WELCOME TO THE CITY OF ANGELS! Having lived in the same place my whole life on the East Coast, I’ve always been interested in life on the West Coast. New York City is a very fast city - everyone is always on the move and in a rush. Los Angeles is what some might consider NYC’s polar opposite. As die-hard New Yorkers say, if the only thing you can say about your city is that the weather is good, the city probably just isn’t that good. SoCal is known for its warmer weather throughout the year, but there’s so much more to this wonderful city than just the weather.
LA goes at a slower pace than NYC, giving it a more relaxed feel. But, with both cities, there are great things and some not-so-fantastic things. NYC is a city made to be explored through public transportation and by foot, especially given Manhattan’s smart grid design. You pretty much need a car to get around LA, which means the notorious LA traffic. However, my sister says the public transportation isn’t as terrible as people say it is, but…NYC definitely wins in that category.
Between the two, my winner is… actually LA!! Many will disagree, but LA is such an inviting, exciting city that has endless free activities to enjoy and a food scene that I personally love more. Don’t get me wrong, NYC is an absolute food paradise, but I guess my taste buds are just happier in the LA sunshine ☀️. Also, my mom spent a few years in California when she first immigrated to the U.S., so maybe it’s just in my blood?
My older sister, Antonia, actually goes to college in the LA area, so for Thanksgiving 2018, my dad and I went to spend time with her. We were only able to explore LA for about three days, so we didn’t get to see a whole lot, but that can be a good thing - LA keeps me coming back for more, and that means that I have something to look forward to the next time I return.
Check out the places I ate and visited during my Thanksgiving trip!
Eating at Chinchikurin was my first time trying okonomiyaki. Since then, this dish has been one of my all-time favorites! They serve Hiroshima okonomiyaki, which is one of two main styles of okonomiyaki. Okonomiyaki is a savory pancake with okonomi- meaning "as you like" and -yaki meaning "cooked". Osaka style is a batter with all ingredients being mixed inside, whereas each ingredient in the Hiroshima style is separated into its own layer, allowing each layer to provide its own unique taste + texture. There's typically 11 (WOW!) layers, with grilled noodles, vegetables, crepe-like batter, meat, and many more.
Chinchikurin offers 9 ways to eat your Hiroshima okonomiyaki, and each way has its own specific toppings. My family tried 3 ways, as each pancake can be eaten as a single portion. We shared the GOAM (pictured above), which is green onions and mayo, the B&C, or the basil & cheese, and the Chinchikurinyaki, which has the shioburiyaki ground beef mixture inside. All okonomiyakis served have "The Classic" as their base, which can be ordered plain without toppings. However, the toppings make these pancakes even more exciting! It's such a fun experience to eat here, as you're able to use the "hera" (miniature spatula) to cut into the okonomiyaki that's sitting utop a heated grill. Get the B&C if you like cheese - it was my favorite!! Chinchikurin also has a takoyaki window if you just want a quick snack walking through Little Tokyo! I absolutely love this place.
I am a big fan of Buzzfeed's Worth It series, a show that compares a food dish at three different price points to determine which one is the most worth it for its price, hosted by Steven Lim and Andrew Ilnyckyj. For their steak episode, the one at the lowest price point of $12 was Uncle John's Cafe's steak and eggs dish. Uncle John's is an American-Chinese diner that serves up your favorite diner classics, like hot cakes and French toast, but also mixing up your egg dishes with chashu BBQ pork and honey garlic chicken wings. It's like a super fun, diner-centric American-Chinese takeout restaurant. Obviously, I had to try the affordable steak that was greatly loved by both Steven and Andrew!
I tried their famous $12 steak and eggs * that's served with your choice of side and toast. I chose mine to go with fried rice, white toast, and sunny-side up eggs, and boy, these portions are HUGE - TOTALLY WORTH IT! The fried rice was very plain, as it seemed like it was only tossed in soy sauce and scallions. The eggs were just how I liked them, with some slight browning on the edges and runny yolks. The steak was a bit chewier, but it was cooked to a great temperature and well-seasoned.
The real star of Uncle John's is the spicy pork chops. They're lightly fried and really pack a punch of flavor. The chops have a slight kick, but are also really well-seasoned. My dad got the pork chops with a side of chow mein, which we all really enjoyed. I'd say that this place is a great place if you're looking for a cheap meal with a whole lot of food. Uncle John's also trades in their diner classics for Cajun seafood at night, which I will definitely be trying the next time I come back to visit!
