Venice: C&O Trattoria

Ever since I turned 21, I'm not a big fan of birthdays... cause it just reminds me that I am aging and slowly I will not be able to do the things I love to do and expect to get away with it, like eating like a cow! But with birthdays, it always means good food, and my HS friends and Diana were gracious enough to bring me to an Italian restaurant for an early birthday celebration a few weeks ago!

C&O Trattoria

31 Washington Blvd

Marina del Rey, CA 90292

www.cotrattoria.com

C&O = Cheese & Olive. Actually located in Marina del Rey, next to Venice, the area has a very different vibe from the rest of LA. They specialize in Northern Italian cuisine but of course, there's a little bit of American influence in it.

Well known for their "garlic rolls," HUGE portions, and their nightly sing-alongs to "That's A'more!" The wait staff hands out lyrics to the song and when the music starts playing, the whole place sings along with it and the wait staff will come around and cheers with everybody!

Seated outside on a somewhat chilly night, but the heat lamps did it's job. Actually a little too well.

Menu

Chianti is the choice here and they either give it to you in a big bottle like this (around 10 glasses) or you go to a self-serve station. They run off honor system and you say how many glasses you've had. I like it :]

The killer garlic rolls. One of the most amazing garlic bread I've had, anywhere. It's complimentary and right when you are seated, they fill a plate up with the rolls. They have servers constantly walking around with fresh rolls just in case you need more. I had to control myself before I spoiled my appetite, only around 8 or so! Salty garlicky goodness :D

Started off with the calamari in gargantuan size. Very very tender and the marina is bomb diggity here. They have "individual" and "gargantuan" sizes here, with gargantuan more for sharing.

Also ordered Insalata Gorgonzola to share.

Mixed greens, caramelized onions, roasted tomatoes, candied walnuts, and gorgonzola cheese, with a raspberry walnut vinaigrette. Sounds awesome doesn't it? I love how the cold and the hot elements interact with each other. It's a savory salad yet it's light and refreshing at the same time due to the dressing

Capellini Shrimp. Angel hair pasta with shrimp, artichoke hearts, sun dried tomatoes in a garlic butter white wine sauce! Definitely the lighter of the pastas we got that night but sun dried tomatoes helped liven it up. Angeline barely made a dent in the gargantuan!

Linguini Pescatore. Similar to the capellini shrimp since the sauce is the same but this comes with swordfish, salmon, and shrimp for a seafood fest. Even at the individual size, it's still a huge huge plate. Props to Choi for almost finishing it!

Linguini Pollo Marsala. I'm a huge fan of marsala and this was just a savory creamy pasta. Grilled chicken, mushrooms, roma tomatoes and sweet basil in a Marsala wine cream sauce. Very rustic and savory dish. The sauce is definitely the star.

My favorite pasta of the night, Rigatoni Al Forno, a baked rigatoni with a meat sauce then topped with mozzarella. It's baked so the mozzarella on the top is baked to a bubbly golden brown. Savory and hearty pasta dish! I just wish I took a better picture :[

Of course, they told the waiter that it was my birthday so I got the song treatment and a chocolate lava cake :P Who doesn't like a warm cake with gooey chocolate in the middle? It is sweet, very sweet, and very chocolately. We should've asked for some ice cream on the side!

Since Monica's pasta came out late (rigatoni), they gave us a free dessert and she picked the Tiramisu. It had a strong rum flavor to it which we loved. Wish it was a bigger piece though!

On that same night, they were about 6-8 different parties celebrating their birthdays and I can see why! C&O creates this fun and relaxing dining atmosphere which I love. The food's great and it's guaranteed no one will go home hungry or maybe even sober with their chianti wine policy :P But really, it's the great company that I had dining there that makes this place a top 5 for me in LA. Thanks guys :]

On the way to our car we see a "peace sign" walking signal! Somebody broke the appropriate part of the signal to make that. Genius HAHA.

Los Angeles: LA Taco Adventures at Kogi, Flying Pig, Pinches & King Taco!

