The [Food] Hangover

J's still trying to piece it all together. He remembers finishing up work at World Financial Center and venturing out into the freezing cold...

 WTC memorial

...But the rest is one big blur...

 Famous Ray's, Eataly NY, Shake Shack, Heartland Brewery

...That ended with a visit to White Castle.

What happened that night?!

Pizza Wars

We love our pizza...and how lucky are we to live within walking distance of two of the best pizza joints (we think) in town?

We tried to pick a fave, and it was really close.

Vito's Pizza
A perfect thin, chewy and super flavorful crust with quality toppings. Everything tastes incredibly fresh.

Joe's
Imported straight from NYC, and it's authenticity doesn't get lost along the way. We wouldn't be surprised if the chipped subway tiles and grubby bathroom had been flown in too.

Bottom: the authentically Sicilian-style crust

The verdict? Vito's, for its crust, amazing veggie pizza and LA roots. But that doesn't mean we'd ever turn down a slice of from Joe's!

Spotted: LoveFat on the Upper West Side

We were back Eat East for a long weekend, so you can guess what THAT led to...


We started the evening with at Celeste with our awesome foodie friend S. This place was delicious and totally took us back to Italy with its Neopolitan finesse and perfectly sized portions.


First order of business was a bottle of wine! Then, an artichoke heart salad and burrata salad...

And then a carb bomb in the form of pasta vongole, an anchovy pizza and pasta pomodoro.

And to top things off...a totally delish lemon tartufo with the most amazing lemony custard inside.

We thought we were done, until we passed by this place on our way to S and her husband P's apartment:

There was hardly a line, so we guessed it was fate...and ventured in. Although we really were stuffed to the gills, we somehow walked out with a big takeout bag:

A Shackburger, Coffee & Donuts frozen custard and Albita root beer

And when we left S+P's apartment, all that food was somehow gone.

xoxo,

LoveFat

Earth, Wind and All Kinds of Fire

On a whim at the very last minute, we decided to spice up our Friday night at with Earth, Wind & Fire(works) at the Hollywood Bowl.

Wood-Fired
We kicked off the evening with some Mozza2Go, arguably the best takeout pizza ever!

The opening act was complimentary breadsticks, a salad and some olive-oil poached tuna.

Then, the headliners -- check out that crazy bubbly crust!

Burrata pizza with sweet cherry tomatoes and insanely buttery blobs of burrata

Mozza's take on a Hawaiian pizza, with prosciutto and dried pineapple

Fired Up
This jar of spiciness from Mozza's little store added a nice punch to our pies.

Earth, Wind and Fire(works)
After a meal like that, we needed a little exercise...so we parked at Hollywood & Highland and walked to the Bowl.

They were filming this show  at the H&H complex

We made a little pit stop before heading up the hill to grab a little dessert picnic.

Our creamylicious treats were a great way to end the meal...

A cream puff and cheesecake bar

...but even better was the way the night ended:

Kids + Food

We babysat J's nieces over the long weekend. It was a great and funny and awesome experience -- they are really, really good kids and so much fun to be around. But wow. Let's just say that we have a newfound respect for their amazing parents, and all parents in general. Oh, and Baby J+E is going to be a longgggg way off.

Of course, children must be fed. We wanted to make sure they continued to eat healthy meals, but hey...we are Aunt E and Uncle J...and we were also there to spoil them with a little Love Fat.

Cookies
After making sure they'd eaten breakfast and a healthy lunch, we made some cookies. Meaning, Aunt E brought log of dough she had made well in advance, the girls shaped it into cookies. In the end, the only thing we needed to wash was a baking sheet and a bunch of little fingers - homemade without the mess.

Pizza

"Please decorate your own slice of pizza with whatever toppings you like while Aunt E and Uncle J sit very still and close their eyes for just one second. Thank you!"

Whose slice is whose?

A "happy" face, initials and a peace sign, and a "special design"

Cheetos
What is up with Cheetos? Why do kids love them?

