Tasty Tidbits – A Guide For The 2010 SCAA
30/03/2010So you are coming to LA, well Anaheim for the SCAA, you maybe from abroad or from just up the road, either way you can not leave Los Angeles thinking that there was nothing to offer in this great city. I also don’t want to hear you complain that the beer is crap, the food is nothing but junk, because it is just not true.
That being said, when you are here visiting the States do as the Romans do, because you have the chance to eat the best burgers, hotdogs and pizzas around (but wait there is more). Come with the mind set that you may put on a few extra pounds, bring your fat pants and extra large T shirts and get familiar with the local cuisine.
Tip: don’t think you can come to LA and not hire a car with GPS, because you just can’t, you will kick yourself as you end up paying copious amounts of money on taxi’s and arrive at your destination flustered.
Oh yeah, get to know the best thing of all, California/ West Coast beers, buy anything with the letters IPA adorning the label and you, for the most part wont go wrong. Keep an eye out for brewing companies like, Moylans, Bear Republic, Stone and Russian River to name just a few.
The list: I have broken it up into the cities area’s and I am giving you multiple choices to eat, drink and spend the night doing as the locals do in that part of town. I would recommend to dedicate at least one night in each location, trying to do multiple zip codes in this city is just tiring. Take turns at being the designated driver and drink responsibly you crazy kids! Just so you know the blood alcohol in America is .08 which allows a little more flexibility then Australia’s and most of the rest of the worlds .05.
Tipping: For people who have not been to the States at all I would recommend the following scale.
15% if you have not worked in the hospitality industry at all and you don’t know what it is like to work hard and serve people all day.
18% for good service.
20% for “I wish everyone in the world gave that kind of service” or “can I take you home” service. 😉
By all means if you are lazy and need to stay around the conference then look out for these lovely haunts, my guess is, you will want to explore.
NOTE: The places I have listed are tried and tested and with the help Nick Griffith we’ve listed the best of the best and for all types of budgets, I promise you, you wont be disappointed.
Orange County
KFC
McDonald’s
Applebees
Chillies
The Outback (home to the Bloomin Onion, apparently Australia’s native dish?)
So now you may be interested in exploring some other options, yeah?
Downtown – Los Angeles
Wurstkuche – Hotdogs and great beer, try the rabbit and rattlesnake hotdog, go on I dare you!
Church and State – Need to book to get a table here.
The Lazy Ox Canteen, Good beer, food and wine
La Torta Loca – Mexican food
Bottega Louie – Brunch and Dinner no booking needed, really busy though, and you may just see a celebrity milling about, I have on two occasions now! They have Intelligentsia brewing there as well. If there for dinner then head across the road to Seven Grand Scotch bar, for a game of pool and drinks.
Seven Grand – Scotch Bar
Las Perlas – Mescal Bar
Edison – Dress code enforced but well worth the visit, it is just stunning!
Coles for French dip and after 8pm Varnish (groups of 4 or less) a fantastic speakeasy.
Mid City (Beverly Hills, Hollywood)
Village idiot for pub grub
The Bizaar @ SLS hotel, go to Jose Andreas
Animal rich, fantastic modern food and wine
The Golden State great beer one of LA’s top burgers
Torroni fun pizza bar, loud and beautiful people frequent this place, just saying.
Mozza can’t go wrong with either the Osteria or Pizzeria
Hungry Cat – Seafood and cocktails
Lou’s wine bar/ restaurant
The Surly Goat – great beer
Bar Marmont for cocktails in a true old Hollywood setting
Santa Monica, Venice
Gjelina’s Restaurant
Axe (pronounced ash – ay)
The Other room bar
Fathers Office both locations great beer bars with great food
Wolf Cigars for cigars
Hotel Erwin great roof top bar with some nice cocktails, really nice hotel as well, worth a stay to recover after the event, plus very close the LAX, kinda.
East side (Silver lake, Los Feliz, Echo Park)
Cafe Stella french wine bar with great food, right next door to Intelligentsia
Forage for lunch, Sunday brunch, up the road from Intelligentsia
Umami Burger, the coffee person in us all just perked up some what when you hear about this place, use that descriptor on your score sheets? Then this is the place for you, great beer as well.
Square one in my opinion this is the BEST breakfast joint in all of LA.
Palate Food + Wine Great French wine, Charcuterie/ cheese, plus an amazing menu
Taco Zone great Taco truck! Just up the road from El Prado bar.
El Prado Bar small and intimate with a small selection of rotating beer taps
“Coopers” Taco’s corner of Fletcher Drive and Larga Ave, just a small table set up on the side of the road, is just about as ghetto as it comes but if you are game, they do some of the best taco’s around. Plus it is just up the road from Intelligentsia’s roast works.
The Oinkster really, really good burgers and pulled pork rolls.
Langers true American diner experience, say it with me, Pastrami, Pastrami, Pastrami!
The Verdugo bar
Coffee tour – note: I have not been to all of these places, I’ve included them as I’ve heard whispers about them, so try them and let me know what you think.
OC
Los Angeles
Intelligentsia Venice and Silver Lake
Kings Road and Urth Cafe
Deaton 
I’d add a few to this list.
