Los Feliz…and a car pick-up

Em had left the car in Los Feliz and took an Uber back to Venice after a night of fun.  It is a pretty brilliant addition to the LA landscape. One of the most beautiful things about NYC is the ability to walk home or take a taxi after drinking.  Now you can do it everywhere.  Transportation disruption is wonderful.

We picked up the car and drove over to Sapp Coffee Shop for lunch.  It is a small Thai restaurant in a strip mall.  The vibe is not something they gave much thought to.  A few pictures of the Rama on the walls but otherwise just seats and chairs.  The food however is fantastic.  We split a few things.  Em went in for the Thai Iced Tea.  Super sweet ice tea cut with condensed milk.

The jade noodles are light, airy and green mixed with pork, crab, crushed peanuts, limes and a spicy sauce.  Just perfect.  Not too heavy and full of many flavors that just explode in your mouth.  The boat noodle soup is supposedly a patron fave but we weren’t up for a soup.

We also had the spicy beef with a large piece of cabbage to cut the spice.  Another winner.  We had an agenda and tacos were coming next.

The Taschen Gallery has an installation for the David Hockney book they just did with him.  It is a super cool exhibit.  Each page of the book is torn out and then put on the wall.

You can also buy the book and the stand.

Here are a few of my favorite pieces…and there are many.

Love the pools.

Love him and his dogs.

Off to tacos.  We shot out to Boyle Heights.  It is still very raw out there just outside of the garment area of downtown.  Tacos are big there.  There was a truck called Marisco 4 Vientos.  I am pretty sure none of us realized it was the wrong truck.  The crowd was huge and the line was long.

Connected to the truck was the restaurant that served the same food but sit down.  I felt as I was walking into Mexico City.  Same vibe, same time warp.

We got a drink.

The ceviche tostado.  Chopped fish underneath shrimp and avocado.  Quite good.

We also went with tacos de camaron which was ok and very old school.  Just a bit mushy and very heavy handed.

We finished up and got back in the car to leave.  As we driving down the road we saw another truck that said Marisco Jalisco.  We all realized it was the truck we wanted to go eat at not the one that we just ate at.  So what else should we do but pull over, park the car and go for round 2.  A much hipper crowd at this place vs the many families at the other place.  We ordered up another taco de camaron.  This was good.  Light, tasty, flavorful and just right.

I had to pick up some dessert for the night ahead and opted for this entrepreneurial woman who parked her wares right next to the truck.  They were pineapple and vanilla cream hand pies and flan.  Not the best but pretty good

Fun day of activities.  Determined to get in all the spots before leaving town.

Comments (Archived):

  1. Elli Papadopoulos

    Love living this L.A. exploration vicariously through you! Two thoughts:1) As a fierce progressive, was surprised to read your “praise” of Uber, although I think maybe you’re praising more the evolution of shared car service than the company itself. DHH (founder of Ruby on Rails) has some scathing thoughts about Uber’s collaboration with the new un-named administration here: https://medium.com/@dhh/del… Would be super cool to hear your thoughts on this one day!2) Boyle Heights, yeow! I alsmost got car-jacked there once years ago after taking the wrong freeway exit. =D

    1. Gotham Gal

      Totally praising the concept of Uber…not necessarily Uber as an operation. I read the piece…

  2. Steve Hallock

    V’s studio is in Boyle Heights and I’m about 3 min away. My two favs right now are the bean and cheese burrito at Al and Beas and the Carne en su Jugo at La 1st St Taqueria. Not sure if either are “drive-from-Venice” good, but they’re amazing neighborhood food

    1. Steve Hallock

      Also next time for Thai, Jitlada in Hollywood is my absolute fav (not far from Sapp). Also Pok Pok in Chinatown is very good and interesting

      1. Gotham Gal

        I’ve done Pok Pok in Brooklyn many times. Big fan.

    2. Gotham Gal

      could be another visit.

      1. Steve Hallock

        We’ll plan some good eats when you guys come down in March