Results tagged “brunch”

             

Once upon a gorgeous SoCal Sunday, a group of friends journeyed to the tip of the county to enjoy brunch by the sea at the beautiful Hotel Casa del Mar in Santa Monica. They had a reservation, and, like most studied food aficionados, had perused the menu beforehand for the $29 two course plus dessert buffet meal, and dutifully texted in ahead of time to get the secret code for free unlimited champagne or Bloody Mary brunch cocktails (hello, wouldn't you, too?). They were ready for brunch.

              

If you overdid it last night, head over to Rush Street in Culver City for their new brunch menu. If you are looking for the hair of the dog, they have you covered with a bottomless mimosa, a make-your-own Bloody Mary bar and anything else you can imagine. The sunny patio is perfect for early risers, and the cool dim interior is perfect for those looking to escape the heat or a hangover. High ceilings and a loft area make the room both spacious and cozy.

       

We have salad bars and make-your-own sundae bars, even burger bars. It's about time somebody applied this idea to liquor! On weekends Rush Street in Culver City is offering a make-your-own Bloody Mary bar. They fill your glass with Ketel One vodka. You can ask for a different brand, although nobody has yet. Then the bartender meets you at the end of the bar.

            

Once upon a time, 11648 San Vicente Blvd in Brentwood was a Hamburger Hamlet. Yawn, right? Yes, the Hamlet had its heyday here in Los Angeles, but it's been a long time since the chain served anything to write (home) about. But if the three most important considerations in real estate are location, location, and yup, you guessed it, location, well, Tavern wound up with a prime piece of it. What you might not ever guess--if you didn't know it--is that this beautiful eatery, with its skylight-lit atrium dining room, plush seating, warm gray tones matched with airy cream colors, and wooden floors was once a Hamlet.

       

It's a 9-5, M-F world, which makes elegant brunching a weekend necessity. It also makes it hard to get food bloggers together on a work-week morning, which is why Pasadena's La Grande Orange opted to use a little poetic license and woo us into their historic locale eatery to serve us brunch on a Wednesday night.

       

You had an awesome night of barhopping but one cocktail too many, you mixed your spirits and you didn't drink a drop of water before you went to bed. Next morning? Raging headache, and the last thing you want to have for brunch is some buttery pancakes drenched in sweet syrup. Blech!

    

When you think weekend brunch you probably imagine vanilla French toast, cheddar cheese and bacon scramble and a stack of blueberry pancakes. We do, too, so we were intrigued when we heard about the "Dim Sum and Then Some" Brunch at Equator in Pasadena. You get to choose from a menu of dim sum created by Chef Zhang, who learned a thing or two about the cuisine from his mother. She has worked at acclaimed Monterey Park and Chinatown restaurants for years.

It's been all about the morning meals lately: the LA Times proclaimed the return of the restaurant breakfast just last week (although LAist had its finger on the pulse back in February, with our Wake Up LA series). Now Rush Street, the new Chicago-themed restaurant in Culver City, has announced a brunch menu that begins Saturday, September 6th. From 9:30am to 3pm, you can expect to enjoy treats like Belgian waffles and a "Red Eye" burger that includes applewood-smoked bacon and a fried egg. You can also enjoy a little hair-of-the-dog Bloody Mary or mimosa. Or, get the day started right with one of their other specialty cocktails.

LAist absolutely loves the Redwood Bar & Grill, a pirate-themed hangout close to Disney Hall and the Civic Center downtown -- not only is it a lovely place to wander into on a cold and lonely winter night, but it serves our Editor's Choice for Best Mac N' Cheese in the city. I know, right! So you'll be thrilled to hear that the Redwood is now open for brunch!

       

Brunchtime is one of life's great ironies. You want to go out, relax, enjoy the company of other people, eat enough to fill you up two meals' worth, sip your beverage slowly, and take your time. And because you are not alone in this pursuit, you tend to go where lots of people go, because they want the same thing. But all those people means all that waiting. But what happens when you find a great a brunch, with great food, but the restaurant is empty? Do you tell everyone you know, and hope they'll fill it up...and steal your secret? Or do you think "what's wrong with this picture?" and put your name on the waiting list at the joint down the road where the crowd spills out on the sidewalk, anxiously checking their watches?

We’ve already discussed the satisfying lunch and bright atmosphere at Town & Country Bakery & Café in Silver Lake, but now it’s time to talk breakfast. Served all day from this laid back, casual establishment, breakfast includes the usual fare (pancakes, eggs bacon) and less common items like a Brie and walnut quesadilla or French toast stuffed with Mascarpone and marmalade.

All good things come from the Valley first. Lucky for those who stay "over the hill," Executive Chef David Anderson at LA's fanciest and tastiest vegan affair in the Tarzana Safari Walk (yes, that's an official Los Angeles Neighborhood, city blue sign and all), there is plans to open up a new vegan eatery with full bar on the Westside according to VegNews, who gave his West Valley restaurant a 2007 Veggie Award (Note: VegNews is the real magazine for Vegetarians, not that other mag). But first thing's first; and that's starting your weekend brunch at his restaurant on Ventura Boulevard -- Madeleine Bistro.

