A Day in Downtown LA
After sleeping in some, we headed to go eat. Remember how I said this is #maxxsburgertour? Well, hell yeah it is! If you forgot, too bad, it's here and there's no turning back.
Hollywood - Tommy's
Stop One. Down the road from our Airbnb is Tommy's. This franchise has been around for a while in LA, and they're best known for their chili burgers. If you're looking for the dirtiest and most delicious burger ever, this is the place to go. When you eat it, you already know it's gonna be bad for you but you do it anyway.
Why?
Because it's delicious. The chili is super meaty, and the patty is just as good. You can add extra onions (always a win), and pickles (to cut the meat) and savor this deliciously bad burger.
Just an FYI, this was only breakfast.
La Brea - Republique
One of my brothers lives in LA. We opted to meet him here for lunch. The suggestion came because his boss met one of the owners in the Philippines. Then when we came back from vacation, he loved it and told everyone about it!
You order at the entrance and you kind of fend for yourself on tables. They bring you water and bus the tables once you are able to find one... They close one of the floors off during brunch. The building is beautiful, with the light reflecting off the bricks playfully. Once we got a seat, we were able to dig in.
Since I knew we were going to have a delicious dinner, I opted for something light and chose the coconut chia seed pudding. I liked it; if you're familiar with ginataan, Filipino coconut tapioca dessert, you'd like this. Here's a run down of what everyone got (that I remember):
Tam: Mushroom Toast
My Niece: French Toast
Brother: Dry-aged Burger
Overall, it was great brunch food! The portions and flavors were awesome. The burger was awesome. Since they age the meat in-house, it was beefy and juicy. My mouth is salivating just thinking about it. Unfortunately, I dropped part of it into my water... Hahaha.
It was a fun lunch with my niece. She sat next to me and we spent some time talking about her summer plans and being silly together. She's 10 now; I was in high school when she was born. Geeeeeeez. How things change, right?
We made plans for the next day and peace'd out.
Downtown LA - Bestia
Tam and I napped for a little bit, got good looking, and headed out to Bestia. We heard about this place and wanted to check it out. Tam's favorite food is Italian... And I just like to eat.
You need to make reservations a least 2 months in advance. Unlike Peter Luger, however, you don't have to wake up early to do it. They have an OpenTable website which allows you to do it as soon as the date you want is open 2 months out.
The area it's located in is kind of deceiving. The outside is a wall of bricks. When you enter the waiting area, you can see the vines climbing up the walls, turning it into an urban oasis. After a few minutes, we got seated for dinner and got cracking.
First of all, the service was amazing. I detail it here, but literally, no stone was left unturned in the service. I was impressed.
Secondly, the food was delicious in every bite! Here's a run down of every bite. Descriptions in the pictures.
Smoked Chicken Liver Pate (with preserved lemon, herb salad, grilled bread): The sweetness of the preserved lemon cut the heaviness of the chicken liver. The bread was slightly charred and added a nice smoky flavor to the food.
Roasted Bone Marrow (with spinach gnochetti, crispy breadcrumbs, aged balsamic): One of the best things we ate. Hands down. They mix the bone marrow into the gnochetti, which is very firm and has a slight crunch to it.
Mussels and clams (with 'nduja sausage, fennel seed, preserved orange, grilled bread: Of the things we tried, this is the one I wouldn't order again. It was spicy, and had a nice tomato flavor to it. But, compared to some of the other stuff, I think the dish fell flat in flavor and complexity.
Cavatelli alla Norcina (with ricotta dumplings. housemade pork sausage. black truffles. grana padano): I wanted to cry eating this. I love pork sausage, and the truffle was so subtle and paired well with the cheese. It was very fragrant too, a deliciously cheesy sort of way.
Spaghetti Rustichella (with dungeness crab. citrus. calabrian chili. thai basil. onion seed): I can't remember the exact flavor... I just know it was a little sour, but in a good way.
Frozen Strawberry Torte (with butter cake. strawberry buttermilk. strawberry sorbet. dulce de leche): Delicious. You ever have one of those strawberry shortcake ice cream bars? It's like that, but the super delicious fancy version of it. It was nostalgic and new and awesome.
It was satisfying. We were content and full and happy as we fell asleep to the EDM beats reverberating through the walls of our Airbnb.