HAH! I'm back bitches. Honestly, I wasn't planning on updating this blog till my next Asia trip since this blog so far has been about food in Asia when I was studying abroad or traveling, but a lot of my friends have started blogs and I figured... since I'm the original out of them, I gotta step my game up! Plus, now I'm based in LA so might as well get it going. Regardless, I'm gonna start with a LA staple, tacos!!

2 weekends ago, a few friends (Diana & Mikol) and I decided to go on this search for tacos around LA. Props to them for deciding on which spots to stop. Our trip that specific night took us from Venice to Sunset on Hollywood to East LA. I think the odometer read 80 something miles at the end of the night. Nevertheless, it was some crazy fooding haha.

Kogi (stop 1)

So one of the Kogi trucks was at The Brig in Venice Beach that night so that's where our search for tacos began. Not really the traditional Mexican tacos, but I had to have Kogi so we incorporated that haha. It's actually a good thing too cause it turned out there were 4-5 different food trucks there that night! (more on that later)

When I order, I usually like to order Kogi's special of the night cause it's usually something you can't find at their dine-in lounge (Alibi), and it is something different.

The taco trucks next to The Brig. There's a few others too, but there's Kogi!

Their special of the night! Shredded chicken mulita with their salsa roja. Seriously, the salsa makes this a must get. Actually, anything of theirs with salsa roja is bomb.

Spicy Pork Taco. My favorite taco from Kogi. The flavors are much more intense than short ribs, chicken, and tofu.

Diana & Mikol's order of tofu and spicy pork taco. Supposedly they updated their tofu taco but I still find it a little bland. Good option if you're going light though or vegetarian!

The Flying Pig (stop 2)

This was honestly a pleasant surprise since they were at The Brig as well. We all heard from a friend how much she loved the truck so we decided to try it out ourselves.

The truck.

Tamarind Duck Taco & Braised Pork Belly Bun.

So the duck taco was essentially asian roast duck or peking duck. then they sprinkled almonds and added a pickled beet salad. They also added a mardarin orange on top to simulate the taste of the orange dipping sauces most chinese restaurants give you. Such an interesting way of deconstructing each ingredient of a traditional peking duck and then putting them together for different textures. The tamarind also added a sweetness.

The pork belly was essentially taiwanese "guabao" and they played around with it. The pork belly even tastes the same. they added marinated onions and cucumber instead of the traditional pickled vegetables and crumbled peanuts.

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so we wanted to go to kogi and that night they were at venice beach. but when we got there we found out that the trucks like to gather all in one place. didnt try the other two in the picture though.

Pinches (stop 3)
8200 W Sunset Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90046

Our 3rd stop took us over 40 minutes to get there from Venice Beach, the famous Pinches on Sunset.

Pinches, right in the heart of Sunset Blvd.

Mr. al Pastor & Mr. Carne Asada. Of course one of my basis for judging tacos is how tasty their al pastor and carne asada is. Their al pastor is pretty weak in my opinion but their carne asada was like biting into steak nuggets. Pretty awesome.

Mexican Coke! Made with real cane sugar. Absolutely love it!

Also at Pinches, they have this cactus taco. Cactus was... interesting. Tasted a bit like mild bell peppers with not much bite to it. Kinda like.. jelly but not as soft hahah. I would try cactus again, but maybe used differently in a dish hahah.

The also had this guava flan, that didn't have much guava flavor to it at all. It tasted like.. a really really sweet & creamy flan.

King Taco (Stop 4)
4504 E 3rd St
Los Angeles, CA 90022

King Taco, a LA staple.

Al Pastor with Salsa Roja. I absoutely love their salsa roja. Intense flavors and spiciness. Also love their al pastor the best. It did feel like they skimped on the meat though haha.

Mikol's favorite cabeza. I'm not a really big fan of cabeza because I think it's too fatty but the salsa verde definitely cuts into the oiliness.

I think by the end of the night I had about 6-8 tacos from eating my own and sampling Diana and Mikol's haha. More tacos to come!