Category Archives: Los Angeles

Playa Rivera, Los Angeles

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Happy Friday everyone! Picture yourself here.

Playa Rivera

What: Urban Latin, fresh, healthy

Where: Los Angeles, CA

Let’s back track to a few weekends ago when I was in LA visiting my brothers. I got the pleasure of dining at Playa Rivera, the restaurant I learned about through this video:

Cielo Verde from Gene Fama on Vimeo.

They grow almost all of their produce on their rooftop via the Tower Garden. Chef Rivera Sedlar created this Urban Latin concept and he had (extremely) local and fresh ingredients in mind. You can taste the freshness in each of his dishes. Oh, and he also wrote a cookbook with Chef Stephan Pyles, so even more reason to get over there and try it out!

It’s tapas style, so we ordered up quite a few dishes. Starting with the Hamachi Tartar Cone.

This was my personal favorite. Yellowtail, black cobra chiles, pac choi salad, miso, sesame  oil, sesame seeds and a bit of avocado at the bottom of the cone.The flavors were incredible and the crunch of the cone with the smooth buttery yellowtail was perfection. Getting to bite into the creamy avocado at the bottom was like reaching the chocolate at the end of your Drumstick. Except a whole lot better.

Other cones to choose from, but a prettier photo from their website.

Mind you, most of the produce is from their Tower Garden up top.

This was the Tortillas Salsa Semilla. Homemade tortillas with a kick–never tasted a spicy tortilla before, but it was delicious with a side of their avocado butter and their black bean dip.

Again, this is their photo. Mine didn’t do the dish justice. This was my second favorite. This is their snap peas with serranos, lardons, scallions and a fried egg on top. This dish was reminiscent of something I’ve ordered at Samar by Stephan Pyles.

If burrata is on a menu, I order it. This was their Maize Cake Salsa Semila. Homemade maize cake (tortilla), fresh burrata, salsa verde, fresh arugula, amaranth & sal de colima. Very tasty but the burrata was a bit too soft for my liking. You can taste the freshness in the arugula. It was perfectly crisp and nutty.

I’m sorry for this horrible photo, but this was amazing. I’m not finding it on their online menu, but it was one of the mushroom tamales. It was rich in flavor and had the perfect tamale consistency.

We also had their 100% Cielo Verde salad–the one where they go up and pick your arugula, pac choi and spinach straight from the Tower Garden and place right on your plate. It had a simple dressing and it was a refreshing addition to our meal.

Finally, fine dining you can leave without feeling regretful. We left full, content and satisfied. A place you can eat and feel healthy and indulgent at the same time. If you’re ever in the LA area or you live around there, be sure to make your reservation and head over there soon. The pricing was right too. No excuses people! Bonus? The menu is vegan & vegetarian friendly.

Oh, and if you’re interested in a Tower Garden for your home, comment below. I can help.

Bon Appétit,

That Foodie Girl

USC and Trader Joe’s

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Let’s back track to last Saturday. Feels like it was yesterday.

I woke up (in LA) and went for my 9 mile run. That was the longest I have ever run and I certainly felt it that night.

Couldn’t even pause to take this photo. The cool part was that I ran every possible path you can run on the USC campus, so I now know the campus very well. The weather was perfect for running too–overcast and 68 degrees.

Not exactly the fastest ever, but I was glad I was back to being healthy and out there running.

After the long run, I went to tailgate with my brothers at the USC v Colorado game.

We didn’t end up going to the game, but the tailgating part was fun. Fight on! :)

After relaxing a bit post-tailgate, I got Travis to take us to Trader Joe’s! There are now 2 locations in Texas: 1 in Plano and 1 in Ft. Worth. Both are too far out of my uptown bubble. This was a huge treat.

I went crazy over all the pumpkin items everywhere. Can you tell I’m excited?

And these are the snacks that ended up in my grocery cart…I loved the brownie Think Thin bar (which I’m sure I can get anywhere), the Pumpkin Spice Rooibos is heavenly and the Powerberries are little bites of heaven. So good. I have some pumpkin bars under there, little fruit snacks and yogurt covered almonds (too sweet).

Best item? The cookie butter. Duh.

