Friday I began a three-week left coast road trip from Los Angeles that will ultimately bring me to Vancouver after winding through Northern California and the Oregon coast. I'm excited. Of course, I needed to first spend a few days in L.A. (my favorite city)/ I headed straight from the airport to meet my friend Robert in Venice at my favorite restaurant, GJELINA!  I love this place and its so close to LAX that I always make a bee-line for it right off the plane. We had burrata and fresh peaches, corn and smoked paprika, poached eggs and polenta. YUM. I always run into someone I know from somewhere at Gjelina whether it's one of their managers, Angela, who used to be a PAPER intern, or designer Janisa Washington who lives around the corner, or our designer/PAPER friend Minny Mortimer. On this visit I bumped into cute Venice resident and actor/Gjelina employee Anthony Washington. He struggled to wave as he ran by holding a dozen huge loaves of bread that had just come out of the oven. On my way out I caught up with him and his cute pal, photographer and blogger Phill, who was squashing dozens of limes by hand next door at their new outpost, Gjelina to Go, for their famous limeade. GTG is CUTE and has all the benefits of Gjelina without the wait. (Phill told me not to miss the Animal boys' new fish spot Son of a Gun and a spot called Wood Spoon. He also raved about two of his favorite taco trucks -- Tacos Anzas and Taco Zone.) Here's a photo of my new friends Phill and Anthony with the hot L.A. drink of the moment: Mexican Coca-Cola made with real sugar (no fructose). (Their tart, delish Limeade is also a must-try. It's magical.) Tomorrow should be a barrel of fun because Joey Arias arrives. Then we're off to drive to San Francisco!