The Best Thing I Ate: République

On Sunday, I finally got a chance to try République after weeks of seeing everyone's gorgeous photos on Instagram. And I can honestly say, the food tastes just as amazing as it looks.

Behold the Croque Madame, which is a Croque Monsieur with an egg on top. To some, a Croque Monsieur is just a glorified grilled ham & cheese sandwich. But I would argue that when it's done right, it's so much more. Being a lover of sandwiches, I'll order a Croque Monsieur or Croque Madame every chance I get. Luckily, in LA I've been able to get one at a handful of places.

Croque Madame

At République, the Croque Madame is served open-faced. The bread, perfect with crunchy crust and soft, chewy insides. The ham was something from another world. It was thinly sliced with an almost shredded appearance. It was tender and had the right balance of flavor. I never thought I could ever describe ham as being "melt-in-your-mouth". Prior to this experience, I associated ham with being tough and briny. Now I just want to hunt down that ham and make all sorts of sandwiches with it!

I love black sesame things and I think there's never enough goodies being made with black sesame. Like black sesame ice cream—YUM! But not a lot of places make/serve it. So when I saw a black sesame croissant, I HAD to have it! I couldn't even wait until after I took the photo to take a bite out of it.

Black Sesame Croissant

République had plenty more delicious pastries where that came from, but silly me; I was too in awe to bother to take a photo of their pastry case. And that's what second trips are for! I was hanging out with Keiko of Small Adventure, and she let me have a bite of her canelé and it was perfection. I have a feeling I'll be making another trip there soon, and this time I'll take a tip from Keiko and take home a whole box of pastries for myself!

Shop Poketo!

Yesterday, I stopped by the brand new first ever Poketo store that opened up in the Arts District of Downtown LA. For years I've ordered stuff from them online, and now they just made spending money a whole lot easier. This weekend they're having their super soft opening from 11am – 7pm. For those familiar with the area, the store is just a few doors down from the back patio of Wurstküche on 3rd Street…with a bright red doorway you can't miss!

I love these gradient dyed woven leather chairs that they had specially made for the store. And they're actually quite comfy too! All of the store displays are made of a combination of wood and metal. The use of wood all over the store was the perfect look for what I imagined a Poketo store would be like.

All the tables in the store have these great yellow legs! And now they carry health and beauty products too! There's also some beautiful Turkish towels that are new to the store and available in some great patterns.

This was my favorite table for two reasons: Leather & Watches. I have the Colorparty Watch in white and I love it. It's the perfect everyday watch because it's lightweight but doesn't look or feel super fragile. I'm debating about getting one of those snap wallets…the white one, of course!

The one thing I've always loved about Poketo is that they have such a great eye for color, patterns, and cool products. Every item they carry feels carefully curated.

They definitely have THE BEST selection of notebooks and planners. 90% of the notebooks I own are from them (the other 8% from Field Notes and 2% other). They carry a huge selection of notebooks from the Korean brand Millimeter Milligram which I can't find anywhere else except for maybe a couple museum stores (who probably order them through Poketo). Millimeter Milligram's planners have some of the best page layouts I've seen and they give you plenty of writing space. Some of their planners even encourage you to "Draw Your Tomorrow" instead of just writing it down like an average planner.

Of course, I had to pick up a few goodies for myself. I got a Tomorrow planner in white and fresh strawberry lip balm that smells totally delicious. When you get a chance, you should stop by the store at 820 East 3rd Street, Los Angeles, 90013. You'll probably find it very difficult to leave without something too.

Rethinking Relocation

I've been considering for some time now, the possibility of moving to Minneapolis after graduation. I've grown tired of making dream job lists that just scream "Get the hell out of LA!" The fact of the matter is, most of the firms out here just aren't doing the kind of work I want to be doing. And the people who are doing that kind of work...they're kinda like a rare breed of individuals, who run their own studios and run in the same circle of friends as the other individuals who run their own studio. It sometimes feels like it's an exclusive club that everyone wants to be a part of but no new kid knows how to get into. The only logical explanation I can come up with is to move to Minneapolis, work at some of the places (or similar places) I want to work at, then come back and start my own gig. I'll always have a place in my heart for LA (or more accurately, LA county). Sure the cost of living is high, and there have been many things said about it being fake, lacking culture & a sense of history. But that's what I love about it. It doesn't care. It's as individual as the people who occupy it.