Yoku Yoku

I went here for the first time about two weeks ago. I have fallen in love. It has become my new favorite frozen yogurt place. As you can see below, the pros outweigh the cons which makes this place rank very high. I was tempted not to write about it because I wanted to keep it my little secret, but then I decided I wanted to share it with the world ten people.

The cons
-Kinda far from where I live; farther than Bigg Chill (it’s practically in Culver City)
-Completely furnished with the predictable “Ikea” style

The pros
-Close to a Trader Joe’s (2 birds, 1 stone)
-Not as busy as Bigg Chill
-Takes credit cards ($5 minimum, so you HAVE to get a large with toppings)
-Parking lot is not too crowded or overwhelming (like Bigg Chill)
-You’re practically in Culver City so you might as well go get a glass of wine at Bottle Rock
-Pretty wide selection of flavors (tart, chocolate, vanilla, cookies and cream, peanut butter, specials for the week)
-Menu offers nutritional information (allowing me to know that I am eating way too much)

I am a simple girl and ordered Peanut Butter and Chocolate. No toppings necessary, even though they had mochi. Peanut butter is my favorite flavor ever and Yoku Yoku’s seems to have the best recipe for it. So if you too enjoy Peanut Butter frozen yogurt, you should go try it. Or if you just like frozen yogurt, check it out.

Yoku Yoku
11146 Palms Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90034
(310) 391-0571

Scoop-y Snack.

Already on that side of town, I stopped at a place that always cheers me up. Flavors: Black Currant Sherry Wine, Mascarpone, Green Cocoa Tea (Vegan), and Strawberry Triple Sec.

Winner: Black currant sherry wine.

Father’s Office I

Last week my roommate and I went to Father’s Office in Santa Monica. Surprisingly, it wasn’t crowded at all. We ordered our drinks and sat down at a table. My Father’s Office drink is usually the Grimbergen Blonde, but they were out of it. I ended up getting the always delicious Saison Dupont. My roommate got a Duvel.

We ordered some sweet potato fries and the olives. Their sweet potato french fries are the best in the city; crispy and seasoned perfectly. I am a sucker for Father’s Office olives because they mix various olives with Moroccan spices. I love them.

We split the Father’s Office burger. It’s not the best picture, but seriously this burger doesn’t need my praise to succeed in life. It’s the tops.

Just know this:
1. It’s usually always packed and there is limited seating.
2. No substitutions on the burger. I suggest the Counter if you can’t handle life without substitutions.
3. The Father’s Office 2 in Culver City is better because it is bigger and serves cocktails.

Father’s Office
1018 Montana Ave.
Santa Monica, CA 90403
(310) 393-2337

Mozza Pizzeria

Last Friday, my boyfriend took me out to lunch at Mozza Pizzeria. Not to be confused with it’s neighbor and same owners (Nancy Silverton, Mario Batali and Joseph Bastianich), Mozza Osteria. We didn’t make reservations, but we arrived early enough to acquire seats at the bar. I preferred the bar because we got to watch the chefs do their magic and we were in close proximity to our waiter for any emergency wine refills.

We sat down and immediately ordered our drinks. I had a glass of the Riesling on the menu (forgive me for not writing down the name).

Bone Marrow al forno

This was my first time eating Bone Marrow and now I am hooked. I am scared that I won’t be able to find it as good and delicious as this anywhere else.

Meatballs al forno

There are normally 3 meatballs on the plate when it is served to you, but we were so excited to try them that I forgot to take a picture until after one was quickly devoured. The bread that came with the meatballs is different than the bread that came with the bone marrow. I’m no bread expert and can’t tell you how exactly they differ other than physical attributes, but I just wanted to point out the subtle yet important differences and nuances of each dish; bread is important!

Egg, guanciale, radicchio, escarole & bagna cauda

Delicious! Very fluffy and chewy bread. Guanciale (Italian for ‘cheek’) is a delicate kind of unsmoked Italian bacon prepared with jowels and cheeks. Radicchio is the bitter/spicy chicory leaf. Escarole is endive (part of the chicory genus), but is a broad, pale leaf that is less bitter than other varieties of endive. Bagna cauda is a warm Piedmont dip made of garlic, anchovies, olive oil, and butter.

Salumi Salami, mozzarella, tomato & fresno chiles

No typo here, Salumi means the meat is Italian-style cured or preserved;  the meat has been preserved in salt and spices and is not encased before aging. Salami is a type of salumi (but salumi is not a type of salami). Although you can’t see them very well in the picture, the fresno chiles really made this pizza amazing. Delicious!

