Lots and lots of thanks to those who reached out on yesterday’s post about going back to clean eating, spring break prep, and my arthritis and disordered eating pains. I really appreciate the love and support!
Anyways, I want to tell you about a fabulous meal we had this weekend! On Saturday, I landed at LAX from my biz trip and headed straight to brunch with my extended family at The Tasting Kitchen on Abbott Kinney in Venice. But first - check out the bizarro-ness that is the Spokane Airport below. There are wooden rocking chairs spread throughout the entire facility - the baggage claim, the gate, you name it. I don’t really know what to say…
Anyways! I made Dad snap a quick photo of me and my new camera, looking blog and brunch ready!
Abbott Kinney Blvd is one of the hippest streets in LA right now, and the crowd at The Tasting Kitchen definitely reflected that. It was trendy, and it was a definitely see-and-be-scene situation. I love it. The restaurant itself is absolutely beautiful. It’s modern but somehow warm and inviting at the same time - lots of exposed brick, old-school china, with interesting rustic decor and chandeliers spread throughout.
They sat us upstairs (we definitely were put next to a bachelorette party). Check out the cute bookcase behind us - filled with old school recipe books! I found myself flipping through an original version of the Joy of Cooking.
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The menu for brunch is breakfast-heavy (i.e. few lunch options). Somehow this sticky bun arrived at our table, and I made everyone stop for “only five seconds I swear!!” to let me take a picture. As you all know, I’ve removed such items from my diet currently, but I wholeheartedly enjoyed living vicariously through everyone else attacking this. I think this picture sums it up pretty well.
Every thing on the menu is impeccable, down to the smallest details and where they get their ingredients. I ordered sausage and eggs, and then nibbled around from other people’s plates including smoked salmon, bacon (which I normally don’t like but REALLY liked today) and some specialty lettuce. I thought the sausage was a bit too fatty for my taste. I have to say though - the eggs were divine. There is something that just doesn’t compare to farm fresh, pasture raised eggs. I definitely learned that from Nate’s parents and now I can always tell the difference! If you’re looking for a few places to go organic and local in your life - find a good egg (farmer? breeder? hatcher? lol) and it’ll be worth the price.
My grandfather was more adventurous than me, and he ordered the short rib hash. I sampled, and gave it the thumbs up for sure. My grandfather has the most insane memory - he always has - and I love hearing stories about his childhood living in Germany. I learned all about what their meals looked like each day - turns out well-to-do Germans (back in the 1930’s) ate pretty much five meals a day. There was small breakfast, late breakfast, lunch, coffee and cake snacktime, and then supper. There was a lot of veal, a lot of wurst (sausage), and baked goods like croissants and sweet buns.
My beautiful aunt Mary ordered the breakfast panini which looked ridiculously good. And after my early morning flight I was drinking lots of coffee, which tasted even better in these adorable china cups!
We lounged around for a long time, and watched the trendy people next to us order the most insane chicken and waffles and sky-high burgers topped with fried eggs. After brunch it somehow was almost 4pm! We walked around Abbott Kinney for a bit - so many cute shops and cafes to explore. There were a ton of extremely well-dressed people out. But then it started to RAIN! I then spent the rest of the afternoon and evening indoors at home, and took it easy after a long week and a day of traveling and eating.
Thanks for stopping by! 
What an absolutely adorable restaurant!! That panini looks fantastic!
I know, right?! I was like “I need to find out who did the interior design and have them do my own apartment…”