jadekarrde's Profile
Where to buy grass fed beef or farm specific beef in LA?
Lindy & Grundy is a great source for meat.
2012 Coffee List - Since any other list is Outdated
My experiences are limited only to the westside. I've never been to any of hipster zoned areas, nor is there any reason for me to be downtown at any of those new places. I love coffee, but I"m not going to travel and fight traffic for it. For food, yes, but certainly not for a simple cup of coffee. I brew Aeropress, french press, or Clever dripper at home, weigh and grind my beans fresh. I only buy beans from Conservatory.
When I go to a coffee shop 99% of the time I get coffee, not espresso drinks or faux drinks, just coffee. If the place does really exceptional coffee, I try their espresso, if that is good I might try some of their other stuff. Generally, if they can't manage to brew a cup of coffee, they can't manage to pull an espresso shot, and coffee is more forgiving.
Westside:
1. Cafe Balconi - The coffee here is superb, the experience just lovely, the atmosphere of the place is more than a little lacking. On top of serving the best cup of coffee in LA they also have the best espresso drink I've ever had in their almond latte. Goddamn, it could convert me off coffee.
2. Funnel Mill - coffee is not quite up to the exacting standards of Balconi, but they're 90% there, and the inside is 1000 times better. Iced coffee is excellent, my SO loves their espresso drinks.
3. Conservatory for Coffee Tea & Cocoa - I hesitate leaving them in the top three as I just had the worst cup I've ever had from them today, but I think that was an anomaly, due to the rush and crush they had at the time, they severely underbrewed my clever dripped single cup. five years I've been going here with bad experiences being nearly nonexistant, they're more popular than ever and they're fantastic roasters.
4. Paper or Plastik - Great coffee, haven't yet tried their espresso drinks, but the coffee is excellent.
5. Coffee Tomo - The first few weeks were great, then they had a fall off, now they're pretty good again, though not up to their early peak. Nice vibe to the place but marred by an incredibly stinky bathroom that has a perma poo smell every time I've been (sewage problem?), avoid at all costs the tables near the bathroom.
6. Cafe Luxxe - Good coffee, better espresso drinks with an austere and unfriendly interior. Seen a few celebrities, but that doesn't improve the coffee.
7. Espresso Cielo - pretty much the same as Cafe Luxxe, but I haven't tried any of their non coffee stuff.
8. Starbucks at Maxella/Lincoln (Clover brewed) - The clover really makes a difference and their interior is nice. It's a shame that better roasters can't make use of this incredible machine.
9. Venice Grind - My go to in and out spot when I lived in Venice. You squirt out the coffee yourself, and it's a coinflip how fresh it is. Never had the time to get the pourover, but very decent overall, Love the vibe of the place.
10. Scoops westside - He does a pourover of Intelligentsia beans that puts Intelligentsia Venice* to shame.
Honorable mention: Apple Pan - Something about this percolated power brew they serve is absurdly homey, I can't say it's amongst the best, but it is one I crave more often than others, made all the more delicious by being served with real cream. This is sort of the bud light of coffees, ridiculously drinkable but nothing distinguishable.
* the Venice Intelligentsia was only good while they had Clover machines (still couldn't pull an espresso shot then either), their pour overs are amongst the weakest offered anywhere, pretty pathetic, and what a cold and unfriendly mechanical storefront/vibe they have.
Ramen Yamada-ya coming to Culver City in May
while I love noodles, I love the broth more and there are usually more noodles than I want to eat or will eat. I've been wondering for a while, would it be unacceptably gauche/gaijin to ask for half noodles? Would a ramen ya even do that?
Also, are there customizations that most ramen places do? I ask because there was some discussion of ordering katamen upthread and I have no idea what that means. Is this one of many options one can order that are not listed on the menu?
Ramen Yamada-ya coming to Culver City in May
been twice more, about three days after open and about a week and a half after that. I've tried the main options, the shoyu was more of a minor variation on the main broth, and the Yamadaya seemed exactly like the Kotteri ramen I got on opening day.
