Los Angeles Trip Report, part one

I made my first work trip to Los Angeles last week – I haven’t been there since the early 90s.  Last week was a glorious week to be there – a friend was having a film screened at the AFI festival and the weather was spectacular.  I had a great time and am looking forward to more trips in the future.  Because I'm me, I got a little long-winded writing this report, so I'm cutting it into two parts...

After packing and repacking my suitcase several times, I finally set off for JFK early Wednesday morning.  I chose to fly a different airline than the rest of my work chums because I wanted the frequent flyer miles on my regular airline.  Anything to help me make my big birthday trip next year a reality.  I got to the airport rather early; I had thought the trip would take 45 minutes or so by car, instead we were there in seventeen minutes.  That must’ve been a world record.  It was lucky I was early, because I got pulled aside for an extra search of my suitcase, which took a while.  Turns out my tweezers were freaking the x-ray people out.  I have been carrying those tweezers on airplanes for years.  You just never know who is going to be screening you any given day…

You know, when you fly to Chicago, which is a two and a half hour flight, you get a bag of pretzels.  When you fly to L.A., which is a five and a half hour flight, you don’t get anything.  That makes no sense to me.  So I was STARVING by the time I got to LAX.  I was texting my work chums to see where we could meet and I got caught up in a memorial service the TSA workers were doing for their fallen co-worker.  I tried to walk as quickly as possible out of their way, but it was impossible to get out of the airport without crossing in front of someone.  At least I had the grace to be embarrassed about it – other people were just marching through the airport with a scowl on their face that they were being slowed down.  Sigh.  People are nuts. 

Everyone was starving, but we were also late for our first work meeting, so we went through the Wendy’s drive-thru.  Yes, my first meal in Los Angeles was from Wendy’s.  The pretzel pub chicken sandwich was pretty good, though very messy.  But I had to laugh – I haven’t eaten in the car in years.  Not even in Ohio.  But we did have stuff to do…
Work-wise, things went well.  We looked at six sites for our next conference and had a couple of meetings with our members.  I think our trip was very successful from that end of things.  I’m just going to focus on my food now, thank you.  J

Wednesday night, we ate at Café Pinot, which was very close to our hotel.  It was lovely.  We ate outside on the patio (my mom finally told me to stop sending her text messages and pictures about how warm it was).  The server was delightful, though her accent was a wee bit difficult to understand.  At first, I was going to get an appetizer and dessert, but I decided to get a main course instead.  I should’ve stuck with my original plan, because I was too full for dessert, which broke my heart (of course, that didn’t stop me from trying someone else’s dessert!).   

For my appetizer, I got the Mediterranean octopus salad, which had octopus medallions sitting on a bed of fregola, with some very tiny diced cucumbers, chorizo and celery.  Thankfully, the celery flavor was very muted.  On top of the octopus was a spicy cherry tomato confit, and the whole thing was topped with a sherry vinaigrette.  This dish was DELICIOUS and will definitely make my year-end yummy food experience list.  It had everything, crunchy/soft, sweet/sour, spicy/mild, with a wonderful acidic punch from the vinaigrette.  I just loved it.  For my entrée, I got the roasted chicken, with a soy/mustard glaze.  It came highly recommended by our server.  It was really good, but it was HUGE.  I couldn’t finish it.  The truffle fries that accompanied the chicken were also yummy and were very shareable.  So, I loved the first meal.  I also loved the bite of the ‘coffee and doughnut’ dessert we all shared.  Next time I go there, I’m sticking with my appetizer/dessert plan.  I’m dying to try their mango coconut tapioca…

 

After dinner, we wandered over to the Standard Hotel to take a look at their rooftop bar.  It was spectacular.  The views were amazing and the weather was gorgeous.  Jet lag had set in for me, though, so I didn't stay long and went back to my very nice hotel room for some sleep.

Thursday was a big work day, though we did have an amazing breakfast buffet at one hotel.  We were so full we couldn’t partake of the lunch another hotel had planned for us, though we did eat the delicious tomato soup en croute since it was preset.  And one of the hotels we toured took us up to the helipad for gorgeous views of Hollywood!  That was so exciting!  After work was through, for dinner, we all went to Pizzeria Mozza, Mario Batali’s pizzeria.  I have loved eating at Otto, so I was very happy to go to Mozza.  It's not a very large restaurant, but it's very cozy and it didn't get too loud at all.  Our server was very helpful when I couldn't decide which wine I wanted to try - she brought me a taste of something she thought I might like, and she was right.  Thumbs up on the wine.  My caponata appetizer was incredible, so rich and delicious.  My margherita pizza, made with the mozzarella di bufola (our server called it the 'fancy margherita'), was also delicious.  The crust had a nice chew to it, and the sauce was very fresh and acidic.  The perfect sauce for all the rich cheese.  Yum.  After dinner, we went to the Laugh Factory to see Tim Allen.  He was ok, though a little mean-spirited for my taste, but I liked the kid who was his opening act.  It’s been years since I went to a comedy club – it was fun!

 

Tune in tomorrow for a report on the hotel pool, nearly being ripped off at a restaurant (clearly they didn't know with whom they were dealing) and a fantastic day at the beach!  In the meantime, enjoy some more photos from my first two days in sunny California!  :)