Sandwiches
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Glassell Park: Lemon Poppy Kitchen is Your New Favorite Lunch Spot
Mar 22 2013
Not too far from Verdugo Bar, hiding under a “Bakery #1” sign in a strip mall, is a breakfast and lunch spot that should be packed every day. It’s not, and selfishly I’d like to keep it that way, but I believe in restaurant karma. So, here it goes: Lemon Poppy Seed Kitchen is a small restaurant run by friendly people that specializes in Romanian flatbreads called plachintas—two tortilla-like layers stuffed with feta, dill and scallion or bacon and cheddar, for example. They are divine, scrumptious, lovely, addictive, and served three ways: warm and sliced with a side of sour cream; folded over melted mozzarella, greens, olives and tomatoes; or under two yolky eggs, swiss chard and onions.
And that’s only half of it. Lemon Poppy Kitchen’s menu also covers big, meaty (and vegetarian) sandwiches, a breakfast menu that includes a biscuit sandwich and polenta cakes, a solid pastry case, real coffee and house-made sodas. It’s that place you’ve been looking for…that we’ve all been looking for.
Silver Lake: Heywood’s Ode to Grilled Cheese
Jan 10 2013
Fact: grilled cheese, as with pancakes and steak, always tastes better when someone else makes it. Heywood, the newish grilled cheese shop in Silver Lake, has ambitiously taken up the task. Named after John Heywood, a 16th century British writer who once wrote an ode to cheese, the little eatery is, itself, an ode to the art of ultimate comfort sandwich.
The menu runs the gamut from recognizable to experimental. There’s The Classic, a standard combination of white bread, cheddar and butter, and then there’s The Bon Appetite Brie on cinnamon raisin bread, sweetened with fig jam and topped with raspberry sugar crystals. Fantastically unsubtle, The Italian Blue Jeans is a well-proportioned mix of mozzarella, blue cheese, walnut pesto and sundried tomatoes that packs quite the wallop. You can also choose from a list of breads, cheeses, fruits, veggies, and spreads to build your own. Vegan cheese and butter can be substituted on most sandwiches.
All sandwiches are served on a wooden board with mixed greens and a small cup of tomato soup for dipping. The soup is a velvety bisque that far outshines local contenders like the rather watery one they sell for an arm and a leg at nearby LAMill, for instance. It’s so good that you—but not I—could forgo the sandwich and pair a full-sized portion with one of the two salads on the menu. We tried the Mix Spring Salad, mixed greens topped with cheese and tomatoes. It was nice enough.
Prices range from $7-11, and some will argue that you can make 20 grilled cheeses for that kind of money, but if you just want one really good one, leave your griddle in the cupboard and check out Heywood.
They’re open ’til 3am Fridays and Saturdays.
-Valentina
Heywood A Gourmet Grilled Cheese Shop
3337 W Sunset Blvd
Los Angeles, 90026
Eagle Rock: Creative Sandwich-ery at Dave’s Chillin’-N-Grillin’
Dec 21 2012
Order one grubby thing and one (relatively) sensible thing, then split both. That’s the way my husband and I usually navigate menus. This best-of-both world’s tactic works well at a place like Dave’s Chillin-N-Grillin, where there are plenty of options of either persuasion. The Eagle Rock sandwich shop has a big, but not overwhelming menu of melts and subs made with locally-sourced produce and unprocessed meats and cheeses. Not to mention malts, smoothies and sherbert coolers. It’s a real Northeast LA gem.
In addition to favorites like their famous Tuna Melt and Italian Sub (made with a delicious housemade red pepper spread), Dave-the likeable Bostonian behind the counter-also serves up daily specials. The week starts with a Grilled Reuben on Rye, giving way to the Pulled Pork with Bourbon BBQ Sauce midweek. On Fridays, it’s the Meatball and Sausage Combo, stuffed with Italian meat and made sloppy with spicy tomato sauce. This sandwich is of the classic hoagie variety, made with high-quality ingredients. If you miss it, you can get it sans sausage every day of the week.
While vegetarians get the shaft at most sandwich shops, Dave’s puts real effort into their veggie options. A good one is the Hott Hippie, an avocado sandwich with hummus, tomato, and cheese. Pepperoncini give it the oomph it needs while grilled rosemary bread makes it extra special. It’s not one of those contemptuously thrown together lettuce and tomato sandwiches that leave you wanting more.
But if you do want more, seriously, get a shake.
-Valentina
Dave’s Chillin-N-Grillin
2152 Colorado Blvd
Los Angeles, 90041
Los Feliz: Sandwiches and Cookies at The Trails Cafe
Oct 22 2012
Sure, Griffith Park is one of LA’s most majestic treasures. The Central Park of LA, it’s truly an outstanding public space with lots of fantastic attractions—Travel Town, the Carousel, pony rides, hiking trails, baby swings…you name it. But, something it also has, though rarely acknowledged, is one of the best veggie sandwiches in LA.
The avocado sandwich at The Trails Cafe, a cute little outside eatery at the base of the Griffith Observatory trail, is a lunchtime triumph, stacked high on dark, sweet bread with at least half an avocado, tomatoes, red onion, cheddar and mayo. It’s even sprinkled with soy bacon bits, which would normally scare me, but on this sandwich it works very well, adding salty crunch.
I could eat the thing everyday.
