{ Animal } rawr.

To my fellow carnivores,

There's a special place in my heart for the restaurant, Animal, in LA. My boyfriend knew I had a love for bacon so while researching for a location for our first date, he stumbled upon Animal. Imagine looking up the word, "bacon," on Google and Animal showing up among the results. Ah-may-zing. To this day, John and I celebrate our anniversary every 6 months as an excuse to treat ourselves to Animal.

Behind the restaurant are two chefs, Jon Shook and Vinny Dotolo, who opened Animal in June 2008. They've taken pig to a whole new level, with dishes like pig tails, 'buffalo style," with celery and ranch, pig ears with chili, lime, and fried egg, and my favorite, barbecued pork belly sliders with slaw.

I am obsessed with pork belly and you should be too. There is something about pork belly that makes my taste buds tingle and my appetite purr. At Animal, they serve their pork belly sliders with brioche bread, a union that melts your mouth with every bite.

But don't take my word for it though. Check out their reviews on Yelp and try it out for yourself. The restaurant suggests you to make a reservation about five days in advance, and bring change for parking at the meters.  

And if you love pork belly and want to try other varieties of this delectable meat, check out Musha in Santa Monica. They offer Buta Kakuni, pork belly boiled for 4 hours that tenderizes and reduces the fat. So tender, they say you can cut it with your chopsticks.

Another place that offers it in a sandwich is Mendocino Farms in Marina Del Rey. The chef's take on a traditional Vietnamese sandwich is transformed with Kurobuta pork belly that is braised and caramelized with housemade picked daikon and carrots, cilantro, cucumber, jalapenos, and chili aioli on panini grilled ciabatta bread.

Enjoy your meal!