My Weekend Passport » Los Angeles

Campanile: Sharing is Caring

Alex @mwp — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 07:23:10 +0000

Face it, we all make mistakes in life. It happens.

We make bad decisions that come out of not knowing enough of a situation, or we make poor use of the information that we do have. Such decisions are made nearly every day in life. Some of them are fixable, such as returning that shirt that has a missing button. Some are no big deal, like buying a carton of milk when you already had one in the fridge. And then there are some irreversible ones that can make a big difference in your lives. Somewhere in the magnitude of “I passed on Cornell and NYU because my high school sweetheart only got into schools on the west coast and I wanted us to stay together.” My advice on those would be to try to just laugh it off if you can.

I don’t like making mistakes with my food. I mean, what can you do? You ordered it (and most likely already ate half of it) before the disappointment sinks in. Most won’t ask for a refund unless it’s for a better reason than ‘I just didn’t like it.’ So you just endure the last half, pay up, and get on with the rest of your life.

It’s an imperfect transaction. You don’t know what your dish will taste like until after you’ve ordered it and made a promise to pay for the service.

In reality, ordering the wrong dish isn’t a big deal. You got the sustenance your body needed and, in less than a day, it’ll run its course through your body anyway. The disappointment will not last long (unless it gives you food poisoning).

I may feel like I made the wrong decisions that night, but luckily I went with eight other friends to Campanile for their DineLA dinner and they made some very good ones. It should be worth noting that I went against the waiter’s recommendations on every dish, which may be of some useful information in the future. So, I’ll do something different and talk about what they had instead.

Here is the waiter’s recommended starter: Poached Egg with Porcini Mushroom Cream and White Truffle Oil. I think it just looks glorious, and they pile on the thinly sliced truffles too, which gives it that incredible flavor in every tiny bite. Alas, I went with another dish because I didn’t want to spring for the cash upgrade (too broke from Grace and XIV… those tiny upgrades have a knack for adding up). However, if I were to go back again soon, this would be the first dish I’d be ordering.

I liked my neighbor’s pork loin dish better than my own, although it needed the creme fraiche to compensate for some dryness in my opinion. Still, I liked the value and sides more than my mussels dish. I went seafood just cause I hadn’t seen too much shellfish entrees on all the DineLA spots that I’ve encountered this month.

Regrettably unfocused pic of the Bread Pudding. All but two people at the table went with the waiter’s recommended dessert dish, which was definitely pretty good. Maybe not the best bread pudding I’ve had, but very close. I just wanted to strike a different chord than the rest of the group and went with ice cream. Mango and vanilla iced cream with biscotti, no less. But not much more than ice cream you can have just about anyday.

Here’s the trio of dishes I ordered. I think my camera also was disappointed and didn’t figure to focus correctly. The soup was a bit too creamy and I think I could only down about half of it, but it made for a really good dip with all the free La Brea Bakery bread that was coming to us. The mussels were just okay to me, and again, made for a nice dip for the free bread.

Still, it was a fantastic place to get dinner with a good group of friends. Chef and owner Mark Peel really did a fantastic job with the venue. When you step in, you’ll spot a fountain and very tall skylit ceilings inside the converted indoor foyer. There’s also very spacious rooms in the back for hosting larger parties. Service was also fantastic as well. We happily spent two hours having a fun-filled dinner. Thank goodness for friends and sharing.

Edit: I looked up campanile in the dictionary, and it means “Bell Tower” in Italian. Makes sense now, because when I hear the word Campanile, I immediately think of Berkeley’s Sather Tower (aka “The Campanile”) that towers over the campus.

Campanile

624 S La Brea Ave
Los Angeles, CA 90036

Langer’s: If there’s a deli in heaven, I’m sure the #19 is on their menu

Alex @mwp — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 08:05:43 +0000

I know I have at least one reader out there who will probably see the title of this entry and say “it’s about damn time you ate at Langer’s!” Yes, for any sammich lover out there, Langer’s has got to be first or near first on the list of must eat sandwiches in Los Angeles. After a year and a half in LA, I finally went. And it’s all true, you have to have a sandwich here before you leave LA. This would make even my sandwich-unliking friend Amy’s belly rumble in eager anticipation, I’m sure.

It took me way too long to come here, I soon discovered after my first bite into the Number 19 Sandwich. After coming here with my friend PJ, I took one bite and exclaimed a big “WOW” out loud. Everything that’s been written about this sandwich on Yelp and other blogs is so true that I don’t even know what to add. I can only say that I had just an amazing experience as everyone else.

