The Fresh Loaf

A Community of Amateur Bakers and Artisan Bread Enthusiasts.

Bakeries, Cafes and neighbourhoods in LA and San Diego

BazF's picture
BazF

Bakeries, Cafes and neighbourhoods in LA and San Diego

Hi there...

My daughter and two of her friends are coming to Calfornia in September and will be spending time in LA and San Diego.

I haven't visited that part of California and would be really grateful if anyone with local knowledge could recommend good neighbourhoods in either place for them to stay, They will be looking for some self catering accommodation on the usual websites.

Also and just as importantly some thoughts on good local bakeries and cafes/places to eat.

Your help would be much appreciated.

Baz F

Bath, UK

cranbo's picture
cranbo

LA is a big place with lots of interesting neighborhoods, all depends on what you like.

  • For beachy/artsy, consider Venice/Abbott Kinney or Santa Monica.
  • For hipster/artsy, consider Los Feliz or Silver Lake.
  • For urban, consider Hollywood or downtown LA.

A few LA bakeries of note:

Chow has a list for LA, so does Yelp

I can't even begin to list places to eat, so much variety in L.A., both flavors, locations & price...  Comme Ca, Superba Snack Bar, Animal, Daikokuya, Langers, Musso & Frank. Jonathan Gold has an excellent list that shows you the insane variety of LA. Yelp and Chow will be helpful.

For San Diego, staying near Seaport Village or in the Gaslamp quarter is probably the most fun/convenient. Lots of places to dine, and pretty easy transportation via the trolley. Of course, San Diego has some nice beachy parts too. 

In San Diego I recommend (I've eaten at all of these):

There's lots of great mexican food in San Diego (you have to have some good fish tacos), use Yelp or Chow to seek it out.