Pizza Stop - Abbot Kinney

I have a love hate relationship with Abbot Kinney. Mostly because I find myself excited to come here, but always leave slightly disappointed. There's not much to do besides watching humans, hanging out at a restaurant, or visiting one of favorite shops on the block, Tortoise. 

It was a lovely Sunday and I was just in the area so thought I stopped by to take a stroll. I decided it would be fun if I just did a quick pizza dive.

Abbot's Pizza Co

Abbot's Pizza has been around since 1995. I was 7 years old with a bomb ass bowl cut at the time so it was a legit year to start. This place is nothing but homie, and nothing more than love on a pie. You can order your crust as thin as you like. They also have this bagel crust to make your pizza experience that much more elevated. Great place to stop when you are on the run or just trying to be the life of a party. Because who doesn't love pizza?

Gjelina take away (GTA) 

I love Gjelina. In fact, Gjelina was one of the first restaurants I've tried in Abbot Kinney. I've been here multiple times since and it has never failed (Best duck confit hash). They started their take away not too long ago, but I've never stopped in to check. It's pretty grand compared the Abbot's pizza and can pretty much be a restaurant of it's own. 

I am always a huge fan of Gjelinas pizza. I was craving their wild mushroom pizza, but it was unfortunately not available by the slice. If it's not mushroom, I go with meat. It's rare I pick a veggie pizza, and today definitely wasn't the time.

Bacon, pomodoro, mozzarella, mushrooms, onions and thyme. Extremely thin with a light crispy crust. I love it when tomatoes have a nice tart to them and not overly sweet. With a rich pizza like this, a tart afterbite really helps cut down the richness.

Oh it was a good day.

Salt & Straw - Studio City

I've met a lot of people in my life. It's really rare to find people who are really passionate with what they do. After meeting Tyler, who we called the Chief Churner Officer (any many other names), we feel that Salt & Straw represents the real passion chasers out there. Tyler was literally traveling in Beijing when he realized where his heart belonged. To be on the literal scale, he packed his bags from Seattle and headed to Portland to attend culinary school. 

It was also a coincidence that his cousin Kim, who is also the founder of Salt & Straw, was then pursuing her dreams of opening an ice cream scoop shop. It took no time before these 2 masters collaborated and worked out something more than delicious flavors of ice cream, but really developed a story into what they do.

I felt extremely privileged to have met Tyler. He was smart, funny, and wickedly genius with his flavor combinations. I would say he's like the Willy Wonka of ice cream. It's amazing how Salt & Straw which was originally from Portland, has made their trademark in Los Angeles with little to no effort at all. They love what they do. And I can honestly say it comes through with their product. Not only are they artisans with their ice creams, but they also incorporate local business ingredients into their creations. An example is their "May Flowers" flavor. One of the creations was called Wild Honey with Ricotta Walnut Lace Cookies. The honey that was used was from  Massey Honey Co, a local Los Angeles/ Orange County apiary where the honey is extracted by hand and strained.

We've tried most if not all of their flavors. Everything we had was delicious. Perfect. And executed without flaws like a perfect round on Chopped. A few of my favorites Stumptown Coffee & Compartes Love Nuts, Sea Salt with Caramel Ribbon, Freckled Woodblock Chocolate, Rhubarb Crumble with toasted anise (May Flower special), Wild Honey with Ricotta Walnut Lace Cookies, and Black Olive Brittle & Goat cheese if you are a HUGE goat cheese fan. These are some of the favorites to name a few.

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This here was my favorite combination. Tyler randomly scooped these for us without knowing. Sea Salt with caramel ribbons on the bottom and Stumptown Coffee & Compartes Love Nuts on top. There's no other way to describe it besides DELICIOUS and Decadent.

Studio City is their newest location that just opened recently. I highly recommend you check it out. Easy parking with tons of friendly patrons. I'm hooked. You just might see me there.

12180 1/2 Ventura Blvd. Los Angeles, CA - 10AM - 11PM Daily - (818) 358-2890

**Stay tuned. They will be opening up another location in the Arts District in DTLA**

Intelligentsia - Abbot Kinney

To continue on with celebrating John's Birthday, we went to Intelligentsia after our brunch at Gjelina. I find the location in Abbot Kinney much more sophisticated than the one is Pasadena when it comes to flavor. Cappuccinos are always our go-to at a roaster like this. I love the dairy ratio here compared to what I received in Pasadena. I wouldn't say I am a connoisseur, but I am confident to say I am pretty close to one. There were days when we used to have nothing to do but hit up local coffee shops in Los Angeles. Those days of drinking caffeine for fun is something I truly miss... so this was definitely a treat not just for John, but for me as well.

Walking in, you will see a glass filled with baked goods. Go ahead, pick something.

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Step up to a barista when you are ready to order and they will be more than happy to get your drink on the way. The smell of fresh ground coffee beans just does something to me that I can't explain. I always find the smell to be intoxicating. I love getting into a car that has the smell of hot coffee sitting in the cup holder. Or that first brew you make when you are trying to get breakfast ready. It's kind of like, potpourri that wakes you up. I love every bit of it.

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Americano on top, cappuccino bottom

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I like to add a little raw cane sugar to enhance the espresso. Watch it get swallowed up and sucked in like a black hole.

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Stir. Love. Enjoy.

1331 Abbot Kinney Blvd, Venice, CA 90291

GJELINA - Abbot Kinney

GJELINA is the first restaurant I've tried when visiting Abbot Kinney for the first time. On Abbot Kinney, there are a few blocks congested with little stores and restaurants to check out. I don't remember why we chose GJELINA that day, but I am happy we did.

GJELINA is one of those places where you might see a celebrity walk in. I've seen a few, but I'm pretty infatuated by their brunch menu to even care. I forget how good the food is here. Though I never had dinner, I can honestly say GJELINA is one of the best breakfast-brunch restaurants you can ask for. Not only is it pretty freaking delicious, but the items are priced fairly.

It was for John's Birthday that I decided to take him here to celebrate with a good brunch meal since we had to spend time with family that evening to celebrate Chinese New Years. There are a good variety of items to select from, but there are some dishes that are too hard to pass up.

I'm just going to dive right into this.

Duck Confit Potato Hash

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Potato hash, duck egg and grainy mustard

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Duck Confit Hash

Duck confit is very hard to find executed well. Most of the duck confit has I've had in my days were either too dry or not confit enough. And, the potatoes are so flavorful. Almost if they were based in the duck fat. There's nothing more to say I love you than a beautiful yolk with a nice tart grainy mustard to cut through the richness. Do I need to say more?

Moroccan Baked Eggs

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Merguez, Chili, Tomato Sauce, cilantro & Spiced yogurt

I highly recommend this as well. A beautiful tomato sauce with chilies and lamb sausage cooked in, baked on top with 2 eggs. The spiced yogurt is everything you need to bring out the beautiful flavors of the merguez. The toast looked intimidating at first because it's fairly large, but just enough to finish this dish.

But wait, there's more.

Pizza Pomodoro

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Pomodoro with burrata cheese

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Nothing beats a good Neapolitan Pizza than from GJELINA. They do it well. The crust is insanely thin, crispy, nice cushion crust, and that beautiful yeasty tang we ALL love about a Neapolitan pizza.

Comes out piping hot with some fresh basil tore on top, a dash of oregano and some more condiments on the side for you to play with. Yes, I dipped the crust into my Moroccan eggs.

Is it Christmas already because everyone is say Hallelujah up in here.

Happy Birthday John.