WHY Breakfast burritos are a favorite, and the wide selection of Sweet Lady Jane cakes makes a good accompaniment to coffee drinks. WHAT Chat or work in this Eagle Rock offshoot of the original Silver Lake screenwriter’s paradise. Thanks to the liquor license and adjacent bar and lounge, it’s easy to move from coffee to [...]
October 28, 2011 | Posted in
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WHY Great buys on special wines (we’ve found swell Malbecs for $9), a small but thoughtful selection of French, Calfornian and Oregonian wines, and a terrific choice of port, sherry and dessert wine. WHAT It looks like your basic drive-up liquor store, but there’s a lot more to Gerlach’s than meets the eye. Brothers Lewy [...]
October 28, 2011 | Posted in
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WHY A fun, free street festival with local bands, kids’ amusements and lots of tamale making, tasting and gorging (during the tamale-eating contest). WHAT An upstart competitor to the big Indio tamale fest, this is a smaller, more personal one that’s centered around Mama’s Hot Tamales Café on the edge of MacArthur Park. Mama’s is [...]
October 28, 2011 | Posted in
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WHY Really good, really homemade tamales from church groups, home-based tamale businesses and larger regional tamale makers. WHAT This free 18-year-old festival is devoted to the humble but heavenly tamale, held during the traditional tamale month, December, which also happens to be the most pleasant time of year in the desert. Tamale booths galore, a [...]
October 28, 2011 | Posted in
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WHY To see the world’s largest vat of guacamole, of course. WHAT Now one of the state’s largest food-focused events, the Avocado Festival is free and fun. Contests include largest avocado, best guacamole recipe and best-dressed avocado; music comes from lots of good local bands; and the kids’ area includes an avocado rock-climbing wall. Early [...]
October 28, 2011 | Posted in
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WHY To wallow in the glory of bread, butter and cheese. WHAT Bread – Butter – Cheese – Victory! is the slogan of this fast-growing underground cheese-off that’s typically held in April (the 2009 one was chaos, but 2010 was better organized and much more fun). The location changes and is sometimes not announced until [...]
October 28, 2011 | Posted in
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WHY Simple and satisfying sandwiches on homemade bread. WHAT Part bakery, part coffeehouse, part lunch purveyor, these spacious, friendly, order-at-the-counter cafés are fine places for lunchtime sandwiches. Generous and made on an array of homemade breads, they are thoughtfully offered in three sizes: regular, large and half. WHO Office workers flock to both locations. 921 [...]
October 28, 2011 | Posted in
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WHY It’s the best secret café in Santa Monica. WHAT You don’t have to keep this quiet: The café in Santa Monica’s fabulous Main Library offers good, made-to-order-food including turkey burgers, panini, wraps and an amazing range of salads (chef’s, Cobb, Caesar, Greek, apple-walnut). You can eat in a large, sunny courtyard, and savor the [...]
October 28, 2011 | Posted in
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WHY For ice cream and sorbet flavors you won’t believe: chocolate-jasmine, cashew-ricotta, peanut-butter-celery-and-raisin, strawberry-lychee and many more; the roster changes daily. We adore the more mainstream Brown Bread, a vanilla ice cream with caramel and Grape-Nuts. WHAT Tai Kim isn’t a vegan who wishes he could eat ice cream—he’s a passionate lover of gelato-style ice [...]
October 28, 2011 | Posted in
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WHY For wonderful juice drinks—try the strawberries and cream made with fresh berries, the piña or the escamocha. WHAT This friendly juice and smoothie bar makes 11 drinks daily (papaya, watermelon, strawberry/banana, horchata), plus mixes smoothies and custom drinks to order. Ingredients are fresh, and the place is spotless. Tortas are offered, too. 8744 Washington [...]
October 28, 2011 | Posted in
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