The second visit was a bit of a disaster. they must have been short-handed, took forever to be seated while there were open, cleared tables, took forever to deal with check, etc. was handed the wrong ramen (was given the table next to me who sat down about three or four minutes before me) and the center of the egg (which I ate almost immediately) was cold. But the broth was still terrific.
The third visit was back up to the level of the first visit, they had double the serving staff (broke down and hired some gaijin in apparent utter desperation), and I had no complaints. I think I like the noodles about the same as Santouku, the broth is stunning, and the chashu is better than Santouka chashu, not quite as good as Santouka special pork, but the attention to the toppings is really outstanding. An outstanding place, best ramen location on the westside, and if they ever get some tile in for the floor it'll be the nicest interior ramen shop on the westside.
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Santouka
3760 S Centinela Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90066
Ramen Yamada-ya coming to Culver City in May
Opened on saturday and I was there. I tried the ramen with added pork back fat. really delicious, loved all the toppings that came with it. I ordered it as a set with curry rice and chicken karage, both were good, the curry rice was better.
But oh my god, the broth the broth the broth. So incredible, best ramen broth I've ever had. The noodles were pretty good, and the chasu was pretty good, but wow that broth makes this my favorite ramen bowl. Santouka will always have my favorite meat, with their special pork, but goddamn, the broth here just kicks all sorts of ass.
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Santouka
3760 S Centinela Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90066
LA coffee scene: are we at the start of a revolution?
There's a silly new smart phone app (for iphone and android) called LA's Best Coffee. It doesn't include everything yet, but it's a fairly decent list of coffee houses, with user ratings etc. It's a pretty stripped down app, and I'm not sure if its fair to charge for such a limited piece of software, but for a dollar it was worth it for me for the opportunity to chime in with my ratings and it's just nice to have a collection of coffee places listed.
LA coffee scene: are we at the start of a revolution?
Depends on the bean, I've had fruity and complex Sulawesi, Candelaria, and Malabar and others at conservatory. Their standard Peru, Bolivia etc aren't as acidic/bright/fruity and are more nutty. Talk to the guy who roasts them. :)
Top Five L.A. Sandwiches?
Bay Cities Godmother, spicy
Wally's Cheese Box - Italian Hero or Fresh Mozzerella
Surfas - Jorge's Chicken Sandwich
26 Beach - California Roll Burger
A Frame - double cheeseburger
Portos - Chicken Torta
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26 Beach
3100 Washington Blvd., Venice, CA 90292
Best Chocolate
What's great about Askinosie is that they actually make their own cocoa butter from the same varietal beans they make the rest of their chocolate from. He's one of the only chocolate makers to do that, iirc, and I think it's what makes the white chocolate so profoundly special.
Describe your ideal coffee house...
I'd have to disagree completely with you. I've never had a cup of coffee from Funnel Mill that I would rate as stale, though I've definitely had pour beans and stale experience every time I've been to Intelligentsia since they took out the Clovers. Funnel Mill always seems to have fresh roasts and cares about each individual cup, the cups I've had there bettered the one really spectacular cup I had at Intelligentsia. I've never been terribly impressed by the bean quality at Intelligentsia, they introduced me to what coffee could be but those three top coffee houses I've listed have shown me the heights coffee can really ascend to, heights Intelligentsia never really achieved, imo.
However, you could be completely right and I simply didn't notice; it is important to add that Funnel Mill has two powerful non coffee factors working in its favor, the warm lighting and friendly, spotless appointment of the restaurant makes me very inclined to overrate it relative to what it might achieve in an unappointed, neutrally toned/lit room (ie objective). And it's equally important to note that Intelligentsia likewise has two powerful noncoffee factors working against it, the brash lighting and antagonistic seating with postmodern metal decor and the name itself suggest I am inclined to underrate it relative to what it might achieve in the abovementioned neutral environment.