"What would you like to eat?"
"I like Subway's!!!"
"Why do you like Subway?"
"Because..."
"Which sandwich do you like?"
"I don't know...I like the Cheetos!"

So as a treat, we went to the grocery store and let them pick a bag of chips to take to the beach.

They all picked Cheetos (Flamin' Hot, for the oldest). And because they weren't allowed to finish the entire bag in one sitting, we'd close up the bag and put it away for "next time." Well, "next time" couldn't come soon enough.

"Aunt E, where are my Cheetos? Are they in your bag?"
"Can you put them in the refrigerator with my name on it?"
"When can I eat Cheetos tomorrow? After lunch? But when after lunch? Like what time?"
"I'm done with my breakfast. Can I eat Cheetos now?"

And it went on and on.

We also learned that you get "spicy fingers" from eating Cheetos, even if you're eating the regular cheese flavor. We saw lots of spicy fingers this weekend!

Subway

Making healthy food at home is a lot of work. Luckily, we had confirmed that the girls really do like Subway, and not just because Cheetos grow on trees there. But what kind? And those sandwiches are so big...could they really handle them? We had no clue.

We ended up getting the wrong type of bread with the wrong fillings in the wrong size, as you can tell by the less-than-enthusiastic reception.

"I need to kneel on my chair and bend over to eat this"

"Uncle J, please take out the pickles [cucumbers]!"

But it wasn't anything that a bunch of napkins -- and the promise of more Cheetos -- didn't fix.

Frozen Yogurt
Don't you love it when you go to a self-serve frozen yogurt place and it ends up costing way less than you thought it would? Well, that will never happen when you take three girls to get frozen yogurt and let them pick their own flavors and toppings.

But it's all worth it...because how else can you stir your concoction into a soup and then drink it out of a Dixie cup? "It's like hot chocolate...but cold!"

Cheesecake Pops
As you may have deduced, all three girls have a major sweet tooth. So we had the ambitious undertaking to make cheesecake pops - yummy and impressive for even the most discerning tween. It was a little messy but a lot of fun.

Shape into little balls and roll in graham cracker crumbs

Cover with chocolate, nuts and sprinkles

Try to patiently wait as it all cools

Yum!

Then their parents came back, and we tried to sneak out before anyone could complain of tummy aches from eating too many pops or "tasting" the melted chocolate one too many times. Not that we'd let that happen under our watch...

A moment of sugar-induced silliness

Brazilian Pizza / Pho Pizza

What do cool people do when they get off work early the Friday of a long holiday weekend? Carbo-load, duh!

Brazilian Pizza
We checked out newly opened Bella Vista in Culver City for their dinnertime rodizio - basically, all-you-can-eat Brazilian pizza slices that you select from servers who wander around with different freshly baked pies.

We sat in the covered patio, where this guy was playing acoustic covers of Brazilian and American songs.

We wanted to try a little bit of everything, but even though the slices were mercifully small, we hadn't tried half of the many flavors offered by the time we were full.

Accessories

The pizzas definitely had a Brazilian twist to them. They all had the same thin crust and hardly any sauce. And there were seemingly authentic toppings such as a very creamy catupiry cheese, dried beef, hearts of palm and picanha, a churrascaria staple. There was even a beef stroganoff pizza, which was essentially just a crust with beef stroganoff on top, sprinkled with these tiny fried potato sticks. This was a bit rich for our blood, but seemed to be a big hit with most of the diners.

As though eating 100 slices of pizza for dinner wasn't enough, there was also pizza for dessert, God help us. The banana, cinnamon and mozzarella was just ok, but the chocolate and condensed milk was awesome.

Pho Pizza
Our visit inspired the idea to make a pho pizza. That's right. We're still working out the details, but it basically would have a hoisin- and Sriracha- infused sauce, anise-flavored beef or chicken, and bean sprouts, scallions, cilantro, onion and purple basil sprinkled on top. If When we make it, we'll let you know. And if someone else beats us to it...well, just remember that you heard it here first.