So the hubs and I took a short and sweet vacation to California at the end of August. My dad's side of the family lives in Southern Cali - about an hour from LA; so we visited with my aunt and two cousins and the entire trip was truly a blast! Long story short, my husband loves drums and has played them since he was a little tyke. He has quite a few favorite drummers and one of them was going to be in LA for one night- a one man band. Literally.
Legendary drummer, Terri Bozzio, rarely performs in the US as he lives in Japan and does tours around there. My husband really wanted to see him so we basically made seeing this guy an excuse to take a trip to Cali and visit my family! We did A LOT in four days!
A few random photos of what we did:
Breakfast in Hollywood: Mel's Drive In. Ham, avocado and cheddar omelet topped with sour cream.
Temecula County :"Wine country" Filet Mignon salad for lunch on our first day there. This was at a quaint restaurant called The Gambling Cowboy. I can't even with this salad. DEELICIOUS! I devoured all of it. Gone. Bye.
Beautiful vineyards.
Graumann's Chinese Theater, Hollywood Blvd.
Hollywood Walk of Fame
L.A. at night
Tour bus. Beverly Hills sign .Man's head blocking it.
Awesome restaurant! I'll have to write about this place in a separate post.
Bottemless Mimosas while waiting for the tour bus. Realistically, we both only had time to down 1 1/2 glasses. Still refreshing!
OK. So. These donuts. Yes!
It's not a walk in shop. You order at the window and it seems when you're next in line, you to have to point and show the employees what you'd like to order instead of saying it out loud. It was a little strange, but they got our order correctly the first time. I'm assuming it's just the way they do it there. Hey, whatever works. On our way back to my aunt's house, we decided to try and find this place for an early afternoon snack. It was our only chance. After wasting about 20 minutes driving around the most shady of shade areas in LA, our first destination for California Donuts was not a real one. We honestly felt we were going to be wacked when we walked inside this place.
I remember thinking, "where are the happy cereal donuts?" this place looked sad, sad, sad. We got out of there quicker than you can say the word donut. We were about five minutes from the original shop. The area is still not the best but once I spotted those Panda donuts and saw the retro logo sign, I knew we were golden! The store is located in a very small shopping center with probably only five parking spaces- no joke. So we found a food store parking lot three blocks away and walked over. Thankfully the line wasn't too long, and we were able to order our donuts, pay and leave within ten minutes. I held onto those box of donuts with care on the walk back to the car. We ate all three donuts in the car, taste testing each one and I can't even tell you how incredible they were, but I'll try.
We ordered the m&m donut, lucky charm and fruity pebbles.
-warm
-sweet but surprisingly not over kill
-the dough was so fluffy and fresh- I can't even.
-each donut is unique and is completely distinguished in its own flavors. And rightfully so!
-ALL were good. My favorite? The fruity Pebbles donut. The crunchy texture from the pebbles was just awesome next to the icing flavor and warm, fluffy dough.
-my husband's favorite was the m&m!
I follow a lot of random food instagram accounts, because well, food is awesome and I just adore a good quality food photo. For a few months, I was seeing these incredible looking donuts all over the place on Insta and couldn't help but become more curious. These donuts were so vibrant in color and were studded with all of my favorite, and probably America's favorite cereals growing up:
Cinnamon Toast Crunch
Lucky Charms
Fruit Loops
Cap n' crunch
Fruity Pebbles...to name a few.
And here is their menu as they have so many other delectable treats as well. Too many to name! These concoctions looked way too irresistible to not try and find this place and take a bite or ten.
As noted above: There is apparently ONE ORIGINAL California donuts and two other impostors!
Here is the original home of California Donuts address:
3540 W 3rd St.
Los Angeles, 90020
We didn't bring Claire along on the trip as right now, I can't imagine traveling that far with an 18 month old. No. Way. I can see if you don't have family nearby to watch the baby, then you have to take them with you. Thankfully we do and it worked out nicely with both sets of parents watching her. Also, the trip just would not have been what it was if she was with us. Some days I can't wait until she's 4. From what I hear, 4 is a great age, albeit, it still comes with its challenges.
The moral of this tasty story? When in LA, make a plan to stop by California Donuts. The ORIGINAL. You'll be so glad you did! I wish I had taken more shots of each donut but I think we devoured all of them within five minutes. #worthit
In the mean time, have a look at the hubs breakfast at the airport going home. Cinnamon Bun French Toast. omggggg.
I have also been to many of these places but still there are many that are new for me and I like to see them. It sure is going to be a great experience for me to get there to see them.
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