A Day in LA and 8 meals later

We stayed right on Venice Beach where it’s action stations, you can literally see drug deals going on, I actually witnessed a bag snatching to the delight of a bunch of tourists who swiftly broke out their video cameras. Down in Venice Beach you get the feeling that everyone seems to be doing it tough, however there is also a sense of celebration of life that I think the Americans are pretty good at. I used to think it was just blind optimism but I think it’s something a bit deeper than that. And just for the record I don’t think it’s due to the recent killing of old OBL. From the guy with the sign around his neck saying “World’s Greatest Wino, I tell jokes and stories for booze money”, to bunches of Latino cheer leaders just randomly practicing their routines along the promenade, to girls in retro roller skates singing to themselves, then stumbling upon 100 people dancing salsa together in the streets and everyone just acting plain friendly; LA isn’t the fake titted plastic place I used to think it was. No one seemed to be trying to out-cool each other; there was hardly a hipster in sight even in the more gentrified area of Santa Monica. I think Americans just love a bit of comfort wear to be too bothered with being a hipster.

But anyway this is about the food we ate, I’m just going to give a short run-down of what we consumed in 24 hours:
1. A slice of Pizza on the promenade of Venice beach, I kind of turned my nose up as Simon ordered it but had to have a taste and nearly consumed the whole thing. There is a trick to this, you ask to owner of the pizza if they can hold your bags while you take your jumper off and while their hands are busy just go in for the pizza. Simon’s review “the best God damn sourdough pizza from the shittiest looking shop on Venice beach, crispy on the outside spongy on the inside”
2. Fried Oysters at James beach, famous for the man-date in the movie “I love you Man” – these were disgusting and flavourless
3. Fish Tacos at James Beach – ho hum, I think we are starting to do these better at home.
4. Pork lard infused mash potato at James Beach…. What more can I say about this. Tasty as all hell.
5. Fries with shaved white truffle on the top – seems like a waste of good truffle but it isn’t. It was magic fries.
6. Jalapeno and Spinach Omelette, was so hot we could only eat half of it from Hotel Erwin.
7. Curried chicken salad from Wolfgang Puk express, a delicious blend of red cabbage and rocket with a light dressing and dollops of curried chicken.
8. Wild Mushroom Pizza, from Wolfgang Puk express. Trend alert I can see this happening in Sydney soon where the hatted chefs start their own express bars and serve to inner city lunch crowd and actually start making money out of their food.
I could have just maybe put on a kilo from my day in LA if it wasn’t for the 8 hours of walking we did.