WHY Sunny-side-up tables overlooking the Venice Boardwalk and the beach beyond. WHAT Of the parade of tourist-bait sidewalk cafés on the Boardwalk, this has been our favorite since the ’70s, when sandwiches with avocado and sprouts were considered exotic. Today we like the egg scrambles, turkey burgers and big salads. WHO Aged hippies and a [...]
October 28, 2011 | Posted in
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WHY Pasta Mama and Pasta Papa, two of the most addictive pasta-egg scrambles imaginable. WHAT Hugo’s serves dinner, and it’s a good dinner, but what brings the many regulars back are the breakfasts and brunches. Organic, generally lowfat ingredients are turned into terrific scrambles, pancakes, vegan breads and, for true brunch sybarites, a tasty but [...]
October 28, 2011 | Posted in
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WHY Spanish lattes, tea lattes and all-around good drinks, most of which are organic and/or sustainably produced. Don’t mind the poseurs and enjoy the coffee and excellent oatmeal or pumpkin pie. WHAT Sure, it’s a Hollywood scene, and the parking is terrible, but you could do far worse in this ‘hood for coffee, tea and/or [...]
October 28, 2011 | Posted in
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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 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 For richly flavorful and sustainably produced modern comfort food—for vegans and carnivores alike—at moderate prices. Ask about dinner parties in her kitchen. WHAT Jennie Cook’s homey style of cooking suits her Pennsylvania Dutch roots—but the surprise is the commitment to sustainability and health. Her kitchen turns out great briskets and bacon-wrapped dates as well [...]
October 28, 2011 | Posted in
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WHY The buffet lunch is inexpensive and wonderful. WHAT The mountaineer/photographer/chef trained in Austria and brings a gourmet sensibility to Tibetan and Nepalese cuisine, which is reminiscent of both Chinese and Indian food but more subtly flavored. Karma Tenzing Bhotia’s menu spans the Himalayas, from lowland curries and dals to highland yak, noodles and momos [...]
October 28, 2011 | Posted in
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WHY Romantic patio setting and an evocative, just-challenging-enough Thai menu. WHAT The glass-walled dining room is attractive, but the open-air patio—set off by 15-foot-tall steel panels laser-cut to suggest the patterns of Thai fabrics—is the ideal setting for consuming the street food-inspired dishes served at this sister restaurant to neighboring Saladang. Standouts include the crispy, [...]
October 28, 2011 | Posted in
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WHY Seductive dishes from the Yucatn: robust, citrus-spiked soups; panuchos with shredded turkey, tomato, pickled red onion and avocado; cochinita pibil; and wonderful tamales, including the colado, with chicken and achiote. WHAT Terrific Yucatn cooking is served at this order-at-the-counter café in the nonprofit Mercado la Paloma, also home to Mo-Chica. The flavors are rich, [...]
October 28, 2011 | Posted in
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WHY Because it’s one of the best-value restaurants in Downtown L.A. WHAT This is the kind of simple neighborhood Italian place you’ve seen everywhere but Downtown. Past a fairly grim-looking doorway in a transitional block (over here, $750,000 lofts, over there, a shabby residence hotel) is a charming room with brick walls and an open [...]
October 28, 2011 | Posted in
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