Trip to LA, SF & SR

You've done a nice job to my eye. You could throw Mikkeller Bar on your SF itinerary if you're looking for another bar with a nice tap list and a crazy cellar.

Also, I've always heard really good things about the Anchor Steam brewery tour.

Just assuming here, but I can't imagine Uber to downtown would be too bad. WeHo would likely be rather more expensive.

 

Used to live in LA and am currently in SF and this is very well done. You won't be disappointed with this itinerary. Great research.

 

HPB *is* in Eagle Rock, so there is no need for much travel. LOL

I'd throw in El Segundo Brewing, which is pretty close to LAX. I don't know how exciting their brewery is, but their beer is quite good. If you want to stray a bit south, there is Beachwood BBQ and Brewing in Long Beach or Seal Beach, and Nobel Ale Works and the Bruery in the Anaheim area.

 

Unlike Eagle Rock Brewery, HPB does use the name of the neighborhood in which they are located. Just a few blocks outside of Eagle Rock though, so your point still stands.

For LA, check out http://www.beeradvocate.com/community/threads/visiting-los-angeles.217487/. It's a bit outdated, though.

 

While on the central coast I would recommend going to firestone walkers barrelworks in buellton vs the main brewery in paso robles, unless you really want to do the tour in paso. Barrelworks has tons of sours and barrel aged beers vs paso that will only have a couple. Barrelworks consist of a little tasting room and large barrel facility adjacent to the restaurant (like 15 steps, its like a walk to the bathroom) and you can take as many 3 oz pours out to your table in the restaurant. It is weird how they have it set up but it is awesome.
In LA there is always beachwood, smog city, monkish, el segundo, maybe even the stone store in pasadena. You could also hit a lot of great beer bars that will have great beer on tap.

 

I liked but didn't love Broken Spanish when I went. Flavors are bold but not much finesse for a restaurant priced at their level. I do like their initial offering BS Tacqueria, which I'd recommend for a quick lunch if you're in DTLA.

Trois mec is pretty good, especially at the price point for fine-ish dining. Something I find in a similar vein is Orsa & Winston, which has a more italian/japanese influence (not fusion) opposed to french like Trois mec. If you want to do fine dining N/Naka / Providence are both excellent choices. My personal tip of the hat is to N/Naka as I love the classical japanese prep. Reservations are booked roughly 2-3 months in advance.

Animal is a good stand by, but if I was going to pick one standard bearer for the most popular casual-ish restaurant in LA it'd be Bestia. Fantastic Italian with a great cocktail list. Probably need to book in advance as spots close up quick.

I'm also a huge fan of Ink. The food is adventurous, complex and whimsical.

If you're staying in Santa Monica it's tough to miss out on Rustic Canyon. Jeremy Fox is an amazing chef and the ingredients really pop.

 

Stay in West Hollywood, loads to walk to, Surly Goat gets fun later on and always has great beers. For me this area is fun. Free shuttle up and down Santa Monica Blvd during party hours. Good quick food at places like Guisados (kind of a must for tacos in LA), Prova for pizza, La Paella has great tapas, skip the paella (a bit down the street). Lots of good food around to add to yours Connie & Ted's, Papilles, Ink, Sotto.

IMO the musts in LA are HPB, Smog City, Beachwood, maybe Phantome (my last visit was pretty awesome) for beer, Thaitown/Koreantown/Mexican for foods that LA has an advantage on, and since it's a couple trip, you should work in some memorable bars such as La Descarga (go on a weekend and request an invite ahead of time on their website), Davey Wayne's, Sassafras when live music is on (all 3 of these are very close to Blue Palms Brewhouse as well). Up in Sonoma make sure to drink wines up in Healdsburg (I'd say Unti, Preston, Bella (the cave they created will be fun for you and the lady). Bear Republic is there as well but kinda meh. Brava, Scopa for eats.

Drive the coastline if you have time, loads of places to see and obviously Barrelworks will be your favorite visit of the whole trip.

