WHY The salad bar, the sushi bar, the deli soups and the competitive prices on organic produce and healthy packaged food products. WHAT Before Whole Foods stores were popping up like so many organic chanterelles in a rain forest, Erewhon (‘Nowhere’ spelled backwards, sort of) was selling organic, natural foods. It stocks hormone-free chicken and [...]
October 28, 2011 | Posted in
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WHY Gorgeous cakes, breakfast pastries and cookies that taste as good as they look. WHAT This is L.A.’s high-end birthday-cake central, turning out superb Almond Roca, chocolate mocha praline, passionfruit with apricot, triple berry, even red velvet cakes. They’re no bargain, though, and the service can be less than warm. But the cakes are so [...]
October 28, 2011 | Posted in
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WHY For excellent homestyle sweets: German chocolate cake, banana pudding with vanilla wafers, layer cakes, cupcakes, whoopie pies and lemon squares. WHAT This nostalgia-driven bake shop dressed in retro colors turns out desserts that owner Susan Sarich found on her grandmother’s recipe cards. Several more locations, including Calabasas (23653 Calabasas Rd., 818.591.2223) and Manhattan Beach [...]
October 28, 2011 | Posted in
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WHY For seasonal flavors like rose, for Rose Parade season, and pumpkin in the fall, and original creations like Fancy Nancy (coffee with bananas). WHAT Old-fashioned ice cream in dozens of flavors—no gelato here—is made on the premises behind viewing windows at this folksy Farmers Market stand. Bennett’s also owns the Refresher soda-pop stand in [...]
October 28, 2011 | Posted in
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WHY Amazing gelati and sorbetti, with such flavors as Sicilian pistachio (the addiction of many), cherimoya, peach-moscato and zabaglione. WHAT Leo Bulgarini and Elizabeth Foldi were so obsessed with gelato that they apprenticed in Sicily before coming up with their flavors, which they now sell in a store way up in Altadena, which attracts fans [...]
October 28, 2011 | Posted in
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WHY Enough flavors and colors of gelato and sorbetto to cause you to change your mind for hours. WHAT This bright, cheery storefront displays Italian gelati lined up like keys on a never-ending piano in both Italian flavors (hazelnut, tiramisu) and only-on-the-Promenade variations (blue bubble gum, apple pie). WHO Tourists and locals with kids in [...]
October 28, 2011 | Posted in
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WHY The Mashti ice cream sandwich: your choice of ice cream stuffed between crisp wafers. WHAT Come here for Persian-style ice creams in inspired flavors that are as poetic sounding as they are delicious: orange blossom with pistachios, creamy rosewater, herbal snow, lavender, rose sorbet with sour cherry…. 1525 N. La Brea Ave., Hollywood, 323.874.0144, [...]
October 28, 2011 | Posted in
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WHY Richly flavorful southern Indian cooking that is all vegetarian with many vegan choices, too, served on an atmospheric secret patio. WHAT Paru’s has a speakeasy feel to it—you have to be buzzed in, and there’s a hidden tree-filled garden in back—which lends it an aura of romance that is continued with the cooking. The [...]
October 28, 2011 | Posted in
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WHY A good selection of veggie burgers, and respectable beef burgers, too. WHAT Better than its sibling on Melrose, this Astro is full day and night. It’s the usual fast-food menu—burgers, dogs, fries, pastrami—with a few interesting additions, like the fiery chicken quesadilla. The crowd can get a little rowdy in the wee hours. WHO [...]
October 28, 2011 | Posted in
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WHY Absolutely perfect croissants, lovely birthday cakes and a small but free parking lot in back. WHAT As much a café as a patisserie, Amandine is a fine spot for breakfast (french toast) and lunch (croque madame). Or just pop in to pick up some croissants, quiches or tartlets or to order a special-occasion cake. [...]
October 28, 2011 | Posted in
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