Easiest place to order: In-N-Out Burger (Sunday night). Okay, so you could make it really really hard if you want, but the actual menu only has about 10 items on it, and they're pretty much either burgers or sides. Want a burger with nothing on it? Order a burger with nothing on it. Want one with everything? Order one with everything. Not exactly difficult.
Longest wait, but great ambiance: La Golondrina on Olvera Street (Monday afternoon). Yes. There was a line. Yes. It was a little loud. But the staff were incredibly friendly, there was a strolling guitarist, and the food was good, to boot.
Most home-y meal: Memorial Day (Monday evening, obviously). Steaks off the grill were accompanied by homemade spoon bread (an amazing food, kind of like a polenta... or a soft cornbread... really, really good stuff). Dessert was a strawberry pie made the way we had them when we were growing up: Glazed strawberries on top of cream cheese in the crust. Yum.
Best on-line recommendation: The Original Antonio's Pizzeria and Deli in Avalon (Tuesday lunch). Right next door to our hotel, this place is a hole in the wall, especially when compared to the much larger Antonio's Pizzeria and Karaoke. But everything online pointed to the Original Antonio's being the place to go, and -- wow -- they were right. We had a pizza and sodas and sat and looked at the memorabilia on the walls before going on with our day.
Best view, if a bit chilly: Armstrong's in Avalon (Tuesday dinner). The food was fine. The service was fine. The price was fine. But the view was great -- we were sitting out over the harbor and watching the clouds change color as the sun went down behind us. Nice.
Best unexpected find: Bravo Cucina on the 3rd St Promenade in Santa Monica (Wednesday dinner). I don't remember what Christopher had, but I had their signature dish "Rigatoni Farma," a dish with pasta, chicken, mushrooms, sesame seeds, and a teriyaki cream sauce. I know it sounds weird, but it was really tasty.
Coolest seating area: The Commissary at Sony Studios (Thursday lunch). My brother-in-law will probably think I'm insane for this, but it was truly a Hollywood-esque lunch. We ordered in the chic-er-than-most deli area, then went outside to one of the "streets" to find a table to eat. Now think about this: We live in Minneapolis. Eating outside is really only popular for about 3 weeks in the summer. At Sony, they eat outside all year, with almost no indoor seating. How cool is that?
Most surreal meal: IHOP down the street from Disneyland (Friday breakfast). Why surreal? Because we met up with a friend of Christopher's and spent most of our time talking about relatively serious topics (jobs, relationships, grown-up life stuff) while sitting at a table which was oddly in the center of a large room, surrounded on all sides by families with screaming, over-excited and over-sugared kids.
Most fulfilling foods: Disneyland (Friday, variously). Christopher and I kind of ate like... well... kids, when we were in the park. Before we left the park, Christopher got a mint chocolate chip ice cream cone, and I picked up some cotton candy. It was great.
Best meal of the trip (a totally objective decision -- as if the others weren't): Take-out from Panda Express followed by Birthday Cake (Thursday dinner). In case I haven't mentioned it, the Friday while we were in CA was my birthday. But, since Christopher and I were going to be in Disneyland all day, my sisters opted to celebrate it on Thursday -- and they planned the meal just for me.
I know it's odd, but I really love the Orange Chicken and Kung Po Chicken from Panda Express (the fast-food-chain-ish Chinese restaurant which is found in shopping malls in most of the country, but actually has standalone stores in LA). It was wonderful. We took the food home so that we could hang out with the amassed families and I got to spend time hanging out with my niece and nephews. As if that meal wasn't good enough, we capped it off with a White Bakery Cake with vanilla buttercream frosting (imported all the way from Palos Verde, apparently). I know... a lot of people find that boring, but it's my absolute favorite. How much better could a birthday meal get?
And, no suprise, nothing to write about from the airport on Saturday morning. Although Northwest/Delta is (are?) now serving peanuts, again. Which seems like an odd choice considering how many people have peanut allergies. Why did they switch from pretzels?
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