Summary
February is a great time for friends and family living in colder and wetter climates to visit SoCal to soak in the sun and everything that it has to offer. In this blog, I walk through some of the spots that we took our F&F.
Introduction
In February, we had a number of our friends and family visit us in SoCal and ventured out to spots that we had been wanting to check out and also to some of our favorite places in L.A. County and O.C.
République Café Bakery & République Restaurant
With over 10,000 reviews and 4.8+ rating on Google Maps, we weren’t really sure what to expect from this bakery/restaurant that had glowing reviews – will this be another tourist trap or an actual gem that is worthy of bringing other visiting friends and family in the future?
We knew that valet parking had different prices depending on the time of the day, so we made sure to get there before 10am. Valet parking was $5.72 when we paid with our credit card instead of cash. I believe the parking fee can go up to $10 during peak hours.
From the outside, the interior didn’t look as big, but we later found out that there are many more tables and seats further inside and upstairs. The pastry and baked good section had so many tasty-looking items that it was difficult to pick, but we ended up settling for an everything Danish, black sesame pastry, and short rib breakfast burrito because we didn’t want to stuff ourselves with too many sweets early in the morning.
The short rib breakfast burrito was different from other breakfast burritos that we have had but was excellent and we would strongly recommend it to others.
The two other pastries that we ordered were nothing to write home about, but other cakes and tarts looked very tasty as well and we hope to try at our next visit.
The place was very crowded, clearly many tourists were checking it out (a lot of Korean tourists especially). We thought it was still worth checking out.
The Grove / Original Farmers Market
After our tasty breakfast/snack at République, we headed to The Grove to return some clothes that we had purchased from Zara and to window shop at the mall.
The parking mall was quite spacious but wasn’t cheap (we paid $10 for just under two hours). We got there right around the opening hour and were surprised that the first floor of the parking lot was full already.
We ended up getting some clothes on significant markdown for our daughter ($2.99 for a t-shirt and some other decent deals) and safely returned our items at Zara.
Overall, we thought that the stores had good visual merchandising and that the overall atmosphere of the mall was unique and pleasant enough to pay a visit as a tourist or even as a local once in a while.
Right next to / within The Grove is The Original Farmers Market. We discovered that the name is a bit deceiving, and the location is really a collection/banquet of food vendors and had the similar touristy vibes as Granville Island Public Market in Vancouver, Canada or Todd English Food Hall in New York (I just found out that this is closed).
Park’s BBQ
On our last visit to LA, we really enjoyed dining at Park’s. We had gotten a plate of galbi and a bowl of cold noodles and though they were excellent.
This time, we made a point of trying the Korean barbeque. We ordered the P1 set, which includes a sample of beef cuts, both marinated and unmarinated, a kimchi stew, bean paste stew, and a plate of ssam to go with the grilled meat.
Everything was good, but I thought the bean paste stew was especially good. Family members that we brought never had good bean paste stew so didn’t order it when they eat at a Korean restaurant. But the bean paste stew at Park’s changed their impression of the dish.
Boil & Bake
My wife had heard that this was one of the most popular bagel places in OC, and we planned an early morning visit to start our long weekend and check out this bagel spot.
The spot is located deep inside a plaza and wasn’t visible from the street that I was driving on and had to rely on the Google Maps navigation until we were right in front of the bagel shop.
We ordered The O.G. (sausage and egg sandwich) and The Lox (literally a lox sandwich). Everything tasted fresh, clean, and good quality.
The sauce inside The O.G. was especially unique, the sausage felt gourmet and sourced from a small batch vendor (I did notice that Boil & Bake sources its ingredients from small, local vendors), and the Cilantro Aji Cream on the side was a great complement to the sandwich as well.
A few drawbacks from our visit were 1) lack of outdoor space heaters, which I found pretty common in O.C. and 2) The Lox was saltier than other lox bagels that we’ve had in the past (we plan on coming back to check out some of their sweet bagels).
Overall, I’d recommend Boil & Bake to locals who haven’t been and visitors to O.C.
Neat Coffee
I didn’t get a cup of coffee or any other drink at Boil & Bake as I was saving my beverage of the morning for a cafe. We weren’t sure where we were going but we had discussed going to Buenas Coffee or Work In Progress, both nearby.
After our meal, we ended up deciding to check out Neat Coffee nearby in Costa Mesa.
Driving towards the cafe, we were surprised to find out that the cafe wasn’t located on the street but rather was located in a small plaza and seemed to have a small but sizable parking lot dedicated to it.
The overall ambiance and decor from the outside already captured our attention. We were also pleasantly surprised by how warm it felt with many babies, dogs, and other pleasantly warm parties enjoying their drinks early on a Saturday morning.