Pictured above is the #88: Hot Corned Beef and Sauerkraut on Rye. Your basic Reuben sandwich in classic deli glory. It’s a bit too sour for my taste, but I can’t take anything away from the meat. It is piping hot, tender, salty, and as delicious as any I’ve had yet.

It was a very good sandwich, but I think me and PJ were both in agreement that this next sandwich was clearly better:

The #19 up close. Say hello.

It’s one heck of a sandwich. Soft and juicy slices of hot pastrami and sweet coleslaw separated by swiss cheese and sandwiched in rye bread. Add in a spread of Russian dressing and served with a pickle.

Coleslaw is already one of my favorite things in the world, so having it served up in a sandwich is a new and very welcome surprise to me. It also serves the purpose of sweetening up the sandwich, because where I felt the Reuben got too salty and sour, this combination meets a very healthy (or, is it unhealthy?) balance between salty and sweet. It also does nothing to take away from the glory of the delicious pastrami. Every deli earns its stars from the quality of its pastrami, and Langer’s wins enough from me to make up its own constellation.

The sandwich will set you back about $14, but you will not be asking for your money back.

The big reason why some people seem to avoid Langer’s is the sketchy neighborhood that surrounds it. I’m sure when the restaurant was founded, they expected it to be a perfect spot in the corner of a large park in the middle of town, but then the surroundings happened to change in a different direction. Nonetheless, I love that the deli looks like it hasn’t changed since WWII.

It’s such an LA institution that they’ve actually dedicated the intersection of 7th and Alvarado as Langer’s Square. How awesome is that?

If you’re a fan of pastrami sandwiches, then you have to come to Langer’s Deli and try the #19.

Note: Validated parking lot is one block east at Westlake & 7th (they also offer curb service). Langer’s closes at 4:30pm, but you wouldn’t really want to be in the area after dark, most likely. I’ve been offered fake IDs and drugs by various strangers the couple times I’ve been by the park.

Langer’s Deli

DineLA: Eat your hearts out, LA

Alex @mwp — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 00:29:00 +0000

LA’s restaurant week has arrived. Two weeks of restaurant specials, actually, from Oct 4-9 and Oct 11-16. Book your reservations now!

I’m going to eat at Kendall’s Brasserie in Downtown and Craft in Century City. Hopefully eating at Grace Restaurant or BLT Steak, as well. If only I didn’t have class three nights a week, I would be able to fit in more…

Crash and Burn at the 2009 Red Bull Soap Box Derby

Alex @mwp — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 20:05:00 +0000

It used to be that when I thought of Soap Box Derbies, I think of a boy and his pops building something out of scrap metal and discarded bicycle tires in their garage. Then I watched Cool Runnings and the idea of making a push car totally caught me for a few weeks. Well, this weekend, another evolution of the soap box occurred in Downtown LA. Sponsored by Red Bull, the 2009 LA Soap Box Race inspired the likes of half-baked college students, fire fighters, young professionals, and plenty of strange characters to take to the hill in the most creative soap boxes they could build.

It’s hard to describe this scene to those that weren’t there. I’ve never seen the streets of Downtown so alive and buzzing with people. Turns out people will come from all over the county for a free event. There literally was nowhere to walk on Grand or 5th street throughout the duration of the race, and some people turned out at 10am, 3 hours before the race, to secure a prime location. I lived half a block away from the starting line, so I stayed in my room until 1am thinking I could get a good spot still, but boy was I wrong.

The Red Bull peeps quoted that over 100,000 people showed up to the streets. I didn’t believe it at first, but looking at this picture again, it doesn’t seem all that unrealistic. This many people on the streets probably could occupy the entire Coliseum.

The race course began on top of Bunker Hill at Grand and 4th, snaking it’s way down Grand, turning at the intersection of 5th and Grand, and continuing down 5th street until the conclusion at Olive street. During the course of the race, the drivers would have to maneuver a serpentine path down the hill, tackle a high speed banked 90 degree turn, and land two jumps off one foot tall ramps. Points were awarded on creativity, driving skill, and crowd pleasure. Frankly, if you made it down the hill in one piece, I would declare you a winner, but everyone wants to see a show. They want to see some crashes!

Speeds of 45 mph were reached by some cars, and brutal face-dives into gravel and haystacks were witnessed. There was something to see for everyone.

