Jägerhaus {Anaheim, CA}

I haven't ever had German food really, so when my cousin told me there was an authentic hole-in-the-wall restaurant near us, we had to go immediately! After a grueling, mud-filled run through the ROC race, we were ready for a huge meal... and what better way to fill our stomachs than with tons of sausage, German pancakes and spaetzle. 

I didn't have my camera on hand, so I hope these Instagram pictures will do - what would the world do without our ever handy cell phones huh? Anyways look at that gorgeous thing above! It's the traditional German pancake, served simply with powdered sugar and lemons. It was beyond! Unlike any pancake because first, it was ginormous, and second, it was deliciously crispy... still dreaming about it.

I chose to get schnitzel with a mushroom cream sauce and spaetzle. It was definitely what I was craving - full of flavor and carbs. The spaetzle wasn't the best I've tried because it tasted like it had been cooked and re-heated but it still hit the spot.

My dish also came with a side of sauerkraut. I thought I would have like it but I've come to the conclusion that I don't enjoy sauerkraut as much as I'd thought. My sister enjoyed it so it was probably some damn good sauerkraut. 

This place is famous for their homemade plum jam so I knew I had to steal some from my friend since my dish didn't come with any. Good idea on my part because it was AMAZING. So fresh and not too sweet. Wow, plum jam, I'm just in love with you. 

Yum, yum. Overall, I really enjoyed this place. It's home-y, no frills at all, which I enjoyed a lot. 

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Layer Cake Bakery {Irvine}

I'm always on the prowl for a good French macaron. I've successfully made them myself probably three out of ten times, so buying them is definitely a better option for me haha! I'd love to perfect my technique sometime in the future but realistically, if I want a French macaron, I'm best off buying them.

I decided to visit Layer Cake Bakery in Irvine because I'd heard from multiple people about how great their macarons are. I was happy to finally hear that I could get a macaron in Orange County rather than having to travel miles to Los Angeles for my favorite 'Lette macarons. 

Above is a canelé, which I've been trying to try for years. I wanted to make them myself a while ago after coming across them online - they sounded delicious, chewy and custardy... how could I not want to eat them? I couldn't make them because I didn't have the proper pans, so I pushed them out of my radar but the instant I saw them in this bakery, I was so happy!

The canelé was awesome - exactly as I imagined. So crispy and crunchy on the outside and fabulously chewy on the inside.

Now on to the main event: the macarons! These were pretty darn good and I've come across many macarons in my day. They were the perfect crispy-chewy texture and the fillings were smooth and sweet. Being that I'm picky, the fillings though weren't my favorite because I'm not the biggest fan of buttercream fillings in French macarons. I much prefer ganache but don't get me wrong, these were still amazing!

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Chapter One: The Modern Local {Santa Ana, CA}

A night out with girlfriends deserves a meal to be remembered. I had heard about The Modern Local for months and when it was time to choose a place to dine out at, the choice was pretty easy. When we first entered, I loved the feel of the place. Casual but hip and definitely the kind of place you'd want to be at on a Friday night.

To start, my friend ordered the scotch egg: a hard-boiled egg wrapped in ground turkey, coated in panko and fried to a golden crisp. By the description, you can probably tell that it was pretty damn delicious. Crispy on the outside and meaty on the inside. Perfect.

For dinner, I ordered the Moroccan chicken sandwich to go alongside my Dutch Courage (an alcoholic concoction made with gin, banana-infused rum, lime juice, acai, celery bitters and simple syrup). The sandwich was served with a simple lentil salad. My meal, along with the martini was a bit sub-par. The sandwich was good but not great and the lentil salad was extremely bland - sadly. 

Even though the drink sounds super exotic, it wasn't exotic tasting. It was weird - I didn't not like it, I just didn't love it and nothing really stood out, taste wise. 

My friend got the Italian Burger, which was cooked perfectly medium rare. The burger was thick, just as it should be and paired with a meaty portobello. Served alongside duck-fat fries, it was pretty delicious. 

