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intelligentsia

Maximiliano - Highland Park

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Maximiliano - Highland Park

Maximiliano is another restaurant concept by Andre Guerrero. Many of you LA natives are familiar with one of his famous restaurants in Eagle Rock called The Oinkster. With their famous pulled pork sandwich to their highly talked about Belgian french fries with garlic aioli that changed the world. Honestly, their french fries here are killer. It was my first time and many others of having a twice fried potato. It's pretty genius, but Oinkster's really made it their own.

Maximiliano is a different concept than Oinkster's. Practically being the only Italian restaurant in Highland Park, Maximiliano has a full menu that carries a wide range of Italian favorites.

5930 York Blvd Los Angeles, CA 90042

Raspberry Bellini.

To get started right away, I ordered a raspberry bellini with a cup of Intelligentsia coffee.

It was raining a little bit on this day, so a little Prosecco definitely helped with the gloomy weather.

 

Preview of the items we had to taste.

I am happy I get to share with you a wide variety of the items on their menu.

Smoked Salmon Pizza

This was one of my favorites on the menu. The crust was thin and crispy, the smoked salmon was nice and salty, but balanced with the creamy subtle flavors of the Burrata. I would order this again.

Breakfast Pizza

Huevos Rancheros

Better eat this fast or the potatoes will starch up once cold. Delicious fennel sausage with the over easy eggs to really put a dent in your gut. There's nothing wrong about this. Just douse each slice with more chili flakes to get the full experience.

Pasta Carbonara

Hand-Made Linguini, nice and al dente with bacon confit, pecorino and a poached egg waiting like a hot water balloon waiting for you to slice for the ultimate yolk porn. You should've seen it run in all its glory. Pass the chili flakes. Butt fires will be worth it.

Beef short rib hash

Delicious melt in your mouth pulled pork. Sweet, savory, and luxurious with the ooey gooey egg. This is definitely a good breakfast item to order if you are a meat lover like me. So perfect with a sunny side up egg. Break the egg into the short ribs before enjoying.

Seafood Pasta

Another house made pasta. What you see is squid ink linguini served with clams, calamari, scallops, spanish chorizo, mussels, shrimp, jalapeno roasted red pepper served up in a pomodoro sauce. They are not shy of seafood.

Tender fall off the bone Moroccan braised lamb shank. This was served on some curried couscous. Very delicious and slightly gamey without it tasting viciously grassy. With the leftovers, you can always make dumplings with the meat, turn it into a ragu, or even just straight up wrap it in some tortillas. Definitely worth ordering when you come.

Ricotta Pancake

One of the best pancakes I've ever put in my mouth. Once it comes out straight from the kitchen, the aroma from the lemon curd will make you salivate almost immediately. The pancake had a nice crispy crust, hot, melting the lightly dusted powder sugar before dousing a large scoop of curd goodness. We had to share, but in reality, I would want this all to myself.

 

Make your reservations if you have not. Go in a group so you may try more things.

Also, here's a snip of their drink menu (Beer & Wine)
 

Maximiliano is also Craftsman Brewing Company’s Official Tasting Room! Join them every Monday & Tuesday for their awesome Beer Flight Nights where you can try Five 5oz pours of North East LA’s finest Craft Beers for just $12. I'll definitely be here for that.

5930 York Blvd Los Angeles, CA 90042

Click here to visit Maximiliano.

Cheers!

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Intelligentsia - Abbot Kinney

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Intelligentsia - Abbot Kinney

To continue on with celebrating John's Birthday, we went to Intelligentsia after our brunch at Gjelina. I find the location in Abbot Kinney much more sophisticated than the one is Pasadena when it comes to flavor. Cappuccinos are always our go-to at a roaster like this. I love the dairy ratio here compared to what I received in Pasadena. I wouldn't say I am a connoisseur, but I am confident to say I am pretty close to one. There were days when we used to have nothing to do but hit up local coffee shops in Los Angeles. Those days of drinking caffeine for fun is something I truly miss... so this was definitely a treat not just for John, but for me as well.

Walking in, you will see a glass filled with baked goods. Go ahead, pick something.

Step up to a barista when you are ready to order and they will be more than happy to get your drink on the way. The smell of fresh ground coffee beans just does something to me that I can't explain. I always find the smell to be intoxicating. I love getting into a car that has the smell of hot coffee sitting in the cup holder. Or that first brew you make when you are trying to get breakfast ready. It's kind of like, potpourri that wakes you up. I love every bit of it.

Americano on top, cappuccino bottom

I like to add a little raw cane sugar to enhance the espresso. Watch it get swallowed up and sucked in like a black hole.

Stir. Love. Enjoy.

1331 Abbot Kinney Blvd, Venice, CA 90291

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