Casbah Cafe and Alma Closings: It's Not the Media's Fault

(Casbah Cafe photo courtesy of Harriet's Tomato)

There was a time when the Casbah Cafe seemed like the kind of place I might stop in every day on the way to work and find a crowd of regulars. Local artist Jon Huck was usually hanging out there with a few friends, and at the time it was about the best Silver Lake had to offer, especially if you weren't a fan of the Coffee Table or Backdoor Bakery. The sad truth was that all three had pretty terrible coffee. It was the early 2000s and Intelligentsia, Lamill and all that followed were still several years off, and L.A.'s standard for cappuccino was fairly low. I never quite became the regular I imagined, since I find it hard to give up my home-brewed coffee, and after all, I had a job to get to and would never be the kind of flâneur for whom Casbah seemed made to order.

But like everyone in the neighborhood I appreciated its funkiness, its quirky selection of Moroccan textiles and South American teas. It was a place you could meet up with a friend to chat and not feel rushed, the kind of place you thought would be there forever until suddenly it wasn't. The management posted a statement Thursday making now-familiar accusations of gentrification, landlord troubles, rising rents and increasingly corporate environments. Read the full statement on EaterLA. I'm not sure what the answer is to those problems. I dislike boutiques where I can't afford anything, but I like good coffee and good cheese. I don't think landlords should use any illegal tactics to get businesses out and I think every effort should be made to help beloved community businesses survive, but it's also hard to understand why they wouldn't need to charge the market rate to survive as property owners.

But what I do understand is that it's not the media's fault for not supporting Casbah, as the cafe's statement said. That's the nature of restaurant coverage and most news and content -- there has to be a news hook, or a reason to write about the place. Casbah got plenty of coverage when Sunset Junction first became hip, but inevitably it was upstaged by the massive wave of new businesses that have opened since then. Would it have gotten more media attention if a quality coffee program was offered, or a better menu? Quite possibly, if it was promoted in the right way, though maybe not, if the economics of the place still rested on regulars hanging out for hours after buying just a cappuccino.

Strangely, the media and the expectations it creates was also at least partly to blame for the recent closure of Alma, according to chef Ari Taymor -- but for the exact opposite reason: It brought too much attention to the tasting menu-focused Downtown restaurant that started as a pop-up.

Damned if we do, damned if we don't? We get it, running a restaurant is extremely challenging, whether it's for two years like Alma or 20 years like Casbah -- which by the way, pretty damn good run, right? Sure, it's the media's responsibility to treat restaurants fairly, not to jump in with early negative reviews and to try to have just a little compassion for hard-working chefs and entrepreneurs. But it's not our job to help you revitalize a restaurant that never got a menu update or served a memorable dish, and it's definitely not our job to NOT let readers know about a place we think they should know about. Unless, of course, we want to save it for ourselves, and then you won't hear about it.

So restaurants, blame greedy landlords or fickle investors or changing tastes -- but please don't blame the very people who would love to help you spread the word if you're doing good work. We're on your team, really. Now Yelpers, they're another story altogether.

Lamill Coffee Freshens Up Menu, Streamlines Premium Coffee Program

Silver Lakers pack Lamill to work, caffeinate and socialize

When Lamill Coffee Boutique opened seven years ago, EatingLA wondered whether it might be "too spiffy for scruffy Silver Lake?" Well, Silver Lake isn't so scruffy anymore, and since 2008 the area has seen the arrival of various new wave coffee purveyors such as Intelligentsia, Dinosaur, Caffe Vita, Sqirl, Go Get 'Em Tiger, Proof Bakery, Broome St. and many more. But Lamill's fanciful decor stands above the plywood aesthetic of the more minimal spots.
Lamill is one of the few coffee roasters that is actually local (Groundworks and Bar Nine are a few of the others), and over the years the Silver Lake Blvd. cafe has simplified its beverage program to bring it more in line with what the neighborhood prefers. Gone are the pricey and whimsical concoctions like "coffee and a cigarette" with tobacco-infused whipped cream -- more recently the cafe has moved to offering a half dozen freshly-roasted blends and single origin coffees available with three brewing methods: Clover vacuum brewing, hand drip or French press. Fortunately the excellent Hong Kong Milk Tea is still on the menu along with a dozen other tea selections from Lamill's own label.

