A Picture Perfect Birthday Weekend

Over the weekend, I rang in my 25th birthday and celebrated the occasion the best way I know how: surrounded by delicious food and great friends.

My official birthday and party weren’t until Sunday, but my boyfriend wanted to make my big 2-5 an extra special one and planned a surprise “Birthday Adventure” for us on Saturday. The day kicked off with a map showing the location of and activity at each of our stops, but I was left to fill in the blanks. While I was embarrassed to correctly guess only one stop, I was also tickled by the idea of a whole day full of surprises.

For our first surprise stop, we headed downtown to Bread Lounge to fuel up. The new-ish bakery specializes European-style pastries such as croissants and focaccias and, of course, bread. Bread Lounge’s industrial-inspired décor may be sparse, but its menu offerings were anything but. Between the chockfull menu boards and the bountiful display case, we first time visitors needed a few moments to take everything in before narrowing down our options.

Eventually, I zeroed in on the Gringo, a pizza-like focaccia topped with two eggs, bacon, crumbled feta and cherry tomatoes, which was heated to order. Funnily enough, this focaccia was the very reason that Justin decided on Bread Lounge as our first stop. He knows me so well! Boasting a crispy yet pliable crust that rivals some of the best pizzas in the city and generous, hearty toppings, the Gringo was pretty much flawless. With bacon n’ eggs and a latte in our bellies (and a fruit pastry to-go), we set off for our next surprise stop.

Filling our apartment with fresh flowers is one of my absolute favorite indulgences and, for our second stop, we visited the Flower District to stock up.

How funny is this sign?



There’s no flower I love more than the soft, delicate and feminine pink peony and looking out on this sea of them made my heart flutter and nearly caused me to dance through the market Sound of Music-style.

Justin treated me to two bunches of peonies and some hydrangeas, and now they fill every room in our apartment. *Swoon*

My Birthday Adventure itinerary advised me to save room for our third stop, and, when we pulled up to Langer’s Deli, I was glad I listened. Opened in 1947, Langer’s has earned kudos for its pastrami from even the most die-hard New Yorkers and is a spot that I’ve always meant to try but, somehow, never have.

To start, I ordered a Vanilla Egg Cream, soda fountain throwback made with seltzer, milk and vanilla syrup, which was delightfully frothy and sweet.

Langer’s has served more than 4 million pounds of pastrami in its 65 years, and it’s safe to say that much of that was served as a #19, its most popular sandwich. In the #19, a mountain of hand-cut hot pastrami, coleslaw, Russian dressing and Swiss cheese are served on double baked rye bread. Justin and I both loved the tender pastrami and agreed that the crisp, double baked bread was Langer’s secret weapon in the battle for pastrami sandwich domination.

After spending all morning with the human love of my life, I turned my attention to my four-legged one. When Justin and I adopted our dog Mona about two and a half years ago, we noticed that the intake date on her shelter paperwork was coincidentally the same date as my birthday. I took this as a sign that she and I were always meant to be and decided to celebrate her “birthday” on the same day as mine. To celebrate Mona’s special day, we took her to Three Dog Bakery for a doggie sundae and some “pupcakes.” Mona enjoyed herself so much that she got downright stubborn when it came time to leave.

Later, armed only with a suggested dress code and our reservation time, I hopped in the car and we set off for dinner, stopping finally at chef Michael Voltaggio’s ink…but more on that here.

Perhaps my favorite surprise of the entire lovely day was my birthday cake, which was carefully selected by Justin and drew an audible gasp from me when we picked it up from Valerie Confections. Appropriately pink and girly, the Rose Petal Cake was made with vanilla bean cake, rose petal passion fruit ganache, covered in white chocolate glaze and finished with candied rose petals. If you’ve read this blog for any amount of time, you know my obsession with both rose and passion fruit, and I’m hard-pressed to come up with any cake more perfect for the occasion.

On Sunday, I practically had to roll myself out of bed for my party at Sunny Spot…

…but of course found room for a Bottomless Rum Punch and a Two-Fisted Burger…with a fried egg (previously written about here).

As the weekend drew to a close and I headed into the office, I thought my days of birthday gluttony were behind me, but my amazing co-workers had other ideas and ordered a special delivery from Donut Snob (previously written about here).

Where to begin?!

Thank you to my friends and family for celebrating with me and for making my 25th birthday truly the most wonderful one yet. Thank you especially to Justin for planning one of the best days I’ve ever had and to Mona for being your adorable, wiggle-butt self.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have some research on juice cleanses to do.

