September has passed, and it was another amazing month full of food events and opportunities to try great new places! Please enjoy the pictures and summaries in my September Recap!
1) Restauration (Long Beach, CA) and Salud Juice (Long Beach, CA) - @foodwithkevin
It was fun brunching at a place with such innovative dishes! We loved the menu here because it had so much to choose from. After enjoying some Watermelon Aguas Frescas and Rose Park Cold Brew, we got to pick three items from the brunch menu. This was the event where I met @missmisschelle/@notsomisschealthy, who had encouraged me to start this blog! We had each brought a guest with us, so between the four of us, we got to try a good variety of items. I absolutely loved the Marinated Flank Steak and Eggs, Shrimp and Grits, Smoked Tartine, and Pork Belly Pizza. We had a great time drinking some of their awesome Sangria and as the hours flew by, the menu changed from Brunch to Dinner. That was when we ordered the beautiful Duck Confit Tortellini. I never had duck in a pasta dish before! Toward the end of the event, there were some food bloggers next to us that wanted to order from the dessert menu. We ended up ordering each dessert and sharing: Peanut Butter Semifreddo, Peach Upside Down Cake, and Torched Honey Creme. All were so amazing and unique since the last two had fruit in it!!
After that amazing meal, we took a walk to Salud Juice, where we had the chance to sample their cold pressed juices. The ingredients are organic, raw, and local, and the drinks were very refreshing. We each were allowed to take a bottle home but they let us borrow their bottles to take some fun pictures in their adorable store! We took home a Perfect Pear, which was very light and fruity, and The Foam, which was like a spiced coffee.
2) GC Marketplace (Los Angeles, CA) - @maggieeats
This was such a special and intimate event held at GC Marketplace! I was so thankful to be a part of this group that got to try this special and very gourmet menu. Everything was excellent and the service and treatment were top notch. Some of the items are new or are not on the menu yet but I wanted to share with you the items we had that evening. Pictured are: Amuse Bouche; Cheese & Charcuterie Platter; Pan-Seared Diver Scallop on Curried Polenta; Crispy Duck with a Ginger Plum Sauce; Fois Gras Sliders on Brioche Bun with 12-Year Aged Balsamic Drizzle; Bacon and Blue Pizza with Caramelized Onions, Smoked Bacon, Mozzarella and Danish Blue Cheese; Smoked Brisket with Texas Dry Rub and Crispy Onion Strings; Crab and Truffle Risotto with Dungeness Crab, Organic Roasted Beets, and White Truffle Oil; and Ginger Snap Ice Cream Sandwich with Caramel Sauce.
3) The Rye Truck (Tustin, CA) - @orangecountycuisine
We had an opportunity to stop by Rye Truck in Old Town Tustin to try their coffee and pastries, and to film ourselves for a special project for a television series called "Food Porn". While the company had not given a set date on when it would air, we had so much fun with this project! We started the day with some of their Cold Brew Stumptown Coffee as we prepared for what products we would eat and film ourselves with. I tried the Berry Brioche Bun, and I enjoyed it! It was a hefty and fruity pastry! I also got to sample the very popular Mixed Berry Fruity Pebbles Pop Tart. I heard that instead of creamer, you could order cereal milk instead. Those were the two things I need to come back and try next time!
4) Richeeze (Los Angeles, CA) - @foodiexbun
We got to try the awesome grilled cheese sandwiches at Richeeze, a food truck based in Southern California. Their menu was very impressive, and had items like the Jalapeno Popper Melt, The Lobster Mac, and the Y.O.L.O. (pictured). I loved my Y.O.L.O. sandwich! It was a triple decker sandwich with black forest ham, turkey breast, and crispy applewood smoked bacon, and plenty of veggies! I sampled the Lobster Mac and it was so delicious with the lobster and the truffle oil! We met the owner, who was very tall and did the biggest cheese pull I have ever seen!
5) Beach Barrel (Newport Beach, CA) and Honeyberry (Irvine, CA) - @foodwithkevin
I really enjoyed this event because it was at a restaurant with such a delicious and extensive menu! They had everything from sandwiches and burgers, to pizza and fries! The restaurant was very kind to provide a batch of food for photos, and a fresh batch of food for us to eat. We food bloggers had gotten so used to eating cold food that this was such a sweet gesture to us! Their entire menu was great and my favorite items were the Spicy Jerk Fries, Playa Cubano, BBQ Chicken Pizza, Chicken Pesto Pizza, and the Hawaiian Sticky Buns. I loved this last item so much because it was unique and ingenious with the toasted marshmallows and ice cream sitting on top of the Hawaiian bread, and caramel drizzled on top!
You know I could always go for dessert! I had heard about Honeyberry for a while, and I was so thankful to be invited to try their sweets and drinks. Of course I had to try their famous Roti buns! It came with an ice cream scoop and chocolate drizzle. I thought this dessert would be thick and dough-y but it turns out it is crunchy and paired really well with the ice cream! Some other menu items we tried were the Honey Bread, which was also very delicious, and Snow Shaved Ice. Overall, it was a wonderful treat and I have definitely been missing that Roti Bun ever since that day!
6) Mr. Holmes Bakehouse (Los Angeles, CA) - @dailyfoodfeed
Thanks to @missmisschelle/@notsomisschealthy for bringing me as her guest, I got to attend this media preview at the beloved San Francisco favorite, Mr. Holmes Bakehouse, a few days before its grand opening on October 1, 2016. While they did not have the cruffins available that day, I did have the chance to take home 3 pastries and a goodie bag. I loved everything I took home! I got the Blueberry Danish, Le Donut (I got chocolate), and Chocolate Chip Cookies. I enjoyed munching on these pastries when I got home, as well as opening up the goodie bag to see that I received a mug, pins, greeting cards, and a bag from Linus Bike! Even my cat wanted to try the cruffin! Until next time, Mr. Holmes!
7) Mondo Taco (Santa Monica, CA)
Aside from food events that were hosted by instagram food bloggers, I was invited by Mondo Taco to sample their wide selection of worldly tacos. Pictured here are: Crispy Fish, Bayou Fish, Afrentina, Beefeater, Taj Majal, Sister Sledge, Southern Decadence, and Fancy Fish. I usually would not eat fish, but all the fish tacos turned out to be my favorites, as well as the Southern Decadence, which had fried chicken and BBQ sauce. I was so impressed with the variety of awesome and unique tacos they create here! We also had the Blueberry Panna Cotta for dessert and a T-shirt to take home! We loved our entire experience here!
This concludes my September Recap. My next post will be at the end of the month since I will be traveling, but I will continue to post on my Instagram page. Please give all of these restaurants a try. I have been so fortunate to have had the opportunity to broaden the types of restaurants and foods I eat, and I am definitely putting them on my Yelp bookmarks to go back again. Enjoy!