DINING AT DINETTE

Dinette in Echo Park has been one of my favorite casual brunch/lunch spots for roughly the past year. When it first opened, the now-local hot spot was nothing but one tiny order window and a couple of steel stools, easily missed. Today there are still only a few casual outside tables and seats, and that order window is still the only way to access any semblance of restaurant experience, yet the spot has become a huge favorite among many people living in the Los Angeles area. The overwhelmingly laid-back exterior is complemented by fresh, delicious seasonal menu items. My favorite? The waffles. 

I usually have a very strict philosophy about the ranking of breakfast foods. My top three favorite brunch entrees, in order, are french toast, waffles, and pancakes. If I ever go to a restaurant and spot french toast on the menu, it's a done deal. Especially if said french toast is made with brioche or some other very thick-cut bread. Dinette doesn't offer a french toast option, but with waffles this good, they really don't need to.

I kid you not, this is the perfect waffle — moist on the inside, crispy on the outside, and the most beautiful shade of golden brown you've ever seen. I usually opt for the seasonal fruit waffle option. It comes with berries and whipped cream, both of which are extremely fresh and not overwhelmingly sweet, which is perfectly balanced by the slightly caramelized exterior of the waffle.

I'm also a huge fan of smoked salmon. A slice of artisanal bread, toasted and topped with a layer of cream cheese and slices of briny, buttery salmon, pulled together with the fresh kick of chives or onion? Delicious. Plus, salmon is really good for you, so you can really never go wrong with this combo. Dinette's rendition of this classic puts a twist on the traditional lox on toast with the addition of fried garlic pieces. 

Whether you're digging into a piece of avocado toast or lox toast, a berry waffle or poached egg & bacon waffle, or even one of their baked-fresh-daily pastries, Dinette really has something for everyone, and at a fairly reasonable price, too. If you live in the area, make sure to check it out! Fair warning: you will get hooked on those waffles. It's inevitable. 

BRUNCH - OTIUM

I know I just showed you a picture of a delicious and dangerously decadent-looking piece of thick-cut brioche toast topped with a perfectly cooked sunny side up egg, prosciutto, fig jam, and greens, but forget about that for a second.

First things first. WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT FRANK'S NEW ALBUM. For those of you who are unaware, Frank Ocean released his long-awaited second album after four years. FOUR f***ing years. Does he know how much pain he caused whilst on his hiatus??

No matter — his second masterpiece, "Blonde," is now on Apple Music, with tracks featuring the same beautiful velvet and laid back cool voice we heard in "Channel Orange," but with newer and more daring vocal elements. Favorite tracks of mine include "White Ferrari," "Solo," "Ivy," and "Godspeed." Seriously, this album is incredible. I've listened to the whole thing through maybe five times in the past two days. 

Now, back to your regularly scheduled programming (the brioche toast pictured above).

Most of my weekends are spent waking up between 11am and 12pm at my boyfriend's apartment, watching an unhealthy number of episodes of "Lost," then eating my first meal of the day at around 2 or 3pm...

#brokecollegekidforlife

(Seriously. I'm starting Soylent the day school starts again. I have one week left to consume actual food. Help me.)

With the fall semester, and thus my first encounter with Soylent, imminent, I decided to switch things up this weekend by going out to brunch. And an expensive brunch at that. 

Otium is one of those places where you want to want to eat a full meal before you go in order to avoid racking up a $60/person bill. Maybe a $60 for brunch isn't a big deal for some, but July and August were the months of birthdays galore, so my wallet is pretty much kaput at this point. 

After trying to decide what dishes we could get without causing ourselves immense regret after seeing the bill, my friend and I decided on the brioche toast with prosciutto, and the blini with smoked salmon. 

Blini are typically pretty thin — like crepes. So when this super fat pancake, similar to an uber fluffy Japanese-style hotcake, arrived at the table I was a bit shocked. For $17, I was expecting a teeny tiny crepe, 4" in diameter, rolled up with a single ounce of lox and a teaspoon of creme fraiche. What I got was probably 10x that quantity. 

I had absolutely no complaints about this unexpectedly large entree, because it was incredibly good. I usually opt for sweet brunch items (think French toast or waffles), but his number hit the spot.

