Should We Sit Outside? A California Dispatch

Ten Days of West Coast Eating, plus Summertime Cooking

Hi friends,

Welcome to This Needs Hot Sauce. I just got home from California, where I spent the last ten days seeing so many friends and family and um, eating a lot. If you’re visiting the West Coast anytime soon, be sure to save this edition for all of your mealtime needs and email me if you have more specific questions. *Opens google flights in another tab, presses play on this*
Something to cook:

It’s time for a picnic! If you’re planning to be in LA in the summer, check the schedule for the Hollywood Bowl. We saw Grease Live and the people watching was excellent, as was our meal: kale salad, cheese and crackers, hummus and crudité, and chocolates and madeleines for dessert. You can even bring wine (look for screw tops). Also if you haven’t roasted grapes yet, this salad is your chance! It’s so good. Since it’s summer, we skipped the squash and added fresh apples.

Airplane food: Packing food for a flight feels like one extra thing to do in a period of time typically filled with packing, goodbyes and scouring the closet for mini face wash. But it’s so worth it. I heard Carla Lalli Music describe her plane food on the Bon Appetit foodcast (episode 167) a few weeks ago and had to give it a try. The rough directions are here and a lunch of steamed sweet potato and kale with lemon topped with tahini, mint, cashews, and avocado greatly improves a cross-country flight.

For a weeknight dinner with leftovers, try this flavorful asparagus farro salad, which makes four hearty servings.

Attending a barbecue this week? Make a peach caprese salad. I made this last summer with mozzarella (burrata is $$) and it’s great.

I stayed with my family at a gorgeous AirBnB in Sonoma, where we cooked breakfast (eggs, toast and greens for days) and made coffee at home each day (highly recommend this on a trip, plus it’s so much fun to go to a new grocery store). We stopped multiple times for strawberries at roadside stands, which were addictive.

Something to order:

My dad grew up in California and some of my closest friends live there, so trips out west always include great company and many stops. I covered lots of ground in 10 days, and here’s what I ate.

In Napa/Sonoma:

Oxbow Market: Your ideal lunch is one taco and a half dozen oysters. Start with the taco (the sweet potato and black bean is the best) and then mosey over to Hog Island Oyster Co. for the oysters and a glass of white wine you definitely need.

We also stopped for salads at Pascaline in Sebastopol and their green goddess dressing was so zesty.

El Molino Central is some of the region’s best Mexican food and a favorite among winemakers. The swiss chard enchiladas and green tamales were so good and the guacamole was the perfect welcome to California. They sell their salsa to go, so pick up a tub for your AirBnb afternoon snacks.

Girl and the Fig is a laid back spot with such fresh food: cheese plates, salad with grilled peaches, a savory corncake we were all too full to finish until suddenly it was gone, and a nice cocktail menu if you’re tired of wine.

Sweets:

La Michoacana in Sonoma is here for all your paleta needs.

Sweet Scoops in Sonoma has a slightly salty chex mix flavor (Chex Mix a lot) that I’m still thinking about.

Wine:

My dad handled all of these reservations but I loved visiting and meeting the winemakers behind White Rock, Matthiasson, Rhyme, Bedrock, and Idlewild.

Some tastings carry fees, which are usually waived if you buy a few bottles (which will be shipped later). Idlewild has a tasting room in Healdsburg with $20 tastings that I highly recommend. They’re making Italian style wines in California and they are delicious. Rhyme was another favorite – Ryan and Megan met while studying in Australia and make such cool wines. Bedrock just opened a new tasting room in a historic house in Sonoma and Isa and Noah joined us for a beautiful afternoon augmented by the homemade cheddar goldfish they serve. Snacks are crucial!

Sacramento:

During our brief visit here, we went with the cousins for Ice cream at Gunther’s, an 70 something year old shop whose exterior is featured in Ladybird (Sac residents love this movie and so did I). They’re known for their fruit freezes layered with ice cream, and the marble fudge is also very good. There will be a line on summer evenings.

