There are few things that New York City lacks, but one of them is a comprehensive Farmer’s Market. Don’t get me wrong- the market in Union Square is awesome. It’s just that there are so many varieties of vegetables and even fruits that you never see there. I guess that’s why the Santa Monica Farmer’s Market seemed so much more exciting. Vibrant hues of orange, red, and a spectrum of green made it irresistible not to purchase anything.

(There’s always a guy handing out samples of Lemon Pistachios, which are quite interesting.)

The market starts at 8:30am every Wednesday and Saturday and ends around 1:30pm. It extends several streets, from 1st to around 4th St. on Arizona Avenue. Most of the produce is organic certified, but those that aren’t generally aren’t sprayed with pesticides anyway.

Don’t let the prices get to you. You have to walk through the whole market before you start buying anything. Here are some general tips for the frugal:

• Apples- You can get organic apples for $1/lb if you’re willing to eat them ugly. Walk around and find the box that says “Defaced apples.”
• Peaches: The organic peaches are usually around $3. If you’re wiling to go non-organic certified and trust your local trusty farmer’s word that his peached are not sprayed with pesticides, you can get them for $2. Go to the Mayfair Farms stand where everything- from nectarines to peaches, are only $2/lb.
• Oranges: Many are sold by the bag and most of these are not organic. You can get organic ones, but they’re generally sold single. A 3lb bag of blood oranges (non-organic) runs for $3 at most stands! That’s definitely one thing I’m going to miss when I go back to Union Square
• Strawberries: I found that on Wednesday, strawberries tend to be cheaper. That’s another thing- on Wednesday, the market has more stands and if berry lovers definitely benefit on Wednesday. You can get a decent sized punt for $5 if you dig around

(The bread/pastry stand on Saturday’s)

• Pastries, bread, muffins, etc…: On Saturday, the stand is by 4th St. Get there early and grab yourself a Pecan Alligator. I’ve been there at 9:30am and they’ve run out… If you don’t have that much of a sweet tooth, the Sesame Alligator is good too. Best of all, it’s only $2.50!
• On Wednesday, the stand by 4th St. does sell strudels, turnovers, and such, but I’d recommend going to 2nd St, in the direction of Santa Monica where there is a stand at the end. They sell a sick lemon pound cake. Everything is $3+

You should also check out:

• In-and-Out Burger
• Diddy Riese’s
• Fatburger
• Nice Time Deli
• 21 Choices Frozen Yogurt

Sushi, as I’ve found, comes cheap and expensive, traditional and exotic. Just down the street at Houston’s, you can get delicious Americanized rolls, with ingredients such as Tuna, jalapeno, avocado, and Macadamia nuts (but they’re also ridiculously overpriced) or you can go to Monsoon Cafe during happy hour and get a small roll for $4.

And of course, no happy hour is complete without drinks. Margaritas are $6 each.

All drafts and appetizers are $4. This includes all the sushi and random finger foods (such as Thai popcorn chicken).

After reading Kitchen Confidential, Anthony Bourdain made me a bit weary about discounted sushi. Long story short, if it’s discounted, be skeptical. So, I ordered the tempura roll in which the salmon is cooked. I know, cooked salmon and sushi? But it was delicious.

At $4, you get 6 small pieces, which is somewhat of a decent deal. Obviously, there are better deals out there, but not around Santa Monica.

Kun ordered the Pacific Roll, which has 3 different pieces of fish in it. It was so good that he ordered 2 more right after. I was put off by the Albatross.

We also ordered a Tuna and Crab Spring Roll, which was actually my favorite, but such a rip off. They only give you 4 pieces.

On a beautiful and warm day, it’s a great place because they offer al fresco seating

MENU
1212 3rd St Promenade
Santa Monica, CA 90401
(310) 576-9996

You should also check out:

• In-and-Out Burger
• Diddy Riese’s
• Santa Monica Farmer’s Market
• Fatburger
• Nice Time Deli

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Defined

I admit it. The first time I passed by this place with Jano and Steph, I thought it was a tapas place. I mean, “Premium Spanish Fritters”? I hope that I’m not the only one who doesn’t think of churros when I hear Spanish Fritters. But one day after they left, I was really in the mood for some savory tapas and… yeah. But churros are good too!

