Le Pain Quotidien - Newport Beach, CA

Wanting to eat healthy, I am always on the lookout for these types of restaurants/cafes to open. Luckily Le Pain Quotidien opened up in Fashion Island not too long ago. They source organic ingredients whenever they can and their breads are all organic. You can see them making bread sometimes in the kitchen too.

Mushroom, Kale, and Parmesan Frittata

A seasonal special, the Mushroom, Kale, and Parmesan Frittata was pretty good. It's made with organic eggs and includes organic mesclun salad with two pieces of bread. They also offer three types of jams to put on your bread. Get the jam, they're all good...and one of them isn't jam...it's more like a Nutella type spread. All so good.

Wild Mushroom and Gruyere Omelette

From the breakfast section, the Wild Mushroom and Gruyere Omelette also comes with a salad and two pieces of bread. This was gobbled  up pretty quickly...or someone was very hungry. =)

Prosciutto and Mozzarella di Bufala

For the meat eaters that like prosciutto, this was also very delicious (not from my experience of course). It's from their tartine section...which I guess is basically an open faced sandwich.

Baguette

Lastly, we had to get one of their baguettes to go. Usually it is a long roll as baguettes usually are, but maybe this was for the holidays? Very pretty...and I definitely like that you can yank your own bite sized piece this way. More crust is also gooood. Now this place can be a tad on the pricier side....pricier than a Corner Bakery, but if you can taste the difference (like we can) you will notice the food is definitely of a better quality.

Le Pain Quotidien

http://www.lepainquotidien.us/

#1103 Fashion Island

401 Newport Center Drive,

Newport Beach, CA 92660

(949)287-5592

Hours:

Mon-Sat: 8:00AM - 9:00PM

Sun: 8:00AM - 8:00PM

GOQUARED2 (inside Mitsuwa) - Irvine, CA : Taiyaki

The new Mitsuwa in Irvine is now open! It is pretty tiny compared to the other Mitsuwas, but it's closer to me than the Costa Mesa location. They also have Santouka so the meat eaters can enjoy their yummy ramen noodles. I stopped by and tried some taiyaki from GOSQUARED2.

Taiyaki

You can watch these little fishies being made right behind the counter. I didn't eat them right away, so it got a bit soft. I bet they're better when you eat them right off the griddle. The flavor was still pretty good though. They're $2 each.

Red bean and Custard Taiyaki

Between the red bean and custard, I definitely liked the red bean better. There's also a chocolate flavor. Smaller location with less goodies to try, but you can still get your basics without driving as far.

GOSQUARED2 inside Mitsuwa Marketplace

14230 Culver Drive

Irvine, CA 92604

Restaurant Hours: 11:00 AM - 8:30 PM

How Much Protein Am I Supposed to Consume Daily?

Most people worry that vegetarians aren't getting enough protein. So how much protein is the right amount to eat every day? There are two very similar ways to calculate this.

1) Divide your weight by 2 and eat that number of protein in grams per day.
Example: If you weigh 140lbs, you divide that by 2 and get 70. You should eat roughly 70 grams of protein per day.

2) Take your weight in kilograms and eat that number of protein in grams per day. (1 kg is approximately 2.2 pounds)
Example: If you weight 140 lbs, that is approximately 63.5 kilos. So you should eat roughly 63.5 grams of protein per day.

So if you weigh 140 lbs, you should eat roughly between 63-70 grams of protein per day throughout the day to maintain your weight.

If you are trying to gain or lose weight, then you would calculate using method 1 or 2 with your target weight. Pretty simple, right?

The Trails - Griffith Park/Los Feliz, Los Angeles, CA

If you ever go to Griffith Park, check out the Trails Cafe. It's right along the drive up to Griffith Observatory, so parking is along the street.

Trails Cafe from the side

There is only outdoor seating, so dress warmly in colder weather. There are plenty of picnic tables and benches for you to sit and relax. It's a really nice atmosphere, if you like the outdoors, as you are surrounded by trees.

Veggie Chili and Blue Corn Bread

Their chili and corn bread were pretty good. I particularly enjoyed the edges/crust of the corn bread as that has the most flavor (to me).

Ranger Pie

The Ranger Pie was also pretty good. The edges were nice and crunchy, not doughy.

Inside the Ranger Pie

Here is a close-up of the inside of the Ranger Pie. There's potatoes, corn, carrots, peas, etc. The only thing I didn't like was the hint of black pepper...as I do not like anything spicy...but I was able to handle it.

All in all, pretty good food. As some Yelp users mentioned, it can be a bit pricey for such a simple little stand, but everything was pretty darn good. Remember, cash only. The Meat-eater enjoyed it...and he also had a cup of coffee and liked that as well. And he usually doesn't care for the over-sugared Starbucks coffee. Whenever we come back to Griffith Observatory/Griffith Park we will be stopping by here to eat!

The Trails Cafe
http://www.thetrailslosfeliz.com/
2333 Fern Dell Drive,
Los Angeles, CA 90068
323-871-2102
Tues to Sun - 8:00am to 5:00pm
Closed Mondays (except some holidays)

The Counter - Veggie Burger

The Counter is a burger joint where you can custom build your own burger or choose one from their menu. The pluses are that many of their ingredients are locally sourced and their beef are humanely raised and handled without hormones or antibiotics.

Veggie Burger sans bun

You get a clipboard with their menu and check off which items you want. I chose a custom built veggie burger in a bowl on organic mixed greens with herb goat cheese spread, tomatoes, sprouts, carrot strings, and hard boiled eggs with sun dried tomato vinaigrette as the sauce. You couldn't see the egg until I mixed up the salad. It was underneath everything.

Veggie Burger on greens

I ran into a bit of bad luck (or bad waiter input of my request into the computer) because my burger came out with sauteed onions and bacon on top. ??!?!?! Yes, bacon on my veggie burger. I was like ?!??!?.... this isn't True Blood. They came back out a second time without my bacon but everything else was still wrong. I asked the lady to please check my paper with my order. Apparently something happened with the entering of my order into the computer because after she checked my slip....my order came out correctly. Voila! However, it was strange that NOBODY apologized. Nobody came to offer a discount or take something off our check. Nothing. Maybe I'm used to extra good customer service, because other places I go to will do such things. I mean, I'm sitting there with no food while everyone else in my party was eating. In-N-Out has better service than this...In-N-Out has excellent service! I would expect poor customer services if my meal was not that expensive, but even places like Corner Bakery will apologize and be nice about fixing your order...and it's less expensive to eat at Corner Bakery. The burgers here are $8.95 for a 1/3lb...no matter if it's a meat or veggie patty. And since I got it in a bowl on greens, that's an additional $1 making my burger approximately $10. Does that sound right to you? A veggie burger is $9 and an angus beef burger is also $9. I've seen this at restaurants (where you can substitute any of their burgers for a veggie patty and it's the same price) but usually the burgers are less than $9, or it comes with sides or some other items. The veggie burger wasn't bad tasting, but it wasn't great either. It's different from the ones I've had, but not stellar or anything. I don't believe it's worth $9 in my opinion. You can eat healthier and get better service for less money somewhere else. My bad experience and so-so food means I give this place a thumbs down! =P

The Counter
http://www.thecounterburger.com/

Location this was eaten at:

Woodbury Town Center

6416 Irvine Boulevard

Irvine, CA 92620