Adore Dessert Café

I was very happy to hear that Patrick, my favorite French dessert maestro, is back in the US and has opened Adore Dessert Café with his partner Kaity! 

Their new space is much bigger with plenty of free parking, close to the Redondo Beach Pier on Catalina Ave. They will also be expanding their menu beyond desserts once they hire enough staff. In the meantime, they are serving their wonderful viennoiseries, patisseries, quiches, coffee and tea.

I love their buttery croissants, cannelés, pain au chocolat, ham and cheese croissants, and their incredibly light and fluffy vegetable and mushroom quiches.

I've missed their smiling faces and happy energy as much as their rose macarons. Like recovering a lost treasure, the sadness of loss only adds to the pleasure of finding more than you began with in the first place :)

Pizzeria Bianco

Like everyone else who watched the Netflix show about Pizzeria Bianco, I wanted to catch a flight to Phoenix just to eat pizza! Thankfully Chris Bianco came to DTLA and opened up in a beautiful space at the Row (where Smorgasburg is held on week-ends), with plenty of parking, and in a patrolled and well lit (i.e., safe) area. It took me months to get a reservation at 5:30pm, but I grabbed the 1st opening and even though I knew traffic would be a bear, my party was still 20 minutes late, taking freeway alternatives.

I got there 1st so I ordered a marvelous glass of Italian red, tried to settle in after the driving derby experience. We started with the little gem salad for $12 that was simply delicious and a perfect portion to share.

The marinara for $22 was a no brainer, with tomato sauce, oregano and garlic; like the salad, it was simply wonderful and every component perfectly complimented each other.

The Wise guy for $27 was a hit with the meat eaters who loved the wood roasted onions, smoked mozzarella, and fennel sausage. We alternated bites of a slice of the marinara and the Wise Guy, and found our happy place:) We contemplated ordering another pie to go, but since we still had leftovers, we decided to just make another reservation instead :)

Pizzeria Bianco is one of my favorite places in Los Angeles for pizza now! The crust is fabulously fermented and crisp, while the toppings are upscale classic. If you live or work downtown, this might be a good spot to pick up a slice during lunch (only slices at lunch for now), but otherwise, I would say it's definitely worth the wait and the drive to make a dinner reservation and enjoy a few full pies and sides.