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Insomnia

13 May

It is well past midnight and I’m walking down Beverly Boulevard to grab a cup of Joe. This is fairly rare. I should be sleeping. I treasure my down time.

So imagine this…a long room (more long than wide anyway) drenched in sepia tones, dimly lit by two dusty 1940’s vintage crystal chandeliers, furnished with small wooden tables, soiled velvet couches, a smattering of laptop power plugs lining the walls at waist height, and a waitstaff demonstrating their best night-of-the-living-dead impression while asking you what you want with a hint of denigration. They don’t serve decaf here(I tried that). It’s Insomnia cafe people and it’s well past midnight.

Come ready to party, this cafe is a grunge fest, complete with out of work artists, actors and writers working away on their little mac laptops. Take a hint from the name, this cafe is for the hard-working and ambitious. These patrons are so consciously self-unaware the stench of pretension is a little thick.

Onwards….

If you want a late night snack and a quiet place to work, this cafe should be your destination; but here’s hoping you sleep well.

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Tokyo Pop

13 May

It just so happened that L.A. is now officially Japan-infused. With Japanophiles popping up across the city’s landscape, and since L.A. is a bonified hub of the cutting-edge, welcome Royal/T cafe; a capitalization on the maid cafe trend of Tokyo’s Akihabara district. Although the little cafe off of Washington Boulevard is a bit more art gallery oriented, its novelty is enough to bring an influx of curious patrons and manga maniacs alike. However, nothing can replace the original design. See Here…STOP THE MAIDS!!

Modeled after cafes in Tokyo’s Akihabara district, Royal/T garnered a lot of attention, as it is the first of it’s kind in this big city.

Travel + Leisure reports, “One of the quirkiest phenomena in Japan has come to L.A. with the opening of Royal/T in Culver City (8910 Washington Blvd., Culver City; 310/599-6300; royal-t.org). The 10,000-square-foot, Japanese-themed space houses a contemporary art gallery, a shop with artist-designed toys and clothing—and a café where the waitresses are dressed up as French maids. ROYAL/T, owned by Whitney Museum Council member Susan Hancock, was conceived as a 21st-century “guerrilla” version of a traditional museum. None of the art in the gallery is for sale, and the café features Japanese comfort-food dishes such as tomato-rice omelets and macha milk. The debut installation, “Just Love Me,” includes works by Yoshitomo Nara and Takashi Murakami, from Hancock’s private collection.”

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Starbucks, Only Better?

4 Apr

A friend of mine once woke from a dream in which she opened up a Starbucks in the jungles of Paraguay. Granted, she worked at Starbucks at the time, the dream certainly wasn’t uninspired. Although she never advocated it’s existence, she certainly didn’t oppose it (after all, she worked at one of the newest Starbucks music stores off Lincoln Road in Miami Beach; and they wanted to promote her – that was one thing she didn’t want and she turned them down). There’s no denying that pretty much everyone in the world coffee drinking age has tried Starbucks self-promoted ‘premier’ coffee, and subsequently been exposed to its’ Baristas and cornucopia of merchandise (did anyone see the coffee cups shaped like a to go mug? I admit – I think they’re cute). However, the prices of their coffee have gone up without quality to match, and I often find the long lines and cookie-cutter atmosphere has cheapened the experience.

How lucky was I to find a blurb in New York magazine about how Starbucks should wise up and take a gander at the newbie coffee houses slowly whittling away their profits and producing Mochas and Lattes that justify the price and a true gourmet reputation. Ladies and Gentlemen, we have a true coffee house in L.A. and it’s name is Intelligentsia. Known to many SilverLake dwellers, their L.A. location exists on a small section off Sunset, where some of the more interesting culinary treats of Silverlake exist.

Why comes to L.A.? If you go to the site, it’s slightly reminiscent of the Starbucks mantra, however, “Along with introducing Los Angeles to Intelligentsia’s understanding that responsible business practices create the finest coffees, the Silver Lake store will showcase the seasonality of the fine coffees. An agricultural product, coffee can be grown and harvested with the same care and commitment local artisanal farmers have for heirloom vegetables. And like heirloom vegetables, coffee varietals, such as the famed Geisha bean, each have a season when they are at their peak. The new Silver Lake store will showcase these finer, heirloom-grown coffees by offering coffees only during their specific season, when their stunning aromas and flavors elevate it from commodity crop to an elegant foodstuff to be savored.”