Yet despite the negative factors working to bias me against Intelligentsia, it was my favorite coffee for several months after it opened, and it did open my eyes to the possibility of coffee, so I would like to think that I was not too unconsciously biased against it. However, it's entirely possible that I simply succumbed to selection and confirmation bias when they took out the clover and used that change as an excuse to allow a bias to fester.
Likewise the lengthy interval (around a year and a half) between Intelligentsia becoming average and my discovery of Funnel MIll (et al) may well have led to an overreaction in favor of the new discoveries.
On the other hand, since I tend to be hyperaware of my own biases and preferences and my own tendencies towards confirmation and selection bias, I'm rather confident in standing by my assessment that Funnel Mill is far superior to Intelligentsia in taste, bean selection, freshness of the roast, atmosphere of the facility and overall service. Funnel Mill isn't the best in every category, Cafe Balconi has better service and a more selectively curated bean selection, Coffee Tomo roasts their own and has superior food options, but Funnel Mill is the best all around ideal coffee house experience.
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Funnel Mill
930 Broadway, Santa Monica, CA
Coffee Tomo
11309 Mississippi Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90025
Medium to Dark Roast Coffee, Whole Beans
Conservatory for Coffee Tea and Cocoa in Culver City. They have a variety of beans and roasts, they do all the roasts themselves in house, in smallish batches. I've never seen them sell beans older than 2 days (2 days can be good because some/most beans time to degas).
Describe your ideal coffee house...
I've been to most every coffee house in west LA and there is only one answer that meets every caliber of Ideal.
Funnel Mill
They have a mix of small tables, bar seating, comfortable couch/chair style seating and a tremendously soothing atmosphere. There is power and wi-fi available but few campers (the tables are not that generous), service is incomparable, the coffee is spectacular (I don't care for non-coffee drinks at all) and the noise level is almost always at a pleasant buzz. It's a fabulous first date spot or place to enjoy a book, do a crossword or just bliss out to your caffeine fix. There is only one flaw which is they are closed on Sunday, but I'm utterly willing to forgive them for that.
Coffee Tomo comes in a close second to Funnel Mill. They have broad, big tables, with comfortable seats (but wooden, not all day seats. It's not loud, but the space feels smaller than Funnel Mill. There are always a few campers, as the tables allow a lot of sprawl. They have wi-fi and power available. The coffee is tremendous, but the house made pretzels are equally excellent (and unique) and having in house snack food that good is an Enormous plus. I spent a few nights in the past couple weeks reading there. Friendly staff, but it'd be nice if you didn't have to get up to go retrieve your drink and food, sometimes it's quite difficult to extricate yourself from the small tables by the windows. I love the vibe you get from those big wood tables. Their biggest downside is the restroom, which I didn't notice but my girlfriend was not a fan
Cafe Balconi is also quite good, they have absolutely impeccable service, and staying here all day long is incredibly easy, in fact, I've done it a few times and just ran a tab and paid when I left after I'd been there hours (which covered a shift change). Their service pre coffee is very elite. after grinding, they give you the coffee to approve the aroma, then brew it for you. My first cup there was one of those eye-opening, oh my god top three cups of coffee all time moments. My second cup was also excellent, but not as stunning. Their pastry is quite good. The seating is a rather sad affair as it is such a small space. One bar overlooks the sink where equipment is rinsed, the one small round table has very uncomfortable seats, and the other table seems to sit too low to be good for a computer. I haven't tried to bring out my computer here, but I can't imagine anywhere that would have space to even open a laptop, much less plug it in somewhere. I doubt they have wifi. Ironically, they use an ipad for their register and you receive your receipt via text message. This place is very quiet, very peaceful, if the seating were more comfortable I'd spend most of my weekends there reading a book.
So these three places represent the best cup of coffee you can get on the westside and also the best overall experience.
