LA Eats: Monster Pho, Fried Chicken, and The Happy Place
You got a small taste of my Los Angeles trip in my last post, and I'm here to give you some more! We kept eating Asian food and then slipped some desserts in on the side. We also made some time to get tickets for The Happy Place (spoiler: it's basically like San Francisco's Color Factory). Keep scrolling!
1. Red Envelope
Red Envelope is a tasty Vietnamese spot serving up the usual pho and spring rolls, except with a twist! Their spring rolls were huge and had pretty edible flowers in the mix—I also liked the crispy little rolls they put in to add some more texture. You might also recognize Red Envelope's famous concoction: the pho-rrito. This pho burrito is filled with protein, noodles, and a little bit of soupy dressing to taste just like a bowl of pho!
We didn't get the lobster pho, but someone at our communal table did. They were also kind enough to let us take a photo of it before digging in 😂 If you're not in the mood to pay $37 for a bowl of pho, their beef pho comes with a giant beef rib and is more affordable!
2. Wingman Kitchen
Oh, and the eating did not stop there! Red Envelope and Wingman Kitchen are both located in the same food hall. Wingman serves up delicious fried chicken, and you can get bone in or boneless. They also have a huge variety of flavors to choose from. Sadly, they had discontinued their Szechuan Sauce (a la Rick and Morty), but we soldiered on and got lemon pepper and a honey sriracha combo. On top of that, we ordered the OG Chicken sandwich...which was huge!
3. Dough & Arrow
Now, on to dessert! Dough & Arrow has a cute, sweet-themed interior with a giant half eaten cookie structure in the middle of the shop for photo ops. They have a pretty ube croissant, but what really got me going was the "Smookie."
This s'mores cookie is exactly what I've been trying to perfect in my own kitchen, but theirs comes on top of a graham cracker with chocolate melted on top, still gooey to the touch. The cookie itself is very soft so it seems like they don't bake it in the oven for very long in order to also not burn the graham cracker.
Drinks-wise, if you get a hot drink, you get a gingerbread man with it. My friend got this hot chocolate (pictured below) that came with galaxy marshmallows—so cute!
4. The Happy Place
I wouldn't call The Happy Place a Color Factory ripoff since the rooms are decorated completely differently...but the concept is very similar! It definitely is Instagram-friendly, and every room has a different theme for you to take a selfie in. At the end of the tour, you have a confetti room similar to the Color Factory, and you can buy a rainbow grilled cheese ($13) from their food truck.
Skip the trip and check out the photos I took while I was there! UPDATE: it seems like The Happy Place is temporarily closed, but they didn't state a date for when they'd be open again.
