Seeking Food - By Ketojinic

When I go to NYC, the one place I never forget to go to before I head back to LA is Levain Bakery. There are now two locations (One in Harlem, one in the Upper West Side) and I'm hoping to God that one day, they will decide to have a west coast branch in LA. I'll help man it if I have to! My first time: I've read all the yelp reviews and food blog posts regarding this particular bakery before my stay in the Upper West Side so I knew that I would be tasting this amazing cookie...which is more like a brownie shaped into a cookie. I was only 7 blocks away but of course, it's NYC sized blocks so it's more like 2 LA blocks away.  On the first visit, I must have still thought I was in LA because I ordered the oatmeal raisin cookie thinking that it was somehow a little healthier than the artery clogging deeply chocolatey or walnutty ones everyone was raving about. The oatmeal raisin was okay. It wasn't the best oatmeal raising cookie I ever had. I couldn

One of the coolest spots I was introduced to in NYC was Frying Pan, off of pier 66. My very best friends took me here for one of the culinary stops on my bridal shower/bachelorette party, getting a tip from my foodie and world traveler cousin-in-law. We started the night out with happy hour at Frying Pan, which is basically an old boat that turned into a raucous restaurant. When we got there, it was quiet and almost empty. We strolled around, taking in the view of what the ship had to offer. The periphery of the ship was loaded with tables and chairs, and there was a huge bar in the middle of the ship. Their bathrooms were legit ship bathrooms. There was random art all over the place. The scenic view of the Hudson River was awesome, especially for this non-New Yorker. We finally decided to settle down and get a table since a lot of beautiful Wellesley women were to join us in a bit. We got an amazing pitcher of white sangria, that had pieces of cantaloupe and other fruits in there ($37

So we decided to try out Lukshon after all the hype surrounding it. You mean, the guy who created Father's Office opened a Pan-Asian upscale restaurant that Asian Americans are liking? This is something I had to see for myself. Sang Yoon did not disappoint. We didn't have really high expectations going in because most upscale Asian or Pan Asian places we've been to were pretty disappointing and there is also that immigrant parent voice in the back of my head saying good Asian food doesn't have to cost a lot. We walked into a posh restaurant with long communal tables along with booths surrounding it. We sat in the middle long tables because the places was so jam packed and even had random side conversations with the people sitting next to us (they loved the food and were also Asian Americans). We started with some drinks from the bar menu and then started the night off with The Spanish Mackerel. The Spanish Mackerel was served sashimi style with coconut vinegar, jalapeñ

One of the most exciting things about going to Paris was KNOWING that I was going to be stuffing my face with one of these delectable morsels of heavenly goodness. Really, no macaron compares to these but at the same time, you must manage your expectations. They're not going to "shock" you if you've already had some macarons in the U.S. or anywhere else, really. It won't be drastically different than the kind you can get from Parisian patisseries in your neighborhood, but the slight difference you will find is in the ingredients and the natural flavors they use. Check out the video(s) for more. watch the video on tripfilms.com! Watch more travel videos at tripfilms.com Ladurée 75 ave Champs Elysees 75008 Paris 01 40 75 08 75 21 rue Bonaparte 75006 Paris 01 44 07 64 87 16 rue Royale 75008 Paris 01 42 60 21 79 64 bd Haussmann 75009 Paris 01 42 82 40 10