Cioccolato, bittersweet chocolate cake & candied almonds

Simple and Rich. Although just a sliver of a piece, this slice was packed with thick chocolate goodness. Almost comparable to fudge, but with a better more complex taste. Yum.

Everything was wonderful. You can’t go wrong.

Mozza Pizzeria
6602 Melrose Ave
Los Angeles, CA
(323) 297-0100‎

Scoops

Salty White Chocolate and Black Sesame. I know, I repeated the Salty White Chocolate, but it’s so good! They made a great pair together. The Black Sesame was a soft and subtle toasty-sweet taste. It was the quieter one of the two flavors.

Winner: Salty White Chocolate

Scoops
712 N Heliotrope Dr
Los Angeles, CA 90029
(323) 906-2649

Silver Lake: Local

Seriously, the name of this restaurant is Local. Even though it is not local for me, Local is worth the trip. Local has been open since September 2nd, 2008 and was only breakfast and lunch until a few days ago, now they also serve dinner. Local was opened by the executive chef behind Cobras and Matadors, Jason Michaud. Through internet research I have found out that Michaud is one cool guy; along with working in restaurants for the greater part of his life he was also a drummer in the metal math bands Spilth and Men of Porn. Metal math is experimental rock that is mostly guitars and drums and is complex, atypical rhythmic structures including irregular stops and starts, angular melodies, and dissonant chords. The mission statement behind this restaurant is genuine: committed to using local, organic products as much as possible. Local goes beyond just food and also uses antiques for furniture, energy efficient lighting, glassware (no plastic table cups), and the food for takeout rides in biodegradable plastic plates, bowls, and cups (made of potato and/or sugar cane, like these!). Bad ass.

It sits somewhere between Silver Lake Lounge and Dusty’s on the other side of the road on Sunset. I made my visit on a Wednesday at approximately 12:00pm. For lunchtime it wasn’t as packed as I thought it was going to be, but there was still a good number of hip Silver Lakers (or is it Silver Lakians?). It is the type of restaurant where you order at the counter, take your number, find seating and wait for the food to arrive. However, there are servers around to refill your water, get you silverware, napkins, condiments, or anything else you might need. It is a small/medium sized restaurant. Everyone that was working there (which were all guys) were above and beyond friendly and were obviously passionate about the restaurant. I think this is important to stress because when people show that they are invested and care about what they are doing (in general, not just food), it makes the whole experience much more enjoyable for everyone involved. Good tingling feelings. I was told that it gets packed on the weekends - I hope that they are just as friendly and outgoing under crowded conditions!

As you can see there is an organic salad bar. The fact that this salad bar is organic makes it a million times better than any other salad bar I have been to before (Whole Foods). After getting the recommendation for my meal of “everything is good”, I decided upon the Rocky Jr. Free Range Chicken Sandwich and an Iced Coffee. On the menu, there is no description of what is in the Rocky Jr. Free Range Chicken Sandwich, so it was an exciting surprise! Rocky Jr. is a free range, younger chicken that weighs on average three and half pounds and roams in spacious growth houses (not outside because they are young and partially feathered). The chicken is cooked with herbs and joined with fresh, perfect tomatoes, daikon sprouts, pickles, and sprinkled with salt. It sits between a bun that I don’t recognize but tasted like Hawaiian bread (yellowish insides) with sesame seeds on top. It was a big sandwich, one that requires two hands to eat. At first intimidating,  after the first bite it becomes a challenge you want to take on and conquer. Instead of fries, I opted for a salad with a roasted red pepper purée on the side. It was all delicious. The salt really made the flavors in the tomatoes and pickles pop out. I would order it again. The iced coffee is made from Alessandro beans. Unfortunately, I cannot find anything on the internet about Alessandro coffee; let’s hope it’s organic too! (Free refills on Iced Coffee).

In regards to what is organic and what is not, it varies week by week because large shipments of organic food is not common right now in the restaurant world. The guy I talked to about organic food said that they try their best and want to go completely organic, but at this point in time they have to make do with the situation. The price of organic food is high, thus the prices on the menu are higher. My meal totaled to be around 17 dollars.  I know, pricey, but it really is not too much more than most trendy Los Angeles breakfast/lunch places, so I don’t think it should be a big deal if you go to other expensive places already. If you look at it as being preventative maybe it will make you feel better: paying extra now so you don’t have to pay later in health and medical bills. Go to Local!

Local keeps things interesting; check out what I found in the bathroom! The statue/boy definitely scared me at first, but then I laughed about how creepy it is.

Here are some poor quality pictures I took of their menu (like all my pictures, click on them to make larger):

Local
2943 W Sunset Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90026
(323) 662-4740

Hours
Breakfast and Lunch: 9am-3pm
Dinner: 5pm-10pm
They take credit cards!