So it’s really all about the soap boxes that were built, and there were some really creative ones. There was a Baywatch (“Babe Watch”) themed group that drove a lifeguard tower down the course, bananas that rode a banana hammock, and Marty McFly went Back to the Future. As you see here, there was a group driving a stripper pole, but unfortunately I was busy getting food so I didn’t see whether actual people were dancing on the way down. That would be cool though.

Some frats and engineering clubs from all the local universities were represented here. You could tell which carts were designed by frats and which ones were designed by engineers pretty easily. The latter’s, of course, didn’t fall apart before the first turn.

The eternal debate between USC and UCLA wasn’t settled on the streets today. They both crashed and burned, but I love the post Washington-defeat taunting that UCLA threw on prior to the race. Oh and I learned that UCLA really means University of Caucasians Lost among Asians. Clever.

I would say half the competitors never made it to the finish line in one piece. Those that did deserve a gold star, because that is not an easy track to complete. I held my breath every time I saw a car attempt to scale the banked wall.

My fave of the bunch has to be the Spaceballs group. They had the best opening skit highlighted by a ring-saber battle between Lord Helmet and Bill Pullman. All the characters, other than Yogurt, were in attendance. And the winnebago actually survived the course with a very admirable time. Easily the crowd favorite of the day.

Okay, next year, I’ll definitely be back. Hell, I might even assemble a team! This looks like fun.

http://www.redbullsoapboxusa.com/

Gyoza Eating Contest: Hide your pot stickers and little children, Chestnut’s hungry!

Alex @mwp — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 17:57:51 +0000

If you don’t know this man, first you should watch the video below. You might not want to eat hot dogs for a while though.

In the video, he had set the Nathan’s Famous Hot Dog eating record at 66 dogs in 12 minutes, but this past July 4th, he broke his own record which is now at a whopping 68 dogs in 10 minutes.

This past weekend, he came to Little Tokyo to attempt to break his own record of 231 gyozas in 10 minutes, set last year. It’s the third year running of this modest eating event, but it was able to capture a very sizeable crowd at the Nisei festival. Young and old, Japanese and gaijins, gyoza lovers and those grossed out by professional eating, all gathered around to watch the spectacle under the big tent. There were even some loud, drunken frat-type boys in the back–official groupies of Major League Eating. I walked about a mile each way from my downtown apartment to capture the action and witness Joey Chestnut’s domination in person.

First, let’s introduce the Nisei Week Queen and her court of princesses. They have the job of bringing out the plates of gyoza to all the contestants. These lovely ladies are here to provide moral support and cheer on the contestants, while at the same time serving them their demise in pot sticker form.

On your mark.. and GO!

Joey Chestnut is the second one from left on upper row. Everyone else, well, thanks for competing. I believe he beat the next highest up (big man in the blue cowboy hat) by over 50 gyozas.

There’s a table set up on the bottom left for the previous year’s Nisei week princess court. All of them make up one team of eaters and put down a decent amount of gyozas combined.

While most of the amateur competitors pick up gyozas one by one, Chestnut uses the more advanced technique of grabbing a handful, squeezing them together, and then shoveling it down his pipe. He probably eats a third of the plate in five bites. The man is unreal.

Check in on the ladies’ effort, and they did pretty well. Better than most of the amateurs, but not quite pro level. Maybe the soy sauce makes the gyozas go down better. The girl next to Joey Chestnut, also one of the former princesses I believe, brought her own dipping sauce for the competition.

Then again, maybe no amount of sauce can help THAT amount of gyozas go down. That’s the face of “uh oh, what have I done to myself?”

More looks of defeat among the competitors. Apparently, the word “Gurgitators” was invented and coined just for this sport to reference professional eaters. Sometimes, though, they’re also called “Regurgitators”, as one unfortunate combatant was consumed by gyozas in the end. On stage, unfortunately. Wasn’t pretty.

Did I win? Did I break the record? I think my gyoza baby is starting to kick! Mr. Chestnut is just remarkably cool compared to the rest of the crowd after putting down more gyozas than most everyone eats in a full year.

To the victor goes the spoils. In this case, the spoils is more plates of gyoza. The extras were passed around in the crowd. I sampled one, which was pretty tasty. I’m sure it helps a food eating competition when the property is something that you would fancy digesting.

No, he didn’t top his old record. He didn’t even come close, actually. He was short by almost 50 gyozas (two more plates), which only makes that number even more ridiculous. Still, what an impressive display of domination.

