Villa Blanca

My best friend and I started a new tradition this year. Instead of giving each other birthday gifts, we agreed to treat each other to a day of fun on our respective birthdays. So this year, we kicked off our new tradition by trekking every square inch of LA, getting lost, missing freeway exits, pampering our nails, and feasting on some of my favorite foods. One of our stops was at Villa Blanca, a charming dining room in Beverly Hills that serves the best calamari I've ever tasted. After stuffing ourselves, we headed over to La Provence for, what else, macarons.

Life-like and sparkly Bvlgari advertisement spotted in Beverly Hills on our way back from Villa Blanca.

No house like Doghaus

the downtown dog: bacon wrapped hot dog 
with an extra egg sunny-side up 

Doghaus takes the concept of making hot dogs to an extreme level. Sure, there's nothing like a plain old hot dog with the standard ketchup and mustard. But DogHaus knows how to amplify and maximize the hot dog experience by throwing in some of the unlikeliest ingredients - avocados, eggs, coleslaw, and tater tots, just to name a few. My boyfriend loves to over-order every time we eat out, so naturally, we had a sampling of practically the entire menu. Two giant hot dogs, chili cheese fries and sliders (not pictured) later, we were stuffed. The result was a massive pig-out. But it was well worth it.

the Sooo cal: mixed greens, diced tomato, 
tempura fried onions, spicy basil aioli, avocado.
the best chilli cheese fries ever.

Left: Stacks upon stacks of sweet hot dog buns.

Right: The open kitchen and the 80s nostalgia music sets the perfect mood for the ultimate comfort food.

Between the hot dogs, we chatted up the friendly owner, who told us that most people find DogHaus irresistible because the sweet buns and the salty dogs complement each other perfectly.