The next portion of the trip took us southbound down the unremarkable I-5 into Los Angeles. Famished for lunch, we made the obligatory pit stop for In-N-Out Burger.
I understand there are folks out there who are overly enthusiastic to have them come to Texas. In my opinion, Whataburger beats them out as far as fast food burgers are concerned. I haven’t craved an In-N-Out burger ever since I first tried Tornado Burger in Stafford. Their take on the 2×2 redefines the concept and improves it to a level beyond what In-N-Out offers.
Many of the stays on this road trip were in Hyatt properties because of their prolific mileage and point incentives this past summer. Staying at the Andaz West Hollywood was a no brainer. If you have a Costco or AAA membership, you’ll have access to affordable rates at this luxurious property with a good location on Sunset Boulevard.
Being Diamond helps a little too, seeing as we were “upgraded” into a room that had a comfortable sitting area with huge windows that provided excellent views overlooking Sunset Boulevard.
The location put us in close proximity to Animal, a restaurant known for a balanced approach on avant-garde and nose-to-tail dining. Unfortunately, the pictures from our memorable meal (“best bbq pork belly ever” and delicious sweetbreads) turned out poorly because my camera couldn’t handle the lighting. So you’ll have to settle for our after-dinner libations at the Surly Goat.
The Surly Goat
7929 Santa Monica Boulevard
West Hollywood, CA 90046-5107
(323) 650-4628
http://www.surlygoat.com/
The Surly Goat was a short walk from the Andaz. I am very glad I had no driving to do that night, because there was a lot of good beer to be consumed. This high-end beer bar in West Hollywood was opened in the spring of 2010 by one of the owners of the legendary Verdugo Bar, who is also a certified Cicerone (aka beer sommelier). As I looked at their list of their 27 frequently-rotated taps, there was a distinct balance between popular craft brews and rarities to please beer-nerds like me. I knew this would be one of the best beer bars I’ve visited. The cask offering is typically the first thing I will inquire about upon setting foot in unfamiliar territory, and our extremely knowledgable bartender responded that we missed casked Pliny the Elder by a day. Ouch.
Deciding what beer to drink first from such an impressive list was a challenge. Fortunately, we had the place to ourselves and our bartender was happily conversing with us, sharing beer knowledge and offering samples and suggestions relevant to our preferences.
On to the first round: Moylan’s Apple Brandy Barrel-Aged Kilt Lifter and Hair of the Dog Fred. The Kilt Lifter’s brandy aroma is misleading as the flavor includes apple tart, wine-like notes. The full-bodied Fred was cloudy, yet vibrant, feeling syrupy in the mouth with a brilliant bursts of malt in each sip.
Round two: The easily sessionable Firestone Walker Pale Ale and Port 4th Anniversary IPA, a hop grenade that knocks you over with strong pine and citrus flavors, and the bitterness kept kicking while you are down. No balance for this one whatsover.
Our final round included a titan amongst hefeweizens, Weihenstephaner Hefeweissbier. I immediately highlighted this beer as it was my first opportunity to sample it from a fresh tap, and the flavor far transcended any of my expectations. I strongly suggest trying this on tap especially if you know the lines are clean and it’s fresh. To the right was Firestone Walker Walker’s Reserve Robust Porter that had a gorgeous head of foam and a deep, dark brown color. This smooth, creamy full-bodied porter had decadent chocolate flavors and hardly any carbonation.
Following the night of delicious beers at the Goat, we explored Hollywood until we felt hungry. Unfortunately, we didn’t take the opportunity to try the in-house restaurant (and I regretted this decision several days later), but turns out there was a pretty good Thai place nearby.
5233 1/2 W Sunset Boulevard
The uncompromising Southern Thai regional restaurant practically needs no introduction; there’s plenty of reading material about them online. It all started when a member of Chicago’s LTH forum unearthed their “secret” menu, and we’ve even taken time to ask a Thai chef from Denton to emulate some of their dishes. I was excited reading all the posts detailing the exotic Thai food you can expect from this restaurant. There are so many dishes I wanted to try, but I took some advice on Chowhound and targetted a couple specific items.
The top of the Southern Thai menu is #1 Kaeng Khiaw-Waan khai “Mang-kon”, a green curry with duck egg-yolk-stuffed in fish balls. The pungent and creamy green curry (cooked with home made pastes) was good on it’s own, but the delicate duck egg yolks in the fish balls effectively neutralized the piercing heat of the curry, which brought a nice balance to the dish.
Kai Thawt Khii-Min was deep-fried turmeric-seasoned chicken, an off-menu request. The chicken was a little overdone for my liking, but the little bits of fried garlic made for excellent finger food and would have paired great with a session lager.
Next up: food trucks and a legendary beer bar in San Francisco, followed by outrageous dim sum from the San Gabriel Valley!