LA Favorites

If you've been following this blog, then you know how we've just been "devouring" up Northern California — our proximity to family, and all the wonders and beauty of living in a cleaner, more natural environment. We're really enjoying it up here.

Still, when asked if we miss L.A., the answer is, yes, of course we do ... but not all of L.A. We don't miss the traffic, smog, population density, and low ratio of plants to concrete. We do dearly miss our friends, the Southern California beach scene, the melange of ethnic cultures and some of our favorite haunts. Santa Rosa and L.A. are like having two BFFs who you love for different reasons.


Surfas in Culver City is high on our list of must-visits when we're in L.A. It's a restaurant supply and gourmet food market, and if Alice In Wonderland were a foodie, she'd be grinning here like a Cheshire Cat for sure! Check out their adjoining café too. It's very high on the "yum" meter. http://cafesurfas.com/


Then there's the Fairfax Farmers Market. (http://www.farmersmarketla.com/)
Sigh. I've been going there since the late '50s (before I was born of course), so the nostalgia factor is huge. It's changed some over the years, but not a whole lot — still full of tourists, movie people (close to Hollywood and we still see director Paul Mazursky holding court over by the donut shop), elderly Jewish folks (Fairfax district), and every kind of person in between. The lovely thing about it is, you can nurse a great cup of coffee all day long if you want to, be fascinated by the human zoo all around you, and there are no waiters to come by and ask you to leave. Love it, love it.

Eating at Lotteria with BFF Gae. She was the Production Designer on Denzel's new movie "The Book Of Eli". (Yeh, we're braggin' for her.) GO SEE IT.

The French Market on Abbott Kinney in Venice (http://www.frenchmarket-cafe.com/) is tucked away in a cozy corner next to a new age-y day spa (or is it an exercise place? Whatever). We love the Frenchness of it all. The counter people all speak heavily accented English so I want to keep them talking as long as possible, just for the pure romance of it all.
"Can you tell me what your quiche is today?"
"Oh, you have Nutella? What is that?"
"Can you tell me how you make such great coffee?"
They just roll their eyes, answer politely, and we get a great big dose of "We-Think-We're-In-Paris!" (Yes, I really can be that annoying, but I think you already knew that.)