The Hungry Heretic: Home Sweet Home

After three weeks of vacation I'm finally back in the good ol' south, the land of crawfish and pickled pigs lips.

I was greeted by pleasantly warm weather and a giant Black Out cake from Mckenzie's, the most renowned New Orleans Bakery. They are most famous for their daubache cake, but my roommate Mackenzie (cute name coincidence) couldn't resist this dark chocolate wonder. Yes, she did buy the entire cake, and yes we are almost done with it only 24 hours later, impressive for three tiny ladies. I'm not usually a cake person, but this was incredibly moist and fluffy, so good that I even had to get seconds!

Another nice surprise waiting for me when I got home was my camera USB cord, which I was convinced I lost somewhere between here, LA, and New York. But alas, I found it, and now can share with you some more mouth watering photos of LA cuisine.

If it's not obvious by my previous posts, I am quite the fan of tasty breakfast food. My favorite place to go to brunch in LA is Campanile, a fancy award winning Restaurant on LaBrea, housed in a beautiful building which used to be home to none other than Charlie Chaplin. I usually order their enormous pastry basket and some form of eggs benedict, but once I saw their lunch menu I HAD to order their scallop dish and prosciutto salad.

The scallops were cooked perfectly, crispy on the outside but not overdone. These succulent fresh scallops were served with lardons and a light herbal dressing. It was absurdly tender. Divine.

The side dishes were also very enticing, the best was the long stemmed broccoli and Feta cheese.

I recently found another incredible brunch spot in LA. Larchmont Bungalow might be my new favorite restaurant on the west coast. Unfortunately it is a little ways away from my parents' house, but totally worth it! Their Mole Benedict is the best take on the classic poached eggs dish that I have yet to try. It comes with 2 poached eggs, roasted pepper, spinach, and mole-chicken sausage on brioche topped with hollandaise, pico de gallo, and crispy tortilla strips. Simply lovely.

I also had the luxury of trying their famous Red and Blue Velvet Pancakes, which were featured on thisiswhyyourefat two days after I had them!!!!!

They were the absolute definition of decadence, the cream cheese frosting was so rich and creamy it left me speechless; for a good five minutes all I could say was "Mmmmmmmm, sooooo gooood."

On the topic of creamy, I also got to frequent the BEST ice cream parlor I have ever been to. Mashti Malone's is a persian ice cream shop right off of Sunset, hidden in a little shopping center. It is truly a gem. I first discovered my love for rose water, saffron and pistachio ice cream two years ago when I first entered this eclectic establishment. I make it a point to go as often as possible, and I'm currently scheming different ways to convince the Whole Foods in New Orleans to carry it.