Sometimes, it is nice to have good food without having to go through OpenTable and cough up cash for valet. This may be the beginning of an interesting category. Nothing quite reflects a city’s foodscape than the eateries that locals love and frequent. It is usually very affordable, informal and can be had spontaneously. This is my collection of food/places that my family and I enjoyed in our California summer break.

Copenhagen Bakery and Cafe is in Burlingame. It’s a short drive from where I lived. D and I love the breads and pastries. They also serve good brunch but the place is always packed and like everywhere else in Cali, parking is a bitch. So we always end up ordering things online while D circles the block as I pick it up.

I was told that they now ship all over the US. I will be ordering the Princess Cake for my birthday. I like how you can get almost anything shipped now (for a price). It makes a very good inspiration to work your ass off to get all the things your greedy, little consumeristic heart desires at a click of a mouse.

Cafe Hana is in JapanTown, San Francisco. I really love this area, food-wise. This area can instantly turn ghetto, so don’t make quick turns. Otherwise, it is a food street heaven. Geisha Float is a favorite. It’s called something else now because apparently, we can’t use the term geisha anymore. California being California.  I will still call it Geisha float because I’m Asian. I’m not about to go all political on a food blog, so just go figure.

In Solvang (a Dutch-founded city near Sta. Barbara), we found another amazing Danish bakery.

With all humility, I must admit, i’m an absolute delight on long drives. You really don’t want me to be behind the wheel, but I never sleep, I keep up a constant chatter, have the best playlist on my phone, and most importantly, I bring the best eats. Exhibit A pictured above.

In LA, we went to The Original Farmers Market. It is huge with lots of food stalls. The Waffleshot caught my attention.

In its ad, it is hoping to eliminate waste in the most delicious way possible by creating edible cups filled with coffee, hot chocolate, and more. Alrighty then. Far be it for me to stand in the way of making our world green. It is absolutely delicious too.

Word of warning, the cone is not meant to withstand the heat of the espresso. Things can get dirty pretty fast. It will melt and you will find yourself licking the delicious espresso from your elbow. So take a pic, sip within a minute, post in social media, call it a day.

We were waiting to meet my med school friends in an hour so we thought that Laduree was a good place to kill time. It has a more- than- decent wine list and the macarons, while severely over-priced, were crafty and yummy.

The Butcher, The Baker and The Cappuccino Maker is a really nice coffee and small-plate place in Beverly Hills. Again, not cheap, but it is a local favorite. We had coffee here as we were winding down from a day of LA sight-seeing and were simply not in the mood to get it from Starbucks.

Cow’s End is another quaint coffee-shop favorite in Venice, California. To be honest, the food part is really almost the same as Starbucks. The location, is gold, though. It’s right smack in the midst of Venice in all it’s weird and hip-ness. Sitting outdoors with people next to us smelling like weed, made me feel young…

So this wrap-ups my Cali adventure in super casual food places that’s not MacDonalds. It’s a hit and miss, but almost always fun.