All'acqua.

Have you ever gone to a Dodger game or a concert at the Greek Theater and came out starving and wondering where you can grab a bite? All'acqua is the perfect place! It's located in the up and coming Atwater Village on the Glendale Boulevard strip, and its Italian name, All'acqua translates to Atwater.

The menu offers Pan-Italian dishes including wood fired pizzas and house made pastas. I went with my girl friend and we love to order a few things from the menu and share them all. It's a great way to experience different things restaurants offer. All'acqua also has a large variety Californian and Italian wines that make this place also great for date nights.

We started off with grilled country bread, which was drizzled with garlic and olive oil. This bread is one of the best breads I've eaten at a restaurant! It isn't complimentary, but for $3, it's a good appetizer.

Next, we ordered the charred asparagus egg fried in bread crumbs and topped with shaved Parmesan cheese. This was by far my favorite item on the menu! The asparagus gives the dish a fresh taste and the cheese and bread crumbs give it a comfort food feel. I couldn't get enough of this.

I'm a huge pasta lover, in fact it's probably my favorite thing to eat, so I had to try one of the house made pasta dishes. We decided to try the spinach and mushroom pasta. The sauce on the pasta was really light, which was nice since we were eating so much. You can taste the freshness of the pasta, which was cooked perfectly al dente.

All the wood fired pizzas on the menu looked so delicious. My girl friend is a little picky with what she eats, so we had to compromise by ordering the prosciutto and arugula pizza. The pizza was fairly large and since we ordered so much food, I was only able to eat one slice. That one slice, however, was amazing. Somehow cooking pizza in a wood fired oven gives it a certain flavor that can't be beat.

We couldn't end the meal without dessert, of course, so we ordered the Bombolini. They were Italian donut holes covered in a Nutella sauce and paired with vanilla gelato. The gelato was super creamy and the juxtaposition of it with the warm donut holes was perefection. It's the most popular dessert on All'acqua's menu, so it's a must have!

Next time you are looking for a night out at a local trendy spot, check out All'acqua in Atwater Village and make a night of it by visiting one of the many surrounding bars after your dinner! 

Terrine.

If there's two things I love in this world it's brunch and anything French! Last week I visited this new restaurant in LA called Terrine with my girl friend, which was both of these things and it was so cute and yummy.

Terrine prides itself on cooking up French classics with a California twist. And the same goes for the delicious drinks that are made here. The atmosphere is warm and romantic, it's a really cute date spot. My favorite part of the restaurant was the beautiful dining garden, where we sat and dined among the trees. I really felt for a minute that I was eating brunch in Paris.

The beautiful dining garden. 

Bloody Mary made with heirloom tomatoes and a Mimosa with prosecco. 

My absolute favorite dish, Pain Perdu. Vanilla battered french toast with sea salt caramel frosting. 

Mushroom, truffle, and sage pizza with a fried egg on top. 

The beautiful floor tiles in the restaurant. 

Mother Dough.

Who isn't a fan of pizza? Not many, I bet! I absolutely love it...the marriage of different kinds of cheeses and tomatoes on fluffy dough is a taste to die for. I've found that finding the perfect pizza joint with the best combination of these ingredients and more is hard. For years, my favorite pizza was from the Round Table Pizza near my house, but since it closed down, I haven't been able to find a place that makes me LOVE their pizza. Even other Round Table chains have been sub par.

My friend and I heard about this place, Mother Dough, in LA and wanted to try it out. Let me tell you guys, it was so delicious! I really enjoyed the pizza there and they also had other dishes that complimented the pizza so well.I have to say, the Burrata salad was one of the best salads I've ever had. The Burrata was made in house and sat atop arugula and heirloom tomatoes.

Burrata Salad.

 We ordered the prosciutto and arugula pizza and it was great. A lot of places skimp on the prosciutto, but not here!

The pizza was cooked in a wood oven, bringing out all the flavors of the ingredients, especially the dough.

Wood burning oven.
photo courtesy of yelp.com

To finish, we ordered a chocolate flourless cake with fleur de sel caramel...simply amazing.

Brooklyn, we go hard.

Aside from Los Angeles, New York City is one of my favorite places in the world, and of the many times I have traveled there, not once did I venture to Brooklyn...until the last time I was there. Per the request of my friend, Natalie, who I traveled with, we set off the the Brooklyn bridge for an afternoon walk across it from Manhattan, where I realized what a beauty not only the bridge is, but also the view looking back on Manhattan. The bridge is 1.3 miles long, giving plenty of opportunities to see the surrounding scenery from many different angles. 

We trekked across it in the blazing August afternoon heat, which I would absolutely not recommend!  I definitely enjoyed most looking back towards the Manhattan skyline...seeing it from the Brooklyn bridge is incomparable to seeing it from any other viewpoint in the city. Brooklyn itself was interesting to see. Sneakers thrown over telephone wires, urban basketball courts, and even a different attitude among the people. 

Walking so much opened our appetites. I had heard many great things about Grimaldi's Pizzeria as a Brooklyn hotspot once you cross the bridge, unfortunately the line was way too long and we were way too hungry so we ate at Ignazio's Pizzeria. I've held a litle regret not trying Grimaldi's, so I am impatiently waiting for the LA location to open this summer! Beautiful sights, an afternoon workout, urban culture, and delicious food...why people don't take advantage of this New York City sight is beyond me.