Huckleberry’s Blueberry Cornmeal Coffee Cake — Delicious and Pretty Easy

Last year, I went to the UCLA Science and Food pie event, at which Zoe Nathan gave away her recipe for blueberry cornmeal coffee cake. No surprise, it’s pretty great. You can get it at Huckleberry by the slice (with seasonal fruit), or make it yourself.

LAX International Terminal — Impressively Redesigned with LA Flavor

The big upgrade to LAX is the concourse at the international terminal. What’s actually interesting is that they chose to highlight local LA restaurants, rather than just putting glossy new ubiquitous brands. Honestly, they did a great job, selecting real LA places that should appeal to people visiting, as well as locals passing through.

Bakeshack — The Closest Thing in LA to Tartine’s Bread

Bakeshack is a new bread baker that has been setting up shop at farmers markets in the OC, and now is coming to the Playa Vista farmers market. They sell big, chewy loaves that are unlike almost any other bread in LA. In fact, it’s really almost a ripoff of SF’s Tartine.

This is some seriously great bread. It tastes like they just followed Chad Robertson’s directions in his Tartine cookbook. A sourdough that is not very sour. A crust that is charred but not tough or crisp. Moist chewiness is the signature here, with a bit of sour and a bit of salt.

Bread Lounge — Focaccia for Breakfast

When last we visited Bread Lounge, we checked out the kouign amann and found it a little lacking. Since then, I’ve seen BL’s bread around town and am about ready to say they make the best baguette in town. DTLA Cheese’s fantastic sandwiches feature this bread.

Top Round Roast Beef — A Better Phillippe’s

Top Round opened to fanfare last year as a cool “better version of Arby’s.” Even people who grew up on the east coast, where roast beef sandwiches like those at Top Round are common, said as much. But c’mon — talk about damning with faint praise.

These are really much more like the roast beef sandwiches at Phillippe’s, except better. Simple. Quality ingredients. Tasty.

But I’m not from the east coast, so this doesn’t really dredge up nostalgia. On its own merits, the sandwich is good, but not life-changing. This place is mostly notable for its retro style. So enjoy the pictures after the jump and take a quick nostalgia trip.

Mama Musubi Pop-Up in Little Tokyo – 3/7-15

Aburiya Toranoko has partially given way to Mama Musubi, a rice ball stand that is usually at the Altadena Farmer’s Market. It’s not life-changing, but I definitely recommend stopping in for lunch this week for a great value lunch.