Tag Archives: Los Angeles

VIDEO: Dunkin’ Donuts Opens In Santa Monica. Worth The Hype?

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Copyright Tanaya Ghosh 2014

Flavors: Chocolate Frosted, Blueberry Cake, Oreo Crumb, Pumpkin Pie

Although summer is ending, it doesn’t look like food events in L.A. are slowing down one bit! As my friend and I happened to be in Santa Monica for a group taping of the Epic Meal Empire show by the guys of Epic Meal Time, we figured we’d also check out Dunkin’ Donuts.

We were curious to see how crazy the line was, as the grand opening was just a day ago. Since the line didn’t look as long as we’d expected and we had some time on our hands, we figured let’s wait in the line and see whether this long-awaited opening is worth the hype. For the sake of food journalism, of course!

In case you didn’t know (despite the frenzy here in Los Angeles), DD has opened its first location in Southern California in decades. You see, Dunkin’ Donuts was actually around until the late 90’s. However, all that’s existed in SoCal since then are a couple smaller locations such as the one in Barstow, on the way to Las Vegas. However, this is the first full-service store to open in recent times, and people are going ga-ga over it.

Once we arrived on scene with a healthy dose of skepticism in tow (so much hype!), we waited in the line that didn’t seem too crazy for Day 2, but did move quite slowly. However, shooting the video below to share with you guys did help the time go by more quickly. Forty-five minutes of our time, to be exact!

Copyright Tanaya Ghosh 2014

Was it worth it? Here are some tips and candid thoughts, along with a video review of the experience so you can decide for yourself whether it’s worth the trek and the wait:

  • If you absolutely must try a new place as soon as it opens, try to wait until at least Day 2. This will save you hours of your life versus braving the crowds, lines and general madness of opening day. The excitement will be there, minus (most of) the crazy. If you love camping out and scoring free stuff for being first in line on opening day that much though, more power to you!
  • Service was good, as they tried to be as efficient as possible by taking orders for 6 or more while customers stood in line. That way, they’re ready for you when you get to the front. However, not all options are listed on those glossy menu sheets!
  • The cake donuts are pretty solid. Moist, a bit fluffy on the inside, and not overly sweet. If you enjoy filled donuts, the Boston Cream is probably your best bet, unless you enjoy the artificial-tasting, extra sugary “cream” filling in the other donuts. Another one I really wanted to love, but at least the Boston Cream was a winner.
  • I tried Dunkin’ on the East Coast years ago. Was underwhelmed by the yeast donuts. I’m sad to say these were no different, tasting dense, a bit dry, and not very fresh. The chocolate frosting on the donut with sprinkles (see video below) was on point though. Still, Dunkin’s donuts pale in comparison to the glorious, pillowy, freshly fried rings of dough found at most mom & pop shops around town. Which basically come up every few blocks in most areas. Check them out sometime, trust me!
  • While I know many people rave hardcore about the coffee and not the donuts, I must say that I didn’t really enjoy the Pumpkin Spice Latte. Disclaimer: I’m not a regular coffee drinker, but I do enjoy an occasional ice coffee… and I know a good one when I sip one! This one even had an extra pump of pumpkin spice (cashier’s suggestion), but it still didn’t taste anything like pumpkin to me, and just tasted weirdly artificial. I wanted to like it, I really did!
  • “Pumpkin pie” donut didn’t have any taste of pumpkin nor pie, and seemed to be choc full of artificial flavoring and unnatural orange color. The texture was also not how it looks in the ads, tasting again like the sugary frosting of a storebought cupcake. However, the pumpkin pie spice cake donut was quite tasty! One out of three pumpkin flavored items nailed it, in our opinion.
  • Parking can be hard to find with all the permit-parking-only side streets, but there are lots around for $1 an hour. Not too bad on that front!
  • Sorry if I’ve offended you and your love of Dunkin’ Donuts. As a native Californian and donut lover (from small shops to gourmet eateries), I think there are a ton of specialty donut places around these days that offer far better quality, using better ingredients and innovative flavors. DD’s price is not bad at all, however.
  • If I go back, I do want to try their breakfast sandwiches. Wonder how good those are, because they look great! I just don’t want to get my hopes up ’til I try it, since you can’t trust the hype, it looks like. I still don’t understand the obsession, unless you grew up on Dunkin’. Sorry guys! I will try again sometime, though.

The overall experience was a good one, and I think they’ve done a fantastic job branding and creating a cultlike obsession over not necessarily the product itself (besides maybe the coffee, depending on whom you talk to), but the entire experience, which leaves you feeling happy you visited.

The Video:

Tanaya's Table - Dunkin Donuts Santa Monica Opening Video

Check out the one-minute video for highlights from Day 2 of the Dunkin’ Donuts opening!