Lesser coffee houses follow:
Conservatory - the only place I buy coffee beans it is always busy, closes early, is closed Sunday, is usually loud, crowded and almost boistrous. The seating is rather uncomfortable and it's not really a place to linger. They have regulars though, and there are usually a couple campers. They do one of the best pour-overs, but you wouldn't even know they offer it. Their dispenser coffee is the best you can expect from a dispenser, really a cut above the rest. I'm not one for coffee drinks but their double-shot mocha, served for 'here' in a proper ceramic mug with whipped cream and chocolate syrup is the best mocha I've ever had. A true guilty pleasure.
Intelligentisia - basically the weakest pour over cup I've ever gotten from a coffee house, and I've had it a few times. The only thing that made them special was the Clover, that built an unearned reputation and largely they overcharge and underserve. Also, all their seating is designed to be maximally uncomfortable so they have high turnover and few lingerers. No power, there was wifi last time I took a computer. Never take a first date here, it is loud, awkward, there's a huge line, no available seating and when you eventually get seating it's horrendously uncomfortable.
Urth Caffe - no wifi, no power, more of a restaurant than a coffee house. Still they provide good service, good coffee and it makes for a nice date spot.
Espresso Cielo - a place to order and leave, very good coffee, but never struck me as a place to sit down.
The Novel Cafe - Kitschy, and 60s-dozy but not overly uncomfortable, slow service on the food, they may even forget your order. really sketchy/skanky bathrooms. Coffee unremarkable and worse than starbucks.
Groundworks - the coffee is absolutely awful, you come in and press it out of the dispenser yourself, most of the time it tastes as though its two hours old (at 9am) there is no seating whatsoever and it's just generally a rather unfriendly place.
Joni's Coffee Roaster - more of a restaurant than a coffee place, they seemed confused when I was looking more for coffee or coffee beans than to sit down and order. They only had one roast, one blend of beans you could buy and those were over roasted and rather disappointing. They serve a quite decent cup there though and the food is pretty good.
Cow's End - The dive bar of coffee houses. Old natty couches, sprawling huge space and a quirky venice vibe to the menu. The most laid back place on the list
Starbucks on Maxella/Lincoln - I hate to say it, but it's got to be mentioned. They brew clover, which puts their coffee at better quality than some of the dispenser coffee places on this list. they have big tables. they have bar seating, they have power outlets and wifi and they have incredible comfortable leather chairs as well. Be sure to ask for a ceramic cup when you order clover, which makes the experience that much less of a 'starbucks' experience which means it is that much more of a pleasurable way to enjoy a cup of coffee, a book, the internet or the paper. :)
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Urth Caffe
267 S Beverly Dr, Beverly Hills, CA 90212
Joni's Coffee Roaster Cafe
552 Washington Blvd, Marina Del Rey, CA
Funnel Mill
930 Broadway, Santa Monica, CA
Tomo
18707 Devonshire St, Northridge, CA 91324
Espresso Cielo
3310 Main St, Santa Monica, CA 90405
Coffee Tomo
11309 Mississippi Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90025
Coffee Tomo - new on Sawtelle
Groundworks in Venice has never achieved higher than Peets for me, and their coffee, in the dispensers, is usually starbucks quality (a few times, has been less than that sad standard). The Starbucks with a clover at Lincoln and Maxella does a better cup of coffee than Groundworks. They make an a pretty good Americano at groundworks though.
Two weeks in Santa Monica...what to eat, where to eat it!
If you're going to walk the beach, consider Abbot Kinney in Venice for food options as well, the beach walking path (there's also a bike path and bike rentals around) from Santa Monica to Venice a much nicer, and easier, walk than the fairly heavily traveled Main Street to Abbot Kinney route you're likely to take to get to Venice via streets.
Where can I find gourmet SPECIALTY STORES in Los Angeles and surrounding areas?
Wally's Cheesbox
Cheese Store of Beverly Hills
Bay Cities
Surfas
Mel & Rose (Italian like Bay Cities but especially for hard to find chocolate bars/couvature chocolate)
Low brow brunch?
