West Coast Beer Trip

Hours be damned, hit SARA no matter what! Toronado SD will no doubt have beers on by several great So Cal breweries (Societe, Alpine etc), it's a nice place to end up at the end of the day. I say this as a Nor Cal guy who had his first great beer ages ago at SF Toronado, SD Toronado blows it away. SF Toronado is good for a historic visit & some RR, but otherwise skippable. Try for a weekday at Russian River to avoid total mayhem. And while it's true there are other good places near RR, don't shorten your visit there too much. There's typically a LOT on at RR that you'll want to try.

 

I would add FW Barrelworks in Buellton, though you may be able to sample all of their wares at the Invitational, and also recommend a little more time in SF. Mikkeller Bar (not a brewpub, but they do have house beers and excellent guest taps) gets some heat for being pricey, but it's really not much higher than other non-dive city spots and it's cool as shit. They've always had some 'loons available when I've been there for on-site consumption only. City Beer and Cellarmaker are nearby and the latter has stepped their game up as of late.

 

While in the Orange County area (Bruery and Bootlegger's), I would also strongly recommend that you visit Noble Ale Works. They've been putting out some great stuff lately.

 

Eat Mexican food. Eat Asian food (except Chinese Food, snore). Eat sushi. Eat Cambodian food.

This is a good time to be dining in California. There is an explosion of restaurants focusing on local food and lots of them are damn good.

When you are in Paso Robles for FW, head out to the coast for a day. Cambria and Morro Bay are great places to check out the Pacific, see critters like otters and seal lions and elephant seals and dolphins, and eat seafood.

Cambria is nicer, lots of motels with ocean views. My favorite restaurant in the area is The Black Cat in Cambria. Drink local wine!!!

 

It

it is very easy to get one. So long as you do it a year in advance. If you want thomas keller food check out ad hoc. I think you only need a week + to get one.

 

As great as RR's beers are, their food is pretty mediocre brewpub food. Go to Flavor Bistro a few blocks away to eat. You can also get Moonlight beers there. If you stay over up there, Flavor does amazing breakfasts, as well.

 

Agree with all of this except your thoughts on chinese food, especially for OP's time in LA (or the South Bay). There are tons of amazing regional/extraordinary Chinese restaurants all over the San Gabriel Valley, Szechwan restaurants, dumpling houses, noodle places, and much more.

 

Faction in Alameda will be open to the public by the time you arrive, I would definitely add it to your itinerary if you can. Great beer & a killer view of SF from the brewery.

 

Going on what others talked about, in LA have Mexican, Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese, Chinese, Californian (new American), whatever, it's going to be good...

Yeah, San Gabriel has tons of really great Taiwanese / Northern / Central Chinese places. If you're looking for westernized / east coast influenced Cantonize fare it is not great but it is available in Chinatown, which is very central...

Chinese:
Din Tai Fung,
101 Noodle express (get the beef roll and there's a soup with tripe that's pretty phenomenal)
Elite (Actually, pretty ok dim sum)
Cafe Fusion

Mexican is a pleasure and chore to recommend. There's so many great options and so many opinions on what is great. But you should know the best tacos in the area (anywhere? :-| ) are to be found on trucks. They are always in the same spot and usually start serving around sunset. Leo's has my favorite Al Pastor. There are really only two "sit-down" places for tacos I'd recommend for a brief trip: Mexicali, and Guisados. Nearby to those places is Mohawk bend, which has like a millions taps of good stuff.

Japanese: for sushi and otherwise either go to little Tokyo or even better south to Gardena / Torrance / Lomita near the Japanese car design facilities. Or, if you're a high-roller, Urasawa on Beverly(?), is claimed to be the best sushi outside of Jiro or his sons in Tokyo. It'll cost you coin, though. Cheaper but awesome alternatives are Mori Sushi and Sushi Zo. There are other avant garde Japanese places in West LA, search online...

Korean: Lots to choose. an old favorite is a crab hot pot place called Ondal 2.

Have a blast. I'm hungry now...

 

Are you going to Beachwood in Seal Beach or Long Beach? If you go to the Long Beach location there food is good there [try the Fried Pickles] and also walk down maybe 100 feet and hit up the Congregation Ale House, they have a good tap selection and good food also.

 

If you're in Oakland, Beer Revolution, The Trappist.

Berk- Jupiter (one of the most unique places with the outdoor backyard)

Walnut Creek- OL Beer bar and Cafe... I LOVE this place.

SF- The Monk's Kettle

 

Russian River and Lagunitas are quite a bit outside of SF proper, just FYI.

If you're doing Lost Abbey and Stone, you might as well hit up Rip Current a mile or two down the road because I think they're awesome and underrated. Relatively close to Churchill's too.

 

Also for Barrelworks, the regular FW taproom is open every day, but the Barrelworks tasting room is only open Fri-Sun. Make sure you go on one of those days or you'll be slightly disappointed. Cheers!

 

Trail Dust BBQ in Morgan Hill, south of San Jose...great barbecue, better tap selection! BBA Old Rasputin, for Christ's sake!!!

 

Sure sure, some places are certainly great. My point is --->

99% of the Chinese places in California are going to be plain old white people sweet and sour sauce bullshit Chinese food just like wherever it is he is from, it is available anywhere in the USA.

99% of the Mexican places are going to be better than where he is from as we have we bomb ass shit. In a good way.

 

Oh, if you go to Saint Adairius, make plans to eat and taste at Bonnie Doon Winery in Santa Cruz. Fantastic, this place is truly special, they use organics and sustainable and local and magic and witchcraft. You may need reservations for the Bistro. Do it!!!!!

 

That's probably true, but he should probably do the research and hit that top 1% regardless of cuisine. As someone born and raised in West LA, good Mexican food is not at all easy to find.