annie k.'s Profile

Excellent.  Some of the best baked goods in LA.

This is my favorite foot massage place in Los Angeles.  Good location, pleasant and clean, great masseuses.  And quite cheap.

This is a nice little store.  They have lots of difficult to find items: fresh fenugreek, Persian basil, bitter oranges, mahlab, etc.

This is an excellent place to buy Asian groceries in Los Angeles, especially produce for Vietnamese, Thai, and Indian food.  Some hard-to-find things you can buy here:

Curry leaves
Kaffir lime leaves
Kaffir limes
Thai/Vietnamese cilantro (pak chee farang or ngo gai)
Fresh red turmeric
Lemongrass
Fresh bamboo shoots
Indian eggplants
Thai apple eggplants
La lot (betel) leaves
Galangal
Baby ginger
Fresh garbanzo beans
Wide selection of fermented fish pastes (pla ra) and fish sauces

The prices are OUTRAGEOUSLY low.

Recently, I've found that this restaurant has deteriorated.  The paratha is no long rich and buttery.  The fish doesn't taste as fresh.  I'm not diggin' it anymore.

This place is great.  Great espresso, great drip.  Ritual, Intelligentsia, and Stumptown beans.  Highly recommended.

Another restaurant to check off my list of Jonathan Gold's 99 essential restaurants.  My meal was good for the price.  However, it was far below the standards of the (more expensive) top restaurants nearby: Drago Centro, Patina, and Water Grill.  I thought two of my dishes were very over-salty.  The atmosphere and service were good.  I would go back, for sure -- but I was just a bit disappointed.

This is some of the best hiking/trail running in the Santa Monica Mountains.  

From the Point Mugu parking lot (not Thornhill Broom or Sycamore Cove, which offer different different trails -- also great), the best bet is to take the Ray Miller trail heading east and up.  This trail climbs about 1,000 feet over 2.5 miles.  It offers great views of the ocean for most of the way, and then suddenly, after two miles or so, stunning views of Boney Mountain (you'll know it when you see it) and rolling meadows across the valley to the east.  This climb is completely runnable -- if you're super-fit or masochistic.  (BTW, from Thornhill Broom, there is a neat trail that goes up into that meadow across the valley.)

The Ray Miller trail ends at a fire road.  For practical purposes, the fire road is just a wide trail.  Go left/north.  After a mile or so, you will see a huge meadow to your left and below you as you run along a ridge.  This peaceful meadow is the heart of the whole experience.

Soon you will get to a crossroads.  Go left, west and down into the meadow.  You now have lots of choices.  Many trails on your left cut south through the meadow and eventually back to the parking lot.  These trails are all nice.  Unless you're exhausted or pressed for time, however, you should keep going west, toward the peaks of mountains on the other side of the meadow.  

When you get to the other side of the meadow, you have to climb 200 feet or so, but it's worth it -- because suddenly you have a full view of the ocean again.  You also get a bird's eye view of the naval base.  The trail continues for about 1.5 miles along the ocean.

The trail then begins a descent that cuts inward, away from the ocean, and finally back to the parking lot.  This part of the trail is steep and rocky in places, which makes running difficult.  Take your time and be safe!  This whole loop is about 11 miles (including some obvious side trails you should take to overlooks).

When I go out hiking or trail running in Malibu, I often stop here.  The food is solid and fast to boot.  It's not Huckleberry or Joan's on Third, but it's good for Malibu.

I've only eaten here once, but it was one of the best meals I've ever had.  All three dishes I ordered -- roasted tomato/pesto/burrata salad, branzino with chanterelles, and an apple galette -- were exceptionally delicious.  Very good liquor selection and cocktail menu.  Wines by the glass were very unusual (and seemingly chosen with that attribute in mind).