Boursin omelette with roasted tomatoes

Chef James Trees (Hutchinson, Michael Mina, Whist) has given the menu a freshening up, with house-made pastries and maple espresso brioche donuts, a wide brunch selection and lunch and dinner entrees. When Lamill opened, the neighborhood was aghast a the prices, but now they're in line with the rest of the area. On the menu for breakfast and brunch are the ubiquitous avocado toast smeared with what must be an entire avocado; smoked salmon toast; a terrific, classic Boursin omelette; Eggs Benedict and chicken and waffles.
If you don't tend to think of Lamill as a place for lunch or dinner, think again -- try a croque monsieur, shrimp 'n grits, the Lamill Burger, steak frites or salads. There's also wine and six different craft beer selections. Lamill is open until 10 pm, 11 pm on weekends.

Lamill Coffee Boutique
1636 Silver Lake Blvd.
323-663-4441

Go Get 'Em Tiger: Hyperion Gets a Coffee Energy Infusion

Reko Ethopian filtered coffee gets the day started alertly

The stretch of Silver Lake between Sunset Junction and Broome St. on Rowena is lacking some good coffee action. Say Cheese is serviceable but other than that, might as well just get a free sample at Trader Joe's. So it was exciting to see Go Get 'Em Tiger, the serious coffee outpost from Larchmont from Kyle Glanville and Charles Babinski (this year's U.S. champion barista), open a coffee pop-up.

Coffees available include the unusual turmeric/ginger/almond/macadamia cappucino

Located in the former Lucky Duck space, where Hyperion meets Griffith Park Blvd., it's only for four months or so while they ready their new location next to Bar Covell on Hollywood Blvd., but we'll take it, and hope that maybe another quality caffeine outpost will take over that location. It's a pretty basic operation -- a few pastries, a few bags of coffee available and a focus on espresso, cappucino and filtered coffee. The almond/macadamia milk infused cappucino ($5) is plenty rich despite the absence of milk products, with a hint of nuttiness. Filtered coffee ($4) is smooth and bright, with enough for two cups in each carafe. It kept me focused and alert all day, and as I once told FoodGPS, I felt like a better person after drinking it. Which seems well worth $4. Also, the L.A. Family School dads are pretty stylin, so there's that.

Go Get 'Em Tiger
2630 Hyperion Ave.
Open 7 am to 2 pm or so, until August or so

Treasures of the San Gabriel Valley: Spam musubi croissants, fine falafel and innovative Indian

Spam musubi croissant

Everyone knows that the San Gabriel Valley is the place to go for dim sum, dumplings and sumptuous Chinese seafood banquets. But with a roiling hotpot of cultures in the valley, there are plenty of other places to discover. Bloggers GourmetPigs, FoodGPS E*starLA and I were invited recently to try Azusa's Mediterranean spot Falafel Me! and we managed to fit in two other terrific stops.

Taza Coffee is at 11 West Huntington in Arcadia

Coffee pairs with fusion pastries at Taza

First up was Arcadia's Taza Coffee House, which brews artisan coffee from Ritual Roasters, Handsome and others, and in all likelihood brews the best coffee between Intelligentsia in Pasadena and in Coffee Klatch in San Dimas. On weekdays, they make dense, chewy waffles with interesting toppings.
But weekends are when you want to go, for fascinating fusion pastries from Sharon Wang, a former Bouchon baker who has her own Sugarblooom pastry company. A Spam musubi croissant was an inspired combination of the down-home Hawaiian poor man's sushi and Parisian savoir-faire. Two logs of Spam are combined with kimchi and enrobed in delicate pâte feuilletée, then sprinkled with nori seaweed for a crunchy, salty flavor bomb that could probably pair well with some hot green tea.
The bacon maple scone is perfectly executed, just right to order with a cappucino. There's also miso-butterscotch cookies, again deftly playing the umami-meets-Viennoiserie game with finesse. But the real revelation was the pretzel croissant, a pastry which I didn't even bother taking a picture of, instead starstruck by Spam and miso. (FoodGPS has a good one.) Made with whole wheat flour and sprinkled with sesame seeds that toast on top of the lye-washed croissant, it's a slightly earthier pastry with a toasty brown butter flavor that I absolutely could not stop eating. Again, the pastries are served only on weekends, so combine a trip to Taza with the nearby Arboreteum, Santa Anita Racetrack or just REI or the mall.

