I had a grain bowl.īowls are everywhere these days and they’re supposed to be heathy and satisfying. My friend had pasta with a duck and mushroom ragout but the pasta itself was a chestnut pappardelle which seemed to add depth and warmth and richness. That’s where I discovered a delicious Watermelon cocktail and a very interesting cocktail menu. Since my initial fallout I’ve been there for dinner too. Me and the Aussies bemoaned how Los Angeles isn’t really a brunch city but then we heard that the chef came from Perth and we thought maybe this was the place that would change it. And the galette pastry is light, crispy but fluffy in the mouth. I love the sweetness of the squash, the crispiness of the sage and the lift of the mustard seeds. I had a galette of butternut squash, sage, maple syrup, mustard seeds and it’s very addictive. They have soft poached eggs with rustic polenta and truffled croutons which did look rather amazing. Executive chef Craig Hopson is actually from Perth but I brunched there with some Melbournites who said that the smashed avocado with scrambled eggs and black beans was as good as their favourite Melbourne bruncheries. The brunch menu is part Ottolenghi inspired, part the best end of Melbourne. But that makes it sound ordinary and it’s not because that twist is pretty quirky. It’s about what it calls Californian cuisine with fresh local ingredients and a European twist. OK a sweet potato fry isn’t really a creature but I love them like they are my pets. They sort of have some east European flourish to them which sounds weird but they are the fattest, fluffiest, crispiest creatures ever. No, probably the world and they are there in this restaurant. To bring me round from the brink of anger does take the best sweet potato fries in California. So I was beginning to think that this place was either going to be the most crowded restaurant since the invention of the student canteen or it was just up itself. My pedicurist had asked for a menu to give her clients. I’d been doing some exhausting shoe shopping and really needed one and despite the fact there were people inside for the soft opening I was denied coffee. The first time I passed by I asked for a coffee. Inside the grey hardwood floors, brass fixtures and fittings and yellow leather banquettes, white marble table tops. There was to be a major overhaul and when I passed by Butcher, Baker and the Cappuccino Maker as it’s now called did look gorgeously elegant. It was gone for some time while a new café/restaurant/all day dining extravaganza was being built by the owners of the Chin Chin chain – mid price Chinese restaurants that are all over LA. It couldn’t keep up with the trendy new organic Mexican and the mozzarella bar chain that opened opposite. I hear that the famous Café Med on the corner is soon to be taken over by Mark Wahlberg and his burgers. Anyway, food trends moved on and almost every restaurant on the strip has undergone a radical change. The food wasn’t brilliant and the name was ridiculous but it was quite the hot spot with its lovely outdoor patio dining under the trees. In between the shoes and the nails was the first restaurant I ever ate in in LA. It’s one of the few places you can walk about in LA plus it has my much loved Jessica Nail Clinic. It is rather like the Kings Road had its grooviness in the sixties, Sunset Plaza had its grooviness in the nineties but it’s still a beautiful street, café’s, boutiques, a few exquisite pieces in the designer stores, my favourite shoe shop Calleen Cordero. Sunset Plaza -mainly for nostalgic reasons is still one of my favourite places in LA.
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