Silver Lake: Local

Posted September 24th, 2008 by Meg

Seriously, the name of this restaurant is Local. Even though it is not local for me, Local is worth the trip. Local has been open since September 2nd, 2008 and was only breakfast and lunch until a few days ago, now they also serve dinner. Local was opened by the executive chef behind Cobras and Matadors, Jason Michaud. Through internet research I have found out that Michaud is one cool guy; along with working in restaurants for the greater part of his life he was also a drummer in the metal math bands Spilth and Men of Porn. Metal math is experimental rock that is mostly guitars and drums and is complex, atypical rhythmic structures including irregular stops and starts, angular melodies, and dissonant chords. The mission statement behind this restaurant is genuine: committed to using local, organic products as much as possible. Local goes beyond just food and also uses antiques for furniture, energy efficient lighting, glassware (no plastic table cups), and the food for takeout rides in biodegradable plastic plates, bowls, and cups (made of potato and/or sugar cane, like these!). Bad ass.

It sits somewhere between Silver Lake Lounge and Dusty’s on the other side of the road on Sunset. I made my visit on a Wednesday at approximately 12:00pm. For lunchtime it wasn’t as packed as I thought it was going to be, but there was still a good number of hip Silver Lakers (or is it Silver Lakians?). It is the type of restaurant where you order at the counter, take your number, find seating and wait for the food to arrive. However, there are servers around to refill your water, get you silverware, napkins, condiments, or anything else you might need. It is a small/medium sized restaurant. Everyone that was working there (which were all guys) were above and beyond friendly and were obviously passionate about the restaurant. I think this is important to stress because when people show that they are invested and care about what they are doing (in general, not just food), it makes the whole experience much more enjoyable for everyone involved. Good tingling feelings. I was told that it gets packed on the weekends - I hope that they are just as friendly and outgoing under crowded conditions!

As you can see there is an organic salad bar. The fact that this salad bar is organic makes it a million times better than any other salad bar I have been to before (Whole Foods). After getting the recommendation for my meal of “everything is good”, I decided upon the Rocky Jr. Free Range Chicken Sandwich and an Iced Coffee. On the menu, there is no description of what is in the Rocky Jr. Free Range Chicken Sandwich, so it was an exciting surprise! Rocky Jr. is a free range, younger chicken that weighs on average three and half pounds and roams in spacious growth houses (not outside because they are young and partially feathered). The chicken is cooked with herbs and joined with fresh, perfect tomatoes, daikon sprouts, pickles, and sprinkled with salt. It sits between a bun that I don’t recognize but tasted like Hawaiian bread (yellowish insides) with sesame seeds on top. It was a big sandwich, one that requires two hands to eat. At first intimidating,  after the first bite it becomes a challenge you want to take on and conquer. Instead of fries, I opted for a salad with a roasted red pepper purée on the side. It was all delicious. The salt really made the flavors in the tomatoes and pickles pop out. I would order it again. The iced coffee is made from Alessandro beans. Unfortunately, I cannot find anything on the internet about Alessandro coffee; let’s hope it’s organic too! (Free refills on Iced Coffee).

In regards to what is organic and what is not, it varies week by week because large shipments of organic food is not common right now in the restaurant world. The guy I talked to about organic food said that they try their best and want to go completely organic, but at this point in time they have to make do with the situation. The price of organic food is high, thus the prices on the menu are higher. My meal totaled to be around 17 dollars.  I know, pricey, but it really is not too much more than most trendy Los Angeles breakfast/lunch places, so I don’t think it should be a big deal if you go to other expensive places already. If you look at it as being preventative maybe it will make you feel better: paying extra now so you don’t have to pay later in health and medical bills. Go to Local!

Local keeps things interesting; check out what I found in the bathroom! The statue/boy definitely scared me at first, but then I laughed about how creepy it is.

Here are some poor quality pictures I took of their menu (like all my pictures, click on them to make larger):

Local
2943 W Sunset Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90026
(323) 662-4740

Hours
Breakfast and Lunch: 9am-3pm
Dinner: 5pm-10pm
They take credit cards!

Little Next Door

Posted August 25th, 2008 by Meg

I recently met up with an old friend at the cafe, Little Next Door. The place is an adorable lunchtime deli-cafe and marketplace extension of it’s neighbor, The Little Door. The Little Next Door focuses on serving a wide range of international treats. Not only do they cover the basics such as dinners, salads, sandwiches, soups, breads, and wines, but they also have an extensive list of house-made jams and preserves that you can purchase in their marketplace.

I ordered the Moroccan Mint Iced Tea and the Little Next Deal (choice of soup, half sandwich, deli salad, and a macaron). I took the waiter’s recommendations and chose the soup of the day, a peach gazpacho. I thought the peach was going to make the soup very sweet, but it ended up to be a subtle fresh minced peach combined with more dominating tastes of herbs, tomatoes, and onions. In the center of the soup bowl you can see a green herb trapped in an ice cube which I thought to be a clever addition to the cold, refreshing dish.

For the half sandwich I chose the Ahi Tuna Tartar, hummus and fennel on house-made whole wheat pita bread. Look how adorable it is! I never would have thought about putting tuna and hummus together, but they pair well together especially with the addition of flavorful fennel. For my deli dish, I chose the Trio of Beet, which was beets accompanied with Roquefort cheese and toasted walnut. The beets were refreshing and light. My friend ordered the Smoked Salmon with tatszike/tzatziki (cucumber yogurt) sauce and arugula on two brioche buns. I did not try his, but you can see that it looked amazing and he did state in his own words that it was delicious.

For dessert, we were given two macarons, one strawberry and one mint. Note: A macaron is not to be confused with a macaroon. The macaron is a traditional French pastry that is made of egg whites, almond powder, icing sugar and sugar. It comes out of the oven in the shape of a meringue-like dome with a flat base. They are usually cut in half and filled with a sweet ganache making them look like little colorful sandwiches. I am guessing that the ganache they used in the strawberry one was with one of their own homemade preserves. These little guys were delicious; slightly crunchy on the outside, while moist and chewy on the inside.

Afterward, we made a quick walk down the street to Joan’s on 3rd for some coffee. love Joan’s. I got the iced coffee, and this is how it looks with my cream and sugar.

Little Next Door

8142 W 3rd St
Los Angeles, CA 90048

Get Directions(323) 951-1210

Joan’s on 3rd

8350 W 3rd St
Los Angeles, CA 90048

Get Directions(323) 655-2285