96 hours in LA doesn’t feel like enough when you come back to gigantic piles of snow and 6-inch deep dark gray puddles on every street corner. But I can’t say it wasn’t a great place to be while the Northeast got dumped on again. This was my first true LA trip since January 2020, so it was long overdue. The reason for the trip was the Stadium Food Tour at Intuit Dome, which I’ll get to. I made the most of the time I spent in Los Angeles. Here’s everywhere I went for food, drinks, and coffee.

Coffee
Dayglow (West Hollywood) - easily the best coffee I had in LA. I tried something called the Warhol with espresso, cream foam, citrus, cinnamon, and bourbon vanilla. It’s a bit more extravagant than what I usually go for, but imagine if a latte and a creamsicle had a baby. Terrific.

Avva (Beverly Hills) - solid iced cortado and ever-so-slightly removed from the chaos of Beverly Hills

Alfred (West Hollywood) - gonna be a no for me dog. It was fine but they don’t have cortados on the menu and struggled to grasp what I was asking for. They were also super slow.

Esso Caffé (Beverly Hills) - I went in wanting a coffee, ended up ordering a delicious Yuzu Lemonade. Nice place too.

Community Goods (West Hollywood) - I think this is the hottest coffee/matcha spot in LA these days. I saw a line on Sunday morning about 50 people deep. I pulled the trigger on Monday morning and still waited about 20 minutes—good coffee, really enjoyed the Vanilla Bean Iced Cappuccino, however would never wait more than 15-20 min for it

Booze
Bar at Merois (West Hollywood) - on the roof of the Sun Rose Hotel. Lots of potential with solid cocktails and a decent sunset views but the service was pretty bad. Pass.

Barney’s Beanery (West Hollywood) - yes. In every way, yes. People crammed into tables like a high school Friday night at Applebee’s (in the best way), air hockey, shuffleboard, good music, all around awesome.

Belles Beach House (Venice) - major Tulum vibes. Big fan.

The Brig (Venice) - if you play disco music almost exclusively, I’m in. Mostly beer, FYI.

SoCal Vibes Abbot Kinney (Venice) - basically a quasi brewery which isn’t normally my jam but I had a great black cherry-vanilla beer called Love Potion.

Food
Umbrella Taco (West Hollywood) - nothing special in the grand scheme of LA tacos, but I enjoyed it a lot. I’d rank them, best to worst: Al Pastor, Chicken Mole, Carne Asada.

Haru (Thai Town) - while waiting for our table next door at Ruen Pair, popped in here for a beer and a few pieces of nigiri. Again, nothing to write home about in a city with top tier sushi, but solid nonetheless.

Ruen Pair (Thai Town) - best Thai food I’ve ever had. I know LA has some elite, higher-end Thai restaurants, but gimme a spot like this any day. Tables on top of each other, staff managing the organized chaos with ease, no frills, and BOMB food. Grilled BBQ Pork is a must order, and the Shrimp Panang is fantastic. More to come, full video dropping soon.

Erewhon (Beverly Hills) - I was sort of forced to go here against my will by my gracious LA hosts. I didn’t know exactly what to expect but went in anticipating good food (and good ingredients) at a ridiculous price point. Overall, that delivered but I was pleasantly surprised. I didn’t get the coveted smoothie for two reasons: long line and $20 price point. Of what I tried, I seriously enjoyed about 80% of it. The Double Smashburger was awesome, the gigantic Honey Butter Pancake was ridiculous, and the breakfast sandwich was atrocious—a staff member led me astray but I take the blame here. I’d happily go back but not on a Saturday morning in Beverly Hills at noon.

Lit Burritos (Venice) - sort of just dropped into a random taco spot in Venice Beach with time to kill before dinner. The al pastor tacos were a decent snack. Lit Burritos is a ridiculous name by the way.

RVR (Venice) - outstanding. Full video coming soon. It's a major vibe and the food is fantastic. Japanese izakaya so if you go with a group you can load up on as many small shareable dishes as possible. Highlights: Tuna Sashimi, Pork Collar Tonkatsu, Shrimp Dumplings, Chicken Thigh skewer.

Sobuneh (West Hollywood) - arguably the best breakfast burrito in Los Angeles, certainly the best I’ve had anywhere (small sample size). It’s halal (so beef bacon instead of pork), they get their tater tots unbelievably crispy, eggs are cooked nicely, and their sauces are phenomenal—slight lean towards honey chipotle over cilantro aioli

Intuit Dome (Inglewood) - not the highlight of my trip but the main event nonetheless. The arena is the most amazing I've ever experienced. The production and technology are unparalleled with the intent that every fan has equal access to everything around the arena. A wide-ranging menu is not the priority, but they make a terrific Birria Stack (read: Crunchwrap), they’re serving up Beef Bulgogi Rice Bowls and crispy Potato Taquitos, and they’re hand rolling fresh pretzels every single night which I promise makes a monumental difference. Stay tuned on my socials for the full video.

In-N-Out (Hollywood) - had to do it. I’m a big fan of In-N-Out. I’m not particularly interested in the comparison game because from a price standpoint it's unbeatable. I prefer Shake Shack but it's triple the price. With that said, here’s my burger order: Double Double, animal style, add whole raw onion and chopped chilies, extra toasted bun. The fries are awful—it does not matter how they’re cooked and if you need to make them animal style to enjoy them then that supports how weak the fries are. It's honestly offensive that the brand seemingly has no interest in improving them.

Faregrounds (Beverly Hills) - Jack’s Dining Room put me (and many others) onto their viral Miso Chicken Caesar Wrap. Mine neither looked nor tasted like Jack's did. Shame. It’s a no for me dog.

Taco Tour - the final act. We drove to Venice and back towards WeHo stopping at a trio of taco stands along the way. And by stands I mean popup tents in front of supermarkets and random parking lots. Each one was better than the one prior: Tacos la Guerra (al pastor burrito), El Primo Taco (al pastor and chicken tacos), and El Carboncito al Estilo Rancho (al pastor tacos).

I’d say that’s a successful four days in Los Angeles, fully acknowledging that I've not even scratched the surface. Looking forward to diving deeper into the LA food scene soon hopefully. And in case you’re living under a rock, I ranked everywhere I ate and drank on Beli, as I do everywhere.