Although East Coasters may have grown up on Dunkin’, I wonder how Californians will keep loving Dunkin’ in the long run, with all the other great donut and coffee places around. Perhaps Dunkin’ Donuts should be called Dunkin’ Coffee? It will also be interesting to see if local donut businesses and cafes (as we have a lot of mom & pop shops!) will take a hit as more Dunkin’ Donuts stores descend on Southern California. Personally, the DD experience was nice overall, but I’m all for the local mom & pop shops who have amazing donuts and a neighborhood feel!

Try it for the collective experience, and feel free to share your thoughts once you have been. Hope you enjoy it if you do decide to check it out. More summer food highlights to come!

An Update From L.A. Food & Wine

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Well hello there! So I’m in the midst of 6 (yes, SIX!) different food events this weekend, and I’ve got two down so far. Talk about a blissful food coma!

Here are some of the fun highlights from L.A. Food & Wine’s Asian Night Market. Cameos include talented chef personalities Jet Tila, Aarti Sequeira and Nguyen Tran… plus I eat coconut curry snails. Yes, SNAILS! Check it out here:

Copyright 2014 Tanaya Ghosh

Click above to see my favorite moments of L.A. Food & Wine Asian Night Market… and to see how the snails were!

Phew! More highlights and photos of all the innovative food and creative cocktails to come (peanut butter matcha sesame oil cocktails, say what?!). Alright, I’ll be priming my stomach for more food now, because I’m off to the Lexus Grand Tasting and will be reporting back shortly!

For realtime updates, you can always follow me on Instagram and Twitter for some other fun, exclusive tidbits from each of the events… and my crazy, unpredictable foodie life in general. I’d love to connect with you guys and see what you’re eating and experience, too… Cheers!

Top Picks For An Epic Foodie Weekend

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Copyright 2014 Tanaya Ghosh

Summer is still in full swing, with tastings and fun activities to suit everyone’s palates, from the fancy foodie to the laid-back luncher. This weekend alone happens to be gastronomically pleasing beyond belief!

Here are my picks for where to go and what to taste this weekend, from L.A. to the O.C.:

L.A. Food & Wine – The premiere foodie event– or actually, a series of events over four days… starting tonight! Renowned chefs from all over L.A. and the nation will convene to give us mouthwatering bites exploding with innovation and flavor through unique events such as Iron Chef Morimoto’s Asian Night Market, and Graham Elliot & Fabio Viviani’s Ultimate Bites of L.A. soiree. (Side note: I’m a big fan of Fabio Viviani since his Top Chef days, and he’s such a sweetheart each time I’ve met him, too. He even gave a shoutout to Tanaya’s Table last year! Who else is a Fabio Viviani fan??)

This is a can’t-miss shindig in the heart of downtown, if you’re willing to invest (quite) a bit more to get pampered at a luxe food event. I will say from the past few years covering L.A. Food & Wine that the experience you get is unparalleled, and you will have a memorable time!

Thes past posts here may help to show you the evolution of the event since 2011 (I was working & living in Hong Kong the summer 0f 2012 — the only way you can keep me away from this event is to send me to another country!):

L.A. Weekly Pancake Breakfast – I’m quite excited for this one, since brunch is my all-time favorite meal. Curated by KCRW’s Evan Kleiman, top restaurants around Los Angeles will serve their unique renditions of a classic brunch. Plus, there will be mimosas and more. Yum!

K-Town Night Market OC Block Party – Held at Angel Stadium in Orange County. Music and masses of people, plus traditional and Asian-inspired food will be served. With SIX (yes, six!) consecutive food events to cover over the course of these next four days, I’m still bummed I’ll be missing this one!

If you’re missing them but wish you weren’t, I will be covering a good portion of these, and will take you with me through the videos, photos and stories to come! It’ll be like you were right there with me, minus the calories ;).

BONUS: L.A. Times’ The Taste is the very next weekend, so pace yourselves, people! It’s yet another series of food events you don’t want to miss, right in L.A. From “Field to Fork” to “Sunday Brunch,” there are a ton of good eats that await! Get your tickets while you can, and prime your tastebuds for some serious fun ahead.

 

Copyright 2014 Tanaya Ghosh

Video Edition: Macaron Ice Cream Sandwiches, Shark + Pho Tacos, Oh My!

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Pho tacos and Thai tea boba with milky popsicle swirl-ins? These things actually exist, thanks to Rakken and Pop’d Up. Here’s a quick little video to give you a taste of these bites and more from last weekend’s 626 Night Market held at Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, CA.

With that, here’s my first-ever vlog episode, with more to come!

Copyright 2014 Tanaya Ghosh

Click to see the night market bites in action!