Our second entree, the toasted brioche with prosciutto, eggs, gruyere, greens, onions, fig jam, and olives, was equally decadent. Probably more so. Definitely more so.

(Sidenote — I hadn't eaten prosciutto in 5-6 years until I decide to welcome the delicious cured ham back into my life with this dish. Go big, or go home, right?

I 100% underestimated Otium's brunch portions. I'd been for dinner once before, and many of the dishes we ordered were on the small side. Oh no, not this monstrosity of a plate. By the time I forced myself to stuff the final bite into my gullet I was wishing I had come to brunch dressed in the Juicy Couture tracksuit I used to sport in middle school. That drawstring and elastic waist would've come in handy. 

FARMSHOP - a throwback

**This post was written in the Winter of 2015, and has since sat in my drafted posts tab. I figured, "Hey, the pictures are good, the food was great. This french toast was the best I've ever had, so why not just post it as is?" Hope you guys enjoy**

I've been somewhat of a rebel as of late. But not quite in the common sense of the word. I've been following the very talented Brandon Osorio on Instagram for quite some time, and while I was back for winter break, we met up to shoot around LA. And we were rebels. I mean we climbed on hotel rooftops, studio rooftops, walked in the middle of the 6th Street bridge, and climbed lots of fire escapes. This is what happens when two people who are really into photography/Instagram meet up.

This harmless rule-breaking transferred into my cafe escapades, when I took pictures of my food at Farmshop, breaking their "no-phones" request. Whoops.

But look at all of the great pictures that came out of it! And the only consequence I suffered was the silent judgement of a few other diners.

Some rules are made to be broken.

My cousin ordered the Coddled Eggs, served with mushroom conserva, smoked salmon and brioche toast.

My cousin's friend ordered the Buttermilk Biscuit with blackberry preserves, ham and two eggs. The colors were absolutely beautiful, and I love how it looks deconstructed/half-eaten.

I saved the best for last. As you know, I'm on a never-ending hunt for the best french toast ever, and this is definitely in the top three. 

Two enormous slices of fluffy brioche, topped with passionfruit curd and and pomegranate seeds. Absolutely divine. I'm obsessed with the flavor of passionfruit, but I rarely see it on menus. The french toast was perfectly-complemented by the sweet, tangy, silky curd, a delicious alternative to the traditional mixed berries, powdered sugar, and maple syrup-topped variety. I also loved the addition of pomegranate seeds, which added a bright, crisp note and brought the dish a summery, light flavor profile.

After our enormous brunch, we spent the day at the beach, where summer decided to start the second week of January. Gotta love Southern California.

CONEHEADS - sweet rose creamery

For some, "comfort food" means mac and cheese, fried chicken and waffles, or mom's homemade lasagna. Not for me.

Despite its frozen nature, ice cream is one of my favorite foods, which I guess would make it a comfort food. I don't even know if I can categorize ice cream as food, though. You know those pesky surveys/ice breakers that always ask the question, "what's your favorite food?" I feel like the the expectation is to name a meal...like one with meat and veggies or something.

Don't get me wrong. I LOVE food, and all kinds, too! I try to eat healthily the majority of the time, but

Sweet Rose Creamery

definitely makes it a struggle to stick to that. I feel so strongly about Sweet Rose's delicious scoops that I've decided to dedicate an entire post to them. Here goes.

The picture you see above is from my most recent trip. I was so excited to have ice cream that day; from the moment I woke up, I vowed to drive the 30-40 minutes to Sweet Rose and eat light meals for breakfast and lunch so I would be able to eat a deliciously large (2-scoop) cone while staying within a healthy caloric intake for the day. From the moment we parked the car, I practically pranced to the store. I was like a kid in a candy store, except I'm actually a grown ass adult.

I'm the kind of person who likes to sample as many flavors as possible to the point where I'm verging on being really obnoxious, but I have just enough self control so as to not annoy the employees. This time, I limited myself to two flavors. I also shared some of my mom's samples, too, though...so I guess that brings the sample count closer to four.

