Weekly Wrap-Up: Exploring L.A.!

Originally, I had zero plans for this weekend, but then my friend and I decided to catch a last minute craft fair and have fun being tourists in our own city!


Precap (jump to):

• Sights:  Echo Park Craft Fair, Echo Park, Carroll Avenue, Grand Park, Walt Disney Concert Hall
• Eats:  Oaxacan Quesadilla Cart, Bouchon Bistro, Lucille's Smokehouse BBQ, Creme de la Crepe

I invited my friend to go to the Echo Park Craft Fair, which was not in my original upcoming events post.  It seemed like it might be cool and had some shops I hadn't seen before, so we met up!

It was kind of a strange craft show: very crowded, dark, and not conducive to showing off the best of the goods.  Still, I did find some awesome features for Shop Small Saturday Showcase!

However, outside the craft fair was something pretty awesome: the Oaxacan Quesadilla Cart!

The fresh, handmade blue corn tortillas were shaped and formed for a long line of hungry people.  To see the whole process and where to find the cart, check out The Episodic Eater!

Afterwards, my friend and I took a tiny tour of L.A., including Echo Park.  Yes, this is Echo Park with a small lake, boats, and greenery in the middle of downtown L.A.  And if you look past it all, check out the mountains on the horizon!

After Echo Park, we stopped by nearby Carroll Avenue to take in some historic L.A. sites.  Recognize this house?  It was the one used as the home in Charmed!

Besides the famous homes, the architecture of the regular homes is just beautiful!  Just so you know, most homes in this part of L.A. are nowhere near this beautiful, so this really stands out against the rest of the neighborhood.

I love the character of this home on the right!  And the cute little turret on the left is a detail I totally love.  :)

After that, we stopped into Grand Park.  It is actually a newer park in the downtown area, and the site of this July's Renegade Craft Fair!

On the way back, I snapped a quick picture with of the famous Walt Disney Concert Hall.  Definitely a tourist hotspot!

Unfortunately, I unexpectedly had to get back home, so we did not have the chance to eat dinner out, like we planned.  Curses!


The next day was Mother's Day!  We went to one of my mom's favorite restaurants, Bouchon.  It was actually the place where we had brunch last year too.  Doesn't this rhubarb tart look amazing?

My mom treated herself to caviar, and it was just all around a beautiful meal.  To see more, including a refreshing Bloody Mary and gorgeous Strawberry Trifle, check out The Episodic Eater!

The next day, I had some dinner with my mom at a completely different restaurant: Lucille's BBQ Smokehouse!

Along with the amazing ribs, we had some delicious biscuits and apple butter.  To see the whole meal, check out The Episodic Eater.  :)

Lastly, this week I had a conference to attend, which meant that I was caught downtown during that awkward time between lunch and dinner.  Luckily, Crème de la Crêpe was open for us to have a wonderful meal!

Of course, the paté was wonderful, but to see the rest of our crêpes (plus the dessert), head over to The Episodic Eater.

This was an unexpectedly busy week with Mother's Day, a craft show, and lots of eating out!  This weekend, I have Bite at the Beach to attend, which I know is going to awesome!

What are you up to this weekend?