Bar Food: Pub Grub That’s Actually Good

Alex @mwp — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 20:55:14 +0000

So, I am thinking of making a move to the Westside in two months. Once classes start, It’s probably going to be too much to bust my butt from Downtown or Hollywood to Westwood four times a week. This makes me sad because I love it on the East side–Downtown, Hollywood, and everything in between along the 101–and I feel like I have so much more left to explore before I give it up. But then again, it’ll give me an opportunity to do some exploring of the other side of town that still remains very foreign. La Cienega might as well be the Berlin Wall to me, locking me in the eastern bloc–full of character, Angeleno history, and ethnic influences–but separating me from all the good stuff out west.

Lately, somewhere in my head I must have heard Ronald Reagan speaking out to me: “Tear down this wall!” If you seek perfect sunsets, beautiful people, peaceful days and nights, and even more traffic congestion, then Mr. Alexander, tear down this wall. Well the voice has resonated, and I have taken my metaphorical wall down brick by brick in the past days as I begin my exploration of the Westside.

First things you must find are places to eat and drink, and I may have found my new favorite pub and grub stop on the Westside last night. While a very early chapter into 2009: A Westside Odyssey, Bar Food has all the makings of a place I can see myself being a regular patron at. Wide selection of brews, easy-going patrons, friendly service, and top it off, bar food that’s worthy of talk.

I found out about this place through, what else, Yelp. It’s got a very admirable 4.5 stars overall and many glowing reviews from elite members. I decided to come with two friends and see what all the fuss is about. For a gastropub owned by an Irish man, it certainly wasn’t what I expected. The place was dark, but had a swanky feel. As you walk in, you see the bar in the center with its dozen tap handles in all its glory. A sign says to seat yourselves, and we find plenty of available tables with comfy seats. It appears this place used to be a sushi restaurant, and you can see plenty hints if you look around. There’s a Japanese-style door curtain by the kitchen and the jars of pickled who knows what on the wall. My guess is the bar in the center used to be where the sushi chefs sliced up maguro and hamachi before it was converted into the suds pouring center of Bar Food.

Our first bites were the potato puffs. Delicious bites these were. Creamy mashed potatoes deep fried and served with dipping sauce. A crispy fried exterior but a soft mushy center. Surprisingly, I haven’t seen this dish almost anywhere else. For mashed potato loves Marny and I, these were just great.

The Bar Burger may appear to have the buns of a big mac and the meat of a six dollar, but it’s a quality burger. Not the best burger in LA, but definitely can satisfy your burger cravings when you’re here.

Spicy Tuna served on top of crispy rice. Pretty yummy, although I’m not a fan of that much green onion. They must have taken some cues from the previous Japanese kitchen because many dishes served are topped off with the green garnish. Not a very spicy tuna, and the rice was crispy.

Mac and Cheese. Now, this is what I came for. I had a deep urge for Mac n Cheese, and this place does it well. I wouldn’t rave about it and tell everyone that they have the best in town, but it’s a good dish to go along with the lagers and pale ales that I’m downing. Very cheesy, and baked with a little crisp to it.

Finished off our meal with Ice Cream Cones. They come two on a plate for five bucks, and it’s served in those cones you remember as a kid. I’m not sure why they decide to turn it on its head… but maybe they just don’t have the stands to keep it from toppling over. Either case, I guess you can make the point that it’s a unique way to serve. Only vanilla and chocolate are offered, unfortunately.

For beers, I had the house’s Bar Lager and a Stone Pale Ale. I need some more trips to really take advantage of the nearly two dozen beers that they have on tap and in specialty bottles. The bartender that night, Hans, was very warm and helpful. Same with all of the table service.

Happy Hour is the perfect time to come in and take advantage of a place like this. It runs from 5-7pm. House beers are 3.50 and many of the dishes are marked down 30-50%. Not to mention that they serve free hot dogs for those two hours. I guess that’s why they call it Happy Hour, after all.

Bar Food

12217 Wilshire Blvd (Just West of Bundy)
Los Angeles, CA 90025

Nisei Week: Easy, Breezy, Japanesey

Alex @mwp — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 16:47:15 +0000

Please stop banging those Taiko drums…

When you’re nursing a Sunday morning “headache”, it’s definitely not the most welcome sound outside your window. This, however, only reminded me that Little Tokyo’s annual Japanese-American celebration, Nisei Week, has snuck up on me.

For those that missed it over the weekend, there was a two-hour parade through Little Tokyo on Sunday evening. It featured a ton of floats, traditional dance, taiko drumming, anime characters, and the lovely nisei-week court. The crowd was great and the atmosphere was very fun and inviting. It definitely reminded me of my summer days in Japan and attending these matsuri’s (summer festivals).

