We sampled a couple of trendy new breakfast places this weekend. The first was Beach Cities Baked Donuts in Redondo Beach and the second was the Hash restaurant at Hotel Erwin in Venice. Both were interesting and worth the visit.
Beach Cities Baked Donuts is located at the corner of PCH and Beryl in Redondo Beach, California. This store location was a gelato/espresso bar and Baskin Robins before that. Stepping inside, we were pleasantly surprised to find we had left LA and arrived in Japan. The store was neat and clean with inviting seating both inside and out. The baked donuts come in a variety of flavors. We sampled a cinnamon sugar and a honey. Both reminded us of the dense cakes we have eaten in Japan. The flavor of each was pleasant and very mild. As suggested by other reviewers, these cakes go down best with hot tea or coffee. I am a huge donut fan, so while I will undoubtedly visit Baked Donuts again, I won't give up my Krispy Kreme and Randy's visits! Related Articles Yelp
Is it ironic that there's a new restaurant called "Hash" in Venice? The menu states the definition of hash is finely chopped vegetables and meats. Hash is an indoor/outdoor restaurant at Windward and Pacific in Venice, California. Both breakfast and dinner are served here. We sat at the outdoor patio, adorned with silver tables, and a circular bench with orange, yellow and gray stripped pillows all about. We sampled the buckwheat pancakes and the corn beef hash. Both were great! Its hard to find good eggs these days and the bowl of fruit was not only large, the fruit was fresh too. We'll invite our friend who won't miss a Bloody Mary next time to try out the "make your own drink". Hash is located in the Hotel Erwin, a boutique hotel that's part of the Joie de Vivre group.
Hash website
Baked Donuts and Hash Sunday, August 9, 2009
Wild West Texas - Our Favorite Restaurants Saturday, July 11, 2009
Cattleman's Steakhouse ... in Fabens, Texas, view of interesting Indian Cliffs in the background, zoo with rattlesnake cage in the foreground, delicious steak! Highly recommended - not to be missed. The drive out East was worth it alone. As soon as you get away from the mountains around El Paso, the land takes on an interesting, flat but high plateau feel -- excellent.
Couldn't miss our Texas BBQ fix, so we went to the State Line 
... the BBQ pepper turkey is so good. If I had to eat alot of meat, that would be my first choice.
Other favorites of note: the ol' "pink place" stand-by Taco Cabana (in 1978, opened its first restaurant at the corner of San Pedro and Hildebrand Avenues in San Antonio, Texas).
A chain new to us -- El Taco Tote, an "along the border restaurant" started in Juarez, Mexico. Felt like we were in Mexico when we were inside the restaurant (I mean that in a good way - as we love Mexico!)
You have to go to a drive-in when you're in the desert ... and my favorite in El Paso is Sonic, America's Drive-In. I love the cherry limeade and french toast sticks; we hit the 1/2 price happy hour every day!