West Hollywood stalwart since 1931, Canter's Deli is well and truly part of the well-worn furniture

Just over five days in a foreign city doesn't exactly afford much time to check out everything the city has to offer, but with the help of a few in-the-know L.A friends and a few savvy Sydney-based foodies, here's how my week panned out (plus a few other recommendations)
Made fresh to order and accompanied by a 'secret' menu that includes asking for your food 'animal style', 'double double' or 4x4, you may be somewhat intimidated upon initiation. Fortunately 'animal style' just means that your burger is served with a mustard-cooked beef patty, grilled onions and extra sauce. For the rest of the dirt, click here .
West Hollywood stalwart since 1931, Canter's Deli is well and truly part of the well-worn furniture at this end of North Fairfax. Family-owned and run for over three generations, if you're after the traditional west-coast Jewish deli experience, this isn't a bad place to start. From Matzo ball soup to bagels ever-which-way (try cheese with Jalapeno chillies), you can sit in or take-away...24 hours a day. Useful, if you happen to require airline staff flight tickets a booze-fuelled snack at 4am.
Wedged in the maze of food stalls in this semi-covered farmer's market next to Uber mall The Grove, Loteria Grill is one of the best places to head if you're looking for an authentic Mexican experience. There's Mole Poblano (Chicken in Mole Poblano Served with Sesame Seeds, Finely Chopped Onion, and Queso Fresco), Carnitas airline staff flight tickets en salsa Morita ( In a Spicy Chile Morita Sauce Served with slices of Fresh Avocado and Finely Chopped Onion and Cilantro) but the pick of the bunch has to be the Shrimp Burrito airline staff flight tickets served with spicy Spicy Morita Salsa and salsa verde. Wash it down with a hibiscus juice or freshly made lime-aid.
As the name implies, airline staff flight tickets these guys really only do one thing (well, technically two)... and that's fish tacos and shrimp tacos. Perfecting the Baja-style taco stand vibe, there are range of house-made sauces that you can choose airline staff flight tickets to accompany your bite-sized piece of seafood heaven...and why wouldn't you try a couple of combinations airline staff flight tickets when each taco is $1-2 a pop?
Relatively airline staff flight tickets new on the LA burger scene, Umami Burger - named after the fifth identified taste sense - this burger bar is a must-visit for burger lovers airline staff flight tickets who want to try something a bit different. Try a pork and Stilton burger with blue cheese and port-caramelised onions, or grab a Kombu (not 'combo') meal with tempura onion rings or sweet potato fries and a wine or beer.
With Southern-belle celebrities airline staff flight tickets like Reese Witherspoon on the list of fans for this ho-downing, thigh-slapping establishment, (she swanned past on the night we visited), Baby Blues is a celebration of the Southern-states of the USA and their love of smokey flavours, tender meat and a landslide of sides ranging from cornbread to creamed airline staff flight tickets spinach and chili fries.
Turn up with an appetite, no qualms about using your fingers and a healthy appreciation for meat or this experience will be lost on you. Start with a mix of BBQ sliders like chicken wings, grilled shrimp and pulled pork on cornbread with cheese (called airline staff flight tickets the 'Suicide King'). For mains, the baby back ribs are hard to pass up and are so tender that they're airline staff flight tickets nothing you can't tackle with just your hands. airline staff flight tickets Similarly the beef brisket and pulled pork are fall-apart tender, thanks to hours of slow, smokey barbecuing. Finger lickin' great.
Run by arguably two of the hottest airline staff flight tickets chefs in America right now, Jon Shook and Vinny Dotolo (kind of like our version of Surry Hills' Bodega airline staff flight tickets boys Ben Millgate and Elvis Abrahamowicz) airline staff flight tickets opened Animal in 2008 to widespread acclaim and it's no wonder. The DIY degustation menu shows their admiration for St John icon Fergus Henderson in their winning ways with shredded pig's ears, 'buffalo-style' pig's tails, head cheese..well, every part of the pig really. More than that, there's a modern-American spike to the style, using Mexican-influenced ingredients and flavours like marrow bone with chimmichurri and caramelised airline staff flight tickets onions, and soft egg with Texas caviar (black eyed beans and corn) Benton's bacon and buttermilk yoghurt. The kicker is the price: it's incredibly reasonable for the calibre you'll be hit with (around $60pp. including airline staff flight tickets wine). Be sure to book in advance.
