Over the long Martin Luther King Day weekend, we decided to go on a whirlwind trip out to southern California.  But we didn’t just stay in L.A. and hang around the city – instead, we went to some of the surrounding towns and cities to check out some cool off-the-beaten-path places.  And naturally, as we always do, we tried some interesting food.  We’re not going to say that what we ate was the best food in region, because the Los Angeles area is a huge place and we couldn’t even begin to scratch the surface of the food landscape there in three days.  But we still want to highlight where we went and what we ate, so here it is, and just as a warning there are some images of meat here.

The first place we went was Catalina Island, which is about an hour off the coast of the city of Long Beach.  For lunch there we popped into Cafe Metropole and decided to sample from their menu of avocado toasts.  Here’s the one Miriam had – the caprese, topped with sliced cherry tomatoes, fresh mozzarella, basil, and a balsamic drizzle.

And Cyril got the Catalina avo toast, with two eggs and bacon crumbles on top.

We also stopped into Catalina Coffee & Cookie Co. and of course had to try some cookies – specifically, one peanut butter chocolate chip and one eclipse, made from a fudge chocolate chip cookie dunked in white icing.

Later that night we decided we had to try southern California’s signature fast food chain – In-N-Out Burger, which has become famous not just for their burgers but also for their extensive “secret” menu, which lets you customize their standard offerings and features some vegetarian options.  What we got is below: a regular cheeseburger on the right; a grilled cheese with the works (lettuce, tomato, onion, and burger sauce) in the middle; and a grilled cheese with lettuce, tomato, burger sauce and spicy chopped cascabella peppers on the left; plus some animal-style fries, topped with cheese, burger sauce and grilled onion pieces.

The next morning we headed to the city of Ventura, because from the docks there you can catch a boat to Channel Islands National Park.  Before we departed we grabbed some donuts from Good Time Donut:  here’s a chocolate frosted cake donut on the right, and a maple frosted yeast donut on the left.

Now the Channel Islands are owned by the National Park Service, and because of that there are no businesses on the island, so you have to bring your own food and water there for a day trip.  Cyril had the idea to stop the night before and get burritos to bring along with us, so we found the El Antojito food truck in the city of Gardena in Los Angeles County.  Here’s what we got there:  one lengua burrito, and one bean and cheese burrito, which came with grilled hot peppers plus some limes and pickled vegetables.  These burritos survived their journey pretty well from Los Angeles to Ventura, then on a boat for an hour, then in our backpacks as we hiked up and along a ridge on Santa Cruz Island.

We did get to spend some time in Los Angeles after all that, and we decided we wanted to try a restaurant in the city’s Thai Town neighborhood in East Hollywood.  We decided on Original Pa-Ord Noodle and started there with an appetizer of veggie spring rolls.

Then Miriam had the khua noodles with tofu and bean sprouts …

… while Cyril got the pork boat noodles, in a beef broth with meatballs, liver, broccoli, and chili flakes.

We also stopped at The Pie Hole, which has several locations across southern California (plus two in Japan and one in Saudi Arabia).  We visited the Hollywood Boulevard site and got two slices – here’s the Mexican chocolate pie, made with spiced chocolate and whipped cream on top.

And here’s the Cereal Killer pie, made from a filling of cream cheese and Fruity Pebbles with Froot Loops sprinkled on top.

And on the last day of our trip, we wanted to go get breakfast before heading out of town.  We settled on Fratelli Cafe on Melrose Avenue, which serves both breakfast and lunch items all day.  Miriam was interested in the lunch menu, so she got the Fratelli sandwich, with avocado, fresh mozzarella, tomatoes, and spinach, plus a side of sweet potato fries.

While Cyril had a more traditional breakfast of the bacon hash, with two eggs on top of potatoes, bacon, peppers, spinach, black beans, and cheddar cheese.

We know we only got to the tip of the iceberg that is southern California food on our three-day trip, but we think we got a pretty good introduction:  burritos, donuts, pie, cookies, avocado toasts, Thai food, In-N-Out, and some good breakfast cuisine.  We hope to visit Los Angeles and the surrounding area again at some other point in the future, and of course we’ll be on the hunt for more good food that represents the wealth of what California has to offer.