And as if that weren’t enough, Trails also makes a bevy of baked goods, vegan and otherwise, all from scratch. This cheddar and chive scone is buttery, flaky, dense, and draped in cheddar that once bubbled and dripped. Other savory options include quiches, hand pies, cheesy tarts and even some fancy pigs in a blanket called “Snakedogs”.
Travel Food Guide: What To Eat (and Not Eat) in Northern Michigan
Jul 13 2012
Northern Michigan has a lot to offer. Not only is it beautiful, with unbelievable scenic drives and gorgeous lake views, the food scene is also pretty spectacular. With a baby in tow, we didn’t hit up the type or amount of restaurants that we usually would, but we definitely ate well. And that’s the thing about this part of the country—the local produce is outstanding, the fish is fresh, the ice cream is creamy and the prices are super affordable, so you don’t really need to do any fine dining to have a great gastronomical experience.
Highland Park:York Boulevard’s Food Scene Grows with Highland Cafe
May 14 2012
The speed at which York Boulevard’s food scene is developing has hit break-neck status recently. There’s that new French place Ba, a little place called Fusion Burgers has quietly opened across the street from Maximiliano, and now there seems to be enough room for two cafes.
That’s right. Highland Cafe has opened a few doors down from mainstay Cafe de Leche. The new place, housed in what was the Guatemalan restaurant El Chapin just a few months ago, stakes its claim with a small, Mexican-tinged breakfast and lunch menu along with a full coffee bar fueled by Downtown’s Handsome Coffee Roasters.
The new restaurant/coffee house courts a college crowd, offering a 10 percent discount to Oxy students and plenty of room (plus a few easy chairs) to hash out the deets of a class project. Even so, the crowd is mixed enough that older-than-22 patrons won’t feel out of place and probably won’t mind paying full price for above average egg dishes, pastries, sandwiches and salads.
Eagle Rock: Subs from Eagle Rock Italian Bakery
Mar 02 2012
Pregnant women are warned not to eat cold cuts. It seems that there’s a bacteria called listeria, which lurks in lunch meats, just waiting to wreak havoc on the compromised immune system of every gestating woman. Okay, it’s actually kind of rare, but in America, it’s treated like the plague.
And I’ll admit, I headed the warning. I ate maybe two turkey sandwiches the whole 9 months and promptly freaked out both times. So you can imagine how pumped I was to chow down on my first anxiety-free post-natal sub.
I gave the honor to the Italian sub from Eagle Rock Italian Bakery & Deli. The sandwiches at this Colorado Boulevard mainstay (it’s been around for over 40 years) is one of the best you’ll find east of Bay Cities. Baked fresh in-house daily, the bread has that crispy-on-the-outside-soft-on-the-inside quality that can really make a sandwich worthwhile while the balance of freshly cut salami, ham, mortadella and provolone cheese takes it home.
Atwater Village: Sandwich & Cake at Proof Bakery
Jan 18 2012
I’ve heard great things about Proof Bakery but never the pleasure, so when a friend suggested lunch there, I said “Oooh! Sure.” I don’t get to see Atwater Village on weekdays or by sunlight too often, but since I started working from home (no more east-to-west commute!), I’ve been trying to squeeze in local lunch spots.
Proof Bakery doesn’t bowl you over on sight. The small, unassuming space is all clean lines, modern airiness and marble tables. The dessert case/counter doesn’t have Marie Antoinette-esque decadence of many bakeries these days, so there aren’t the stacks and piles of cakes and cobblers of, say, Huckleberry in Santa Monica. That said, the restrained set of offerings does hit the right sweet and savory notes—think chocolate chip cookies, cheese and chive biscuits, croissants, tarts and morning buns.
There are piles of sandwiches, however, because that’s the way Proof showcases their daily options. When I was there, there were three plates of as many varieties: prosciutto, bacon and beet. If I had it my way, I would have had the prosciutto, but pregnancy rules make it a no-no, especially since it had been sitting around at room temperature. I played it safe with the beet sandwich, but don’t feel sad for me.
MacArthur Park: Langer’s Is Your LA Birthright
Jan 04 2012
If you’re a Los Angeles native, eating at Langer’s is your birthright. If you’re a transplant, it’s still your responsibility. Basically, every Angeleno must visit this since-1947 Jewish delicatessen for two reasons—one, it serves up one of the best food experiences this city has to offer and, two, you need ammunition if some New Yorker tries tell you that all LA delis suck.
Tip: If such a dispute does arise, you should mention that consummate Manhattanite Nora Ephron declared: “The hot pastrami sandwich served at Langer’s Delicatessen in downtown Los Angeles is the finest hot pastrami sandwich in the world.” In the The New Yorker.
So there.
Studio City: Sandwiches, Salads and Cheese Plates from Artisan Cheese Gallery
Aug 16 2011
If you read this blog, then you know that working in Santa Monica causes me to cling to the eastside of town on the weekends. Only very special cases can lure me onto the freeway come Saturday, and this would qualify as such.
Christine, one of my best friends and also the talented artist behind the design of this site (you can see her portfolio here) was having a birthday. She was only allowing the most low-key of celebrations, so a trip to one of her favorite lunch spots, Artisan Cheese Gallery, was in order.
This was my first ever visit to the Studio City cheese/sandwich shop, and I was pretty dazzled. Namely because they have everything I dream of for lunch: salads and sandwiches with imagination, make-your-own cheese plates, a nice selection of wine, fancy sodas and house-made soup. What more can you ask for?