San Francisco:

I last visited San Francisco in December 2016, which feels like three lifetimes ago. While much has changed, I kept my itinerary pretty much the same: a delicious meal at Dropbox (if you have a friend who works there, make them bring you for a meal or happy hour), stellar chia pudding topped with cacao nibs and raspberries and a few hours of work at Reveille coffee shop (The Castro location has great staff and indoor and outdoor seating) and a stop at Omnivore books.

If you’re reading this, you should visit Omnivore Books next time you’re in San Francisco. It’s a bookstore focused on food, with authors you’ll find nowhere else. The stock international authors, vintage cookbooks, and all the latest books. Last time I was there, I purchased books I love from Meera Sodha and Anna Jones. This time, the extremely knowledgeable staff member told me about Sally Butcher, a quirky in the best way British author and shopkeepers whose book Salmagundi, about the world of salads, is so up my alley.

I tried new things too: delicious cocktails with ee at Iron Horse, well deserved wine after barre class at Jax Vineyards with Isa (they do an excellent cheese plate), and a wonderful dinner with Isa and Noah at the new China Live. It’s a combo restaurant and retail shop, with lots of locally made and imported Chinese products for sale (one brilliant item: miso is a squeeze pouch rather than a tub). The menu is huge and the food is great: order the scallion bread and the vegetable potstickers for sure, and skip the Chinese Broccoli, which tasted a lot like asparagus.

LA:

Talking about the weather in LA is hardly groundbreaking but it needs to be said: the climate is something of a miracle, and restaurants take advantage. In New York, a restaurant could never survive with 80% of its seating outside. In LA, this is common and usually delightful. Don’t forget sunglasses.

Happy hour is important and both M Street Kitchen and Library Alehouse on Main Street have good ones. I caught up with Clare over $5 gin and tonics and guacamole at M Street, which has a huge patio. Molly and I had a lovely dinner at Library Alehouse; their back patio is tucked away and the $5 vinho verde goes till 7. The free chips and salsa lasts all night.

Sqirl is a necessary pilgrimage and it is worth the wait, and the hype. My family has the cookbook and flipping through it is proof that these perfect dishes have so much work behind them. From the pickled carrots on top of the avocado toast to the perfectly crispy rice in the kale salad, details matter. Bring a group to Sqirl – four people is perfect. We over ordered for three (missed you Leah) but you have to have the ricotta toast, the sorrel rice bowl, the kabbouleh, whatever version of chickpea stew they’re serving and a fun drink. I love the turmeric tonic. Go for broke and buy a jar of jam to take home.

My dad compared the inside of Gjusta to a Trader Joe’s parking lot but the food is worth it. You order at the counter after taking a number and then eat outside (of course). The mushroom rice bowl is so good and all of the bread product we sampled were great, especially the seeded bread served with the Mediterranean breakfast my mom generously shared with me. Go on a weekday or early on a weekend, or it will be mobbed.

Are you looking to have a group dinner in LA, perhaps on the West Side? Upper West is the spot (and yes, I did my research). A group of 10 can order off the regular menu and they have a very clever set up where groups are in a somewhat open glass room; you’re still part of the general atmosphere but are less bothersome to others. We had a great time (seriously so many of my favorite people live in LA) and everyone enjoyed his or her food. The dads spoke highly of the ribs and flatiron steaks and I loved my peanut noodles.

Petit Trois has two locations now and is a great spot for a slightly fancy brunch (it was Nicole’s birthday weekend, after all). The avocado tartine (fancy toast) used such good quality olive oil, and the whole bar set up is beautiful.

(Side note: I visited Trois Familia a few years ago and really loved it if you’re looking for a Mexican French combo)

For Nicole’s birthday, we had brunch at Republique, another situation worth waking up early for. The pastry case belongs in a museum and the space is gorgeous, with high ceilings and great natural light. The best dish on the menu, by consensus, was the pupusa, which I was pleasantly surprised to see there. Pupusas are from El Salvador and popular throughout Mexico and Central America (I ate so many at this shop called Tacos Secretos in Guatemala). This one was filled with squash blossoms and cheese and topped with refried beans, salsa, a fried egg, and avocado. A breakfast of champions.