The first time, I got a regular churro with a Tiramisu creme filling. All of the plain churros with fillings are $3.69 without tax.  A bit disappointing because the filling felt like it was made out of Splenda or something. There was at aspartame-y sort of taste. But the churro itself was amazing. Crisp on the outside, and light and chewy on the inside. But my hands were covered in grease after I finished…

I came back again, after two weeks, with Kun. This time, I ventured out to trying their “premium” churros, which not only have a filling, but also are dipped and coated in chocolate and then a topping. All of these are $3.88 without tax.

I was so tempted to get the maple bacon, but I ended up getting the Tortoise, which is a caramel pecan filling coated with chocolate and then peanuts. God, it was so divine. As you hold the churro, your body heat warms up the chocolate and it starts melting. Melted chocolate and peanuts are so good together!

Kun got the Jordan, which is a nutella filling coated in white chocolate and then drizzled with milk chocolate. I took a bite and though it was good, the Tortoise was obviously much better…

They seem to be understaffed whenever I walk by. There was only 1 person taking the orders and right when we walked in, a group of 5 girls walked in too. So the poor guy at to take all of the orders before working on the churros. There was a lady in the back who helped him, but it still took a bit longer than it should have.

They have these really cute to go containers too. But we stayed to eat and there’s 2 tables that fit 4 each. I’ve never quite seen the place crowded so even though we shelled out $4+ (after tax) for a damn churro, I’m still trying to figure out how exactly they’re surviving/making money…

You should also check out:

• Sargento’s extreme panini cook-off featuring Culinary Institute of America students
• Daring Bakers: Orange & Strawberry Tian
• Shoot Macro Shots Without the Expensive Macro Lens
• In-and-Out Burger
• Diddy Riese’s

Here in Santa Monica, the cupcake battle boils down an area about 200 meters in length. I’ve asked around and Googled a bit, but it seems as if Yummy Cupcakes and Vanilla Bakery are the only serious players around. And as luck would have it, I live less than a 2 minute bike ride away from both cupcakeries.

Ideally, it’d be nice to be able to compare two cupcakes of the same flavor side by side. The cupcake should actually be either a simple vanilla or chocolate but seeing as there are so many flavors and each cupcake is $3+ (and I’m not made of money), I decided to forgo this little detail. Hence, the only comparable cupcake from both bakeries is the Red Velvet.

(That looks quite yummy. It has whipped cream inside!)

Numero uno Red Velvet (above) is from Yummy Cupcakes. Not exactly the most pretty of cupcakes, but it looks divine enough to devour. Although they had whacked out flavors like Arnold Palmer (half lemonade & half iced tea drink), I still choose the Red Velvet because it’s my favorite flavor of all cupcakes.

Thus, I was delighted to find that Vanilla Bakery had the Red Velvet in a miniature form. I would have gotten the mini ones at Yummy Cupcakes, but the mini red velvet wasn’t available that day. At Vanilla Bakery, its $5 for 3 mini’s. I believe it’s $1.75 per at Yummy Cupcakes.

But [insert drumroll, please], Vanilla Bakery wins the Red Velvet cupcake battle hands down. The cupcake is perfectly moist and the cream cheese dressing is sweet enough but not overly heavy nor creamy. It’s actually the “Southern” Red Velvet, which is a reference back to the Great Depression. Cocoa was expensive so they would halve the amount of cocoa used and add extra food coloring.  At Yummy Cupcakes, the cupcake was great, but the frosting was almost, well… shameful. As if it had no life of its own, it dangled and was way to thin to properly top a cupcae. Thumbs up for Vanilla Bakery there.

