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
(323) 951-1210
Joan’s on 3rd
8350 W 3rd St
Los Angeles, CA 90048
(323) 655-2285