I know Hollywood is pretty much a place that most locals want to avoid, but I was on a mission to find a good steakhouse! After doing some light research, I stumbled upon Musso & Frank Grill, the oldest restaurant in Hollywood since its opening in 1919. The restaurant has an extensive menu that covers all your favorite steakhouse classics and is also super old-school and is pretty dark-lit. When my family eats steak, we like to eat ribeye, so we got one bone-in and one boneless. Both had very defined grill marks and were each very flavorful, but sadly, the portions were really small for the price, which was disappointing. We also got the French-cut lamb chops, which paired well with the mint jelly on the side. We also got some sauteed onions and mac & cheese, which are my go-to steakhouse sides. Overall, I really did enjoy the meal and loved the setting that gives you an idea of what it was like 100 years ago, but the portions were smaller than expected. I would recommend Musso & Frank as one to try if you're in Hollywood!
Osawa Pasadena is an authentic Japanese restaurant in Pasadena that not only serves up your standard sushi and sashimi, but also hot dishes that aren't frequently seen in Japanese restaurants across America. My dad and sister ordered the chef's choice sashimi lunch, which I was able to try and see how fresh the fish was. We also tried the kurobota pork ginger, which definitely had a more subtle flavor. The pork worked really well with the slaw on the side and is a dish that I definitely recommend! I also had the salmon lover roll, which had fresh AND cooked salmon incorporated into the roll - the name itself should tell you that this roll is for salmon lovers!! Osawa also has shabu counter, which my sister indulges in for special occasions. I look forward to being able to try that in the future!
Afters Ice Cream has 27 (and counting!) SoCal locations and is famous for their MilkyBun, a warm donut stuffed with ice cream and toppings of your choice. I don't believe that Afters is a franchise, so all locations are quality-controlled and should be consistent. The Pasadena location is styled as a gas-station and gives off a retro feeling that oddly fits so well with ice cream. My dad always gets a triple scoop that the three of us split, as it's a lot cheaper to get a triple scoop than three individual singles. We tried their Jasmine milk tea, cookie butter, and Vietnamese coffee flavors, which were happy to find that their tastes matched their names. Afters doesn't use artificial flavorings, so each taste was true to their promised flavors. We also tried their MilkyBun, which was just as good as a donut-ice cream pair sounds (amazing 😋).
Something remarkable to me is how bubble tea shops in LA are not just the regular global franchises, like Kung Fu Tea, Gong Cha, CoCo, etc., but rather smaller localized chains or mom and pop shops. On the East Coast, bubble tea shops are almost purely these chains, with very few small businesses completely specializing in bubble tea. OneZo has expanded more, even opening up a location in Manhattan, but OneZo is unique as it creates its boba pearls from scratch, meaning there are no additives or artificial flavorings. They're able to control the product from start to finish, which makes you feel a little bit better about drinking bubble tea. They claim to be the world's first bubble tea brand to serve made-in-house fresh boba, which is certainly difficult to find. I got the brown sugar boba milk, which had perfectly chewy tapioca pearls coated in a sticky brown sugar mixture. This place has many locations throughout California and is slowly making its way throughout the U.S.. OneZo is an absolute MUST-TRY!
Factory Tea Bar (FTB) is a popular boba tea spot located in San Gabriel, with an additional location at USC. This is one of my sister's favorite spots to get boba tea, so she took us to the San Gabriel location when visiting. Immediately upon arrival, we noticed that the place was bustling with people. There were people playing board games and just sitting on the couch, and this was around 9:30PM! We ordered our drinks, which took about 10 minutes to prepare, but the wait was worth it! The boba pearls were as chewy as we liked. FTB also serves classic Asian snack foods, like popcorn chicken, fried gyoza, sweet potato fries, & more, and they also have an extensive drink menu with lots of topping options.
The Korean Friendship Bell is a bell and pavilion located in San Pedro, next to Long Beach. The bell was donated by the Republic of Korea in 1976 to signify the strong friendship between the U.S. and Korea, as well as to honor the Korean War Veterans. The patterns of the bell are modeled after the Bronze Bell of King Songdok that was built in 771 A.D. and is still on display today. The pavilion was stunning, as you are able to go up close and see the intricate design of the bell. It is set with a background view of Long Beach, and you are even able to see Los Angeles from afar. It is a little bit of a drive from Downtown LA but it is a must-see in my opinion!
This is really the high-rise, typical city part of LA, where you can find art galleries, markets, Little Tokyo, Chinatown, and lots more. Because of our limited time there, we really just window-shopped, "people watched", walked through the Japanese Village Plaza, and checked out Little Tokyo. There are endless things to find in DTLA, as it has great wall art and lots of areas to do some light flea-market shopping + walking.
For the rest of the time, we did some sightseeing, like seeing the Queen Mary Ship, a cruise ship that my dad and sister went on about 15 years ago, as well as visiting the Museum of Selfies, seeing Antonia’s school, and exploring Pasadena and its surrounding areas. We definitely had a packed 3 days, where we enjoyed some of the best food and saw a few beautiful sights in LA. I cannot wait till my next time in LA, because I clearly have lots more to see in what this huge city has to offer!
See you soon,
Carissa 😊