Interim Cafe

Interim Cafe: Looking for someplace new in downtown Santa Monica, Yelp led me here. I can only assume that vegans in Santa Monica don't know what they're missing. I have had exquisite vegan food and this was no more than passable. Non-vegan chicken madras was pretty good, not intense enough, but on brown rice so that's extra points. The tamale with pico de gallo and avacado slices was pretty good, and had a side salad that was pretty good, with three small strawberry slices, some coconut shreds, and a few seeds. The fake-chicken bbq sandwich wasn't bbq but mustard (though nice and tangy), but the faux chicken was not a good consistency and so bland. Arnold Palmer was average. Cherry vanilla smoothie was icy, with an ok flavor but not enough flavor. In all, it was an ok meal, but nothing to write home about. The oat cookie was dry and tasted weak/healthy...they need to add raisins/dates/almond flour. Overall, I'd rather go to the Panera across the street any day and I wouldn't go to a Panera with so many better options for food in Santa Monica. So I'm mystified by the 4.5 out of 5 stars on Yelp for this area and can only assume that Santa Monica doesn't have any good vegan food. I wish I'd gone with my second choice and tried Umami burger even though I had a burger for dinner yesterday.

Genwa Korean BBQ

Genwa Korean BBQ: Seeking to satisfy a deep craving for bi bim bap, we suffered rush our traffic for dinner here. An elegant dining room, if a bit small. Free parking in the garage in back. Very pleasant wait staff. The food was good, though it ended up being a bit "finer" than we were looking for...not comfort food, but rather going-out-to-eat-food. The sizzling bi bim bap was mixed at our table for us, and was maybe a bit lacking in flavor. The seafood and vegetable pancake was great, but the accompanying hot sauce was somewhat lacking in flavor. The myriad appetizer/sides ranged from forgettable to excellent. The Vavo brand ginger ale was excellent, gingery but not too sharp, and sweet but not cloying. For a finisher they brought around a very sweet, cool tea (with a pine nut) that was great. And all for ~$40. A great deal, but I'm not sure I'll go back anytime soon. Looking at the other tables, the shabu shabu was very popular.

Izzy's Deli, Pinkberry, Funnel Mill, Mama's Lu, Beard Papa's Cream Puffs, Fruitti Yogo

Now that we've been in Santa Monica about 3/4 of a year, we have some favorites.

Izzy's Deli again. Big sandwiches. The Matzo ball soup was great. Potato pancakes were overdone. Reuben was excellent. Stay away from the Cobb salad. Oh, and the coleslaw was perfect. So good, and apparently open 24/7. Though the cheesecake is a bit artificial-tasting.

Pinkberry again. Excellent as always...still my favorite place for frozen yogurt because I like their toppings best (except for frutti yogo's lychee).

Funnel Mill again. Everything was amazing. The iced espresso was so exactly perfectly what I wanted. Their two hot chocolates were both great (maybe not quite as good as Burdick's in Harvard Square, Cambridge), but I preferred the "European" version which wasn't sweet.

Mama's Lu: Mother's Day we got out to a restaurant early (10:30am) so as not to face big crowds. This place gets good ratings on Yelp and it's pretty good. I guess it's dim sum, but without the carts and in a small place and no crowds, and without some of the crazier foods. Dumplings were excellent, particularly the veggie. The green onion pancakes were also excellent. I would be fine going back...this is the best place I've gotten dumplings in LA.

Beard Papa's Cream Puffs: I was itching for dessert, so we stopped nearby (it seems like Monterey Park has a high density of good restaurants) at a store that sells little more than cream puffs. Pretty good, but not perfect because they're light on flavor.

Frutti Yogo again. Love that lychee but the other toppings seem lackluster compared with Pinkberry.

Ricky's Fish Tacos, Cheesestore of Silverlake, Pazzo Gelato, Forage, Yamazaki Bakery

Ricky's Fish Tacos: After a terrible experience at a Rubio's, I've been craving good fish tacos for months. A trip to London showed me how good fried fish can be (so amazing), and a free afternoon saw me hunting down not only a fish taco place, but a food stand. Food stands are another goal of mine, and this one was quite good. The fish was nowhere near as good as in London, but still better than most fried fish I've had in the US. Yummy, if a bit difficult to track down. I would eat again. Even better, it introduced me to the Silverlake area with lots of great stores.

Cheesestore of Silverlake: Our second stop was a cheesestore. I love cheese and especially love cheese shops with other import-y type goods. We bought their wonderful house olive oil (tasty but not overwhelming) and a baguette to eat it. Places that let you try olive oil are excellent and they get my money. A half pound of cheese...soft like brie but I forget the name...pretty good but a bit stinky. Also some salty caramels (so good). This was an awesome store. It looked like right outside the door they had a restaurant that was very busy, but we were full from fish tacos. Also right next door was Intelligentsia, which was incredibly busy so we didn't stop.

Pazzo Gelato: Across the street was a gelato place that was pretty good. They had several excellent flavor combinations. I had their balsamic vinegar and fig. I also tried the raspberry/mint/chocolate. While the flavor combos are great, they didn't quite pull off good gelato. Looking at the yelp reviews, I'm guessing they change flavors often. I would go again, but not go out of my way.

Forage: Earlier in the day we heard a radio story about this store (for buying ingredients from locals), and a random passerby told us they had tasty baked goods, so we stopped in. Very busy. The food looked great, and their oat bar with fruit/nut toppings was heavenly. The chocolate cupcake was also great...so moist and with cacao nibs. I loved it.

Yamazaki Bakery: On another day we checked out Little Tokyo. Bleh, I got five "pan" (breads/rolls/cakes) from here, and they were all tasteless, textureless, insipid. I would not let myself be dragged back.

We walked around the area and checked out the stores...bought a little teaset for $20...got some ok tacos at a foodtruck whose name I forget.

Yogurtland: Nearby however, was a Yogurtland. We tried four flavors (strawberry, chocolate, taro, and plain). Definitely just go with the plain yogurt. It was indistinguishable from pinkberry's and the other flavors were not as good. The toppings were fun, but we had higher quality strawberries at pinkberry and better lychee at frutti yogo. The brownie bites were nice, but a bit heavy. And the condensed milk squeeze bottle was a neat touch, but really not what I'm looking for on frozen yogurt. So good, but I'd rather go to pinkberry.