California Grubbin'

food: 4.5/5 experience: 4.5/5 overall: 4.5/5 You may be familiar with the old Rick's Dessert Diner with the fancy grand bathroom (or whatever you wanna call it). They've expanded to a larger corner shop thanks to its popularity among the dessert crowd (honorable mentions to Ettore's and Tower Cafe ). Rick's is known for their stacks-upon-stacks of layers, cakes. Truly photo-worthy. They also have some smaller desserts. Believe it or not, I've never been here in my life until recently, this past year, when I happened to have an oh-so-glamorous photo shoot staged here. During this shoot we ordered a root beer float, a malt, a slice of cake, and a second malt. Sugar coma in full effect post-shoot. Yes, sometimes models do eat the food in front of them. And after about twenty takes that sugar adds up. Malts: 5/5 They make their malts with Gunther's ice cream. I got mocha almond fudge first. It's good, a basic chocolate shake flavor with little al

food: 4/5 experience: 4.5/5 overall: 4.5/5 Across the way from Ettore's  is another lesser-known brunch spot called Roxy. They're not known for brunch but they should be because their food is damn good. And so is their service. Love it when that happens. It's a fairly nicely decorated restaurant though by no means hoity-toity. Though it classifies itself as a bar, the vibe is a lot more classy than divey. But enough gushing. On to the food! LDR beef breakfast burrito: 5/5 Every component of this was good, from the tortilla to the chorizo (my favorite burrito filling) to the jalapeño nacho cheese (nice). Also got plenty of eggs in there, guac, and sour cream. Very filling. The roasted salsa is nice and refreshing, though not spicy. Herb & garlic potato cake: 3/5 Came on the side, or you can order it as a side.. Meh, it's just cheesy mashed potatoes. It's fine I guess. It's not really worth ordering by itself. Roasted country potatoes: 5/5

food: 3/5 experience: 2/5 overall: 2.5/5 This place seems a lot more popular in person than online for whatever reason. I think people have started to catch on to how poorly the managers treat their staff. Sad but true. But it's on a busy corner in midtown so they definitely get plenty of foot traffic in spite of that (or should I say... food traffic). Their menu has all the basic components of American Mexican cuisine and the portions seem pretty damn big. Unfortunately you can't make up for mediocre food with putting more of it on the plate. For starters, it's clear even from a visual perspective the chips are factory-made. I ordered a standard two-taco combo plate, one crispy chicken and one soft-shell fish. The crispy taco with chicken was just above Taco Bell standards. The shell wasn't great. The tortilla on the fish taco wasn't great either. The fish and chipotle aioli sauce were good but they didn't save the meal. What was good? The refr

Hey y'all, California Livin' is back in the City of Lights and that's exactly what we'll be discussing today! Let's keep this simple. Things I like about Paris: The food. Toujours délicieuses. Et très jolie. The metro. The individuality of each train, the surprise of seeing where I'll end up once I go up those stairs. Discovering the city. Walking around the streets and stumbling upon a cute little park, finding that perfect restaurant that hasn't been tarnished by tourists (yet), perusing the boutiques and learning that my taste in fashion is actually quite flexible. The nature, where it can be found. The parks, the Seine, the gardens. Having a spontaneous conversation with restaurant table neighbors, which happened a surprising (and delightful) number of times. The power of the pedestrian. Jaywalkers own the streets here, and a few times I have actually seen a large group of them bring traffic to a halt. Velib,