Bread Lounge
www.twitter.com/breadlounge
700 S. Santa Fe Ave.
Los Angeles, CA 90021
(213) 327-0782

Langer’s
www.langersdeli.com
704 S. Alvarado St.
Los Angeles, CA 90057
(213) 483-8050


Valerie Confections
www.valerieconfections.com
3360 W. 1st St.
Los Angeles, CA 90004
(213) 739-8149


ink
www.mvink.com
8360 Melrose Ave.
Los Angeles, CA 90069
(323) 655-7225

Sunny Spot
www.sunnyspotvenice.com
822 Washington Blvd.
Venice, CA 90292
(310) 448-8884

Donut Snob
www.thedonutsnob.com
www.twitter.com/DonutSnob

Adopt. Don’t Shop! Save a homeless pet.
LA Love and Leashes
Angel City Pit Bulls
The Amanda Foundation
Much Love Animal Rescue
Karma Rescue

Being Sick Could Only Mean: Langer’s

I don’t know what I used to eat when I was sick before I knew about Jewish food. Now, thanks to J, it’s my go-to at the first sign of a sore throat or the sniffles. The food is so warm, hearty and carb-a-licious that, even if I still feel like crap when I’m done with my meal, at least I’m a little happier. And so, today, it was Langer’s to the rescue!

Langer’s, located in Westlake, is famed for its menu’s #19–the pastrami sandwich that many claim is the best pastrami sandwich in the US. I, however, have only braved the crowded, busy streets of Alvarado in the fog of a headcold or amidst a flu-induced coughing fit (which, given the pretty shady area, is maybe not the best idea but c’est la vie) and have never actually tried this famed sandwich. The fact that they close at 4 PM every day also has something to do with this…

In the 1920s, Westlake had a primarily Jewish population and was the LA equivalent of New York’s Upper East Side. Upon stepping into Langer’s, you certainly get a blast from the Westlake past and completely forget that you’re in the middle of a busy, urban area.

The interior definitely has the diner/deli kitsch factor going with its counters, quilted booths and more shades of brown and orange than you knew existed.

I ordered my standard “I’m sick and in need of comfort meal”: Matzoh ball soup, potato knishes and kasha varnishkes. For you goys out there like me, knishes are a snack food made of dough wrapped around a filling (in my case, potato) and kasha varnishkes is bowtie pasta cooked with buckwheat and onions.

I don’t know what to say about kasha varnishkes other than that it’s delicious and absolutely perfect when you’re sick (or any time, really). Some places serve it with gravy, but I really like getting the flavor of the onions and buckwheat in every bite and being able to feel the difference in texture between the buckwheat and the pasta.

I hate 99.9% of soups. I just don’t understand it. It’s not filling, but it’s not light, and I get bored of eating it. I do, however, love matzoh ball soup, and Langer’s is delicious. The matzoh ball is soft but not so soft that it falls apart when you dig in with your spoon. The broth was also flavorful and was really soothing on my throat.

I’ve eaten more than a few knishes in my days, but I’ve never seen ones like this! They were practically the size of baseballs! These were really yummy, but the outer layer of dough was a little thicker than I’d have liked and, after a while, I scooped out the potato from the middle and ate that with ketchup.

This huge amount of food all came out to about $17–not too shabby–and I still have leftovers. In fact, I’m going to go eat some kasha varnishke right now.

Langer’s

www.langersdeli.com

704 S. Alvarado St.

Los Angeles, CA, 90057

(213) 483-8050

Capriotti’s

EaterLA recently announced the first LA opening of Capriotti’s, an Italian sub chain originating in Delaware. I normally try to avoid chain restaurants (I mean, there’s really no excuse for it in LA when you have so many eating options!), but after reading their stellar Yelp reviews, decided to give them a try.

One of the first things you notice on the Capriotti’s menu is how big their sandwiches are. A “small” is 9 inches, a “medium” is 12 inches, and a “large” is a whopping 2o inches!

All of the Yelpers raved about The Bobbie, a sub sandwich on a fresh-baked roll with turkey, cranberries and stuffing. Brilliant! Who says that these sandwiches are only for Thanksgiving leftovers? I was so excited to try this sandwich that I took a bite before I took a picture! Woops.

Every single bite of this sandwich was pure heaven. The turkey was tender, slow-roasted, pulled turkey (not sliced deli meat), and the cranberry sauce had whole cranberries in it and was not just cranberry-flavored jelly. All I have to says is, “NOMZ!”

After devouring the first half of our Bobbies, my friend suggested that the sandwich might also be good with coleslaw instead of mayo. I think I know what I’m getting on my next stop!

Capriotti’s menu is loaded with other delicious-sounding subs that I am now dying to try including the Capastrami (pastrami, swiss cheese, Russian dressing and coleslaw), a Grilled Italian and a Homemade Meatball Sandwich.

So, for a delicious, well-priced, non-snooty lunch in Beverly Hills, pay Capriotti’s a visit.

Capriotti’s

www.capriottis.com

9683 Wilshire Blvd.

Beverly Hills, CA 90212

(310) 858-1383