My other friend got the southwest salmon blt. Sadly again, it gave us the promise of grandiose flavors. I wish all promises people made were kept. Again, good but not great. 

For dessert, we opted for two, even though we were stuffed. But hey, there's a different stomach for desserts right? On the left is the 'milk & cereal' dessert which was a vanilla panna cotta served with cinnamon toast crunch ice cream and seasonal fruit. The panna cotta was all wrong in texture but still had a subtly great flavor. The best part was the ice cream - it tasted exactly like cinnamon toast crunch! 

On the right is the 'soft chocolate,' which was a soft chocolate ganache, served with crispy wonton strips, chocolate soil and sesame powder. This was a bit too rich for me and the texture was a bit wonky. Not totally creamy and a bit hard - weird. I didn't enjoy this one too much.

I really wanted to love Chapter One: The Modern Local, but it just did not deliver for me. Since I loved the atmosphere so much and did have a great time with my friends there, I'd definitely give it another chance - especially since they have $5 endless mimosa brunches on Sundays!

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Simple Things {Los Angeles, CA}

Simple Things has got it right. In reality, it doesn't take a lot of things to make a person happy, we just tend to overcomplicate, stress and pick at things that should have been left alone from the beginning. Basically, Simple Things is a restaurant that serves sandwiches and pie. Their motto in fact is: Sandwich. Pie. Done. It love it!

So, that's what we did for lunch. Sandwiches + pies, and it was amazing! Above, my friend got the special sandwich of the day. It was pulled pork with some sort of cabbage slaw and if I remember correctly, some kind of chutney on an onion bread-roll thing. It was freaking amazing! Their sandwiches come with some house picked veggies which added some nice crunch factor.

I chose a soup + sandwich combo and opted for their soup of the day: split pea & mint alongside the avocado melt sandwich. Umm I died and went to sandwich heaven. Avocado melt sounds like it would be something familiar, but this definitely was not. It was filled with an apricot chutney, beautifully ripe avocado, roasted red peppers, fontina, melty manchego, and buttermilk bleu dressing all on buttery brioche...

I'm dying just writing about it. I wish I had it in my hand right now! But then it would be impossible to not get brioche crumbs all over my keyboard... sigh.

The split pea soup was so wonderfully presented, I almost didn't want to eat it. But of course, I ate it, and am glad I made that decision. It tasted like they had just made it and pureed it to order - that's how fresh it was. So hearty and good.

Root beer to wash it all down.

And of course... last but certainly not least... the pie. I know, pure gluttony! But how could we not get the pie? It was just so adorable and it kept leering at us from it's gorgeous little display case. We chose the banana cream pie and cherry pie. Obviously, from the first picture of the post, we devoured the banana cream pie. The crust was by far the best part - a bit nutty, loose and had this praline-caramelized taste to it. It was ridiculously good.

The cherry was good, but nothing I'd get again. It was simple, but not sweet enough for me. But anything put next to a good custard will always lose in my book!

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Proof Bakery {Los Angeles, CA}

On the way to the Glendale mall, a friend & I decided to stop by Proof Bakery which we've been hearing about and have been wanting to try for some time now. I love bakeries and seeing how different people make their bakeries their own.

Proof was a little hole in the wall, but simply gorgeous. Admittedly, I arrived 30 minutes before their closing time, so I knew I wouldn't have the greatest selection or the freshest goods... but I was willing to try it anyway. 

There was barely anything left, which says great things about the bakery! I just grabbed an almond croissant to go with an iced tea, while my friend grabbed some gougeres. The gougeres smelled so deliciously cheesy and were so perfectly crispy.


The almond croissant was good, but not as good as the ones I make haha. Although I don't make the croissant dough myself so I'll give them that!

Of course, I got iced tea because I love it so.

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The Kitchen {Los Angeles, CA}

People who live in Los Angeles like to eat locally, or at least that's what my best friend tells me. It makes sense though... with all of that horrendous LA traffic, it takes a good 30 minutes just to get from one side of town to the other. With all of the great restaurants around, eating locally doesn't get boring either!

