A (half)week in review: L.A. restaurant eating . 2012

One week in Los Angeles makes me a tired girl. But, I rallied most nights against sleep to get out and catch some good eats around Los Angeles with good friends.

Downtown LA . MoChica . Peruvian Tapas
The menu is Peruvian comfort food, but with upscale presentation. You can get anything from ceviche to alpaca (I momentarily joked about ordering alpaca stew, but you know I can't do that.) Also we ordered chupacabra, though the real pronunciation yielded a BBQed calamari that was tender and smokey. While I loved the experience, my co-diners were familiar with the MoChica-of-old and were a bit disheartened that the new location (previously in an assuming strip mall somewhere outside the heart of downtown LA) brought with it smaller portions for more money. More money, more problems, I suppose.
 

Downtown LA . Sugarfish . Sushi
'Trust Me style sushi'. You totally trust the chef and all the rules that go with it...what the chef sends out is final. No soy sauce if the sushi is already sauced. Eat the handrolls immediately. Don't ask for any changes. With the rules you are implicitly agreeing to eating a selection of mind-blowingly fresh and delicate fish and warm rice that falls apart (this is a good thing, I discovered.) With food this good I would gladly be grounded.


West Hollywood . Pizzeria Mozza . Woodfire Pizza
As the name would suggest, Pizzeria Mozza focuses on woodfire pizza; topping it off with a selection of appetizers, paninis and a daily entree option. The pizza was good, but the simple salad we ordered was fan-tas-tic. It was fluffy. How you take a salad consisting of greens (including frissee, which I normally hate), dressing and finely grated cheese and elevate it to what we had is beyond me. We also ordered a few dessert selections that nearly stole the show. Additionally, if you like hands-off customer service approach, this place is for you - it took all our best head spins, sighs  or picking up the wine list to get the wait-staff's attention.




Meanwhile, Daniel is in St. Louis and checks out a new conveyor belt sushi place. The novelty of food running past you is something I want to try. According to Daniel, this place has something for everyone:

• Sushi (on a conveyor belt) 
• Hibachi a-la-minute 
• Dim-sum dumplings 
• Pizza 
• Raw oysters 
• Mozzarella cheese sticks 
• Chicken feet