WHY Big salads of local provenance, and a huge, sunny patio on which to enjoy them. WHAT This always-busy outpost of the upscale cafeteria is notable for its 1,200-square-foot patio in back, as well as its roster of salads (grilled chicken Cobb; prawns with chorizo, lima beans, arugula, butter lettuce and lemon vinaigrette) and sandwiches. [...]
January 26, 2012 | Posted in
Discoveries |
Read More »
WHY House-baked pastries, good sandwiches, Intelligentsia coffee, Lupicia teas and tomb-like quiet for working. WHAT With a no-talking upstairs study area and a quiet downstairs lounge, plus a leafy patio with plenty of shade umbrellas and no restriction on chatting, Bricks & Scones appeals to serious students and screenwriters as well as ladies who lunch [...]
January 9, 2012 | Posted in
Discoveries |
Read More »
WHY Yountville foodie elegance in Brentwood. WHAT Freshness is a fetish here, whether it’s braised sunchokes or perfectly cut shoestring fries from Weiser Farms potatoes. Jeffrey Cerciello, former culinary director of Thomas Keller’s casual dining division, has created an upscale larder featuring dishes (salmon rillettes, poached chicken salad) made with the best local produce alongside [...]
January 4, 2012 | Posted in
Discoveries |
Read More »
WHY You wish you were in Paris but you’re settling for Venice. WHAT This indoor/outdoor café and market on south Abbot Kinney has catered to homesick ex-pats since 1993. You may be the only English speaker in line waiting to order French comfort food: omelets with a green salad;le cheval (fried egg atop ham and [...]
November 11, 2011 | Posted in
Discoveries |
Read More »
WHY Starry Kitchen spices up the Downtown lunch scene with a modern, irreverent approach to Vietnamese-influenced cooking. WHAT California Plaza is a little less corporate with the success of freewheeling Starry Kitchen, which started as an underground restaurant in the owner’s apartment. You pick a protein (free-range lemongrass chicken, the famed crispy tofu balls, spicy [...]
November 10, 2011 | Posted in
Discoveries |
Read More »
WHY Luxe breakfast and lunch on the beach. WHAT Is $17 too much to pay for bacon ‘n eggs? Not with a setting like this—a white-washed California dream of a café at sand level in this beachfront hotel, with windows open to the ocean air and the cyclists a few feet away on the bike [...]
October 28, 2011 | Posted in
Discoveries |
Read More »
WHY Café fare of a quality never before seen in the Valley, at prices that are more Brentwood than Burbank. WHAT This spacious new place from neighbors and restaurant investors Melina and Christian Davies satisfies all cravings, offering Intelligentsia coffee, breakfast pastries and desserts from Valerie Confections (the salted caramel croissant is flaky bliss; the [...]
October 28, 2011 | Posted in
Discoveries |
Read More »
WHY A French-accented restaurant, wine bar and deli that’s good for brunch, lunch, tapas or drinks. WHAT Chef Thierry Perez chose a large industrial space for his latest Culver City venture, which combines a wine shop, gourmet-to-go and a full-service menu offering everything from crèpes to polenta with veal brains. The tapas happy hour runs [...]
October 28, 2011 | Posted in
Discoveries |
Read More »
WHY Beautiful salads, Stumptown coffee and the best chocolate-chip cookie in town. WHAT A little bit of San Francisco and Portland in Old Pasadena, the Market on Holly is the creation of two longtime locals, composer Marty Davich and caterer Mary Pat Brandmeyer. There’s a small market (fancy pastas, oils, local organic milk), a swell [...]
October 28, 2011 | Posted in
Discoveries |
Read More »
WHY For excellent Taiwanese breakfasts and snack foods. WHAT For a couple of decades Yi Mei Bakery, which had a few tables pushed into a corner, was the place to go for morning bowls of soy milk, Chinese crullers and savory buns. Now they’ve opened a real restaurant serving the same great stuff—and more. Of [...]
October 28, 2011 | Posted in
Discoveries |
Read More »