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.
www.trans-planted.com
Native Foods is by far my favorite vegan restaurant of all time. Their Happy Hour is amazing, half off of all appetizers! Can’t beat their ‘chicken’ wings and ‘chicken’ burgers. To die for!!!
Cadry
Oh, my goodness, yes! I love their save the chicken wings – such a delicious appetizer. Native Foods has been expanding, and I hope it just keeps happening. It’s the kind of food that non-vegans will happily eat and that really shows there’s no sacrifice when it comes to eating vegan.
Cara
I LOVE LOVE LOVE Spice Station!!! Oh my goodness, the first time I went there, I wanted to move my bed to the patio area and stay there forever. The *best* place to buy spices, hands down. And I also really like Native Foods, though it’s been a while. I live inconveniently far from there so I don’t get down to Orange County too often. How fun was this post, albeit 7 months ago? ha!
cadryskitchen
If you decide to move your bed into the Spice Station patio, there should be no regrets. It’s a lovely patio! 😉 Whenever I go there, I get an excited stirring in my stomach at its walls of possibilities! Maybe it’s the way a painter feels when confronted with endless colors of paint.
New locations of Native Foods seem to be popping up all the time; maybe they’ll move one closer to you. Right now, my closest location is four hours away in Chicago. That’s pretty good, but I’d love it if they’d move one into my town.
Cara
I saw their website and wow, they really have expanded! Either that, or I have just been oblivious 🙂 (very likely over all possibilities). One is close to me–yay!
And you are right about the Spice Station. Sometimes I am just not sure which is better: The peaceful patio or all those spices…
cadryskitchen
Yes, they really have expanded, and rumor has it that it’s only going to continue. I’m so glad, because I think they have food that is very accessible in style. It’s the kind of place that you can take non-vegans and have them leave impressed and happy.
veggiegrettie
I can’t wait to try some of those restaurants…the Ethiopian one looks amazing!
cadryskitchen
I hope you enjoy them! As for the Ethiopian restaurant,amazing is the word for it! I’ve been known to purposely eat a light lunch, so that I could arrive at Rahel very hungry. 🙂