In spite of the greasy mess plate of hungover love pictured above, Foxy's in Glendale is far from your last resort, still-drunk brekkie-plate of mornings soon to be forgotten.

Every Friday, LAist is taking you on a trip down to Orange County to uncover the unique dining experiences that await adventurous eaters willing to explore beyond the county line. They say that dogs are a man's best friend. I didn't have a dog growing up, due to my mom's fur allergies, so I never quite understood the sense of passion that dog-owners have for their canine companions. But over the years, after seeing...

Tucked behind a small building with a mostly unnoticed facade on Ventura Blvd. is a little homestyle cafe called Vivian's. The quaint and calm outdoor patio is only the beginning of what is a community of regulars, friendly and cute waitresses and weekday freelancers starting their days late. Within the menu of the usual breakfast items, everyone raves about the banana pancakes and the house omelet, which has avocado and grilled chicken breast. The portions...

Every day the weather reports call for heat – if we’re lucky it’s eighties and nineties, if we’re not it’s up around the century mark. Sometimes, it seems like it’s almost too hot to eat. Fortunately, Pain Quotidien has a plan for you. They’re making an excellent gazpacho as this summer’s special soup. It’s finely blended and garnished with a little pesto, some julienned radishes, cucumbers and mangos. (It sounds like a lot more...

Don’t go to S&W Country Diner on the weekends. It’s hours are from 8 to 3, so there’s never a time that’s not brunch time, and so there’s never a time that the joint isn’t packed with groups of people standing around on the sidewalk waiting for a table. S&W is rumored to have one of the finest brunches in the land. I’ve been there quite a few times, but usually for lunch. I...

Do you walk your dog in Elysian Park? And maybe sometimes you did not collect the dog's poop in the plastic grocery bag or the corn-starch bio-degradable bag because the damned dog was chasing a lizard or squirrel or some un-neutered hound a half-mile away?

I’m a little hesitant to tell you guys about Bloom Café. Brunching is not a leisure activity in this town. The idea of brunch is always calm, meeting up on a weekend, yummy breakfast, savory lunch foods. Coffee, laughter, companionship. But the reality is lines and waiting, grumpy stomachs, languishing hangovers. It’s not pretty out there. At the Bloom Café, you can remember what brunch is really about. The clientele at this Picfair location...

Just about every time I'm winding my way over the hill into Hollywood I pass by Solar de Cahuenga at the corner of Franklin and Cahuenga and think, "Man, I need to check this place out." Back when I lived just a hop, skip, and a jump (aka three blocks) from the cafe's corner there was no cafe there to speak of. Then again, there was no such thing as WiFi to speak of,...

I go out on Friday night and I come home on Saturday morning. But what happens when I go out on Saturday night? Sunday brunch. And this Sunday, the Revlon Run/Walk For Women team, The MissFitz, are presenting a MUSICAL BRUNCH EVENT at Safari Sam’s that will cure your hangover, and possibly cancer. Hosted by Rakaa of Dilated Peoples, “Brunch For A Cause” will feature performances by The Aggrolites, theSTART, Vonyse, The Stoats and...

We wouldn't tell our Saturday morning brunch guest where we were taking them, despite their prodding or relentless guessing. Our car's GPS navigation system took us across the south-east end of Hollywood, finally leaving us to search for parking alongside the imposing edifices of the Scientology center near the intersection of Fountain and Edgemont. The destination: Square One, for what we hoped would be a breakfast as tasty as it was rumored to be....

NOVEMBER 11-13

Unless otherwise noted, all shows are free of charge.


SATURDAY, 10/22



• Cross Hart Jazz Experience take the stage at the Skirball's Café
  Z. The show starts at 12pm. For info, call (310) 440-4500.


• The Janaki String Trio perform a preview concert at Trinity Lutheran Church
  at 2pm. Call (310) 937-7275.


• Rosalinde
  Gilbert Concert features the The Capitol Ensemble as a part of
  LACMA's Sunday Live series.
  The concert begins at 6pm in LACMA's Leo S. Bing Theatre. Call (323) 857-6234.

Option One is for both the VIP Champagne Brunch & Tasting Event, and costs $150 per person. There are Noon and 1 p.m. seatings, which include an elegant brunch served in the historic Ivy Substation with patio seating, a preview of the Silent Auction, and full access to Tasting Event. Restaurants include Beacon, Bastide, Ford's Filing Station, Patina, and Valentino.

Like it or not, Los Angeles is all about networking. Who, what, why and how people know each other can create smaller social associations that make big cities more tolerable and humane. Whether inclusive or exclusive, they’re part of what makes urban living so dynamic.

We're changing things up a bit here at LAist. Because we live in such a vibrant, socially active city, there are things going on all the time. We have long wanted to be able to list events in advance (for the benefit of our wonderful readers), so starting today we have implemented a new strategy: a week's events in advance. We will still post featured events each day, but we've added a permanent sidebar (to the left) that will always link to a post containing this week's events.