Have a kebab at Falafel Me, 1123 Alosta Ave., Azusa

Fresh falafel, beefy kafta at Falafel Me!

When I was in high school, we used to frequent a place on Pico Blvd. called the Hungry Pocket. Probably mostly because the liquor store behind it would sell booze to just about anyone, but I remember the food being pretty solid too. The guy who started Hungry Pocket, Robert Atallah, has since sold it, but he went on to found the big CedarLane natural frozen foods company. Well, now he's back in the restaurant business, and the first outlet of his fresh Med concept is Falafel Me! in beautiful downtown Azusa. Falafel sandwiches come in Mexican, Greek, Italian and Indian varieties, while the Kafta kebab is a huge and hearty plate of freshly grilled ground beef skewers and rice. Of course there's beef and chicken shwarma, grape leaves and the like, and a garlic sauce to rival Zankou. For maximum flavor punch, get the chicken shwarma sandwich, a large garlic-laden roll that's way more than the sum of its parts. Look for more Falafel Me's in possibly more central locations soon, and don't forget to check out the wacky art on the walls. (This stop was comped.)

Dosa from Ashirwad, 583 E. Foothill Blvd., Upland

L.A.'s best Indian? Maybe! 

So FoodGPS sat next to a guy on an airplane who told him the best Indian food in the L.A. area, in fact the only Indian restaurant where he would deign to eat, was located in Upland. I might have shrieked "We're going all the way to Upland?" when Josh first told us, but hey, if you're already in Azusa, then why the hell not? Ashirwad means The Blessings, and it was indeed a blessing to find about this clean little strip mall gem with a friendly owner, featuring Gujurati specialties and other vegetarian Southern Indian dishes.

fenugreek leaf roti

Among the dishes we tried were Bhel Puri, a cold snack with deep-fried dough pockets doused in fruity chutney and puffed rice, and stuffed with potatoes and onions. Khichdi with khadi is known as Indian comfort food, a Gujurati specialty made with rice, lentils, chilis and subtle spices, served with poppadums and yogurt soup. Shak, thepla and dahi comes under the Gujurati specialties section of the menu -- it was a deeply-flavored eggplant and potato curry served with a dish of tangy, thick fresh yogurt and a plate of fenugreek roti bread.

Khichdi

Made with fresh fenugreek leaves, these unusual flatbreads had an herbal flavor that was a great combo with the smoky curry. Rava masala dosa wasn't the burrito-like type of dosa, but rather a plate of beautifully lacy pancakes incorporating onions and chiles, surrounding a potato filling. Some of us dabbed on a fiery mango pickle on some of them to up the heat quotient -- the owner is very accomodating about racheting down the heat depending on your tolerance. The intricate seasonings and less-familiar dishes at Ashirwad makes it a welcome departure from the familiar tandoori 'n curry menu.

And definitely try to save room for some sweets afterwards. The housemade Indian sweets include a milky ladoo, walnut burfee, and Adad-Yo, a nutty-tasting winter energy food with Ayurvedic remedies to fortify you during the cold season.

Sqirl on Virgil: How to prolong your apricot bliss

brioche toast with Blenheim apricot jam and almond butter, La Esperanza coffee

I've been obsessed with apricots almost my whole life. "Daddy, please buy me an apricot roll," I used to beg in the aisles of the old Food Giant on Canon Drive, where I would then wrap the fruit leather around my thumb and suck it while my dad finished his shopping.