Nisei Week is a whole weeklong celebration of Japanese culture and Japanese-American community residing in Southern California. There will be other events such as traditional dance practice and other cultural events (including a rubik’s cube contest, for some reason). The noteworthy highlight of the week for food fanatics to enjoy will be the Gyoza eating competition featuring headliner competitive eater Joey Chestnut.

This Saturday afternoon you can spot “Jaws” try to take down his record set last year with 231 gyozas eaten in 10 minutes. He tells Downtown News that he’s trying for 250 this year! Will he do it? I’m totally eager to see him try. Pride of San Jose right there.

I’m just hoping there won’t be an encore of Taiko drums early in the morning.

Nisei Week Japanese Festival
August 15-23, 2009

Pizzeria Mozza: Best pizza in LA

Alex @mwp — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 23:52:57 +0000

During my last trip to New York, I had pizza from 4 different places, fully satisfying my desire for “true” New York style pizza. All respect given to Chicago and their carbtastic, deep-dish pizzas, New York has the best pizza there is in our great country. Why is that? Well, I just saw an episode of Food Detectives on the Food Network that attributes it to the municipal tap water. According to their findings, NY makes the best pizza because the most important ingredient, water, is head and shoulders above what LA and Chicago have running through their underground pipes. The panel of judges in the show were able to unanimously pick the correct pizza in a taste test that was created with Manhattan H2O instead of samples from the other two cities.

This makes sense to me, really, because water is a key ingredient for the crust, which is what usually defines the best pizzas. Face it, there’s really not a whole lot you can do to make your toppings taste better. You pull your pepperoni/mushroom/bell peppers out of a reach-in, slice it up, and top off your pie. Where along that process do you improve on taste? The pizza sauce and crust are the two parts where the ingredients and how you make it shine out the most.

If what the show found was true, then Chef Mario Batali has found some way to either import better water or outperform the limitations of Los Angeles’ finest. The crust on each pizza I’ve ever had here (and I’ve tried over half a dozen different kinds) have all been amazing. The texture, the fantastic crunch, the fresh from the oven taste… it’s a perfect symphony of yeast and H2O. So good that it almost doesn’t matter what you top it off with. Hell, it’s so good, I would even get a pizza without meat for that matter. Fill it up with Brussels sprouts, fermented soy beans, and crickets, and I’ll gladly eat it. It’s just so good.

Before the pizzas get to our table, we gotta get our appetizers. For me and my friends, the two must-haves are always the Mozza Caprese (pictured above) and the fried squash blossoms. The Mozza Caprese is the best I have had anywhere yet. The mozzarella is deliciously fluffy and fresh, and the presentation is as impressive as the taste. The squash blossoms are lightly fried to a crisp but with no greasy taste, and they’re also stuffed with a little ricotta.

So many pizzas, it’s hard to remember which one my favorite’s been. Oh, they’re all good. Like I said, it really doesn’t matter what your toppings are in this restaurant (prosciutto and rucola pictured). Each pie comes with six slices, perfect for a group of six. Don’t come here with seven, as one poor shmuck will be left out. If you come here with five, there will be fights for the last slice.

The butterscotch budino is the recommended way to finish off your meal at Pizzeria Mozza. I’m not much of a dessert guy, and each time I only get a spoonful and I’m good, so I can’t comment too much about the taste. If you like desserts and creamy butterscotch is your thing, get this. Our group also had gelato and caramel copetta, which were just as pleasing. I had a glass of the muscato, which was a refreshingly sweet ending to my lunch.

The waits for reservations can be a bit long at times, but I recommend coming here for lunch. Parking on the streets is free and will be easier, as well as landing that reservation time. The prices are very reasonable for a group lunch that’s a notch or two fancier than you’re probably used to. If you’d rather not wait for a table and just take it to go, there now is Mozza 2 Go as an option for take-out.

If the pizza crusts are this good here, it only makes me wonder what they would be like if they were made with the ‘superior’ New York water instead. No, that city already has enough good pizza, Los Angeles deserves a magnificent pizza such as this.

Pizzeria Mozza
641 N. Highland Avenue
Los Angeles, CA 90036

25 Degrees: It’s what separates Rare from Well Done

Alex @mwp — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 02:18:00 +0000

Tucked inside the famed Hotel Roosevelt in Hollywood lies a tiny burger bar called 25 Degrees. It’s called 25 degrees because that is all the Celsius that separates beef from being rare to well done. Pretty clever for a burger bar.

