These are the best breakfast burritos in LA

The best breakfast burritos in LA - @thedashanddine

Breakfast burritos are glorious – and LA has almost too many of them.  Someone has to sacrifice their health for the incredibly important Breakfast Burrito Quest, so once again, I’ve sorted the great ones from not-as-great ones (because, let’s be honest, all breakfast burritos are pretty good). You’re welcome.

Here are my obvious and inarguable criteria for the perfect breakfast burrito:

  • It needs to taste breakfast-y, which means eggs. A top tier breakfast burrito can’t taste like lunch – that would be anarchy.
  • It needs proper ingredient distribution. The first bite is crucial – don’t give me a mouthful of just beans or guac.
  • The corollary to this rule is that the flavors need to work in harmony. Seventeen separate tastes is equally disqualifying.
  • The texture should have a little variation. Hashbrowns, bacon, something to give it a little crunch. Which leads to…
  • The tortilla shouldn’t be an afterthought. My favorites have usually taken a trip back to the griddle for crunch and heat. Ideally, I’m losing my fingerprints trying to hold it. And unlike most breakfast options, a breakfast burrito gets better with a slight delay (looking at you, breakfast sandwich)
  • It shouldn’t cost too much. I have loved breakfast burritos that are over ten bucks – but deep down, I judge them for not being egalitarian. Breakfast burritos should be for everyone.
  • Finally, it needs to be a guilty pleasure. You can’t eat an entire breakfast burrito and feel like you made a good decision for your body. (Although one time, a trainer told me that the best time to eat something unhealthy is early in the morning, so #healthychoices. Enjoy one of these carb/calorie bombs for breakfast and sacrifice on later meals. It’s worth it!)

I’ve really tried to find my favorite in the city, or at least a top three, but it’s too hard… there are too many good choices.

Here’s my list of the best breakfast burritos in LA broken down into Gold, Silver, and Bronze categories:
Continue reading “These are the best breakfast burritos in LA”

8 places to have an exceptional AF brunch in Atlanta

Brunch is A THING in Atlanta, y’all. Like, we think it’s awesome in LA, and we definitely devote entire daylight hours to it. But brunch in Atlanta is a whole different experience… It’s starts later, people dress up for it, and have full-on debates about where to get the best brunch in Atlanta.

According to our research (three+ months of eating at almost all these restaurants every damn day) these are the places we highly recommend as the best brunch in Atlanta… Continue reading “8 places to have an exceptional AF brunch in Atlanta”

Where to get some truly life-changing pancakes in LA

You know that I’m all about waffles. But sometimes I get a massive craving for pancakes. But not just any pancakes — life-changing pancakes. Pancakes that you can’t get anywhere else but at certain restaurants.

So here’s where I go when I wake up with a craving for pancakes in LA… Continue reading “Where to get some truly life-changing pancakes in LA”

20+ fantastic Vancouver restaurants to satisfy every craving

Click here to see an interactive map of our favorite Vancouver restaurants.

We spent a lot of time in Vancouver when Mike was producing a TV show. Every night and every weekend (when he wasn’t working) we’d scour the city for the best places to eat in Vancouver, and found a little over twenty places we loved.

Here’s our list of our favorite Vancouver restaurants (in a vague order of preference)…
Continue reading “20+ fantastic Vancouver restaurants to satisfy every craving”

Wifi while you eat: Our favorite restaurants with wifi in LA

Restaurants with wifi in Los Angeles @thedashanddine

We’re both writers, so we spend most of our days eating and typing, and sometimes doing both at the same time. This means we are in need of great cafes and restaurants with wifi in LA.

Our needs are this: comfortable seating, free wifi, not so busy that we feel guilty for camping out at a table for a couple of hours, bonus points for access to outlets.