Sqirl menu: The specials change frequently

And when I was in Israel this summer, one of the few Hebrew words I managed to memorize aside from hummus and toda (thank you) was mish-mish, the adorable word for apricot. At Sqirla's new breakfast and lunch cafe on Virgil, you can prolong the too-short apricot season with a swath of deeply flavored brown sugar Blenheim apricot jam on a buttery slice of brioche bread. A dollop of house-made almond butter turns it into a nutty, fruity, buttery wonder that verges on dessert and goes oh so well with a bright cup of La Esperanza coffee from Guatemala.

Charles Babinski ponders a pourover

Many have already written about the toast topped with egg, greens and lacto-fermented hot sauce. But there's also porridge made with Kukuho brown rice, with either sweet or savory (sorrel pesto!) toppings, and Proof Bakery granola. Kyle Granville and Charles Babinski, ex-Intelligentsia coffee experts, hold up the G&B Coffee part of the equation. If you're more of a milk in your coffee person, order a carefully-pulled latte, but if you've never tried one of the light and citrusy pour-overs without milk, it's quite a revelation. I wouldn't have it every morning instead of my perennial sturdy dark roast with half and half, but La Esperanza's almost tea-like quality cut the richness of the brioche and jam perfectly.
Of course, jars of Jessica Koslow's Sqirl jam are available to take home, and at lunch dishes range from a chicken salad with pickled ramps and crispy rice or geoduck crudo with dandelion.
Sqirl may be tiny (kudos to the mom who managed to nurse her baby on a high stool while waiting for her pourover), but the dishes are packed with big flavor thanks to techniques like pickling, fermenting and dry farming.
Sqirl (open for breakfast and lunch every day except Wednesday)
720 N. Virgil Ave.
(213) 394-6526

Highland Park is changing fast: Highland Cafe is the latest

Highland Cafe is just a few doors down from Cafe de Leche

The former El Chapin market and bakery, which had breakfast, pupusas, tacos, Mexican pastries and burritos, has become Highland Cafe, which will have Handsome Coffee, pastries, breakfast and sandwiches. It looks to be the same owners since the sidewalk tables and pastry case are the same, but with a new vintage-y look and less-Salvadoran menu.
It's hard to go wrong with more good coffee, but this changeover is another sign that Highland Park (or at least York Blvd.) is really changing fast. Someday I'd like to see another breakfast spot like Cacao that combines great coffee with creative Mexican/South American breakfast dishes -- maybe French toast with goat cajeta?

 The opening of Maxmiliano kicked the Highland Park restaurant scene into high gear. Now French bistro Ba is nearly open down the street and Garvanza's just might open one of these days. We tried Highland Park Kitchen, the much-needed makeover of Marty's, the other night. The window along York is indeed a big improvement. But the roaming magician and air-headed waitress who kept asking "Did we save room for dessert?" and "Are we going to order drinks"? were a little too intrusive for a relaxing evening, and the food wasn't anything we would rush back for.
Is anyone getting nostalgic already for the old Highland Park, or do more restaurant choices make up for losing some of the neighborhood's character?

Broome St. General Store: A little bit of everything cool in Silver Lake

There's plenty of room on Broome St.'s patio for having coffee and pastries.

Broome St. General Store has taken over that sweet little bungalow on Rowena near the Coffee Table formerly occupied by Zanzabelle and Freight. Where Zanzabelle sold ice cream, coffee and nicely-designed vintage toys, Broome St. concentrates on coffee, sandwiches and desserts, and nicely-designed kitchen items. Broome St. is named after the New York street where one of the owners, Sophie Esteban, had her first real kitchen furnished with items found everywhere from Dean and DeLuca to Chinatown.

Kitchenware is has a simple appeal.

So the general store offers a little taste of everything she and co-owner Peter Graham like: Lovely reusable glass canning jars and carafes, dishes and housewares from Japan, vintage items from Esteban's collection, even elegant grey t-shirts and of course, the quintessential Silver Lake necessity, Dude No. 1 Beard Oil.

Packaged food items include raw honey and Morris Kitchen ginger syrup, in addition to jams, candy -- and bloody mary mix.

