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New to West Hollywood: Food + Lab Cafe and Marketplace
Anyone who lives on or just off Santa Monica Blvd between the streets of Fairfax and La Brea knows great joy and equally great frustration. It is a tremendous area to live in, centrally located, rent controlled West Hollywood, quiet side streets, a plethora of parks and supermarkets and even the honest to goodness one up on Wal-Mart, Target. But while Melrose to the south and Sunset to the north flourish with cafe's, restaurants and other places to satisfy hunger, Santa Monica Blvd remains inexorably silent.
This writer has lived in the black hole for the better half of a year now and has often wondered why this is. Santa Monica Blvd takes second to no boulevard in his mind--it matches the length of Sunset and further to the west, the fashion of Melrose. It even has stretches which are part of the single greatest road that has ever been called a road, Route 66.
So I'm walking to Target and sandwiched between the motorcycle shop I use to look at myself when I run and the medical marijuana place I don't have the balls to get a card to, I see something shiny. A cafe, a new not scary cafe, it's Food + Lab. I stand there trying to decide. A friendly looking guy stands on the other side of the door, looking happy, looking content. "I'll have what he's having," I say to myself and chuckle inwardly as i open the door (outwardly).
Small, clean, and simple. It's like if Cube on La Brea and Joans on Third had a smaller, leaner and less expensive son. The man introduces himself as Nino. He's the owner and is a generally nice and engaging individual. He explains the company started out doing mostly production catering for photo shoots (Smashbox is right down the street) but just opened this store last week Monday to give the area what he believed was a much needed shot in the arm. I'm agreeing with everything, eyeing a few choice items on the chalk wall menu. Chicken Sandwich with Brie, Pear and candied Walnuts? Well if you're gonna say it like that.
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I decided to come back for a proper lunch in a few days. I ordered the Bratwurst and Saurkraut on Ciabatta, my food eating accomplice got the Salami, Artichoke and Balsamic also on Ciabatta. We sipped on Vanilla Lattes on the quiet but spacious back porch area. Nino was friendly, letting me know things were starting to pick up, that they were still figuring out the little kinks but overall it was all good. Food comes.
My sandwich was dense and satisfying, the sauerkraut sitting between generous bratwurst, served warm with a side sampler of olives and tiny spiced pickles. The sauerkraut: good, not to sweet, which is how I like it. The bratwurst was good but nothing amazing, it was a little flat next to the neutral saurkraut (maybe a spread of some kind?) but I'm reaching here, it was a very good and filling meal. The delicious salted salami was balanced nicely with the mildly sweet balsamic and the tender artichoke pieces, this was a strongly received plate. The olives and pickles were a perfect salty accompaniment to the european inspired sandwich.
Total for the two lattes and sandwiches was about 22 dollars and some change.
I can only hope this is the start of great things for this much deserving area of the city, but if nothing else, it's a damn good place, with plenty of seats, ample parking, good solid sandwiches + salads at a reasonable price, and that's something to be noted in itself. Santa Monica between Fairfax and La Brea can hold its head a little higher between the hours of 8 and 8 from now on.
Photos and post by Erez Horovitz
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