After careful sampling, I chose a made-in-house waffle cone with one scoop each of chocolate ice cream and white nectarine frozen yogurt. With that, I left my mom to pay and rushed outside to the closest white wall I had staked out on my way to the shop, where I tried desperately to get an IG-worthy shot before the entire thing melted in the 95-degree heat. By the time I got a good shot, half of the chocolate ice cream had dripped onto my hand. I had to stand, alone, by the white wall, shying away from passers-by in the hopes that they wouldn't see my drippy, sticky, ice cream hand. My mom came and saved the day with wet wipes, though, so it all worked out.

I'm becoming increasingly aware of the fact that I'm making my actions, and thus my character, seem scarily close to what a seven-year-old would exhibit...

Working backwards, this picture is from my second trip to Sweet Rose. My mom got an affogato (ice cream + espresso), while I got another double-scoop - a chocolate sorbet and vanilla wafer-candied orange peel (See the self-control I exhibited this time with my decision to get it in a cup instead of a cone?).

Now, finally - the scoop that started it all. My first-ever trip to Sweet Rose. The one that started my obsession. I have my best friend to thank for the introduction. (We've been friends since third grade. we're kind of cute.)

This was obviously a time when I was a bit more meek. You can see here that I was once a single-scoop kind of gal. It was black cherry, and it was delicious. But thank God that ship has sailed, because I much prefer multiple scoops.

A DAY IN DTLA

I don't know if it's a good thing that I've gotten used to driving 30-45 minutes to get coffee or a bite to eat, or if it's just sad...but sometimes, it's just nice to go somewhere local. In the past 5-10 years, Downtown Los Angeles has seen an incredible revitalization.

Cafes, coffee shops, and amazing restaurants keep popping up, and with so many new places to discover, it's hard to know where to start. That's why I recruited my mom to spend a day Downtown. She's not much of a city gal, though...her walking pace is super slow and she's not that great at finding street parking. I think she had fun, though, when I wasn't asking her to abstain from drinking her 10-shot juice sampler until I finished taking pictures of it.

After searching, in vain, for street parking, we settled for an $18 flat rate public parking structure. Gotta love the city. We made our way to

Verve Coffee

, a spot known for its signature plant-covered outdoor patio. I'd dare to compare it to a hipster Rainforest Cafe...but without the waterfall sounds effects and huge animal models. It's been a good 10 years since I've been to Rainforest Cafe though, so that comparison might be a bit of a stretch.

My point is that this spot is super, super cool. 

And what better way to enjoy your coffee, than while surrounded by walls of winding greenery and insanely wealthy young adults toting enormous shopping bags from the new Acne in town and complaining about how often their parents call them??

(No, seriously. I had a minor meltdown during the first part of my time at Verve because of the people sitting at the table next to me. And yes, one girl actually complained about how often her mother called her, then continued to say that she contacts her dad via email only.)

After this slightly intimidating group left, I was finally able to take pictures of my latte and my mom's 10-juice sampler without fear of judgement. Our new table neighbors were also much more kind and welcoming; we met their dog, Kevin, an adorable chihuahua mix (this is saying a lot, as I tend to hate small dogs because they remind me of rats) that had been rescue from a junkyard.

We enjoyed the majority of our sampler (my favorites were "The Redhead," "The Pipe Cleaner," and "Hot Lei," while the "Block Rockin' Beats" and "Cream Party" were a little harder to stomach), and all-in-all, $12 is a pretty good deal for 10 juice shots and the feeling that you've done something to healthify your diet.

After our coffee and juice date, we bid farewell to our new friend Kevin to explore the new APC, Acne and Aesop stores in the area.

Let's just say that we had a lot of fun at Aesop. Maybe a little too much fun. I mean, it's really hard to say no when a lovely sales associate offers to pamper you by massaging wonderful lotions and balms into your hands. It's like a spa treatment...but free.

We left Aesop happier, cleaner and excited to start using our purchases, a favorite of which was the Resurrection Aromatique Hand Balm, a deliciously hyrdating hand cream with hints of mandarin orange and lavender.

I'm so glad to have added this wonderful product to my list of summer essentials, which also includes

Bali Body's Natural Tanning and Body Oil

(I

swear

 by this stuff - it gives me a beautiful bronze glow, while helping to diminish the appearance of skin irregularities, including my eczema), and my favorite sunnies from Toms.

What are your summer essentials?