There's no kitchen, but a meal can be cobbled together from sandwiches and salads from HeirloomLA, sweets from Cake Monkey and croissants and pastries from Valerie Confections. We tried an excellent cup of Panama Hartmann Honey pour over coffee from New York's Gimme! Coffee; there's also espresso and French press coffee. Want to make perfectly-brewed pour-over coffee at home? Pick up one of those Clever Pourover brewers here. Open only six days, there's lots more to come at Broome St. -- special cakes and desserts from Valerie are in store when the shop starts opening later in the evenings in a few weeks, so Silver Lake will finally have that dessert-and-coffee place locals have longed for.
Broome St. General Store
2912 Rowena Ave.

(323) 570-0405

San Francisco Mission district ramble: Poc-Chuc, Four Barrel Coffee

Four Barrel Coffee's spacious counter

I couldn't spend a weekend in Berkeley and Mill Valley without squeezing in an afternoon roaming San Francisco's Mission district. But I've gorged on enough Tartine pastries; where else to go? After settling on Poc- Chuc via a little Internet intelligence and Four Barrel Coffee, which I first tasted at the Cognoscenti Coffee stand, I had a chance encounter on the BART platform with Josette, an adventurous and youthful retired French woman who was also spending the afternoon exploring San Fran.
She decided my food-focused itinerary sounded better than her cable car plan, so she joined me for lunch at Poc-Chuc, a pleasant Yucatecan refuge near the bustling Mission St./16th St. Bart station. Poc-Chuc was similar to the now-closed more formal version of Chichen Itza, but I found the cooking even more focused and luscious. Josette's prudent French appetite was stunned at the size of the generous plate of poc-chuc, the signature dish of grilled citrus-marinated pork, beans, rice, grilled onions and housemade tortillas.

Seriously good plantains at Poc-Chuc

We also tried excellent cochinita pibil and shrimp tacos, and some of the best fried plantains I've ever had -- with "creme fraiche" on the side, I explained. Even the tamarindo drink was generously sized and perfectly balanced -- this place is a real winner, even if it's not in the down-and-dirty Mission burrito style one might expect in the area. 

Grilled pork was tender and nicely caramelized

Then it was time for afternoon coffee at Four Barrel, a newer caffeine stop on Valencia with a woodsy, open design. A bar with stools overlooks a large roasting operation in the rear, while the large counter in the middle makes espressos and cappucinos. A wall of vinyl records provides the soundtrack -- "Hunky Dory" when we were there -- while a gentleman at a small counter in front prepares special varieties like a richly-flavored Ethiopia Welena Suke Quto I tried. 

Making a pour-over at Four Barrel Coffee

He'll ask you to specify if you want an espresso or a "pour-over" -- that's a drip cup made in a Clever Dripper filter which steeps the coffee more deeply than a normal drip filter. With its trendy mounted animal heads, rough-hewn tables filled with Macbook-using Missionites and retro soundtack, this is one seriously cool coffeehouse. I would have liked to also check out Dynamo Donuts for a Lemon Szechuan or Molasses Guinness, but I just couldn't fit in another bite. Must return to the Mission, soon.

Jones Coffee brews up a storm in Pasadena

Jones is a cozy spot for buying beans or whiling away the hours

I'm no coffee geek, but I do require two sturdy cups of drip-brewed coffee before I can leave for work in the morning. I've tried Intelligentsia, Lamill, Monkey and Son, Blue Bottle and Ristretto, among others, but so far Peet's Espresso Forte (fresh from a Peet's store, not the supermarket) tastes the most like I want my coffee to taste. Even though I started on Peet's when I lived in Berkeley years ago, I still feel like I'm buying an overly corporate product, so I keep trying other beans. Everyone said I should try Jones Coffee Roasters in Pasadena, which has its own farm in Guatemala. It's been around since 1994, but it was new to me. The roasting operation and a small cafe are housed in a light industrial building on Raymond Street, near the Humane Society. There's free wi-fi, seating and a bookshelf full of interesting-looking titles as well as snacks from tamales to soup. I bought a pound of espresso beans to take home -- they didn't taste as good in the electric drip maker as the Peet's, but they made an excellent latte in my little espresso pot. Jones is kind of a hidden gem, and I'll bet the cappucinos they make far surpass my own, so I'll definitely go back to try some drinks on the premises and check out the bookshelf. The prices are extremely reasonable -- just 99 cents for a small cup of coffee, $2.05 for a cappucino or latte and $2.25 for an iced coffee. They also have classes in being a home barista, cupping and brewing, if you need to take your coffee geekdom up a notch.
latte art at Jones