My final dinner in LA was on a gorgeous patio (pictured at the top of this email), at Rosaliné in West Hollywood with Clare and Nicole. We tried lots of Peruvian dishes and loved the causa jar, which layers sweet potato, eggplant, and beets to spread on crusty bread, and the veggie paella. Good cocktails too, and company.

For drinks, Mama Shelter has a gorgeous rooftop and board games in the lobby and Button Mash in Echo Park will let you trade tokens for french fries if you ask nicely.

Now, because I wouldn’t let you down: here’s your Coffeeshop Dispatch: California edition

Up North: Molinari Cafe has excellent coffee right by the Napa river. It’s the perfect place to kill time if you’re 45 minutes early to a wine tasting…hypothetically speaking. They also sell coffee beans that have ben soaked in wine that smelled interesting.

Philz, wherever you are, is so good. They are not fast, which means your drink will be delicious, but don’t go if you’re running late. The iced coffee is so flavorful, the locations are usually spacious, and the staff is friendly. If you’re driving from SFO to Sonoma on very little sleep, the Corte Madera location is a great halfway point for caffeine.

Reveille, as previously mentioned, has multiple locations and excellent food.

Dropbox’s in house baristas at Little-r make an excellent cappuccino.

LA:

The Pie Hole in Long Beach has a wide selection of pies and warm chocolate chip cookies. They make a great iced latte and have lots of seating.

The Blue Bottle in Brentwood is very friendly to small children, like my baby cousin Beckett, who visits all the time to play with straws and wave at trucks driving by. Hanging with Brooke and Beckett was the best.

After visiting the Broad with my parents (a FREE–make a reservation–modern art museum that I preferred to the Whitney), we had coffee at the Barista Society in Downtown LA. The outdoor plaza has great seating and is quieter than nearby Grand Central Market (which you should also visit).

I’ve been to a few locations of Coffee Commissary in LA and the spaces are always really nice. Lily and Nicole speak highly of the food and I can vouch for the chocolate chip cookies.

From previous visits, I also like Espresso Cielo in Santa Monica. In a pinch, Peets and Coffee Bean both put East Coast coffee chains to shame.

Finally, I didn’t forget about New York. Before I left, I had a great dinner at Rubirosa with Julianne, Ian, and Julia. All you need to order is the Rubirosa salad and a large tie dye pizza, plus a bottle of wine. Get ice cream after and it’s all good.

I had solo glass of wine on a covered garden patio at La Literna di Vittorio, a hidden gem in the West Village and it was a delight. Remember to take yourself to a wine bar sometime soon.

Something to read:

Per a reader request, I’m trying to better highlight stories I wrote:

For Forbes, I profiled Mayukh Sen, a food writer whose work you need to be reading.

For Bushwick Daily, Calabrije’s in Bushwick serves New York City’s best margarita (give it a try!)

Delia kindly featured my thoughts on food writing and more in her fabulous newsletter Deez Links.

We’ve got a heat wave! Here are some ideas for hot weather cooking.

And now for other reads:

This is sad: homes are being built without kitchens

What food writers use to spruce up lunch

Restaurants in San Francisco are finding alternatives to waiters, due to rising costs.

A straw update: my mom got my whole family stainless steel straws to use on this trip and I was maybe halfway successful – they do get very cold and then need to be dried off before going back in their case and then into your purse. I dealt with some very soggy paper straws and also tried to avoid lids and straws when I could. Have you had any luck with straw replacements? Reply and let me know.

I’m home and ready to eat so many vegetables. Thanks again to Emma for taking care of you all while I was gone! Let me know what you’re eating so far this summer by replying to this email.

Happy eating and thanks for reading.

Xo,

Abigail