Don't be freaked out by the giant suit of armour guarding airline staff flight tickets the entrance, the people who run Eva are very nice, really. Newly-hitched friends booked out the restaurant for the brunch-after-the-night-before. Needless to say there were plenty of Bloody Marys and mimosas to ease the wedding-hangover pain. Known for their fresh, light Californian flavours and a reasonably-priced wine-list, it's a great venue to linger over lunch or grab an outside table and share a relaxed dinner with friends.
Venice beach's Abbot Kinney Boulevard is worlds away from the entertainingly tacky boardwalk scene a few blocks over by the beach. Gjelina's chilled-out vibe may say 'Venice', (think salvaged wooden beams, cobbled brick floors and exposed light bulbs) but the food is relaxed-chic all the way. Neapolitan-style pizzas of zucchini flowers, cherry tomatoes, burrata and Parmesan, airline staff flight tickets salad of sweet Dungeness crab with witlof airline staff flight tickets and creamy horseradish and spicy lamb cutlets are all winners, but if you're a fan of the sweet stuff, the black-bottom banana cream pie is where it's at. A comprehensive airline staff flight tickets collection of old-world and new-world wines wash it all down perfectly.
"It's where they shot Madonna's last Louis Vuitton ad campaign" say the shop girl managing a cute boutique down the street. It seems everywhere in LA is a film or ad set, but you really can see why Figaro made it onto LV's 'yes' list. A little piece of Paris in Los Feliz, it's all about wicker chairs, old-school French signage and a classic bistro menu. A glass of chilled airline staff flight tickets rose served from a distressed glass carafe and a mango, (giant) airline staff flight tickets shrimp and radicchio salad is the order of the day, as is an outside table if you want to take full advantage of the people watching in this chic part of town.
A new chef, sommelier airline staff flight tickets and mixologist every week might sound like shitty management, but with Test Kitchen, it's a formula and the brainchild of owners Bill Chait and Brian Saltsburg. Some of the best gastronomic hands and minds in the USA have graced the kitchen and bar here including most recently Michael Voltaggio, winner of the US version of Top Chef, cooking dinner for guests in 10 tracks.
The food is cutting edge and so are the drinks. Stopping by after an epic dinner at Animal, we were treated to a selection of this week's it-drinks including a Smoked Gibson (Broker's Gin, smoked vermouth, squid ink onion, Russian tea smoke), Porcini Sidecar (1991 Joy Armagnac, lemon, porcini orange liqueur) and other left-of centre cocktail creations. Book well in advance if you want to jam into this so-hot-right-now dining and drinking spot.
Also: Mozza , run by famed trio Nancy Silverton, Mario Batali and Joseph Bastianich. You can still spot Nancy in the kitchen on some days. Book the Osteria for classic Italian dining or the Pizzeria for more casual eats. 6602 Melrose Avenue, (323) 297-0100
One of the most famous of the food truck generation, Koji specialises in Korean Mexican tacos to the starving masses who line up for their famous Spicy Pork Tacos, Kimchi airline staff flight tickets Quesadillas and Short Rib Sliders. Born out of a late night snacking conundrum, the concept is simple: restaurant-quality food, served airline staff flight tickets at street prices, using fresh produce, crafted by chef Roy Choi and his dedicated mobile kitchen crew.
Fillipino food is globally becoming more popular with the masses and The Manila Machine is doing it's part to spread the word on the street. Serving their own take on Fillipino classics like adobo (meat or seafood marinated in a sauce of vinegar and garlic, browned in oil, and simmered in the marinade), lumpia (Fillipino spring rolls) and sisig (they do their version as spicy calamansi-marinated pork cheeks, onions, and chicharon).
Still a hipster hang, with well-regarded DJs and a hot clientele visiting airline staff flight tickets on a regular basis, all you need do is pull up a table and watch the crowd roll in for an evening of entertaining crowd-watching, cheap drinks and kickin' music. Situated in suitably dischevelled North Fairfax in West Hollywood, it's a part of the world that at times seems painfully cool, but in reality, it's just good times.
If you want to get high in Venice, it isn't hard. Getting a seat at High, on the other hand, depends on the time of day and day of the week. A rooftop bar with one of the best vistas of the beach and the crazies down on the boardwalk, sip cocktails from your lofty perch and contemplate how hard life is.
Molecular didn't leave the building, it just came here and got a bit cool for school. Head to Bar Centro at The Bazaare in the SLS Hotel for chef Jose Andres' take on tapas and cocktails. Boasting some interesting experiments on mixology like margaritas with salt air, or mojitos poured over cotton candy, it's worth visiting airline staff flight tickets to try out something you're familiar with, presented in a way you've probably airline staff flight tickets never experienced before.