My Southern California favorites

Weeks or months before visiting a new city, the vacation begins.

Through blogs, websites, travelogues, and guidebooks, in my mind I’m already there. I’m visiting restaurants, relaxing in a cozy hotel or bed and breakfast… I’m gallivanting through shops, hiking untracked trails, and skipping rocks in previously unknown ponds.

Visiting Los Angeles last month was different than that. Since I lived there for 13 years, returning to my old stomping grounds was more like revisiting memories, taking walks down another dream.

Rather than turn to the outside world for inspiration on where to go, I asked myself what I needed to see again, trek again, taste again.

In the weeks before the trip, it became nightly dinner conversation for my husband and I to ponder what were the top sites on our itinerary. Unlike most visitors to L.A. we didn’t need to see the Chinese Theatre or the Griffith Park Observatory, no Walk of Fame, and no Disneyland.

Okay, Disneyland. But not those other places.

Soon our 6 days were all lined up with the friends we’d see, places we’d go, and the meals we’d eat. If I had to write a list of my favorite places in Los Angeles, it would look like this…

Rahel Ethiopian Cuisine

Rahel Ethiopian Cuisine, our favorite restaurant in the world, not just Los Angeles.  (I’ve written about my adoration of Rahel before.)

The ladies who work at Rahel, including Rahel herself, greeted us with smiles, asking where we’d been. (I didn’t realize we went that often. Apparently, we did!) The people who work there are always so warm.

We quickly found the Hudade combo and started salivating in anticipation. The melt-in-your-mouth wots scooped with spongy and somewhat sour injera make for a hearty and flavorful feast.

I’ve made Ethiopian food at home, and it’s always good. But it just can’t match what they do at Rahel.

Tony’s Darts Away

When the revamped Tony’s Darts Away came on the scene, I didn’t think it would be a big hit with me.  I didn’t have a bar in my life. And I didn’t think I was lacking for one.

But Tony’s, with its casual atmosphere – no waiting outside for a table – easygoing staff, sliders, loads of vegan sausages with a separate grill for their vegan items, freshly made potato chips and frizzled onions, and an excellent beer menu won me over.

They have lots of board games, a pool table, and darts. It’s an easy place to kick back with friends.

Audrey K

Just up the street from Tony’s is one place I knew I had to visit – my favorite dress shop, Audrey K.

Audrey K is an adorable little boutique on Magnolia in Burbank. Audrey has vintage and vintage-inspired clothing with lots of unique styles.

Visiting Audrey Robles, the owner, is like shopping with a girlfriend. She has a great sense of what would look good on anyone’s particular body type, and she knows her clothes well.

She orders only small amounts of each style. So wearing it, you feel you’ve gotten something really unique. I’ve bought jeans from her a few times, and she was able to tell me how they would wash, if they would shrink, or if they would stretch.

Best of all, she has such a sense of fun about clothes. Her clothes are playful, sexy, and incredibly wearable.

Finally, I had to swing by the two-level Whole Foods in Pasadena to buy items that are harder to find outside of a big city, and enjoy a stroll around Old Town.

I visited Real Food Daily and Sun Cafe, and went on a few hikes, including my favorite trail in Griffith Park overlooking the city.

I love seeing downtown Los Angeles from a distance and looking all the way out to the ocean and Catalina Island on a clear day. Somehow it feels from that vantage point like there is order in the chaos.

And then after many amazing meals, trails hiked, and joyful visits with friends, my LA visit came to a close.