 

Great list! Looks like you've done your research.
I'm just going to add to some of these suggestions... definitely do the Stone Company Store in Pasadena while around HPB, it's not too far.
Can't miss out on Beachwood!
While in the OC, of course Noble and The Bruery are musts but Bottle Logic is a good one to try as well.
AND I would go with Firestone in Buellton over Paso Robles, because... Barrelworks!

 

Find a way to make it Beachwood Long Beach. I would skip the Bruery, but that's just me.

 

You'll want to pay close attention to those Bay Area dates. Rare Barrel is only open Fri, Sat, Sun, and Cellarmaker is closed on Mondays, also IIRC Torpedo Room used to oddly be closed on Sundays, but they're on the same open-everyday-except-Monday sched as Cellarmaker now. All will be closed on 25th and no RB on the 28th.

Edit: otherwise it's a great list. I would consider breaking up that LA to SF drive day a bit. Maybe Barrelworks as mentioned, SARA, or some Central Coast wineries.

 

I've heard Stone is a fun visit, but the food is terrible. I also like their beer.

And, yeah, don't miss Central Coast wine. It's just great. And a lot more low key than NorCal wine country.

 

Best beer bars in LA are Glendale Tap, Tonys Darts Away, Fathers Office and Surly Goat. Sunset Beer is also a great bottle shop that lets you open bottles while you're there.

 

So much to do, an uber from Eagle Rock downtown will probably be about $10-15 depending on time of day. You can do fare estimates on their website. +1 on Stone Brewing Pasadena and Firestone Barrelworks. Downtown there is the new Arts District Brewing, and Wurstkuche has good sausage. Firestone Venice in LA may be open by the time you get here, but don't get your hopes up. We have been waiting on that for over a year.

Food: I recommend Alimento in Silver Lake, its a few miles from Eagle Rock. Mohawk Bend,, and Taco Zone food truck, A-Frame in Culver City

I also think you'll be bringing a bunch of beer back in your checked baggage. I recommend Box City, they have a bunch of locations around LA with good prices on 12 bottle shippers. Whatever SARA has in bottles when you go, just max out. Looks like you have already done a lot of research. Cheers

 

Also, up in wine country, people seem to like visiting Bear Republic.

 

While in LA one of your days should be grab a quick lunch, drive down to Smog City, enjoy, walk to Monkish, enjoy, get to Phantom Carriage, enjoy, and then hit Beachwood BBQ in Long Beach for dinner. Then make the trip back.

 

Don't worry, staying in Eagle Rock is awesome! Especially if you have access to a car, but even if you don't you've done great. West Hollywood is mostly garbage, and downtown has lots of cool stuff but isn't a fabulous place to stay, especially for beer. Hermosillo/HPB is excellent, and you can always walk down the street from there to Huarache Azteca (try some huitlacoche!) and/or La Estrella for tacos and/or take a quick car to El Faisan y El Venado for outstanding Yucatecan food.

In Eagle Rock proper the Oinkster is good for a pint and some "slow fast food," like burgers and pulled pork and pastrami done very well. For close-enough food I would also recommend Ricky's Fish Tacos (Wed-Sun during the day), Mexicali Taco & Co., Guisados, ConiSeafood, and Guerrilla Tacos (check their twitter to confirm but they've been setting up outside of Silver Lake Wine on Thursday nights for an awesome combo of wine tasting and tacos). In case it isn't completely obvious, I tend to think that good small plate places (a la Bestia, Animal, etc) are available most everywhere, but outstanding regional Mexican food probably isn't.

You're also pretty close to Verdugo Bar, Sunset Beer and Mohawk Bend, which are some of my favorite bars in the city (along with Hermosillo). Most of the good places around town (Tony's, Surly Goat, Blue Palms, Beer Belly, 38 Degrees, etc) are good about updating the tap lists on their websites, so I'd recommend just looking at the lists to decide where you want to go each night.

And I agree with everyone else about Monkish, Smog City, Phantom Carriage, and especially Beachwood.

… Sorry that ran long and was mostly about Mexican food.