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!

Monday Munch: Copa Vida

Today, we ran some errands over at Blick Art Materials in Pasadena. I didn't really need anything, but Kevin needed to pick up some gold ink to finish a piece he was working on for the upcoming Monkey King show at Q Pop. Coincidentally, we ran into Keiko and Malachi who were also there getting some art supplies to finish pieces for a show.

We hadn't eaten lunch yet so we decided to stop my the new cafe that opened up on the corner, Copa Vida. We've heard some great things about it from a few friends and decided to give it a try. Upon entering, I was in love with the place. It's bright and spacious, kinda the opposite of Intelligentsia. And what I really love is the great tea selection. They made extra care to cater to both tea and coffee drinkers. The teas were categorized by type: white, green, oolong, black, pu-erh, and each category had a few to choose from. Kevin got the pu-erh since not a lot of places serve it. I got the Ti Guan Yin (oolong) tea iced which is one of their daily cold brews. It's not shown because it was served in a basic plastic cup.

Naked Pu-erh

For lunch we had to go for the Croque Madame because we only know of one other place that does it. (And that's Abricott!) We got it with a kale salad. And when it came out we were totally impressed! We didn't expect it to look & taste so good. It was just the perfect combination of saucy, gooey, and crunchy! Kevin and I split this and it was the perfect portion to feed two people.

Croque Madame

Close up of a bite

So if you're ever in Old Town Pasadena looking for a quick bit to eat, stop by Copa Vida. I hear their pastries are amazing too!

Sandwich of the Day: Pulled Pork

After going bungee jumping for his early birthday present to himself, Kevin and his friends went to pig out on some BBQ. He brought me back this pulled pork sandwich.

 Half way through, it became apparent how dry it was and so, I sauced it up a bit.

Sandwich Weekend

On Friday, I went to Daily Dose for the first time for lunch with Nisa. I got The Butcher which is Sopressata (salami), house pickle, midnight moon goat cheese on a baguette with some grain mustard. The Sopressata was really thinly sliced and practically melted in my mouth. I love a good salami!

Then on Saturday, I met up with the lovely Beverly E. We went to Honey Badger Cafe, mostly because it's cheap but also because it's consistently good for the price. When they first opened they had serious issues with their service, but they have since hired better staff (and also the help of those table buzzers that some Asian restaurants employ) to provide better service.

I ordered my usual, the Cuban Roast Pork sandwich with a side of potato salad. All their sandwiches come with a side of potato chips but you can choose to upgrade to one of their "premium sides" for an extra $0.95.

Then when Sunday rolled around, I was still in a sandwich mood. I was heading over to Old Town Pasadena but couldn't think of where to eat. I'm not a fan of most of the sandwich choices in the area, but I decided to give Euro Pane a try. I have been to their first/original location in the past and their sandwiches were mediocre. I usually just go there for French macarons. But this time we went to the second/newer location across from Paseo Colorado since I've only had their macarons but never their food. I was pleasantly surprised by their better menu and overall better look & feel. I had a hard time choosing between a Croque Monsieur, French Toast, or Eggs Benedict, but I eventually decided on the Croque Monsieur.

I love Croque Monsieurs! But this isn't a normal Croque Monsieur…it's with BACON! (Instead of the usual ham). I'm usually not a fan of bacon, but I'll have it every once in a while. And after this experience, I would definitely say I like it better with bacon. But if you want an amazing (but normal) Croque Monsieur, head over to Abricott.