The other cupcake I tried at Yummy Cupcake is the Fudgey Yummy. This is really good if you’re into chocolate. It’s like a triple dose of chocolate. Chocolate sprinkles cover the chocolate frosting while a ganache center fills the inner guts of the chocolate cake itself. But for non-crazy chocolate fans, it can get a bit over bearing. It’s literally just bites of chocolate and more chocolate.

The good thing about a ganache center is that it rectifys any moisture that the cake lacks. It’s like with meat. If you overcook a steak, you can use a sauce to mask it. I’m not saying that the cake wasn’t moist. I’m just saying that it wasn’t particularly memorably moist. This would be a bit above average on the cupcake scale.

(The interior is playful and carefree)

(But the exterior could use a new makeover. Sorry, I hate that font and all the pinkness)

(On the other hand, Vanilla Bakery is your classic well put together cupcakery sort of place. Not as welcoming as Yummy Cupcakes though...)

That was a very tough picture to obtain. I had to sneak it in because they don’t let you take pictures of the bakery. They’re afraid that someone’s going to steal their concept. Oops, I think you’re too late, Vanilla Bakery…

Cupcakes at Vanilla Bakery are all $3.25 whereas at Yummy Cupcakes, they range between $2.75 to $3.25. Since I didn’t want to shell out $3.25 for a single, I decided to pay even more for a trio of their mini cupcakes. They also have a bunch of flavors, but like Sprinkles, they have different flavors each day of the week. Now that’s a pretty good gimmick, I must admit.

I think my favorite is still the Red Velvet here. Picture above is the Mint Chocolate Chip, which is my favorite ice cream flavor. I thought I might as well try it in a cupcake, but truth be told, some things are just better left untouched (in ice cream form). Mint should NEVER  be confused in a cupcake form. But solid attempt, Vanilla Bakery.

And last but not least, the Spicy Carrot Cake performed well. I really love the icing here. It’s made to perfection and doesn’t make my teeth cringe from the sweetness. The cupcake lives up to its name and you can definitely feel the tingling sensations left from the spices in the cake. It’s worth trying if you’re a fan of carrot cake.

(A more chic New York City inspired sort of cupcake facade, don’t you think?)

YUMMY CUPCAKES MENU
313 Wilshire Blvd
Santa Monica, CA 90401
(310) 393-8283

VANILLA BAKERY MENU
512 Wilshire Blvd
Santa Monica, CA 90401
(310) 458-6644

You should also check out:

• In-and-Out Burger
• Diddy Riese’s
• Santa Monica Farmer’s Market
• Fatburger
• Nice Time Deli

On the fly, we decided to head to Santa Monica after our adventure at Sprinkles. So basically, I paid $3.25 + $1.50 for a cupcake if you count transportation. But at least buses are mad cheap here. It’s like 75 cents per ride!

On our way to the pier from the 3rd Street Promenade, we passed by Arcadie Crepes. Looking spiffy on the outside, we were all like, “OMG crepes! Let’s get them to go and eat them on the pier!”

But 2 things prevented that from happening:

1. The place was  understaffed. Besides looking a bit shady when we got in, there was only 1 person working. Three crepe orders plus another order after us had the lady on standby. It took some time before our food was ready
2. It was freakin windy as heck outside!

But, at least the crepes were delicious! They’re priced fairly (I guess) and I got the Cevenol ($5.50), which is a crepe filled with chestnut puree and a scoop of vanilla. All of the chestnut was stuck in the center so as I neared the end, I got gloopy messes of chestnut exploding out of every bite. But, I guess that’s what makes it a crepe!

Above is Janice’s Dulce de Leche, which she added bananas too. She says that her thighs are still suffering from it right now…

Oh! Most importantly, I wouldn’t get the soup. That’s the French onion soup. It should have been named the French melted cheese soup. He was just spooning out endless melted cheese, which I guess could be a good thing if you’re into cheese.

(See what I mean by shady?)

MENU
213 Arizona ave
Santa Monica , CA 90401
Tel: 310 395 1120
Fax: 310 3951172

You should also check out:

• In-and-Out Burger
• Diddy Riese’s
• Santa Monica Farmer’s Market
• Fatburger
• Nice Time Deli