One Eyed Gypsy and Pie Hole

One Eyed Gypsy
901 E. First
Los Angeles, CA
The Arts District

Pie Hole
714 Traction
Los Angeles, CA
The Arts District

There were a couple of questionable things I did yesterday. We won't get into all of them, but the major one was not having coffee until 6pm and then checking my student loans, so you can only imagine my dire mental state by the time 9pm rolled around. (Let's not even talk about my misfired screenshot #foreveralone).

Jackie, Evan and I checked out One Eyed Gypsy in the Arts District last night. I had actually never been, despite the fact it fits my 1920s/Dustbowl/speakeasy/hipster/decaying decadence thing that I love a la Villians and 4100. (Also interesting, Dana Hollister  is the visionary behind all those places' designs. Hopefully, she's available to do my house in 65 years when I've paid off my student loans.)


Really I went for the deep fried oreos, but ended up with the Piaget - a grapefruit/rosewater concoction of my dreams. It might be my favorite cocktail ever - the fruit, the tart, the floral undertones - so drinkable. Dangerously so.


Evan had the Monserrat - a chai spiced vodka. It was such a comforting combination of flavors - black tea, cinnamon, cardamom. Super autumnal.

Jackie went with the clowns cup - a refreshing cucumber lime thing. During Happy Hour, its only $6(!).

Long story short, we're going back like all the time.

After, Jackie and I were meandering through the Arts District and we drove by Pie Hole and saw the light on. If you follow my blog, you know that Pie Hole is one of my favorite places in Los Angeles, or maybe even the world. Their sea salt chocolate crostata makes my life worth living on rough days. Like when I get parking tickets. Anywho, Jackie and I were like WE HAVE TO GO. We found a lucky parking spot and flounced over like lambs in a spring meadow. We walk in and are quickly rejected because it is 10:17 and they closed at 10. We must have looked like our souls were decimated because Ariel (my new hero/messiah/role model) saw our faces fall and said one minute. SHE CAME BACK WITH THE LAST SLICE OF CROSTATA.

I can't deal. So generous and lovely and perfect and great and delicious and life-changing. I had been craving Pie Hole for days and have been so crunched for time that I haven't had a chance to venture over. Very rarely do you get a place as popular as Pie Hole still having that sweet, familial service. I am just so impressed.

It was a surprising and lovely way to end the evening. And also indicates I need to program Pie Hole's schedule into my phone.

xx

Late Night Chinese + Other Things

My day was overwhelming although I didn't do much. Just sort of one of those days where a lot of things are happening and you're waiting for something and then you're just in bed watching Law and Order and thinking about where the hours went?

Well actually, I had class and then had a lovely lunch of a Wurstkuche Austin Blues sausage, followed by a delish maple custard pie at Pie Hole with my friend, Ellie.  I argued that we should split a piece but I'm happy we didn't bc we both inhaled our pieces like madwomen. Ellie had the vegetarian chipotle dog and the Earl Grey pie. It was great to catch up with Ellie. I miss summer when I used to see her everyday. Now both of our schedules are cray and we're trying to manage seeing each other once a week.

Earl Grey Pie

Ellie taking a photo of a dumpster

After that, I took Sophs to Elysian Park and we ran into her love, Freddy. Doing that walk everyday has been saving my soul. (I'm just mildly dramatic.) I ran to crim pro and then rushed home for a phone interview that lasted a surprisingly long time, especially when I felt like my stomach was eating my lung.

Sophie was ready for her hike

Jenaba, my savior/housemate, and I headed to Chinatown and tried to go to Wang Chow on Broadway, which was closed. So we hit up a place two establishments south of that and gorged on tangerine chicken, lo mein, duck soup, wontons, etc. So yum. I fell into bed and watched, you guessed it - Law and Order: SVU. It was as great day.

Orange chicken, which I later inhaled this morning, cold and delicious

Pork Lo Mein

I don't get it.

Food Coma + Filters

Today will be slightly different - I have a ton of work to finish and a film screening for school to attend. I also need to take Sophie on an extra long adventure today because I'll be gone longer and I want to sufficiently wear her out.

Off to my day but here's a video I've been sending to everyone. LOL.

What I've Been Up To

Folk music at Footsies. Baking Chocolate Chip Cookies. Watching Puppies. Hiking. Hipster Wine. New restaurants. First Aid Kit at the Fonda (AMAZING). Homemade Pumpkin Thyme Mac and Cheese via Spoon Fork Bacon. Scary Movies. Argo (go see it - so good - love Ben). Lots of work. Planning for our Halloween Party. Getting over strep throat (gross.) Runs around the Reservoir. New Boots. Work. More Work. Some More Work. Superhumanoids artist in residency at the Echo. Delicious Maple Custard Pie from the Pie Hole. Pumpkin Beers (love Rogue and Dogfish's Punkin). 

Other news:

- Sophie had her last big medical treatment, which was a hernia operation. The doctor called me at 10am and told me the surgery had gone well and to pick her up at 3. I went at 2:30 (of course), and her doctor said at 10:05am she was ready to send Sophie home bc she already had so much energy. <3 baby="baby" bear.="bear." my="my" nbsp="nbsp" span="span">

- Eager to try new recipes: Butternut Squash Skillet. Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls with Maple-Chai Glaze. 

- After getting sick this past weekend, I'm re-prioritizing my health. Since Sophie got her shots, we'e been doing a lot of hikes, runs and walks. But I want to reintegrate some yoga and eat better. :-)

- School is great. Work is amazing. But I need to be more forward-focused.

xoxo

Pie Perfection.

Pie Hole

714 Traction Ave.,

Downtown Los Angeles

When Carrie came down a couple of weekends ago, she was adamant that we check out the Pie Hole, a new pie place in downtown LA. So after enjoying the Getty, then eating at Sage, we toddled over to the Pie Hole and split a taste of the chocolate crostada with sea salt caramel topping. OH. MY. GOD.

So the Pie Hole is perfect. The decor is my new fave - industrial chic - with a mix of wood and aluminium and sweet DIY-ish details. We went around 7ish, which meant that most of their delectables had already sold out, but we lucked out with our pie. The Pie Hole is family-run and its completely evident by the friendliness of the staff and the obvious care that goes into each and every slice.

So onto the pie. The crust was interesting and I mean that it in a good/great way - it wasn't a traditional crust. Instead, it was had a more egg-y quality, thinner and more pliable. That sounds weird, but it complemented the chocolate filling, which sort of a brownie gooey goodness. I was telling my mom the other day that a lot of the chocolate, both in candy and desserts, that I have had since coming back from England has been disappointing and waxy. But this filling was rich, real, and perfectly cooked. And the sea salt caramel cut through the sweetness perfectly and woke up one's tastebuds.

During our inhalation of our pie, one of the Pie Hole "family members" approached us and asked how we liked it, to which I responded "I want to marry this pie." Cool. #alittletooexcited. But she was incredibly sweet and told us that if we had any critiques or suggestions that the Pie Hole would love to hear it. LOVE IT. The whole staff was so attentive and warm and they really cared about the quality of the food as well as how their customers felt.

Carrie and I were ready to move in. But seeing as we had beer to drink at Angel City Brewing (great cheap microbrews, but more on that later!), I settled on buying the two last banana nutella whoopie pies for Jason/breakfast. They were nicely sized and I didn't think you could make Nutella better. You can - by making it a buttercream filling.

I need to go back. Like right now. I'm drooling over my keyboard.

photos above from Piehole

Chocolate crostada with sea salt caramel topping c/o Oh Joy