JuJu Cereal Bar

I have been going to JuJu Cereal Bar in Westwood ever since it opened in October, 2007. It is a cereal lover’s dream. They offer so many cereal brands, toppings, candies, and milks it would be ridiculous of me to post them all. However, I want you to know how many options this place gives you, so time to be ridiculous!

For $5.25 you can get:

Step One: (2 Scoops)

Sweet Cereals : Apple Jacks, Captain Crunch, Cinnamon Toast Crunch, Coco Krispies, Coco Pebbles, Coco Puffs, Cookie Crisp, Corn Pops, Crunchberries, Eggo Waffles, Frosted Flakes, Frosted Mini Wheats, Fruit Loops, Fruity Pebbles, Golden Grahams, Honey Bunches of Oats, Honey Comb, Honey Nut Cheerios, Life, Lucky Charms, Smacks, and Trix.
Cereals : All Bran, Barbara’s Puffins, Barbara’s Peanut Butter Puffins, Cheerios, Chex, Corn Flakes, Fiber One, Granola, Grape Nuts, Kashi Heart to Heart Blueberry Oat Flakes, Kashi Golean, Kashi Golean Crunch, Kashi Heart to Heart, Kashi Puffs, Kix, Muesli, Mueslix, Raisin Bran, Rice Krispies, Shredded Wheat, Smart Start
Special K, Total, and Wheaties.
Organic Cereals : Acai Apple Granola, Blue Corn Flakes, Cheetah Chomps, Crispy Brown Rice, Grape Nuts, Hemp Granola, Kashi Autumn Wheat, Kashi Cinnamon Harvest, Raisin Bran, Weetabix, and Weetabix Flakes & Fiber.
Hot Cereals : Organic Steel-Cut Oatmeal and Organic Steel-cut Oatmeal with Soy Milk.

Step Two (3 mix-ins)

Fresh Fruit : Bananas, Blackberries, Blueberries, Kiwi, Mangoes, Peaches, Pineapple, Raspberries, and Strawberries.
Dried Fruit & Nuts : Apples, Apricots, Blueberries, Coconut, Cranberries, Goji Berries, Mangoes, Pineapples, Raisins, Yogurt Raisins, Almonds, Flax Seed Powder, Peanuts, Pecans, Pepitas (pumpkin seeds), Sunflower Seeds, Wheat Germ, and Whey Protein Powder.

Sweets : Chocolate Chips, Chocolate chip cookies, Chocolate Pretzels, Graham Crackers, Gummy Bears, M&Ms, Malt Balls, Mini-Marshmallows, Nestle Crunch, Oreo Cookies, Peanut Butter Chips, Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, Sprinkles, Sugar Wafer Crumbles, Vanilla Wafers, and Yogurt Chips.
Dollops & Drizzles : Caramel, Chocolate, Condensed Milk, Frosting, Honey, Maple Syrup, Nutella, Peanut Butter, Whipped Cream, and Yogurt.

Step Three (Pour)

Dairy : Nonfat, Lowfat, and Whole.
Dairy+ : Chocolate, Strawberry, Banana, Organic Nonfat, Organic LowFat, Organic Whole, Lactose-Free 2%, Plain Yogurt, Plain Nonfat Yogurt, and Vanilla Yogurt.
Non-Dairy : Organic soy, Organic Vanilla soy, and Rice Milk.

My JuJu Bowl was composed of: Barbara’s Peanut Butter Puffins, Hemp Granola, Bananas, Blueberries, and Strawberries with Nonfat Milk. I never had either of these two cereals before. I chose the peanut butter puffins because I have seen them at the grocery store and thought they looked good. The hemp granola was recommended by the friendly guy behind the register. He said he pairs the puffins and granola often and that it was  great combintion. And it was! I loved it and plan to order it again, but next time with organic milk. My boyfriend chose just Frosted Flakes with Lowfat Milk; boring! They also offer frozen yogurt (Plain and Pomegranate) that I have yet to try. Also, if you can’t figure out your own creation they have a huge menu of select mixes. I never have gotten a mix before, but the two that interest me most are the: Let ‘Em Eat Cupcake - Chex, Coco Pebbles, Frosting, Raspberries, M&Ms, Sprinkles, and Chocolate Milk; and Darker the Berry - Double coco krispies, fresh strawberries, Nestle crunch, Ghiradelli chocolate, and strawberry milk. They sound sugarific.

JuJu Cereal Bar
1248 Westwood Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90024

Get Directions(310) 474-8571