Cool video featuring Verve Coffee

Life & Thyme Presents: Prelude: http://youtu.be/Kam8gN7IKIo

This moody video shows that the morning starts for everyone the same. Included are some great shots of where I work, Verve Coffee at 833 Spring St downtown LA.

Dave's Chillin N Grillin

One of my favorites in Los Angeles! I eat at Dave's allot and always see different friends in there. I recently took a bunch of great photos for Dave and decided to share a few with you guys. Dave's Roesmary's Turkey is one of his most popular sandwiches. It starts with fresh baked rosemary bread, then they pile on turkey, avacado, tomato, Monterey Jack, mozzarella, spicy mustard & mayo. The hot hippy is one of my favorite vegetarian sandwiches in Los Angeles. It has hummus, grilled onions and Dave's Hotts Peppa spread that makes everything their taste amazing.

My Top 3 Sandwiches in Los Angeles

There are three sandwich shops in the greater Los Angeles area that I swear by.

1. Bay Cities Italian Deli & Bakery in Santa Monica
Bay Cities has a wide assortment of every imported Italian goodie you might want. With all the choices at Bay Cities I'll help you narrow it down to my favorite sandwich, THE GODMOTHER. Let me tell you it deserves to be in all caps. They pile genoa salami, mortadella coppacola, ham, prosciutto and provolone on a house baked roll. Make this your last stop before you hit the beach. It gets a little busy so give yourself some time it might take a while.

The Godmother

2. Dave's Chillin-N-Grillin in Eagle Rock
Proprietor Dave Evans has been churning out the best sandwiches in the Northeast for almost nine years now. While I'm a fan of everything he makes the turkey melt deserves special recognition. With fresh baked bread, sliced whole turkey, tomatoes, mustard and mayo Dave turns the basics into something special. If your not in the turkey mood, try anything else and expect the same great flavor.

 Turkey melt

3. Langer's in MacArthur Park
It doesn't get anymore old school than Langer's Delicatessen. Founded after World War 2 in a predominately Jewish neighborhood Langer's quickly became a staple for east coat ex pats.  In the late 50's they added a pastrami sandwich labeled the Original #19, onto the menu. The #19 is hot pastrami, cole slaw, a slice of swiss cheese & Russian dressing on a hot crispy Rye.  While everything around Langer's has changed completely over the last 65 years the #19 is still exactly the same.

 The original #19

SAPP Coffee Shop

Yes the only reason I went to SAPP is because of Anthony Bourdain and his very brief LA visit on No Reservations. Well Anthony decided on what is definitely one of my favorite and always consistent restaurants. SAPP is in the small group of eateries that I had to sample again within 24 hours after the initial visit. I should almost call it a pilgrimage; when my mother visited LA to see me for the first time ever, SAPP made the list of places we ate. When you go to SAPP people will tell you to get the boat noodles, (very tasty) instead get the jade noodles. WOW!!! Yeah I like it if you can't tell. Crab, roast duck, BBQ pork, salt, chilies & sugar top green noodles. The trick is you mix it all together, give the lime a squeeze and your good to go! The only problem at SAPP is they close at 8 most nights, so sorry no late night munchies :( Please check this place out you will be impressed. By the way I don't know why they call this place a coffee shop, who knows?

The video below is the segment from Anthony Bourdain's stop through SAPP.

Not my photo above please don't sue, it looks amazing!!!