Maxwell's Cafe in Mar Vista/Marina del Rey/Venice on on 13329 washington blvd.
(edit: I looked it up and it's none of the above, but actually Culver City? WTH? it's two blocks from the intersection Washington and Lincoln, how is that still Culver?)
Maxwell's is exactly what you're asking for.
Expect to see a line outside. unless you're hitting it up at 10:30 or before.
slightly less low brow would be Cora's Coffee Shoppe in Santa Monica.
Also in Santa Monica, but Inland Santa Monica is Lazy Daisy Cafe.
All of these places are fairly low brow brunch fair that we hit up one of at least once a month.
Completely opposite side of town (where the GF is from originally) in the area of Montrose, La Canada and Flintridge:
Black Cow is my favorite brunch, lovely menu and spectacular french press coffee
Star restaurant (same owners as Black Cow) is also quite good
Hill Street Cafe is pretty low brow, one of the most midwestern brunch/breakfast places I"ve eaten at in LA.
Dish Restaurant has a much more pleasant upscale interior.
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Cora's Coffee Shop
1802 Ocean Ave, Santa Monica, CA 90401
Coffee Tomo - new on Sawtelle
I"m a huge coffee geek, but I will never drink coffee that's been pooped out of an animal.
But yes, Funnel Mill does indeed have the Kopi stuff from time to time, probably best to contact them about it ahead of time. It's terribly expensive.
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Funnel Mill
930 Broadway, Santa Monica, CA
Coffee Tomo - new on Sawtelle
I've now tried their espresso. It really is funky, an excellent pull, mouth-coating intensity like the essence of coffee, a twinge of bitter with a touch of sour and overall just a very umami kind of espresso. Fabulous.
I also like Tomo's iced coffee better than Funnel Mill's, though I do prefer Funnel Mill's syphon coffee to a pour over cup, Coffee Tomo is one of the best pour over's in LA.
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Funnel Mill
930 Broadway, Santa Monica, CA
Two weeks in Santa Monica...what to eat, where to eat it!
Happy Hour, Copa D'Oro is a must, great prices, awesome cocktails.
I had a fantastic sour beer (and very good food too) at the Yard last time I was there, but haven't been there for Happy Hour. This is a gem and one of my favorite places in SM.
Father's Office on Montana is very tiny, btw, forewarned is forearmed
The Rooftop restaurant at the Huntley Hotel has really good drinks, but haven't been there for happy hour.
Brunch at Zengo is all you can eat and imbibe for 35, sounds very worth it to me with a very foodie brunch menu. haven't tried it yet, gonna be a first date anniversary meal in a few weeks though.
If you're looking for something scenic for Brunch, Dukes of Malibu has a lovely sunday brunch, all you can eat, carving station, good food (not great and not foodie food), but a fantastic locale, when we were there we had waves crashing on the rocks next to our window.
We had a great brunch last week at Cora's Coffee Shoppe. The salmon variation on Eggs Benedict was superb.
Joe's of Bleeker St has maybe the only pizza a New Yorker would eat in LA. For California style pizza, Abbot's Pizza Co, a walk up joint, has a lot of unusual slices. Avoid the Pico branch at all costs, go to the Abbot Kinney Branch.
The Godmother sandwich (I like it spicy) at Bay Cities Italian Deli (very very close to the intersection of Lincoln and Santa Monica) is one of LA's favorite sandwiches. I would consider it a must.
and they're not eateries, but Cafe Luxxe on Montana has excellent coffee and Funnel Mill (very near your intersection) has phenomenal coffee. The former has no wifi, the latter is closed Sundays.
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Father's Office
1018 Montana Ave, Santa Monica, CA 90403
Bay Cities Italian Deli
1517 Lincoln Blvd, Santa Monica, CA 90401
Abbot's Pizza Co
1407 Abbot Kinney Blvd, Venice, CA 90291
Cora's Coffee Shop
1802 Ocean Ave, Santa Monica, CA 90401
Funnel Mill
930 Broadway, Santa Monica, CA
Copa D'Oro
217 Broadway, Santa Monica, CA 90401
Zengo
395 Santa Monica Place, Santa Monica, CA 90401
Eating potato products makes you ... (wait for it) ... FAT!
