Local Discoveries – The Who, What, Where #DiscoverTorrance

Shopping, adventures, and foods oh my!

As you saw from my last article, I visited the neighboring city of Torrance last month and I’m so happy to share my discoveries with you. Where we shopped, our explorations, local eats … all the things! We stayed at the Best Western Plus Avita Suites and they provide a complimentary breakfast buffet so we only had to find lunches and dinners … and saucy sips … oh and desserts 😉 There’s so many options and I got so many of your recommendations from Instagram, thank goodness discovertorrance.com exists which helped me narrow down all my choices! Pssst and thank YOU for your recs <3

So day one was all about settling into our suite and enjoying dinner at our hotel, so the next morning after we enjoyed the buffet we visited the Farmer’s Market for some lunch and local goods.

It was such a beautiful day in Torrance that it was easy to walk around for three hours before I decided I wanted a mid-day pick me up. We headed to the best boba in town… 7 leaves cafe

That would be my macarons and cafe over there chillin’ next to the Moana tree haha. Sooo good, please go there and get the Taro milk tea boba! The Depot was high on your recommendation list as it was on the discovertorrance.com site so that’s exactly what we did for dinner and let me tell ya… I’m a martini kinda lady and their martini’s cannot be matched! So perfectly paired with a filet and mashed potatoes dinner. Umm and that would be pistachio butter you see next to that fresh baked bread *drool*

P.S. that’s the Chef! Of course I asked to take a photo with him, it was one of the best meals evaaaar! And what better way to wrap up day one than a night cap?! We walked over to a neighboring hotel bar and enjoyed one more saucy sip… can you guess what I got? And of course- a bar pretzel is the best choice duh.

Perfection ah. With time in the books I was already fully enjoying my time in this city. Day two began the same as the previous morning but we switched up routine by having some Hawaiian lunch for the first time. I learned that Hawaiian food and Chamorro food (it me!) are very similar! Think spam and rice haha This was The Loft in Torrance and they did not disappoint.

Musubi and Hawaiian fried chicken for the win! Since I’m the type of person who plots my next food venture WHILE still having the current meal (ha!) I decided we’d go to Brio for dinner AND dessert and enjoy some home made donuts… they had me at donuts let’s be real.

We wrapped up the day by finishing our holiday shopping at Del Amo Fashion Center, which by the way is just a hop and a skip away from our hotel… winning! It was such a perk considering I shopped ’til I dropped.

Why yes, I did purchase this camo cropped pull-over *hail hands* I ended up completing all of my holiday shopping AND shopped for myself so… treat yo self. Day two was a smashing success and when I tell you I slept like a baby, trust.

Before leaving on our final day in Torrance, I ran one last time at our hotel gym, enjoyed a homemade waffle and took time with every bite, and just had to make one last stop before checking out of my staycation dream. Enter Strand Brewing for some FUNS!


Ending my staycation in Torrance could not have been any more fun than enjoying a flight of local beers, playing some games, and sports!

I had the best time and feel so lucky to have partnered with such a welcoming and hospitable community to showcase some of the best places in Torrance to eat, visit, explore, and shop <3 I hope you get a chance to visit our new home away from home and I’ll link you to all the places that helped make our stay so memorable and easy to navigate!

Have you added ‘more adventure’ to your New Year goals yet? Let’s do this! 

https://discovertorrance.com/stay/

https://discovertorrance.com/hotels/best-western-avita-suites/

www.discovertorrance.com

 

 

 

 

 

 

LOCAL EATS L.A. – VOODOO DONUTS!

It’s about time I thank Portland for its sole contribution to my expanding waist line LOL Anyone else? No, just me mkayyy. Well if you’ve ever savored the flavors of Salt & Straw, relished in a creamy cheese by Tillamook , or basked in the light of the combined ice cream + Tillamook’s brand, than you too can send this post to Portland as a thank you.

A lot of Portland’s local sensations have made their way out of the big city into some of our own towns, and have I mentioned Salt & Straw yet?! Okay if that name sounds unfamiliar to you, please locate one asap, go overindulge and thank me later. In the meantime, we have our friends Karissa and Sebastian to thank for hand delivering us to this deliciousness this past weekend!

A recent addition to Los Angeles from the great city of Portland is Voodoo Donuts. I have to say, there’ve been a lot of conflicting verdicts when it comes to if the donuts are delicious or not. Can I just emphasize here . . . they’re DONUTS! I personally don’t have a palette advanced enough to turn down a donut, even if it were on the floor of a subway station. Oh I’d take a second glance! 😉

So we gave it a go after seeing a ton of Instagram photos showing off their picks at their newest location in Universal City Walk.  After a half hour wait we were there, at the front door, aroma and all! Lots of photo ops, they know what they’re doing!

And what was our ruling? Well our group was elbow deep in fried fluffy pastry bread, milk, and there were a lot of happy dances happening lol Again, they’re just donuts, who doesn’t love donuts?! But I get it, if I’m comparing Voodoo donuts to places like Dunkin Donuts, Yum Yum’s, or any other donut place, there really isn’t one.

Sorry if that’s disappointing, but honestly if you placed two donuts in front of me, one from Voodoo and one from Yum Yum’s, I wouldn’t be able to tell the difference. Wrapping this up I’ll say this, Voodoo Donuts may be pricey, they may be all fancy looking with their fancy toppings, but I’ll give ’em this, they’re yummy. They make a signature donut called the Voodoo Doll and it’s damn delicious!

I suggest you make a trip over there and try a box of donuts for yourself, see how you feel about them! And don’t be alarmed but this was the only photo I got of said Voodoo Doll person, it was too delicious to wait haha

Any newness in your hood? I hear we have a new coffee shop opening much like Philz Coffee and I couldn’t be happier about it! I love coffee! I love dessert! I love food!