Square One Dining, the place hidden behind that Ugly Blue Building

Square One Dining in East Hollywood (that's what the locals call the area, who am I to disagree) is nestled behind the bluest thing since Violet Beauregarde, the Scientology palace on Sunset. I love the food here but I do have one major problem, the service is soso when it gets busy. So that means Monday thru Friday for breakfast instead of the weekends. Oh and there will be a 15 minute if you go on the weekends. When I say love referring to the food, I don't mean best friend from high school love, I mean Mom & Dad thanks for the Sega Genesis on Christmas Love!! If you want to start with coffee your good because their serving Intelligentsia. From there you have three must try options. Maybe more but I'm still in a rotation of these three. A must try is what they were originally famous for, pancakes covered in a homemade Carmel bacon syrup. Yep, your drooling now, I know it, because so am I. Next on the list is the french toast covered in candied pecans and a to die for homemade vanilla whip cream. This is amazing and I'm not even a huge fan of french toast. My favorite though, and the thing I order the most is the in house cured smoked salmon eggs benedict on potato pancakes. Growing up in Alaska I became quite a smoked salmon snob so I'm weary any time I see it on a menu. I decided to give it a try and it was just like home, by way of Los Feliz that is. Please go and try this place, I promise you won't be disappointed, unless they lose your ticket for an hour. Yeah that happened to me on a weekend trip there lol.

I don't own these photos

LA Weekly Pancake Breakfast Part 3!!! Yeah it was that great

I've always been a big proponent of the LA Weekly; I believe Jonathan Gold's tenure at the paper made me a better foodie with the knowledge he passed on. Even though Mr. Gold is gone I still love supporting the food events they have and am always surprised about how well they turn out. The Pancake breakfast this year was no exception. The highlights for me were the savory pancakes at Gottsui, blueberry pancakes at BLD, the cronut at semi sweet bakery and prime rib quesadilla Chego's own Roy Choi was serving up. On the coffee front Kris Fulton from LAMILL was pouring amazing single origins thru the Hario V60. The crew from Handsome Coffee was there also with espresso, americanos and ice coffee, hope you didn't ask for sugar when you stopped thru. Pastries were plentiful with Village Bakery and Monica from Nickle Diner. Met so many great people at this event, can't wait for the next one.

LA Weekly's Best Ice Cream Shops

I love the LA Weekly, Jonathan Gold's food articles in the late 2000's really inspired my love for food. Even though Mr. Gold is gone I still turn to the LA Weekly first for my food news. This top ten ice cream shop list is good but it only mentions the West Side location of Scoops. I prefer the original location by LACC. This little spot is great, very interesting ice cream combos all made that morning. Try the Brown Bread that's what they are known for. Next door is one of my favorite 3rd wave coffee shops, Cafecito Organico.




http://blogs.laweekly.com/squidink/2013/07/10_best_ice_cream_shops_in_los.php

Great LA Weekly article on the best outdoor patios in the city

http://blogs.laweekly.com/squidink/2013/06/outdoor_dining_los_angeles.php
  No. 3 on the list is my favorite special occasion restaurant in Los Angeles. Located in the heart of Silver Lake is Cliff's Edge a phenomenal restaurant serving fresh Italian & Mediterranean cuisine. This is the place to go for a 1 year anniversary.

Check out their great minimalist web site below
http://www.cliffsedgecafe.com/

LA Weekly Pancake Breakfast

The best bang for your buck LA food fest has to be the pancake breakfast the LA Weekly is putting on for it's third year. The first year was curated by former LA Weekly stalwart Jonathan Gold. The food was great but there was one problem; too many pancakes. Well last years breakfast with out Mr. Gold was a vast improvement. With baked french toast from Auntie Em's, pastries from Village & Nickle Diner and single origin coffee provided by Handsome & Cafecito Organico last years event became a great eclectic breakfast event. The best part is it's only 30 dollars, and they have an open bar! Hope too see you there.


Click the link below to purchase tickets
http://microapp.laweekly.com/pancakebreakfast/


The first year they gave away these great mugs from Harry & David; definitely worth the 30 dollar price of admission! I still use it everyday at work.

Terri and her mom from Auntie Em's serving up some amazing french toast at last years event.

Wicked Clam Pop Up

That's right Dave Evans is opening a seafood restaurant. I'm addicted to the sandwiches he slings in Eagle Rock and can't wait to see what this East Coast bad boy comes up with. The Colorado Wine Company is owned by the same owners as Sunset Beer Co and has the same great relaxed energy.





UPDATE: The Wicked Clam pop up was a huge success yesterday, I'll post a story tomorrow!