Although the cafe had many specialty drinks that looked very tasty, I ended up getting a warm Americano to see how their coffees taste and a churro-flavored donut (this was a tough choice among many unique, tasty flavors). The many unique beans sourced from roasteries all over the U.S., cute refrigerator for bottled beverages also did not go unnoticed by us.
We both thought the coffee was good (not a just “not bad”) with the right temperature, delicate notes, and good balance. The churro donut was chewy, not too sweet, and a tasty addition to our shared cup of coffee.
Overall, we think this might be a place that we frequent around Costa Mesa and look forward to trying out their specialty drinks and other pastries.
Trenta Pizza & Cucina
With our daughter soundly asleep, the two of us watching her on our baby camera, and my wife’s parents sitting the house and watching TV, just in case our daughter wakes up from her night sleep, we headed for our dinner reservation for 8pm.
When we got to the restaurant, we were greeted by the valet parking staff. The valet fee was hefty at $8 (accepts credit cards and apple pay), but we’ve gotten used to paying for valet parking fees in OC and LA for the convenience now. My wife and I joke that this type of valet parking operation would be impossible up in Greater Seattle because of the short supply of labor and it probably won’t be anywhere near the same quality of service that we see in SoCal.
We arrived about 25 minutes before our reservation and against our hopes to get seated earlier so that we can return home earlier, we weren’t able to get seated closer to our actual reservation time. While there were clearly open tables, the restaurant was noticeably short-staffed, a rare encounter in SoCal from our experience.
As part of a last couple groups in the last round of dinner, we were seated outdoor in a small table by a large space heater. Famished, as we typically eat at 5pm with our daughter but subsisted on apple slices and a banana until our reservation time, we ordered a rustic bread to munch on immediately. Also, we ordered a Bari pizza and one of the special dishes, Cioppino (later found out that this is an Italian American dish from SF) with linguine, and a Tartufo al Pistacchio for dessert later).
The rustic bread was a bit dry and stale, but it was pretty good with the Cioppino broth later and with the spread that the bread came with.
The Bari pizza was quite good at its foundation, but I found the mozzarella was a bit too cold and a little off-putting for my taste. Since the pizza dough and other parts of the pizza were good, we plan on revisiting to try out some of the other pizzas on our next visit.
Cioppino was a little underwhelming when it first arrived, but we gradually warmed up to it. Our overall impression from our visit was that the dishes and the restaurant overall have a homemade touch. Having said that, we would probably order another pizza or try an actual pasta dish if we were to order all over again.
To cap our night, we savored a small scoop of Tartufo al Pistacchio. As I was more used to tartufo with chocolate covering on the outside, I was surprised to see that the dish appeared more like a gelato scoop with pistachio covered around it. Despite the unexpected, we thought the tartufo was perhaps the best dish of the night and tasted very homemade and delicious.
The Place Gue Jip
After our playdate, we decided to pick up some Korean food on our way back to O.C. Since going into DTLA/K-town would mean more traffic and lengthening our trip back, we decided to pick a spot in Gardena on route back.
Our friend had a list of places near the Torrance area, and The Place Gue Jip was one of them. While she couldn’t vouch for it, we decided to check out the food after looking at the legit photos.
We picked up Soy Bean Paste Soup w/Anthony Stock and Bulgogi Wrap. Both of the main dishes and their side dishes tasted very homemade and weren’t too heavy in seasoning.
My wife first reacted. after eating the marinated soybean sprouts side dish. that this was the best soybean sprouts dish she’s had since we had moved to O.C., and I agree.
If we were to go back, we’d probably order the same soybean soup and another soup instead of the bulgogi wrap (nothing against it, it’s just that we could make it ourselves pretty easily).
I do want to make a note that the lady at the counter (presumably the owner) was very friendly in taking my pickup order over the phone and in person taking my payment and getting a glass of water for me when I asked her for it. Overall, I left with the impression that this was an establishment I’d want to support over time because of the hospitality/sincerity as well as some of the dishes on display that I couldn’t see on Google Maps (they had a seasonal pollock stew dish, which sounded legit).
Eller Bakery
On our last day of the long weekend, we chose Eller Bakery to meet our friends visiting from New York.
Last time we got coffee at Daydream, we walked around the neighborhood while our daughter sleeps and tried to try out the then newly opened Eller Bakery; the spot was packed with people at 10am and most of the bakery items had run out by then, so we had been meaning to come back.
We parked our car in the valet parking area (to our surprise, valet parking was complimentary. We would have tipped if we had brought cash wish us) and was greeted with a 20–25-minute wait for a table for four and space for a stroller (the woman who appeared to be the general manager was very formal and had the professionalism of a Michelin-starred restaurant).
