City Taven & Sprinkles Cupcakes in DTLA at FIGat7th! | @FIGat7th #FIGat7th

City Taven & Sprinkles Cupcakes in DTLA at FIGat7th!

By Erin

*Disclosure: I was invited out to FIGat7th to try out a couple different places for purposes of this post. All thoughts and opinions remain my own. :)*

Fall is here and the holidays are just around the corner! As Thanksgiving festivities and yuletide cocktail ideas dance in our heads as to what to serve at holiday parties, FIGat7th’s restaurants and eateries have great options for your upcoming winter and holiday food festivities, or if you just want a delicious meal out without any fuss to enjoy the holidays with.

The restaurants at FIGat7th are cooking up with the most fresh and seasonal ingredients to create up a collection of amazing signature dishes. Located in DTLA (Downtown LA) at 7th + Figueroa, it is a bit of a hidden gem in the heart of downtown, not too far from the Staples Center (but without the huge price tag for parking as you can park all day for only $5 with validation on weekends and after 4pm on week days! You really can’t beat that price in the DTLA area!)

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Our first stop was to City Tavern, which is located on the lower level of the mall. Once you enter this large space with exposed brick walls, reclaimed wood floors & walls, with wooden tables and chairs, you will forget you are in a mall. It’s like a little oasis in the big city.

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We came on a Sunday and they were serving brunch. Brunch is served until 3pm on Sundays. Obviously as you can see from above, I had to have a mimosa. What would a Sunday Funday Brunch be without some yummy mimosas? 😉 My friend and I both love cheese, so we decided to start out with the farmhouse cheese boardwhich is off of the “SHARE” part of the menu, consisted of: cheeses, crisps, and accompaniments. It was the perfect way to start out our meal.

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Another one off the “SHARE” portion of the menu that we decided to sample were the Deviled Eggs! Chopped bacon, housemade hot sauce and chives made for a unique twist on the deviled egg!

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Next, we opted for the kale and quinoa salad that is in the “GREENS” section of the menu. Besides quinoa  and kale; apples, raisins, walnuts, and apple cider vinaigrette topped this one. It made for a nice, light, and very tasty course.

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Moving onto some of the main courses during brunch, one that caught our eye was the fried chicken and biscuit from the “RISE & SHINE” part of the menu. The fried chicken was amazing, crispy on the outside while the meat inside was so tender and juicy, while the county sausage gravy and biscuit were so heavenly!

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If you’re looking for more of a burger or sandwich, then give this lovely number a shot! The pastrami swiss burger from the “HELD” part on the menu will make your taste buds happy. Smoked pastrami, swiss cheese, creamy coleslaw, on a whole grain bun with mustard aioli makes up this tasty piece.

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At this point, we were starting to get pretty full, so we decided to call it a day at City Tavern so that we would still have room for some cupcakes at the Sprinkles Cupcakes upstairs. 🙂

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With so many different fun flavors to choose from, it was so hard to pick two to try! They all look so yummy and delicious!

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I ended up going with the seasonal choice, Pumpkin Spice (on the left, which is available through November 30th) and the Cuban Coffee flavors. Oh my, there are no words to describe how utterly delicious a Sprinkles cupcake is. If you’ve had one before, then you know what I mean. They were both fantastic, I enjoyed every last moist, flavorful morsel of each one of these cupcakes. The Pumpkin cupcake is laced with fragrant ginger, clove, nutmeg and cinnamon and is topped with a sweet cinnamon cream cheese frosting. The Cuban Coffee is a Belgian light chocolate cake topped with a powerful dark roast coffee frosting and subtle notes of cinnamon and cocoa. After having these, we were stuffed and decided to a little bit of shopping before heading back home.

What would you have at City Tavern for Brunch? What flavor cupcakes would you choose at Sprinkles? FIGat7th has a flavor everyone can enjoy this holiday season! 🙂

Brunching at Daily Dose Cafe with #LBNC15!

Brunching at Daily Dose Cafe!

By Erin

As a part of the send off for the Lifestyle Bloggers Conference that I attended last week in Los Angeles, CA, we went to brunch at a wonderful little place in the heart of Downtown LA, a true hidden oasis called The Daily Dose Cafe.

Daily Dose Cafe

STORY OF DAILY DOSE CAFE

Sarkis Vartanian, Owner of Daily Dose Cafe, had the passion and desire to develop an honest food distribution business.  What was his vision to make this happen?  To open up a little café that was tucked away in a beautiful and tranquil alleyway. Daily Dose Cafe has become a cool place to hang out and have a bite to eat.

Daily Dose Café believes that, “All humans and creatures on earth may not be created equal, but we believe that all deserve and have the right to good, healthy, and organically produced food.”

Daily Dose Cafe Sign

How does Daily Dose Cafe create this type of atmosphere? Daily Dose Cafe welcomes all people  and allows diners to have access to local, organically grown and produced food, and to have a delectable drink (such as the Buena Vista) all at reasonable prices. They work with farmers directly and are transparent in everything that they do, by using  only the freshest, locally grown produce, and certified organic products from respectable vendors.  A strict quality assurance program has been set in place to ensure that the highest of standards are met in everything that is served.

If you are looking for a new place to brunch and dine out at, that serves up only the highest of quality and delicious food, is healthy, transparent, and helps to support the community, then make sure to stop on by and give Daily Dose Cafe a go.

Here are a few of the items that we sampled. Everything was delicious.

BUENA VISTA

I started off with the Buena Vista. It consists of 2 teaspoons of caramelized sugar, 2 shots  of espresso, and 14oz  of milk. $5.50 I could drink these everyday.

Daily Dose Eggs

Scrambled eggs with green onions on toasted bread. It’s just scrambled eggs, something so simple, that you might not think much of it, but if you try these, you’ll be thinking, OMG these are the best scrambled eggs I’ve ever had!

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Sunday Funday at Sonny’s Hideaway #SummerAtSonnys

Sunday Funday at Sonny’s Hideaway #SummerAtSonnys

By Erin

If you are looking for a new place to try for a wonderful Sunday Brunch; then have I found a place for you! I am always on the lookout for tasty new places for a nice Sunday Brunch, so when I heard from Sonny’s Hideaway in Highland Park to come in and try their new Brunch Menu, I just could not resist. Brunch is happening on Sundays from 11 AM-3 PM; making it a great option for daytime eats and drinks.

With a new chef on board at Sonny’s Hideaway comes a new brunch menu. Chef Alexander Abdel-Monem has added a number of fancy summer dishes to the mix, including ricotta fritters with hazelnut and chocolate, passionfruit custard, chickpea pancakes with tomato, eggplant, swiss chard, cumin and parmesan and bone marrow hash with sriracha. These options happily join other brunch classics like Brioche French toast with cinnamon creme fraiche and fried chicken with poached eggs. Whatever you choose, you are bound to have one delicious meal!Sonnys Hideaway

Chef Alexander Abdel-Monem, the cocktail list for the Sunday Brunch, and also the fun Tiki Tuesday’s that Sonny’s offer! 🙂 Yum!

Cocktail offerings for Sunday Brunch include some spicy Bloody Marys, Hurricanes, The Naughty Professor, and the classic Mimosa, which should all go nicely with any of the sweet or savory dishes.

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