I moved into my new place this past weekend.  Still unpacking and discovering the neighborhood.  Unfortunately, I got sick right after the move, but that hasn’t stopped me from trying out the restaurants and asian supermarkets in Chinatown.

One of my primary motives for moving here was to be closer to good food, so I hit up a chinese friend who used to live in downtown LA.  Here’s his take on eating in Chinatown.

—–

Here are some good eats around your neighborhood.

I had a foodie coworker who loved this sandwich place (I thought it was just ok):

http://www.yelp.com/biz/mendocino-farms-los-angeles

The grand central market is a good place to pick up cheap food and fresh groceries.  There is this Korean grocer towards the front of the market who has the freshest fruits at low prices:

http://www.yelp.com/biz/grand-central-market-los-angeles

My foodie coworker gave rave reviews for their Pupusas:

http://laist.com/2009/03/19/recession_obsession_the_pupusa.php

There’s a Farmer’s Market at the Bank of America building (one block north of McCormick’s).  It has some good food.  My favorites are the Hawaiian Chicken (sooo salty and spicy) and the bacon-wrapped hot dogs.  The market comes to BOA on Fridays.  The same market also sets up shop in front of the Central Library, but I forget what day it is:

http://www.yelp.com/biz/downtown-la-farmers-market-los-angeles

The best sushi IMHO is R23 (though I’m no expert, YMMV):

http://www.yelp.com/biz/r23-los-angeles

Thousand Cranes has a cool roof garden restaurant.  A nice place to take the parents to for brunch:

http://www.yelp.com/biz/a-thousand-cranes-los-angeles

All the white folks love this Yang Chow place.  It is ok.  It is slightly better than Hop Li.  A good place to take white people who aren’t ready for Sam Woo:

http://www.yelp.com/biz/yang-chow-los-angeles

My favorite thing at Sam Woo is the BBQ crispy fried noodles.  Mmmmm soo good.

People will tell you to try Water Grill or the Patina inside the Disney Concert Hall.  They’re overhyped, don’t waste your money.

After a while, I just ended up driving to Monterey Park for food.  Chinatown chinese food is kind of substandard.

A couple of weeks ago, I was looking for a restaurant that would be a good local place for a longish meet-and-greet meeting*, and I reached out to my social circles on Facebook and Twitter.

* In the end, we ended up at Paul Martin’s American Bistro in El Segundo.  It was a suggestion from my friend Paul.  Great choice!  My pork ribs were very tender and tasty, but the real star of the night was the halibut with creamed corn and bacon that I kept stealing from Lynn’s plate.

My question generated over a dozen comments on Facebook, but got exactly zero responses on Twitter.

That’s interesting.

I don’t think it means Facebook is better than Twitter for getting questions answered, but I did find it interesting that the same question generated such different results.  I have a few thoughts on why the difference.

I don’t have a very large group on either account — 250 or so friends on Facebook, 250 or so followers on Twitter — so this is by no means conclusive.

1) Different types of social graphs

My Facebook social graph reflects my real life graph better.  I only friend people I know in real life (have met face to face) or work with closely (have had extensive contact).

So for my particular question about a good local place, Facebook was more likely to give me a useful answer because a lot of my friends on Facebook are local folks.

2) Facebook is designed to be  more intimate

I find that people use Facebook for more personal sharing — true personal status updates.  That makes updates more mundane, but because only your friends see them, they are also much more compelling.

I use Twitter more like a broadcast medium.  I find that a lot of the people I follow do that too.  It’s hard to have a real conversation on Twitter.  Personally, I get bored of Twitter streams that have too many @replies, and I don’t like doing it myself.  I’ll usually DM or email someone if they ask me a question on Twitter. I don’t think we need to bother everyone else with our little conversation.

Just got back from Tannaz‘s No Cookie Left Behind bake sale at Scoops.  I’m all sugared up on chocolate bacon pie, lemon bars and ice cream.

Tip for newbies: get there early!

Though scheduled to go from 2-6pm, both the bake sale counter and the ice cream shop were nearly sold out of everything when I got there at 4.  So get there early next year!

No Cookie Left Behind Bake Sale 2009 at Scoops

Since I no longer work out of a real office, I find myself looking for coffee shops or cafes with free WiFi. Public libraries are also a good option. Libraries have the advantage of being quieter and the disadvantage of not having any coffee.

Lately I’ve been frequenting two cafes near my house, but I’m looking to expand my options. Not that those places aren’t cool, I just need a change of scenery (and food). Starting with the list at WiFi Free Spot, here’s my crib sheet of places I’ve used as my freelancer’s office.

last updated 2007/07/28

Culver City

• Rumor Mill (11739 E. Washington Blvd.) – The Rumor Mill is a cool, hipster hangout for coffee, sandwiches and laundry. Yes, laundry. Half of the shop is the cafe; the other half is a self-service laundromat. Interesting concept. The food here is pretty decent. I like the Golden Chicken sandwich which has tangy, oozing goat cheese. The best thing? They’re open until 10pm daily.
• Dolce Vita Cafe (4410 Sepulveda Blvd.) – Dolce Vita is a mom-and-pop cafe and bakery. Their soup and sandwich combo is my lunch staple. I like the Chicken Caesar sandwich and their homemade mushroom soup. For breakfast, the Eggs Benedict with avocado and ham on a croissant is tasty. The soy lattes are perfectly made here.

Pasadena

• Lovebird’s Cafe – Yes, even single people can hang out here.
• Pasadena Public Library (285 East Walnut St.)