai person singing very sincere covers of 80's/90's hits.
Flore Vegan
LA it up for realz and go to Silver Lake for a vegan smoothie. (I mean, you did just eat all that meat.) The raw avocado & citrus smoothie from Flore is sooooo good. Bonus: You can stop into Reform School and the Mohawk General Store while you're in the neighborhood.
Polaroid by Raymond Molinar