So where does that leave Starbucks, leader of the coffee biz? Danny Meyer, a restauranteur, believes that since Starbucks has “put an entire adult population through Coffee University,” it must now prepare its own generations of “stores run by passionate coffee geeks,” after taking a cue from “four of the smaller, elite players from across the world who are doing it right.” Drumroll please, these are: Monmouth Coffee (London), Blue Bottle (San Francisco-Oakland), Intelligentsia (Chicago/Note* L.A. is their newest location), and Joe the art of Coffee (New York). L.A. certainly doesn’t need another superficial anecdote in the daily grind; but can Angelenos sacrifice their time for a good cup of Joe? After all, I don’t want to see Starbucks in the middle of the jungle.

Intelligentsia
Coffee sommelier, pastries, Clover
3922 W. Sunset Blvd., 323.663.6173
Daily 6am-11pm

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Happy Easter

23 Mar


L.A. is a congregation of artists and collaborators; when a holiday comes along involving chocolate and coloring, well, let the celebration begin. Foodies turned restaurant entreprenuers turn their L.A. eateries into celebrity gatherings with the most delicate and excessive temptations for the palate.

Caroline On Crack divulges some Easter indulgence for your enjoyment; she reveals:

Boule’s Gourmet Easter Basket Fixins
Boule in WeHo, has a chocolate egg trio that will put the Cadbury bunny to shame — a hollow dark chocolate egg with candied fruit and nut charms inside, a hollow milk chocolate egg with white chocolate sunnyside-up egg charm inside, and a hollow white chocolate egg with mini lemon marshmallow chick and white chocolate sunnyside-up charms inside. Other Easter treats are Meyer lemon truffle pops, Easter marshmallows (a lemon chiffon chick, a passion fruit bunny and a vanilla bunny head) and a large dark chocolate bunny and small milk chocolate bunny.

Jin Patisserie’s Chocolate Eggs
At $38 to $48 a pop, Venice bakery Jin Patisserie’s chocolate Easter eggs sound like quite a splurge. With each handmade egg filled with truffles, they are. Decorated with chocolate flowers, geometric shapes and spray-on coloring these beauties come in 27 flavors of exotic fruits, liqueur and tea. The small eggs ($38) are six inches tall, while large eggs ($48) are eight inches tall.

Sprinkles’ HOP Easter Box
Everyone’s favorite cupcakery has a special “HOP” box filled with dark chocolate, brown sugar praline, carrot and vanilla cupcakes adorned with pink and green bunnies. Or you can purchase the brown sugar praline cupcake just for yourself. You can’t go wrong with its caramel cake with brown sugar frosting topped with crunchy nut praline ($3.25).

SusieCakes’ Easter Basket Cupcakes
A cupcake and Easter basket all in one! Genius! The cute bakery offers up a chocolate cupcake with coconut buttercream topped with green coconut “grass” and mini jellybeans ($3). But if you want something other than cupcakes, they also have Rice Krispie treats, cute home-made bunny and chick marshmallows and Easter-themed frosted sugar cookies.

Yummy Cupcakes’ Easter Flavors
Yummy gets a gold star for offering quite a selection of cupcake flavors this holiday and in such an ornate fashion. The Easter bunny cupcake ($3.50) actually has chocolate rabbit ears sticking out of it. The Easter basket cupcake ($3.50) has a white chocolate handle and spring-colored drop flowers. Other flavors include Carrot Cream Cheese and Egg Hunt ($3 each). The latter is side rolled in coconut flakes and topped with jelly beans.

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Being Accused of Going Grandpa

6 Mar

Free wireless internet, average coffee, healthy eats (yogurt, fruit, boba, bran muffin), and local artist work are offered at this corner coffee house – topped off with your token tattooed waitstaff.

I am at Sabor Y Culture off Hollywood Boulevard and doing my duty as a friend and wife (read: I’m not doing this for my benefit). Tonight is Friday night, and though the place is often host to several local artist community gatherings, tonight the gamers rule. I’m not taking Wii. Professors and intellectuals (there are exceptions) surround me at each table. They are playing board games. I don’t see any fantasy games here but rather Art Moderna, Cash 101 and Settlers of Catan. Friday night is on and it’s buzzing with the over 30 crowd.

Two hours later and twice as many latte’s, I am peeking at the other tables and observing the fun. Students have settled in to study. So many people are chattering that it turns to a crowd murmur and evokes a zen atmosphere. No one to hit on you here (what a relief!). These gamers, students and artists are serious and concentrate heavily on what is in front of them.

In the alleyway, I spot a surprise (LA is full of these) and take a picture. Although it’s a little creepy, and certainly more so since it’s dark and we’re in an ALLEY, it’s an interesting piece of work.

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