For great beer and burgers I’d add Father’s Office in Santa Monica and Los Angeles @ the beautiful Helm’s Bakery Building.
For cocktails I’d also add the Tar Pit on La Brea (Hancock Park area) with the Jamaican Firefly being a stellar choice.
And if you need a haircut to look your best before the show, the Rudy’s in Silver Lake and on Melrose both do a nice job.
If I were to pick two things worth sightseeing I would pick the Griffith Park Observatory in Los Feliz and the Getty Museum in Brentwood. Both are utterly amazing.
As Deaton explained the key to enjoyment really is getting into Los Angeles if you can. At the risk of being self-serving I would use Silver Lake on the east side of town and Venice on the west side of town as my basis for exploration.
Not exactly in the same frame of reference, but if you are traveling to LA and are a scuba diver, I’d highly recommend a day trip out to either the oil rigs or Catalina Island. Especially to Catalina for a kelp dive at Ship Rock or a deeper dive on the Farnsworth Banks to seen amazing formations of Hydrocoral. Ship Rock is one of my favorite dives for photography, anywhere. Call the staff at hollywooddivers.com or check out http://www.wannagodown.com/divelosangeles.html for charter runs to the island. Hollywood Divers (next to Vivid Video’s office/studio) can also help with rental gear.
In other new-
SCAA Party
On Friday April 16th beginning at 8:00 PM, Intelligentsia, Mypressi and La Marzocco will be hosting a party at the Intelligentsia Roasting Works at 2737 N. San Fernando Rd. in Los Angeles. If any of you remember the last party here in 2007, it was quite an event. This one promises to be every bit as good, if not better. There will be transportation from Anaheim and back available. Everyone is invited. You really shouldn’t miss it. Details to follow here soon. Stay tuned. Most importantly, who’s going to be there?
How are y’all gonna top the birth of the latte-art-throwdown? Huh? HUH?!?
A few votive candles in choice spots under the floor won’t cut it this time, D.Z. The people want the NEXT BIG THING!!!!
Deaton, your recommendation for Langer’s is spot on. But it needs to be in all caps with arrows pointing at it, like this :
——–> GO TO LANGER’S, BEST PASTRAMI IN THE US!!!!!<———
That's right, superior to Katz's and all the other fluff. The number 18 is magic on rye.
I would also recommend seeking out the KOGI BBQ truck, whose quesadillas (don't bother with the tacos) live up to all the hype. They update their locations for the week on their website : http://kogibbq.com/
Kogi!!!! How the hell did I forget Kogi!!!
Fuck I wanna go!!! Especially now there’s an Intelly party…
Do it, DO IT!
though i may kick myself for doing this, but, when i have visitors to LA, I always force them to go to the Apple Pan with me, its open late and their legendary burger coupled with the best kind of rude old man service make for a real experience.
also, the taco truck on alvarado in front of the vons in silverlake is legit and they offer a BRISKET taco – not some fancy white people brisket, but a slow cooked mexican brisket that is sublime.
also, taco truck on rose and lincoln is much lauded and delivers – but there will be a line so no complaining.
I’ve actually been to Apple Pan and Nicole’s right… It’s straight out the fifties. Nothing special except good fries and a burger your grandpa would’ve made.
Taco Zone (Nicole’s mention by Vons) is certainly legit. It’s on Alvarado just North of Sunset.
I also offer to be a Mexican food liaison for the SCAA if anyone wants to do some sort of taco crawl.
god last but not least, get thee a bacon wrapped hotdog from some dirty street corner and you will have experienced all LA has to offer.
Ha! Yeah! The dirty bacon wrapped hotdog of almost ANY street corner is good for sure!
ALSO- Josh Ritter is playing a free show at Fingerprints in Long Beach ont he 16th at 7 pm. Ritter show then the Intelli party. Legit.
If you’re in downtown LA checking out the Edison or something, you might check out Lot44 Coffee also. I haven’t ordered any espresso drinks there, but they have a pour-over bar that’s been good every time I went.
http://www.lot44coffee.com/
Nick Griffith sent an email out to us all at Intelligentsia about Anaheim’s foodie type places, so I thought I would add this to the comments thread. Josh from Food GPS was kind enough to help out here, see link.
A one-mile stretch of Brookhurst in Anaheim is known as Little Arabia and features about five great eating options.
Forn Al Hara is great for Lebanese flatbreads and baklava.
Olive Tree has terrific Middle Eastern food, particularly the daily specials and the Fattit Hommus.
Sahara has excellent falafel. So does Kareem’s, who also does a good hummus with filet mignon and almonds.
Dee Dee Thai Lao is supposed to have good Laotian food, but I haven’t been yet.
Myung Dong Kal Guk Su is supposed to have good house made Korean noodles and dumplings, but I haven’t been yet.
Here’s a link to all of my Orange County reviews, in case you want to stray from Anaheim.
http://www.foodgps.com/category/locations/northamerica/usa/california/southcalifornia/orange-county/
Little Saigon isn’t far, and the area features the widest selection of Vietnamese restaurants outside of Vietnam.
-Josh