For our lunch, we ordered the Duck Egg Tartine, a plain croissant, almond croissant, iced latte, and country loaf to go (later added an americano and banana bread to go); our friends ordered the Soup of the Day, cinnamon roll, almond croissant, and a cappuccino.
Overall Eller’s pastry and bread tasted very clean and like they were made with high quality ingredients, which we appreciated; the plating of all the dishes were done very well as well. The iced latte was solid and the warm americano was okay. I enjoyed the Duck Egg Tartine and the banana bread the most – the roasted potatoes on the side of the tartine with French Bearnaise sauce (I had to look this up) was better than the tartine in our opinion, and the banana bread wasn’t too sweet and very flavorful.
After returning home, I cut open the country loaf that we got and each of us enjoyed a small piece of the dense sourdough bread. Eller’s bread wasn’t cheap (sourdough country loaf was $14.5 😲 but I will say that it’s larger and denser than other typical loaves so may have similar price to value). I have a feeling that we’ll come back frequently for their baked goods.
Daydream
After spending almost two hours at Eller Bakery, we wanted to continue catching up with our friends over snacks and/or beverages. Because of the rain, we had to drive a few blocks as opposed to walk to Daydream.
As usual, the place was packed with many young, hip people; the place also attracts young families with little children (I think we see a newborn every time we visit 🤱🏼).
My wife and I didn’t get anything, and our friends enjoyed an iced americano and oolong tea latte. The weather didn’t help showcase the vibe of the cafe/store, but I think our friends appreciated the spot as they tried to purchase a merch at the store (unfortunately, we found out that they carry one quantity per size per item 🫢).
Oliboli Donuts
As there was a good donut shop that our friends wanted to take us to, we drove a short distance to Oliboli Donuts to hang out and grab some donuts.
We got five donuts in total – 2x lavender sugar, buttermilk glazed, butter pecan, and raspberry lychee glazed.
All four flavors were excellent because the flavors weren’t overpowering or sweet and the base donuts were very good by themselves.
The donuts were not cheap (at least $4.25 a piece), but I think they’re worth it if you sit down with some friends, taste them fresh, and hang out at the shop instead of getting it to go (it looked like all donuts were made to order).
We also enjoying talking to one of the store workers, who we later discovered is one of the owners of the store. He personally combined tables, loved interacting with our children, got us chairs, and checked up on us to make sure we were enjoying the experience.
I’d strongly recommend checking out the donuts at Oliboli Donuts if you live not too far or are visiting O.C.
Honorable Mentions
HomeState / Blue Bottle
We left our home early morning on a Sunday for a playdate with our friend’s son who is similar to our daughter’s age.
It was the first time we visited Playa Vista, which is located on the west side of L.A. After our trip, looked into the area and found out that this was a planned community development from 2002 and is part of an area referred to as Silicon Beach (Wikipedia).
The overall neighborhood appeared very clean, safe, convenient and had a good mix of retail businesses for the residents to enjoy.
After introducing our daughter to our friend’s son, we took our strollers for breakfast tacos at HomeState.
My wife and I tried Trinity and Guadalupe tacos with corn tortilla and thought both were solid breakfast tacos and that the corn tortillas were a good choice.
With our daughter soundly asleep in her stroller, we walked over to Blue Bottle just around the block and got an iced latte and two pastries to go (a plain croissant and a rosemary scone, both were average).
I think the last time that I got a cup of coffee from Blue Bottle was in 2021 when we were in New York, and I was delighted to discover that the quality was consistent with my last impression from then (that Blue Bottle pours mean cafe lattes for a chain).
Okidoki by Meiji
After my wife tried Meiji Seimen in Costa Mesa and had glowing reviews about the place, we decided to try out the izakaya restaurant by Meiji in Tustin with some friends of ours.
The restaurant was pretty spacious and clean. Even though the restaurant got busy pretty quickly by noon (even though the restaurant opens at 11:30am), the staff did a good job of getting orders and serving the orders in a timely manner.
We ordered a small katsu bowl, egg tororo metai cold udon, and a nabeyaki udon and shared a plate of french fries with our friends.
I thought the food was not bad overall – the katsu bowl wasn’t too saucy or oily, cold udon had good texture, and the nabeyaki udon was fine. But my wife told me that the udon dishes at original udon place is much better, perhaps not surprising in hindsight.
After our lunch, we went to the UPS store next door to return some packages and struck up a conversation with the store employees. We found out that the restaurant had recently been renovated and that the menu had changed as well. Later that night, my wife looked up some reviews and did find some customers complaining that the food after the renovation isn’t as good.