Jones Coffee Roasters
537 S. Raymond Ave.
Pasadena
626-564-9291

Cafe de Leche: Highland Park's caffeine oasis

Some longtime NELA folks probably see the opening of Cafe de Leche as the beginning of the end: a sleek modern coffee spot with Intelligentsia Coffee, full of fashionably tousled young folks with deer on their t-shirts. But Cafe de Leche keeps it real with a play area for tots in back and pastries and muffins from Porto's. Owned by Matt Schodorf and his wife Anya, there's a subtle Latin vibe to the cafe, especially when Anya is there making the Nicaraguan pinolio corn drink, which I didn't get to taste. My espresso con panna was just the little jolt of caffeine I needed to finish out the morning, and I ran into Josh from FoodGPS, who had his laptop plugged in to a convenient outlet behind the table, plus there's free WIFI.
And the coolest part? I got the bicycle discount for arriving on a bike!
Cafe de Leche
5000 York Blvd.
Highland Park
323-551-6828

Fix Coffee review from baby-friendly blog

(photo of Fix Coffee via Reservation for Three)

Suebee reviews the new Fix Coffee on Echo Park Ave. on her new blog Reservation For Three. She used to blog at Silver Lake Boulevard, but after moving to Echo Park and having a baby, she decided to review with an eye towards which restaurants are baby-friendly. She says Fix has gelato, panini and sandwiches in addition to really good coffee, so EatingLA will have to stop by soon.

Bustelo coffee gets cool

No matter how often I go to Intelligentsia and Lamill, I don't seem to be able to turn into a permanent coffee snob. In fact, until the fancy places opened up, I usually drank Cafe Bustelo espresso in the festive red and yellow cans, which is only about $4 for 12 oz. at your friendly neighborhood Hispanic market. I still think it's pretty solid stuff for the price, so when Bustelo offered to send me a sampler of some of their new products, I said, "Si, por favor!" Bustelo Cool Cafe con Leche is a small can of coffee similar to the Starbucks Doubleshot. It's got a nice flavor over ice, and it's sweetened with evaporated cane juice, not high-fructose corn syrup. I wouldn't mind it even stronger though, because if I'm going to use 130 calories on coffee, I'd like it to really wake me up. Even better was a new type of Cafe Bustelo they sent, Supreme by Bustelo premium gourmet espresso. I'm not sure which local stores carry it, but if you want a really well-priced dark roast coffee, give it a try. My current mix is half Bustelo, half Peet's French roast -- what's your favorite coffee for a sturdy dark roast taste combined with a decent price?

All these products are also available at JavaCabana (email me if you want a discount code for the website).
Product rating: Bustelo Cool -- 3 spoons (out of 5)
Bustelo Supreme -- 4 1/2 spoons (out of 5)

NELA: Coffee comes and coffee goes

Our Northeast L.A. tipster Billy Boy writes that a new fair trade coffeehouse will take over the insurance office next to Johnny's bar on York Ave. at Ave. 50. Construction is already underway -- yay, you can never have too much coffee.

Conversely, the LA Eastside blog reports that El Sereno's much-loved Antigua Cultural Coffeehouse is being evicted, although they're planning a new Cypress Park location. I'm not sure if El Sereno is considered Northeast L.A., but I'm sure someone will let me know pronto if it's not.

