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”

Watch this backwards and upside-down spin on Thai rolled ice cream

A new ice cream place opened down the street from us on Melrose. It’s not the one with the giant ice cream macaron sandwiches, it’s not the kosher place that has the best mint chip, or the ice cream place that only uses seasonal farmers market produce, or the truck that makes liquid nitrogen ice cream treats. (We may be spoiled for good ice cream in our ‘hood.) It’s the Cold Rolled Ice Cream Company!

Yup, a new ice cream trend that started in Southeast Asia — Thai rolled ice cream — has made its way to Melrose. We stopped into Cold Rolled on a hot rainy night, and left feeling… overwhelmed by the whole process, but happy with our cold-rolled treats!

Watch the magic:

Continue reading “Watch this backwards and upside-down spin on Thai rolled ice cream”

Bread, books & bombolone: The best food gifts Los Angeles has to offer

food gifts Los Angeles
California cutting board by Left Coast Original

When you’re a foodie and you want to give a gift from the heart, the first thing you think of is giving the gift of food! Therefore, I’m constantly researching the best food gifts Los Angeles has to offer, and I’m pretty proud of my collection.

So whether you’re a foodie, or your shopping for one, these are the best food gifts that’ll work for holiday gifts, birthday gifts, or “thank you for getting me that audition” gifts…

Continue reading “Bread, books & bombolone: The best food gifts Los Angeles has to offer”

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”

Where to find the best chicken and waffles in LA

Last time we talked waffles, this time let’s talk about the Holy Grail of Waffles: chicken and waffles. Here’s the deal with me… if chicken and waffles is on a menu, I’m ordering it. Every time. Which means, means I’m constantly on the “chicken and waffles LA” search.

Here’s where I found the best ones… Continue reading “Where to find the best chicken and waffles in LA”

Where to find the best waffles in Los Angeles

If you know me, you know one of my favorite things in this world is waffles. I love them oh-so-much, that I think everything would taste better if it were waffled… or served on top of a waffle… or sandwiched between two waffles… or includes a character who’s also obsessed with waffles.

Just ask Mike, nothing ruins my day more than a bad waffle. Seriously, there will be tears and a sad George Michael/Charlie Brown walk home afterwards.

Therefore, much like our Deeply Important Avocado Toast Quest, is our Search to Quench Megan’s Ever-Present Waffle Craving.

So here are our top places to go when I wake up and desperately need a waffle in LA… Continue reading “Where to find the best waffles in Los Angeles”

7 quick, good, and cheap restaurants on Melrose

So you live/work/find yourself on Melrose Ave during lunch or dinner time, and you need to eat on the cheap and quick. Here are the best places to grab a quick but also still delicious meal for cheap. I’m talking $10 and under on Melrose…

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The best avocado toast in LA (aka. “Our Deeply Important Avocado Toast Quest”)

Like many Californians, we love us some avocados. And Mike and I are constantly on the hunt for the best avocado toast in LA. Or as we call it, “Our Deeply Important Avocado Toast Quest.” So far, here are our top picks for avocado toasts, the places that were “close but not the best.” Then we’d love to hear YOUR favorite places to get avocado toast in LA.

Continue reading “The best avocado toast in LA (aka. “Our Deeply Important Avocado Toast Quest”)”

10 tips for getting the most out of your The Taste LA Times weekend pass

For the past three years, Mike and I have attended The Taste LA Times Event — a weekend long food festival. This year we attended all four of the weekend events to collect the best bites of The Taste LA 2017.

But patterns started to really emerge this year (that we suspected of being true last year) and we realized, we’ve got a bit of insight into how to get the most out of your weekend pass to The Taste LA… Continue reading “10 tips for getting the most out of your The Taste LA Times weekend pass”

Heaven on Earth exists, and it’s called The Taste

Our first time at The Taste LA in 2015

It was probably somewhere around hour two of our second night at last year’s The Taste LA Times event, when I realized “oh my god this exactly my version of heaven.” It was a perfect crisp Los Angeles evening under the glittering strands of lights that criss-cross the fake city streets of Paramounts‘ backlot… Continue reading “Heaven on Earth exists, and it’s called The Taste”