If I were to live in LA though, I just know I wouldn't take the same approach to eating out. I'd travel far and wide to try every new restaurant, trend, scene. When my friend told me about The Kitchen, and it being one of her favorite new eateries in her neighborhood, I was excited to say the least. 

The first time I tried The Kitchen was on New Years Eve. As you might have guessed, for me, it wasn't very memorable. I tried the meatloaf, and to me, meatloaf is a great deal - so if you don't do it right, well I'll be very sad. 


The meatloaf... was just not as exciting as I hoped it to be. But, I decided to give The Kitchen another try, and this time for their brunch! The one thing my friend told me I had to, had to try was their pear pancakes. I was so excited about Pear Pancakes that I attempted to make them before even trying The Kitchen's famous ones themselves.  

Being the gluttons that we are, we both started with some savory breakfast. I opted for the Italian Breakfast Sandwich, which consisted of toasty, soft, fluffy slices of French bread, smothered in marinara, topped with perfectly poached eggs and zippy Parmesan and herbs. Alongside was a mound of country potatoes with sauteed veggies and bacon... and boy was it a mound of bacon... BACON!

As you can see, it was quite the spread. It was hearty and comforting on a warm Saturday morning. I really love how much bacon they gave me though... I hate it when restaurants skimp on things and they sure did not skimp me on any bacon!


My friend opted for the breakfast sandwich (picture all the way at the top). It was served alongside a frisee salad with blue cheese and breakfast potatoes as well. I didn't get to try it, but from the moans I heard across the table, I can deduce it hit the spot as well. 

Lastly, but certainly not least-ly are their utterly fabulous pear pancakes with caramel sauce... caramel sauce ugh!!! Can you believe we ended our meal with pancakes?! As if ginormous plates of meaty carnage weren't enough. But you know me... I can never end a meal without something sweet.


These were so fantastically fluffy and perfect, perfect pancakes. I wish there were more pear but that just made me savor every bit of caramelized pear. Every other part was doused in buttery caramel sauce deliciousness. The caramel sauce, decadent though it was, was perfectly balanced and not too sweet. 

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Tranquil Tea Lounge {Fullerton, CA}

There's not a lot of 'new' in Orange County. I mean, of course, there are always tons of new restaurants but it's never really 'new' to me because it's always an old concept, re-done or something that doesn't interest me or excite me much. 

Tranquil Tea Lounge is something that excites me. I've wanted to go here ever since I first heard about it, but never took the time to travel that way. Bad, bad me!

Tranquil Tea Lounge is everything I've ever wanted in a small cafe/ tea house and more. I love tea and the tea selection they have is insane! And not to mention, sooo perfect. The cafe is small and intimate and every detail of the space is perfect and well thought out.


Talking about details, this place serves their tea with great care to the specificity of tea. My favorite part is how you can order any tea hot or cold, which is amazing because to make iced tea, they first have to make it hot, then cool it down - which I really admire them for. When they serve it hot, they set a timer to when they poured the hot water in, then pour it for you at the optimal time. It's amazing.

All of us opted for their Tranquil Trio, which is a fabulous deal consisting of 1/2 sandwich, with either a cup of soup or a small salad plus a tea of your choice, hot or cold for only $8.00. Considering that a tea alone is already $4.00, it's a great deal. I don't recommend bringing your boyfriend or manfriend or male friends here, since they'd probably need 2 - 3 of these but for a girl, it's a great portion.


Below is the roast beef with caesar salad. The roast beef had a spicy jalapeno cream cheese and was delicious! The salad was simple but a good salad nonetheless.

Soup of the day: Vegetable Minestrone!

Below is the mixed green salad with the prosciutto sandwich. The proscuitto was one of my favorites, but then again, I'd love anything with proscuitto in it. The mixed green was simple with some feta and a white tea vinaigrette.

For desert, we opted for the Blueberry Tea Cake which was served warm a la mode. It was amazing! Deliciously moist, and gorgeous to look at too. It's not pictured but the warm lavender-white chocolate scone was soooo good. Super moist and had the perfect balance of lavender, because I hate when it's too floral.

I just love their carafes!

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