Please don't mock, this is actually important research, baseline research is always the most mocked and always the most essential in terms of being done. If potatoes are uniquely fattening in comparison to other tubers then that is something we should understand better.
And consider that extra consumption of just french fries over a four year period leads to a 3.3lb gain. It's not hard to extrapolate that to forty years and see that french fries could lead to thirty excess pounds.
In any event, of course potatoes are fattening, they induce an elevated insulin response, and since insulin is the hormone responsible for storing fatty acids in fat cells, foods that induce more insulin response tend to be fattening as a rule. it's just basic science.
Coffee Tomo - new on Sawtelle
Coffee Tomo is just off Sawtelle, next door to where Tsukemen ramen will be opening at the end of the month. I read about it in this last week's LA TImes and decided to give it a try Sunday
Like Conservatory, all their beans are roasted small batches in-house, in the front-of-the-house actually, as the coffee roaster is just to your left when you walk in. Unlike Conservatory, all their coffee drinks are served pour over. I initially ordered their Yirgacheffe, but they suggested I try another because they had just been roasted that day. As coffee geeks will know, beans need a day or two to de-gas after roasting before they're at their best. I tried the brazilian. I got it for there, and they asked if I wanted a ceramic cup, I said yes and they served it to me in a to-go cup, oh well. The pour over was excellent, better than Intelligentsia. Overall I'd grade the coffee a phenomenal A-, only topped on the westside by Funnel Mill.
I also tried one of their pretzels...
DAMN!
I got the red bean and cheese one, this is a horseshoe shaped pretzel, with some decorative knots tied on it. It was fresh (took about ten minutes) and steaming hot when served to me. Stuffed inside the pretzel was a combination of red bean and mozzerella cheese. the combination is an odd one, but to me (a lover of red bean filled pastry) very delicious. The pretzel was not large, but it would be fine to share because it was very rich--it is quite a lot of cheese stuffed in that pretzel. My biggest caveat is that I'm not sure how well it went with the coffee, tea might be a more appropriate order if ordering a pretzel, they have some sweeter pastry offerings that I may try next time I go.
I'm looking forward to going back, trying some of their other pretzels and other food options. Next time I intend to try the espresso, which sounds absolutely fascinating, based on the LA Times review. I've so rarely had a good espresso that I have high hopes Coffee Tomo can become my go-to.
Also, I noted that there is a new ramen place, Tsukemen, opening next door to them at the end of June. They had a sign up which indicated that their opening or soft opening would be announced on facebook, but I couldn't seem to find them on facebook, at least not in English, and my rudimentary abilities to read kana has apparently disintegrated away to nothing in the past few years. :-p It looks to me that Tsukemen is a popular chain in Japan, ala Santouku, but I'm not certain about that. If it is though, I'm very excited, hopefully this will be the first decent ramen on Sawtelle.
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Funnel Mill
930 Broadway, Santa Monica, CA
Tomo
18707 Devonshire St, Northridge, CA 91324
help? ONE DAY ONLY in LA - 20-somethings visiting from NYC
26 Beach
I'm a twenty something and this is where I take out of town friends every time someone visits. It's semi casual, Venice-chic and has a menu that is ONLY in LA with their famous craftsman burgers. The California Roll burger is the best burger I've ever had and the sort of thing found only in LA. Good beer too. It works great for foodies as well as people looking for delicious, approachable, but not crazy expensive food.
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26 Beach
3100 Washington Blvd., Venice, CA 90292
Disney Update?
I love the corn dogs, I got one for the first time at my last trip to Disney and it was stellar, best food I've had in Disneyland. mmm. Yes, deliciously greasy.
