xooro, The Apple Pan and Bossa Nova

Today the wife and I took the day off to take out our younger cousin on his last day of spring break. So, we started at Santa Monica near the 3rd Street Promenade for a snack. The spot is called xooro (pronounced Sure-oh).



You walk in and see these two flat-screens with the menu.



They basically serve fancy-shmancy churros. A little pricey (about $4 each). I ordered up a Mississippi which is a churro filled with peanut butter, dipped in chocolate, and covered with crushed peanuts. My cousin picked up the Jordan's Special which is a churro filled with Nutella and covered with white and milk chocolate.



The Mississippi was not bad, but not great either. You definitely taste the peanut butter filled center, the chocolate, and the crushed peanuts. But, you don't really get anything from the churro itself. It was more like eating a Reese's Cup but with a melted center (now wouldn't that be a tasty treat) but shaped in the form of a churro. All I kept thinking was...I could'a went to Costco, bought one of their gigantic churros for a buck, melted some Reese's in the microwave, and went to town. Would we hit this place up again? I wouldn't count on it.

After we had enough of Santa Monica, we headed over the Century City to meet up with another cousin (we're Filipino, we've got huge families) for lunch. She showed us this joint called The Apple Pan.



This is one seriously old school burger joint.

So here's the deal. You walk in and all you see is a three sided u-shaped counter. There are two super old school registers on each corner. And there is an old dude (the waiters) on each register. In the center behind the counter is the big grill of burger goodness.



The counter has about 20 chairs going all the way around. The customers come in, and wait for a spot to open. We eventually get four chairs, and took a look at the simple menu.



About 30 seconds after sitting down, the old guy comes over and asks "what'll it be." It's no nonsense in this place. Get in, grub, get out. Is that how the lunch counters were back in the day? So, my little cousin and I went for the first two items on the menu. He chose the Steakburger, and I went with the Hickory Burger (Steakburger w/ bbq sauce)....both with cheddar cheese.



These burgers were pretty awesome. Nothing fancy with the toppings, unlike some of these "gourmet" burger joints I've been to. Just your typical lettuce, tomato, pickles, etc. What makes these burgers so great is the burger patties. They have such great flavor. It's like they're grinding really good steaks or something. Maybe its the super old grill they're using. In any case, my cousin and I were both impressed.

At this point, you're probably wondering if we ditched the wife. Well, back at the churro spot, she just had their hot chocolate (yawn). And in this place...remember how I said its a counter w/ registers on each corner? Well my cousin & I were on one side of the register, and she and my other cousin were on the other side. So, all I know is those girls had ordered a tuna sandwich and another steakburger.

The cousin who took us to this place said they're really famous for their apple pies (hence the name). If we didn't scarf down those tasty burgers, I'd probably give you insight on the pies as well. We'll have to do that next time. One side note, the old school registers don't take credit cards... cash only.

Now we get to the evening time. What could we possibly have done? You guessed it... met up with yet another cousin. She took us to a Brazilian joint called Bossa Nova in Hollywood on Sunset.



We started off with their Pao de Queijo which are cheese filled bread balls. I couldn't tell you what the cheese was, but its a lot like melted mozzarella stuffed in these light fluffy puffs. Good stuff.



We also asked to get some of their table bread.



Yeah, that's the house bread...damn, we should'a just stuck with the free stuff. It was great. It was focaccia with some garlic, tomatoes, herbs and parmesean toasted on top.

The wife went with the Bossa Salad with shrimp.



This was a chopped romaine salad with tomatoes, almonds, gorgonzola, homemade croutons and red onions. The salad was light, fresh and really flavorful. Their homemade balsamic dressing is awesome. It's not really overpowering but rather enhances the flavors of the fresh ingredients. The shrimp are described as "Five Shrimps sautéed with white onions, tomatoes, parsley and salsa." I just had a sample of the salad and shrimp. With or with out the protein, this salad was really good. The portion is pretty huge too.

I ordered up a steak the waiter recommended called Coulotte Steak "Picanha." Apparently its a steak prepared traditional Brazilian style. Again this is what our waiter told me. He had an accent...I'm guessing Brazilian (er, Portuguese), so I went with it. I also decided to go with the sauteed veggies & fried plantains as my sides.



The big loin looking thing in the top left corner was the steak. I know this isn't really a steakhouse or anything, but they served up a pretty damn good steak. I always go medium rare, and this one came out perfectly. Nicely seasoned (Brazilian seasonings...the waiter said), it was juicy and tender. What more could a guy ask for? But let me tell you, not to go pansy on you, but the sauteed veggies were really flavorful. They had this mustard-y tang to them. It was unique enough to make it the most memorable item on my plate. All in all, pretty damn good steak dinner for only $16 (and we were on hipster central...Sunset Blvd).

Till next time...Peace out.

xooro
125 Broadway
Santa Monica CA 90401
(310) 260 2919

The Apple Pan
10801 W Pico Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90064
(310) 475-3585

Bossa Nova
7181 W Sunset Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90046
(323) 436-2749

I'm from LA Trick