A group of 10 friends decided to start here before catching the Fourth of July celebrations over at the Hollywood Bowl. Having worked nearby on Sunset for the longest time, I’ve always wanted to give this place a try to see how their burgers stack up in the eternal greatest burger debate. Lucky Devils, another late night burger joint just down the street, has an amazing Kobe Diablo burger that will knock your socks off… and yet there are many out there that think 25 degrees is better. I must try.

Finding the place is pretty easy. We were planning to park at the Hollywood and Highland center and walk up to the Bowl to avoid absurd $20 parking charges and all the traffic that exits the lots up there. Another great thing about the place is that it’s open 24 hours to fulfill your burger cravings at any hour of the day.

Seating a large group like ours is a challenge. The restaurant looks like it can’t hold more than 60 people, and offers nothing bigger than a half circle booth so our party had to split in two. Lucky for us, happy hour runs 5-7 every day of the week, so beers, shakes, and sides were all half off. They have a small selection of bottled beers and sodas. I tried their very own 25 degrees red ale which had a good, rich malty flavor and my friend had an interesting kumquat soda that tasted only a hint of kumquat. Their shakes were all very good… next time I come I will have to try their Guiness Milkshake!

They have three specialty burgers (Number One, Number Two, and Number Three). I got the Number Three, made of mezzo seco jack, green chili, chipotle, and avocado (pictured above). I was a little disappointed, hoping for some more kick in it, but the chipotle mayo sauce was fantastic and I was in the mood for avocado that day. I had a bite of the Number Two, featuring roasted tomato, prosciutto, burrata, and pesto, and it tasted better. I would highly recommend that one.

Specialty burgers come with sides, of which I liked the sweet potato fries the most. The sheer quantity of sides that come out will definitely fill you up. I seriously thought I would never see the bottom of my cone of onion rings, and alas, I never did. These burgers are no small feat to chow down.

So, where does this rank in my book? Well I’d probably put it on par with Lucky Devils but a shade under Umami Burger. The bun at Umami still kills, while the meat of the Kobe Diablo is more flavorful. I do like the retro Hollywood glam decor of this all-night burger bar, and their shakes and sides chalk up a fantastic meal to go with your tasty burger. I still have to try Father’s Office, The Counter, and 8oz Burger Bar in the future.

Fireworks at the Hollywood Bowl. It was a fantastically good time kicking back some wine while listening to the LA Philharmonic and John Fogerty play some good, classic, American music. I’ll be back next year! Happy belated Independence Day.

25 Degrees
Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel
7000 Hollywood Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90028

Find your zen in Bel-Air

Alex @mwp — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 19:48:44 +0000

Shh. Listen up, I’ll let you in on a little secret. Tucked away in fabulous Bel-Air, there lies a secret garden. A secret Japanese garden that will power up your zen and leave you with a feeling of inner peace should you find it. I’m sharing this with you because, well, I found it and it was so serene and peaceful that I’m quite sure there is no place in LA like it.

Welcome to the Hannah Carter UCLA Japanese Garden. A carefully crafted space of sheer natural beauty and zen-ful peace over an acre of land in Bel-Air. It was purchased in 1965 by the Chair of Regents of the UCs and his wife, then donated to UCLA that very same year. Since then it has been property of the school, but open to free self-guided tours.

The garden is inspired by the Kyoto style Japanese gardens, and many pieces, such as this front gate, were made in Japan and then reassembled here. It was envisioned by two Japanese masters of landscape architecture and garden design for one very rich couple living here back in the 50s.

So much natural beauty here that you would swear that you’re not in Los Angeles anymore. Here is the view from the very top of the hill overlooking the entire garden (much like everything in Bel-Air though, it’s shrouded by trees and bushes).

Here is a shot of the Hawaiian garden, lying at the base of the running waterfall. You’ll find a tea garden, bonzai garden, pagoda, shrines, and tons of foliage over the land. I thought it strange to not include a rock garden or koi fish, but perhaps that didn’t fall into their plans. It’s absolutely gorgeous here and worth a visit.

Planning your visit may be the hardest part. It’s free, but hour-long reservations can only be made between the hours of 10-3 on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. They should also be made at least a week in advance as they can only hold two cars in the parking lot at a time.

I was lucky enough to have come here after a scheduled meeting at FOX in Century City. The other party also canceled so I had the entire garden to myself to enjoy. Did I find inner harmony? Maybe. Maybe not. Either way, it was the most serene lunch break I’ve ever had.

To book your reservations or for more information, check out their website here.