Sometimes a gal just needs a vacation. Especially when winter has decided to overstay its welcome by WAY too long.

When our friend Silvia mentioned that we should check out what the west coast has to offer we jumped at the chance. We did our research, packed our shades and appetites and set out for sunny L.A. Our agenda consisted of a laundry list of about 400 restaurants to hit, and 1 delicious dinner to make out of the best the west coast had to offer.

When we’re not on vacation, Sunday finds us in our respective kitchens cooking up something divine. So why shouldn’t that hold true when we’re away from home?  Not to mention it gives us a good excuse to check out the local produce scene at nearby farmers markets. Early Sunday morning we scoped out the Hollywood Farmers’ Market.

Totally taken aback by the abundant vegetables, citrus, cheese, Alicia Silverstone (for real!), olive oil etc it was hard to pull ourselves away (but we had a strict schedule to adhere to if we were going to fit in the Getty and brunch in Malibu after all!).

As we meandered through the stalls we formed a menu for Sunday evening: heirloom tomatoes, carrots of varying colors, baby artichokes, asparagus, fava beans, and the most fragrant strawberries.

All of this was made on the fly, so who knows what the exact quantities were… in the end we came up with a vibrant carrot and heirloom tomato salad, spaghetti with braised baby artichokes, roasted asparagus, a bit of lemon zest, white wine, romano cheese and prosciutto, a delightful fava bean and crumbled romano amuse bouche, and some strawberries with fresh mint for dessert.

Seriously, we would move to L.A. for the produce alone, everything was so fresh and delicious.

We certainly did our best to eat at a variety of places but here is our list of must eats:

Downtown L.A.:

Bottega Louie – I think it’s fair to say that we became obsessed with this little gem. We came here every morning for breakfast…

…and we took a rainbow assortment of macarons with us when we departed.

WoodSpoon – you absolutely must try the tilapia sandwich:

and the Brazilian chicken pot pie:

Various hoods:

Food trucks! Duck taco from the dim sum truck, make your own ice cream sandwich from the cool haus, tacos from the calbi truck – delicious, affordable, fun bites… we waited in line for about 40 minutes for the grilled cheese truck and ultimately gave up… sigh.

Santa Monica:

Fathers Office – Fabulous beer selection and widely known as the best burger in L.A.

We all flipped over the dipping sauce that came with our sweet potato fries. Sinful and just plain good. If we knew we weren’t going to be judged I’m sure we would have eaten by the spoonful… and maybe we did regardless…

West Hollywood:

Mozza – olive oil rosemary cakes with candied rosemary

(we ate it too quickly to photograph it…)

Venice:

Gjelina – extensive list of delicious vegetables, and a butterscotch pot de creme that made us weep with happiness.

We were so sad to leave and are already planning another trip this fall! And now for a strict lemon water diet to combat the intense overeating… tragedy.