LA Eats

I spent the first half of this week in LA.  While it is far from my favorite city, it is impossible to deny LA is home to many fantastic restaurants. Lucky for me, I got to try  a few.

Nanbankan (West LA) – Sushi and small grilled plates.  We had not made a reservation and had to eat at the sushi bar, which I was quite happy about. I would have been perfectly fine not speaking to any of my coworkers and watching the grill masters the whole meal. The spicy tuna roll was so fresh and awesome, and I also tried the chicken meatballs and something that is best described as flavored rice molded into a triangle and grilled.

Pizzeria Mozza (Hollywood) – Mario Batali’s pizza restaurant (next door is another restaurant of his, Osteria Mozza. Its more upscale and varied Italian. I will be making a trip here someday, as I learned they have a mozzarella bar). I first heard about Pizzeria Mozza when I was in LA last fall, but could not get a reservation (of course I later discovered they do takeout).  They only take reservations 1 month in advance, but fill up quickly, so I made a reservation in late February. After all that prep our table was not ready when we arrived (they had a whole month to get ready for me!) but our wait was rewarded with complimentary prosecco and ricotta filled, fried squash blossoms.  There were 5 of us and we ordered an appetizer, pizza, and dessert per person so we could try as much as possible. Highlights were definitely: Caprese (best mozzarella I’ve ever had); Tricolore; Goat cheese, leek, scallion, & bacon pizza; egg, bacon, yukon gold potato, and onion pizza; butterscotch budino with sea salt & rosemary pine nut cookies; meyer lemon gelato pie.  If you ever wanted a more detailed meal rundown just let me know!

Today I drove from LA to Santa Clara (just south of San Francisco).  I will be here until Saturday when I will drive back to LA for a few more days (our last stop in CA).  Then…off to Salt Lake City!