Ariel's Grotto we did for the World of Color premium location. It was good food (prix fixe) and a fun experience. but it was MORE than worth it for the World of Color, that is truly a spectacular show, and I'm glad we were right in front to watch it. It'd be nice if there was seating to watch it, but it was still pretty impressive. We talked about staying to see the second show, but wound up not. We should have as we wound up staying later than expected (we didn't leave right away after the show).
My brother's family REALLY enjoyed the Minnie breakfast with characters they offer in Disneyland. The older girl (4) loved it, the younger girl (2) was a bit freaked out by some of the characters, but seemed to like Tigger after he shooed away Captain hook for her.
In Praise of Wally's Cheesebox
after being without for several months, do to a job change, I stopped by Wally's Cheesebox for one of their phenomenal sandwiches.
They are as fantastic as ever. For my money, Wally's is one of the top three sandwich joints in Los Angeles. Their Fresh Mozzerella Sandwich (a caprese variant) is chewy, fresh and delicious, toothsome and hearty enough to match the strength of the ingredients, which are spectacular, the mind-numbingly good pesto combined with the uber fresh and soft mozzerella is just spectacular. My favorite two sandwiches are Langers Pastrami and Bay Cities Godmother, but Wally's is definitely number three. And considering I eat there ten times more often than I ever get to Langers, I really should consider them number two. :)
I can never decide if the Fresh Mozzerella is my favorite or if the equally great Wally's Hero is better.
And I must praise the Prosciutto sandwich, I shied away from trying this sandwich for months because other prosciutto sandwichs I'd had were just not that good, they always got strings caught in my teeth, were tough to bite through, often with hunks of prosciutto being pulled out of the sandwich rather than biting cleanly through. Wally's doesn't do that, it's as easy to eat as the hero, and damn dasty too.
If you're going to be eating right away, the grilled sandwiches are pretty damn good, The Grilled Truffle Cheese is my favorite of these, but the Grilled Ham and Cheese is quite delicious as well.
Every sandwich I've had has been outstanding. But I should also point out that the cheese, chocolate, and speciality foods parts of the cheesebox are also brilliantly curated. The mongers are knowledgable, attentive and very helpful. It's such a warm pleasure, always, to step in there and put an order, I can never quite restrain myself from buying far more than I intended, but there is just so much excellence going around in such a tiny space. It absolutely is a Westside must, a hidden little gem that deserves wider praise for the excellence of its offerings.
Game of Thrones food in LA
Oh wow, George's food descriptions are always so enticing that I always get hungry reading the feast sections.
Tender, Juicy and Crisp? Roast Chicken Battle - Melisse, Costco, Pollo Ala Brasa, Rustic Canyon, Zankou, A Frame, Gjelina, Marouch, Lola's, and more! [Review] w/ Pics!
I've not had it, but I hear that Josie does the dry brining technique on their chicken. It's the source, iirc, of the LA Time's dry brining method of cooking roast turkey for thanksgiving. It's a process I've used the past two years at thanksgiving to phenomenal success, and I feel I have to go to the restaurant to try the chicken since the turkey in 'their' style has been so good to me at home.
Tender, Juicy and Crisp? Roast Chicken Battle - Melisse, Costco, Pollo Ala Brasa, Rustic Canyon, Zankou, A Frame, Gjelina, Marouch, Lola's, and more! [Review] w/ Pics!
Definitely a French Toast battle would be horribly unhealthy, carbs galore plus fat = instant waistline expansion.
On the other hand, I'd have new places to go to brunch with when my GFs favorite breakfast food is French Toast.
Tender, Juicy and Crisp? Roast Chicken Battle - Melisse, Costco, Pollo Ala Brasa, Rustic Canyon, Zankou, A Frame, Gjelina, Marouch, Lola's, and more! [Review] w/ Pics!
if you do try roasting a chicken yourself, you really must buy a chicken from Healthy Family Farms, I think they have a booth at the Sunday Santa Monica Farmer's Market, best chicken I've ever bought in LA for cooking.