LaMill Coffee opens: too spiffy for scruffy Silver Lake?

chandeliers and murals in the red-walled cafe

LaMill's interior designers Scott Mangan and Nick Bianco at Rubbish Interiors went all out for LaMill Coffee's elegant interior, having custom green croco-vinyl chairs made, recovering vintage sky blue slipper chairs, ordering up a hand-painted French mythological mural. Then there's the one of a kind pounded brass espresso machine from Italy and the marble-walled WCs... It's très Parisien, but it is too much for the scruffy-bearded dog lovers of Silver Lake?

consulting chef Michael Cimarusti of Providence

Yes, it's out with the free dog biscuits and in with the Asian pork belly with arugula with the closing of the Backdoor Bakery and the opening of LaMill. I'm just happy there's finally more than one place to get a really good cup of coffee in the area, and LaMill's cappucinos are the stuff of dreams. Well, wide-awake dreams. Welcome to the hood, and we hope you decide to stay open late for the dessert-starved denizens of the area. The pounded brass espresso steamliner

A peek at Intelligentsia Coffee

Eating L.A. got a peek inside Intelligentsia this morning on our morning jog. It opens at noon today (Friday) with an opening party tonight. They're still putting a few finishing touches on, but the sign painter graciously gave me his cup of freshly-made Ethiopian coffee. Intelligentsia's Kyle (pictured), a finalist at the World Barista Championships, told me that coffee will be served from both the expensive Clover coffeemaker and another system of near-equal quality which makes more at a time for peak hours. The cup I tasted was super-smooth with some hints of berry.

Most of Intelligentsia's coffees are medium-roasted -- the taste should come from the bean, not the roast, Kyle said. Or as he put it, "Would a real foodie order a well-done steak?" Even if you're a dark roast lover, try out some of their more nuanced varieties just to see the difference. The store is spacious with elegant marble counters, a shady patio in front and a lots of beans for sale (pictured). Intelligentsia serves croissants and baguettes from BreadBar and cupcakes and other pastries from Echo Park's Delilah Bakery.

Sanjang Coffee Garden: best re-use of building award

Eating L.A. doesn't hand out awards, but if we did, the best re-use of building award would go to Sanjang Coffee Garden on Virgil and 1st. I drive by this corner every day, and for several years it harbored one of the smallest and scariest-looking private schools I've ever seen, the kind of place where you wanted to rescue the kids so they wouldn't be forced to go to school in a tiny pink stucco building surrounded by chain link fencing. All that is gone, and somehow from the stucco ruins has risen a Zen-like Korean coffee garden. The interior has soothing wood walls and glass jars lined with teas, while the outdoor area is large and attractive.

The sun-dappled courtyard will probably be hopping at midnight.

A wood-burning firepit is the focal point of a huge grassy patio. They're obviously expecting a crowd of, I imagine, young Koreans looking for an alternative to beer bars, so the coffee and tea drinks are priced high ($6-7) for maximum lingering, and it's open until 2 a.m. In addition to all the usual cappucinos and ice-blended drinks, there's apricot ice-blended, jujube tea, black bean and sesame soy milk tea, and the de rigueur plain-flavored non-fat frozen yogurt with toppings. There's also free high-speed wireless internet and lunch items including sandwiches, ramen, udon and grilled sweet potato. (Drinks are more reasonably priced for take-out and with lunch). Oh, and for a while, they're giving out free coffees to go in the morning, starting at 7 a.m.!
Sanjang Coffee Garden
101 S. Virgil Ave.
(213) 387-9190

More coffee in Silver Lake: Lamill coming to Silver Lake Blvd.

Thanks to SueBee and her Silverlakeblvd blog for confirming that Lamill Coffee is coming to the former Rubbish store on Silver Lake Blvd...good news for Silver Lake caffeine addicts, bad news for places like the Backdoor Bakery that have been getting away with substandard coffee for years. I had the best cappucino of my life at Lamill's roasting plant last year, so we are really lucky to get both Lamill and Intelligentsia in the hood. And apparently there's a liquor license in the works...booze and coffee both? Now that's a combo I could get into!

Speaking of Silver Lake, could a certain longtime Silver Lake restaurateur whose only restaurant at the moment is farther west be looking to return to the area...possibly to a shuttered spot that closed up but never really moved out? Developing...