SnackHands Eats L.A.

I just returned from a week in L.A. where my dear friends (Shout out to my West Coast Posse! Whut up B, C1, C2 and MC!) showed me the greatest time of my life. I partied on a rooftop, discovered a new band, relaxed on the beach, watched JAWS on a backyard big screen, became addicted to Pinkberry... the list goes on. I am so lucky to have these longtime pals out there. They are awesome, and when my life becomes glamourous enough to go bi-coastal, I will be able to hang out with them more often!

As for the culinary highlights of my trip, here are the Top 5:

1. Best Drink EVER! Dirty martini on the rocks at The Penthouse, a fancy rooftop restaurant/bar atop The Huntley Hotel in Santa Monica. Views of the ocean on three sides. There are nine olives in that glass, people. Nine.

2. Um, cheeseburger ravioli? Are you kidding me??? My friend B made reservations for us at a place called Jiraffe in Santa Monica, where they have "Ravioli Wednesdays," which features a fixed-price three course meal, including wine, for 29 bucks! Typically I am not a huge fan of ravioli, but I have been wanting to revisit it as of late, and this was the perfect reintroduction. This dish was nothing short of genius. Instead of the Hamburger-Helper-esque concoction I was expecting, this really was a unique and delicious take on the cheeseburger. At the bottom of the plate was a thick caramelized onion sauce. It was topped by ground steak (and maybe cheese) filled homemade ravioli, tomatoes, croutons, tiny lettuce leaves and pickled cucumbers (which was a surprise, but also the most cheeseburger-y compliment to the rest of the ingredients). The whole shebang was topped with sesame seeds. I have not been able to stop talking about it, or thinking about it, since. This meal definitely goes in my top 5 of all time. (And don't even get me started on their strawberry cheesecake -- another thing I don't typically like -- which was delicious.)

3. Baked Salmon Roll at SushiDan. This was actually a misorder on my part. I meant to get the Baked Scallop Roll, but when the waiter showed up, I was too hungry to focus. This was basically a california roll topped with baked salmon and something called "Dynamite Sauce." My friend C2 and I shared this roll along with a Las Vegas Roll and a Crazy Danny Roll. Everything was incredible (!) and, quite frankly, I wanted to try two of everything on the menu. During the meal, C2 and I discussed what we would eat every day if money and health weren't an object. I said sushi and a box of Hostess Golden cupcakes for every meal. He said burritos. Later in the day, at another meal, we also agreed that dulce de leche cookies should maybe be added to the list. (See honorable mentions below.)

4. My friend MC lives by this Cuban bakery in Silver Lake (hipster L.A. nabe) called Cafe Tropical. When I visited him a few years back, he introduced me to this place and to their perfect coffee (espresso with milk, really) and enormous eclairs (one of which, combined with an afternoon of driving around, delivered the perfect sugar crash and left me powerless to avoid the couch for a nap). They are also known to have a great guava pie, which I tried this time around. Above, you see their Cuban sandwich. The Cubano, for those of us who want to be serious and legit about things. I took one of these to go and ate it at the baseball game we went to at Dodgers stadium just down the street from Cafe Tropical. I don't know if it was the fact that I was finally trying a sandwich I've wanted to try for a while, the sandwich itself, or the fact that I was eating it at a baseball game on a sunny Wednesday afternoon, but whatever it was, it was 100 percent gratifying. Oh, and the Dodgers won.

5. Have you ever walked into a place starving (and maybe drunk) and had someone hand you a piece of toast immediately? Let me tell you how great that is: it's pretty damn great. This particular toast was made from egg bread that was lovingly baked by B, my California hostess who was also responsible for delivering me to food experiences numbers 1 and 2 above, and for making crumb cake that was devoured within the first three days of my visit. This homemade egg bread was heavenly as bread (slightly crisp crust, moist center, and reminded me of bread made by my mom or grandma or somebody when I was a kid) and divine as toast. SnackHands worships toast.

Honorable Mentions:

Pork sandwich at 4th of July rooftop party, aforementioned dulce de leche cookies, Korean soup so hot you crack an egg into it and it cooks on the spot. And I don't know if the last two are fair, since they were made by me for the JAWS screening in MC's backyard, but I was extremely happy with how they turned out, so they had to be included: salad of proscuitto, praline peacans, blue cheese, raisins, greens and balsalmic vinaigrette, and "Shark Bite Cupcakes." In keeping with the JAWS theme, these were blood-red velvet cupcakes with a flesh-colored peanut butter frosting and white chocolate bone shards/shark teeth.

(And, not pictured: Ahi tuna burger from Malibu Seafood. Awesome fish enjoyed on picnic tables across the Pacific Coast Highway from the ocean.)

Best. Vacation. Ever. (Sorry, Prague!)