Serious Eats - seriouseats.com

I just emailed this to Stan Berman of Stan's Donuts.  He will get a big kick
of it. 

wow well done!! you did a great job of spanning a pretty large range of locations and types of food. agree on the dodger dogs -- i just don't get the hype, and i'm perfectly happy eating a street vendor hot dog instead. at least they have grilled onions instead of raw!

well done, next time check out brooklyn bagel factory on beverly blvd and just a few blocks down have a chiliburger at tommy's. i suggest having the chili on the side and dipping.

WE LIVED IN L.A. (WOODLAND HILLS) FROM 1975 TIL 1986, HAD SEASON TICKETS FOR DODGERS. WE LOOKED FORWARD TO THE DODGER DOGS WITH A BEER AT EVERY GAME. IT WAS A PART OF IT! NOW WE LIVE IN LITTLE ROCK , HAVE A AAA TEAM AND IT'S NOT THE SAME. NOT EVEN CLOSE! I MUST BE GETTING OLD!

There's a wonderful little diner in Van Nuys called Beeps - great burgers, hot dogs, french fries, milkshakes, and terrific breakfasts. It's tiny and not near anything other than the Van Nuys Airport, but it's a great place for a quick meal.

Great report. I only lived in LA for a year and missed a lot of the "supposed to visit" places though I did get to Pink's and Stan's. Is Langer's really better than Canter's? I thought Canter's was some of the best deli food I'd eaten. Would be good to know for my occasional, return trips.

Langer's is great. I'm going to Katz's at end of the month to see which one is better.

@acidspit and lokamotion: I honestly did not give a lot of thought to sushi before going because I wanted to keep costs relatively low. After reading about and looking at the lunch deals at Sushi Go55, I can see I made a mistake.

@nephari: It is very odd that in some parts of the country Dunkin Donuts does not mind opening franchises on nearly every block, yet they ignore such huge areas ripe for exploration.

@Jen Maiser: I suppose if you're eating the Dodger Dog for the memories rather than the taste, I can understand some of the love. But they sell so many that I have to think a good number of people actually believe it's a really good hot dog, and that confuses me.

@atomic_violin: I didn't even look into Ethiopian on this trip. I probably should have. Although I still probably would have skipped it since eating large quantities of injera and trying out as many places as possible do not go together.

@cebelamour: Randy's would indeed have been a better first stop than Yum Yum, but the decision to stop and eat was not made until well after we left the airport.

@laslaff: I didn't know about Eastside Market, but it definitely would have been nice to take into the WBC game that Sunday night. Looks really good.

I couldn't fault a single opinion, flawless execution but you still missed the barn. You should put at the top of your Aim For list, Eastside Market. I think it's 1013 Alpine in L.A. My husband and I have autopiloted there every Saturday for ten years (and he longer than that, when he worked downtown), the last three of which we have driven up from Temecula, salivating all the way. I hear everything on their list is wonderful, but their #7 -- pastrami and roast beef in a sauce put together by somebody very close to God -- has been our exclusive selection almost all 520 times we have been there and we're not bored yet. This will erase from gustatory memory any greasy, mushy remnants of Dodger Dogs and restore the neighborhood to hallowed ground status. www.esmdeli.com. And there's no point in trying to leave room for dessert, you won't want to spoil the aftertaste.

No trip to LA is complete without hitting as many of the Ethiopian joints on South Fairfax as possible. Some have a Peace Corps vibe, some are white tablecloth, some have Ethiopian-style seating and coffee ceremonies, but they're all pretty good.

I've been in L.A. 10 years and have only been to some of those places in the past 6 months under my wife's tourguidance. The pastrami sandwich from Langer's was outstanding. Just looking at that picture made my mouth water thinking about how delicious it was.

There is also no Dunkin Donuts in the entire state of Washington (there are some listed on Google in Seattle, but I can assure you that these stores do not exist).

It is seriously almost enough to make me move back to the East Coast. West Coast donuts are too cake-y, and they have not yet discovered the joys of vanilla creme.

Yay for LA posts on SE! So happy you made it to Mozza and Philippe's. I'm planning a similiar adventure in NY next month :)