This was my first time to try it and it seriously was out of this world crazy good. It tasted like smooth cookie dough with a blast of gingerbread at the end. Mmmm. But guess what? TSA confiscated it since it’s considered a “paste”! What a waste. And the TSA guy called it “peanut butter”. I quickly corrected him. “It’s cookie butter actually.” I bet he’s enjoying this jar right now. Can’t blame him.

We also left TJ’s with brownie mix so we could bake this festive little pumpkin.

All in all, it was a really awesome day!

Bon Appétit,

That Foodie Girl

Santa Monica eateries

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To begin, I went to the LA area with my family for Easter and to celebrate my little sister’s birthday a few weekends ago. For my family and me, we’re always wondering where we’re going to eat our next meal. In such a vibrant city, we had millions of options sure to please any foodie. So here we begin:

Umami Burger

Like I’ve said before, I’m not the burger connoisseur, but I know an awesome burger when I taste one. Although this may seem bold, I’d go as far as to say my Umami burger was the best burger I’ve had in all my 21 years of life. Located inside a Fred Segal in Santa Monica, it’s small, cozy, and the waitstaff is super friendly. We had to wait outside for about 20 minutes before being seated, but with a nice beer to choose from their list, great weather, we couldn’t care less. Not to mention the burgers were worth waiting a lot longer for.

So what’s Umami? The fifth taste after sweet, bitter, sour and salty. Umami means “pleasant savory taste” in Japanese, and it became recognized as one of the five official tastes by Japanese scientist Kikunae Ikeda in Hawaii in 1985. But if you haven’t noticed all the tv ads displaying umami and what it is–the Western world has really started to adapt to the flavor.

Anyway, the picture at the top (which, these photos weren’t taken by me…should’ve thought to take some while I was there, but I was way too hungry and involved with my food to stop) is of the homemade cheesy tater tots. DELICIOUS. They were quite large and umami (ha) so I shared them with the rest of the family. Although they weren’t on the menu, I found it on the “secret menu” on Four Square and simply asked for them… You’re welcome for the secret menu item! On the side is the garlic aioli dipping sauce which was so yummy and perfect for dipping fries and/or tater tots.

This is the official Umami Burger. All of the burgers are cooked to perfection and have a nice juiciness to them, not to mention the slightly browned bun–all cooked into a wonderfully sized burger (not too small, not too big). I can’t remember everything that comes with the Umami Burger, but they say “Umami x6″ on the menu, so there’s 6 indulgent items including the parmesan crisp you can see in the photo.

I ordered the truffle burger, which came with housemade truffle cheese and a truffle glaze. I’m a huuuge truffle fan. I think it really gives food a sort of value unlike any other ingredient. So, if you like truffle, this burger is so good, I find myself dreaming about it.

And finally, the sweet potato fries were really good, nothing too too special, but goes great with any of the burgers.

The French Crepe Co.

At the beginning of the trip, we stopped by The Grove to do some shopping and to grab lunch. I had never been before and when we entered the Farmer’s Market, it was unlike any other farmer’s market I’ve ever been to. On top of the fresh produce and millions of boutiques and stands selling everything from trinkets to hats and scarves, there were BILLION restaurants/food booths. And a lot of them were Zagat rated! What was I supposed to do? Everything looked so good and I walked up and down the football field sized area packed with delicious little eateries, so stressed out not knowing what to eat. I finally decided on The French Crepe Co. As you can see in the photo, I ordered a savory crepe called La Normandie. It was stuffed with melt in your mouth roasted chicken, button mushrooms, carrots, green beans in a creamy white dijon sauce. It was really good, but there was no way I could finish it.

Fraiche Restaurant

(Photos by Natalie Blankenship)

And what Easter is really Easter without mimosas? The whole family enjoyed brunch at Fraiche in Santa Monica for a great Easter brunch. The atmosphere was nice and open with wood tables, candles and lots of natural sunlight. I ordered the veggie hash which had a poached egg, grilled veggies and a balsamic glaze. It was really yummy and light.

My favorite part of the meal: the Chocolate Purse. It was super rich, with a candied hazelnut, chocolatey almost fudge-like texture, wrapped in what we think was filo. On the side is a vanilla gelato. Mmmmm.

Other restaurants we went to worth mentioning: Border Grill & Yummy Cupcakes

Until next time!

Bon appétit,

ThatFoodieGirl