Welcome to Cooking Stuff. I’m Marcella. This is a place where I talk about all things food, cooking, and life. If you are not a subscriber, hit that button below to join us. ALSO, recipes are back! Upgrade to a paid subscription so you don’t miss any.
This month Marco and I celebrated our anniversary. He blocked the week off months ago and we looked into doing a small trip within driving distance from LA. As we got closer to March we both admitted we really just wanted to stay home, so we did. We turned the week into a staycation and explored the city. We spent one day at the Natural History Museum and another at The Huntington Library and Botanical Gardens. We were at the botanical gardens right before everything really bloomed and now we have to go back in a few weeks to see it all again.
Every morning we woke up without alarms and had coffee together like we would on any other vacation. To really treat ourselves we ate out every day, sometimes twice a day. We spent the week trying a handful of restaurants on our list and it was really fun!
Some places were great and others were disappointing. Today I’m going to tell you all about them. My LA food map has been updated and hopefully, you add some of these places to your list too. Let’s jump in.
Monday – Dunsmoor
Dunsmoor is in our neighborhood and literally every week we drive by and say “we really need to go.” The restaurant is stunning and the service was excellent. We ordered the king salmon, baby albacore, bison tartar, blue crab salad, cornbread, and pork chop to share. King salmon I would pass on next time and it kills me to say we were both underwhelmed by the pork chop. I had heard rave reviews but it just didn’t blow us away. Everything else I would without a doubt order again. For dessert, I snacked on chocolate covered peanuts recommended by our waiter. He said they were a 9/10 and he wasn’t lying. They surprised me with how good they were.
Hot Tip: Dunsmoor’s wine bar around the corner serves everything besides the larger main dishes. If you can’t get a reservation or want to walk in, go to the wine bar and you can have a meal of small plates.
Tuesday – Sonora Town and Found Oyster
We originally planned to pop into Holbox for lunch on Tuesday but they were closed for renovations! We made a quick pivot and grabbed tacos at Sonora Town downtown. They were great tacos and I have nothing bad to say. Do you need to drive downtown specifically for these tacos? No, but if you are downtown you should get these tacos.
It rained all day and we spent the afternoon at the History Museum. On our way home we had an early dinner at Found Oyster. We shared the overboard platter and fries which had oysters, prawns, Sicilian crudo, and crab cocktail. The restaurant is charming, teeny, and feels like you are in Europe. The fries were extra crisp, just like we like them, and my favorite thing was the crab cocktail.
Wednesday – Bestia
This was the biggest disappointment of the week. Not because of the food, which was outstanding, but because we had a really horrible server. I’ll spare you the long story but it started from the second we sat down and asked a question about allergies, we couldn’t order a cocktail from the bar (weird), and our check was smacked down on the table with dessert. The whole experience was uncomfortable and we couldn't wait to leave.
We actually didn’t have any problems ordering with Marco’s allergies and as I mentioned, every bite was killer. We shared the scallop crudo, mussels, beet and endive salad, charred branzino, and slow roasted lamb neck. The scallop crudo was my favorite bite of the night followed by the lamb neck and then the mussels.
Service is everything and we probably won’t be back because of the experience we had. I’ll give Bavel and Saffys (their other restaurants) a fair try though.
Thursday – Hippo
Hippo was a last minute addition when Morihiro had water damage that bumped our reservation to Friday.
Hippo is casual, more casual than I expected, but a fun spot to go to. I didn’t have any expectations going into it and was pleasantly surprised by everything we had. Our server was really opinionated and honest with recommendations. This is something I love and he steered us in the right direction. We shared griddl’d cauliflower, cool wax beans, royal hamachi crudo, gluten free (!!) duck ragu, and grilled chicken thighs. Marco hadn’t been able to order pasta at a restaurant in years and it made his night. The dessert didn’t blow me away but all five savory dishes surprised me.
Friday – Morihiro
We ended our week with omakase at Morihiro. There are five tables and about six seats at the sushi bar. It’s small and intimate inside, perfect for the occasion. The meal flowed like a perfectly rehearsed dance which I expected. I lost count of how many courses we were served but they came on ceramic dishes that the chef made himself. It was pricey but worth the splurge for a special night. Sake pairing is a must!
Not new but other places we went to during the week – Night + Market, All Time, Capri Club, Lemon Poppy Kitchen, Triple Beam Pizza, and La Colombe.
My recipes are back! Last week I sent out a recipe for Flourless Hazelnut Chocolate Cake (perfect for Passover). You can watch me make it here and get the recipe below.
Nobu’s Miso-Marinated Black Cod
There is a guy on Instagram that went viral recently for his version of Nobu’s Miso Cod (watch it here). The Instagram algorithm served me this video right after I ordered cod, weird.
I didn’t end up making his version but I made the Nobu Cookbook recipe that you can find on The Kitchn. I only marinated the cod for a day and because I didn’t want to get multiple items dirty, I cooked it in the oven. 300º for 8 minutes then broil for 3-5 minutes. Those instructions I got from the guy on Instagram. Thanks guy!
It’s a very simple recipe and worth trying.
How Tokyo’s Farms Have Survived for Centuries – Community gardens! We need more of them. This is a good read.
Pay-What-You-Can Markets Provide Produce for the Common Good – Another way gardening and farming is bringing communities together.
Health-Ade Hits a Home Run for Gut Health as the Official Partner of the Los Angeles Dodgers – Never in my life would I have guessed baseball and kombucha would partner up. On a serious note, Health-Ade is great! They had a booth at a music festival I attended and after drinking so much they sent us home with a whole case. Big fan over here.
A very important skill. One that I still can’t get perfect but I practice every time I make a breakfast sandwich.
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Makes perfect sense! Now I can’t unsee it and notice it all over the grocery store.
You don’t need this tool at all but it is fun! This little tool shreds scallions into thin little slices. I don’t use it every day but when I do whip it out it brings me joy. Shreddy scallions are a fun way to mix things up! Did you notice them on the miso cod above?
Your staycation is inspiring! I always feel pressure to get out of town on long weekends but I love the he idea of vacationing in my own town (lazy mornings included).