Los Angeles is a very photogenic city, so I decided to break up all of my snaps into two posts (you can see part one here). Before our trip I did a lot of research regarding the best places to eat. There are so many great brunch places in LA, so it was hard to decide on where to go for our only full day in town, but I ultimately decided on Sqirl in the Silver Lake neighborhood. Sqirl started as just a preserves company, but now has a breakfast and lunch menu with innovative dishes. Yelp reviews warned about the line being out the door (a good sign!), but luckily we hit it at the right time, so we didn’t have to wait too long before ordering. It’s a small cafe-style restaurant with pretty marble counter tops inside and sidewalk tables outside. I ordered the French Toast which is brioche stuffed with their homemade jam and topped with crème fraîche and more jam. It was cooked perfectly!
Our next stop was the Griffith Observatory. I knew it was a tourist attraction, but it was crazy busy with visitors! Braving the crowds was worth it though because the views of Los Angeles and the Hollywood sign were gorgeous, plus the architecture of the building is beautiful. Inside there are a ton of space-related exhibits. Rob enjoyed the interactive exhibit where you pick different factors about comets (size, distance, etc.) and see what the impact is on the earth. Of course he made it as destructive as possible and blew it up every time. Boys…
T-shirt: Banana Republic | Vest: Topshop | Shorts: Urban Outfitters
Sandals: Steve Madden | Watch: Michael Kors | Purse: Topshop (similar)
To cool down after walking around the Griffith Observatory grounds and back to our car, we stopped at Magpies Softserve. It’s relatively new and and totally Instagram worthy—those patterned tiles are just begging to be photographed! We shared a serving of the Malted Milk Chocolate and Peanut Butter Pretzel swirled, which was delicious! It had the perfect creamy texture.
After the Silver Lake area we headed into the city. Rob has pointed out that I have a tendency to romanticize places when we travel. I wanted to check out a few spots in downtown LA, including Grand Central Market because I saw this article about it on Cupcakes and Cashmere and thought it must be an amazing place! In reality, it was way too hot and crowded for my liking. I’m sure the food is great, but we must have picked the wrong day/time because I was too overwhelmed by the atmosphere. The line for McConnell’s Ice Cream was crazy long! And rightly so because their ice cream truly is amazing. One of my favorite Vegas restaurants, Honey Salt, serves their salted caramel flavor on top of a brookie (brownie + chocolate chip cookie) and it’s soooo good! The other place I had heard about in the market was eggslut, but we recently got one in Las Vegas so I didn’t want to wait in line for something I could try at home. So yes. Rob was right. Some things are better in my head than in real life. Adding to this fail, Bottega Louie was closed because of a hot water problem. I had been looking forward to seeing the cute restaurant and cafe and trying the delicious macarons, but it looks like I’ll have to wait until our next trip.
One of my friends from college lives in LA, so we met her and her boyfriend at Angel City Brewery. It was a big warehouse with craft beer, board games and lots of room to hang out. There are also food trucks outside and that day happened to be Bison Burger, so I ordered the sliders and some fries since I was starving! After finishing our flights, we played some corn hole and then walked down the block to Arts District Brewing Co. It was also a warehouse-style brewery with skee ball, more games and gourmet bar snacks from a take-out window. Definitely a fun atmosphere to catch up with friends!
For dinner we went to a sausage place called Wurstküche, which my friends suggested. They have a lot of exotic flavors like the rabbit and rattlesnake version that Rob ordered, but also other delicious flavors like mango and jalapeño chicken & turkey sausage for us not as adventurous eaters. You choose yours toppings (I got caramelized onions and sweet peppers) and then there is a large selection of mustard at the table. The fries are delicious, too, especially the dipping sauces! I loved the chipotle aïoli.
Tank: Old Navy (similar here) | Skirt: Madewell | Sandals: Steve Madden
Watch: Michael Kors | Camera Bag: Lo & Sons
After dinner we crossed to street to The Pie Hole for dessert where we split a slice of the Mexican Chocolate flavor. The chocolate filling was rich and velvety. It was a sweet way to end out weekend getaway!
Is there anything I should put on our to-do list for next time we visit Los Angeles?!