Other highlights included a craveworthy Hawaiian-inspired pineapple and bacon-wrapped “Terrier-ki” dog with wasabi mayo and a nori seaweed garnish from Tokyo Doggie Style, which was voted one of the top 6 food trucks in Los Angeles. I can see why, with not only their innovative Japanese fusion food truck creations, but also their stellar customer service!

626 NM Tokyo Doggie Style Hot Dog

Their buns are sourced straight from New England, and the care they put into crafting their food really shows. We also tried their “OG” fries, with kimchi, cheese, steak and caramelized onions. Sinfully delicious!

626 NM Tokyo Doggie Style Fries

We also had shark tacos from La Sriracha Macha, with legal shark meat from Australia. The shark meat actually tasted like a mild, firm fish, and the Mexican Sriracha sauce was a nice complement to the taco. The pho tacos from Rakken (as seen in the video) were also moist, savory, complex, and actually tasted like pho in taco form!

626 NM Pho Taco

Last but definitely not least, check out the Fruity Pebbles macaron ice cream sandwich from Dolcissimo Bakeshop! Vanilla ice cream and Fruity Pebbles-flecked giant macarons, rolled in some more of the sweet, colorful cereal for a crunch. It’s magical, unique and oh so delicious… like milk and cereal, in frozen, giant macaron form! It’s the stuff dreams are made of, people.

Copyright 2014 Tanaya Ghosh

There are two more 626 night markets coming up this summer, so stay tuned by visiting the 626 Night Market website! Additionally, Monterey Park is having its inaugural night market this Friday, July 25. Check out the MPK Night Market website for more information. So many night markets, so much delicious food and fun to be had!

Speaking of which, check out the unique bites and foodie highlights from last month’s DTLA Night Market right here. Until next time, let’s all just admire this glorious macaron…

Copyright 2014 Tanaya Ghosh

…just sayin’.

Copyright Tanaya Ghosh 2014

Throwback Thursday: Food Fest Survival Guide

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Given that summer is prime food festival season, I thought I’d share a little TBT article I wrote for Neon Tommy on food fest protips. Plus, here are links to a few foodie events coming up to put your new skills to the test:

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Food Festival Survival Tips: An Insider’s Guide

After regularly attending various tasting events, I’ve compiled a few tried-and-true tips for you, to maximize every food fest experience you encounter, without the learning curve (trust me, there is one!).

For attendees:

– If the fest takes place where there’s hot weather, bring water and sun protection. It will get hot, and it’s hard to keep scarfing down food while sweating profusely and getting scorched. Trust me on this one.

– Bring a tote bag to carry all the random (but awesome) freebies you’ll get, so you have both hands for eating! Sometimes you get tote bags at events, and sometimes you don’t. Since they can be folded up, you’re not risking much by taking one just in case.

– Come hungry, but pace yourself once you’re there. Be choosy and prioritize what you want to eat most, because those little bites add up faster than you think. The novice’s biggest mistake is to eat as much of everything they see as soon as they walk in, until they no longer can stuff their mouths with the food they really wish they had room for. This kind of tragedy kills me a little inside, personally. Don’t let it happen to you!

– Wear comfortable shoes and stretchy clothing. This is not a fashion show, people. Most of us are here to eat, not to teeter around in heels as we eat — and drink — excessively.

 

If you’re on the vendor side, some tips from a consumer standpoint include the following:

– Offer something small but unique, because you want to be worth every bite… because there are so many vendors to choose from. People may get full before they reach you, so you want to have something small but worth tasting!

– Incorporate something refreshing, if you can… or otherwise weather-appropriate, depending on the location and season. Sometimes, those are the most appealing and memorable bites.

– DEFINITELY have a written description of the food, because it serves neither you nor your customer if your dish was the best they’ve had, but they don’t even know what they ate. Having a sign enables you to focus on dishing out the food and greeting people instead of taking the time out to repeatedly describe it every two seconds. It also makes it easier on us food writers… just sayin’!

– Yes it can get tricky, but please try extra hard to bring enough of your advertised dish, because as an attendee, there’s nothing worse than missing out on what you wanted to try the most from your favorite vendor… and it’s not even halfway through the event. Having to settle for something you’re serving in place of the one thing we wanted most doesn’t compare, most of the time.

– When planning your dish, anticipate huge lines and have a game plan on how to turn the food around faster than you think you’ll need to!

– Smile! Occasionally, the lack of pleasant interaction has soured the experience of an otherwise great tasting. A friendly attitude when interacting with customers is what ties the whole food experience together, so please don’t forget that crucial step! People are excited to try your food, and a smile goes a long way.

Of course, many vendors have these things down pat, and there are a lot of logistics that make it much harder than it looks. But from a consumer standpoint, this is what we’d love to see. Anything else you’d like to add to either list, go ahead and add in the comments!

Reach Tanaya Ghosh here or follow her on Twitter.

— This article can originally be found on Neon Tommy. —