If your needs are similar, this is our list of the best LA restaurants with wifi… Continue reading “Wifi while you eat: Our favorite restaurants with wifi in LA”

Secretly amazing wine, famous local beers, and hugging giant trees: Things to do in Anderson Valley

Things to do in Anderson Valley - @thedashanddine

Northern California’s Anderson Valley is a very special place for us — it’s where Mike’s ancestral home is, it’s where we got married, and it’s where we go when we have time for a weekend getaway. As we’re prepping for an upcoming visit, we thought we’d share our best Anderson Valley travel tips. Because who doesn’t love awesome wines that’ll give you some major sommelier cred, popular local beers, and staggeringly giant trees!?

You may not have thought you’d ever visit this part of Northern California — it’s kept a bit of a secret for a reason — but you’re about to learn that there’s lots of stuff to do in Anderson Valley… Continue reading “Secretly amazing wine, famous local beers, and hugging giant trees: Things to do in Anderson Valley”

Maui restaurants that’ll take you on a culinary vacation

Click here to access the interactive map.

My family has been living on Maui for over twenty years, and I’ve been visiting the island for long lengths of time — so much so that it’s become my second home. Over the years I’ve narrowed down my favorite Maui restaurants… these are the places that I hit up no matter if I’m there for one week or one month. These places are no ka oi and are must-visits on your Maui vacation: Continue reading “Maui restaurants that’ll take you on a culinary vacation”

The Dash and Dine’s guide to the best restaurants in Cusco, Peru

the best restaurants in Cusco - @thedashanddine
Megan inside MAP Cafe

For our first “married Christmas” we decided to fly to Peru and take a group trek to Machu Picchu. In doing so, we ended up spending a lot of time in Cusco, Peru — 3 nights to let our bodies adjust to the altitude, and then back again for 2 extra nights after the trek. We absolutely fell in love with the town, and along the way, we found some of our favorite restaurants in Cusco… Continue reading “The Dash and Dine’s guide to the best restaurants in Cusco, Peru”

Take the guess work out of where to eat with our epic Atlanta restaurants list

The best Atlanta restaurants list via @thedashanddine

Almost everyone working on The Gifted (the show Mike is currently producing) has asked us for “The List.” It’s our list of about 80 of the best Atlanta restaurants — places that we’ve either tried ourselves and recommend, or have been highly recommended to us (and we haven’t tried yet).

This list takes the guess work out of where to eat in Atlanta. Want a certain type of food? Driving through a certain neighborhood? Want to find the closest best Atlanta restaurant? Check out our handy-dandy map!

It’s so damn convenient that we decided to to share The List with everyone… Continue reading “Take the guess work out of where to eat with our epic Atlanta restaurants list”

The Vespertine experience: A peek into LA’s most mysterious restaurant

Outside Vespertine. Photos by Damon Seeley — friend and fellow dinner-attender.

When chef Jordan Kahn’s first restaurant Red Medicine was A Thing, I was lucky to have a close friend who was a chef there. In an effort to expand my toddler-esque palate, chef Ari Kolender (now of Hayden fame) and I had a special arrangement…

He’d send out food, instructing the servers to rebel against their training and not tell me anything about the dish. Then I’d have to at least try EVERYTHING that came out.

Because I never knew what I was actually putting in my mouth, I would come up with my own names for Red Medicine’s menu items. I was shocked (SHOCKED!) to find out that the “Awesome BBQ Balls” were actually beef cheek. (I still think “Awesome BBQ Balls” sounds more appetizing.) But my favorite special name for one of Red Medicine’s menu items was the “Science Salad”…

I’d sit at a table next to the open kitchen and watch as Jordan would construct his worlds of salad — using both his tongs and architectural skills. Then, once the salad was perfectly constructed and dropped at our table, I’d mix all the ingredients together, and it magically turned into both the salad AND the dressing. It was a culinary science experiment that delighted me with its beauty, creativity, and taste. Basically the Science Salad blew my mind.

After leaving Vespertine that night, I realized what Jordan has done… Continue reading “The Vespertine experience: A peek into LA’s most mysterious restaurant”