Issue 46 — Food Tech, Macaroni & Peas, Plus Bread Out of Thin Air
What if we kissed in a red booth at Sweetgreen?
Last weeks vibe —
Bites
‘California’s ban on so-called junk fees goes into effect in less than 60 days, but it’s still not clear how the law will be enforced at restaurants and bars.’ — More developing on Eater
Bub’s Introduced BG Nites — live music, light bites, beer + wine every sunday + monday, cute!
We know Sweetgreen rolled out steak, but I think they’re also going to open full service restaurants too. Just hoping the ‘Carmplate’ has something to do with Carmy…
The Olipop x Barbie collab feels 1 year late — although peaches + cream? Timeless.
Little Fish made a strawberry basil ice cream cake for last week’s happy hour that looked divine… & speaking of 🍓 — Hailey Bieber’s strawberry glaze is now available by the pint.
In case you were wondering (I was….) Hot Cactus was behind the Telegrama / Étra Melrose Hill landscaping. love
Starbucks is getting desperate. First it was olive oil drinks, then spicy drinks, now it’s their ‘first ever texture innovation’… (it’s boba).
‘By renaming them “pearls,” Starbucks avoids a direct association with boba tea culture, and thus, Asian culture at large.’ uh ok— More on Eater
Graza 2.0 is dropping this week — In a tease on instagram, founder calls the new product revolutionary. ‘It’s going to shake up this world.’
Comments mostly predict new packaging — boxed olive oil, refill bags, glass bottles (lol can you imagine?!)
Maybe it’s salad dressing. Or something else you shake?
Based on this post — maybe it’s one box that houses several oils + flavors that all come out of one spout with options to mix and combine as it pours? That would definitely be new…
Thanks to all who sent me the tea today. My DM’s are always open.
Speaking of new packaging… Acid League just dropped their 100% recyclable easy-squeezy bottle — the comment section doesn’t love it…
Yelp x AI
Yelp is launching a new AI assistant to help you connect with relevant businesses. Rather than using a traditional search box, you can describe the issue directly into the chat interface.
They are NOT rolling this out for restaurant discovery though, so we’ll keep bothering Mady in the meantime.
They ARE however going to start using AI to stitch together user images and video to create TikTok-like content. — also, hi Cesarina!
Walmart is taking notes from Trader Joes with their new line, Bettergoods — a private label brand for plant-based, gluten-free and higher-end food.
The new line’s prices range from $2-15, with skus like hot honey seasoning powder and premium bronze cut pasta from italy for $1.97.
The prices are giving Trader Joes, the packaging is giving Target.
‘Dress for the job you want; brand for the customer you want to have.’ — More on Fast Company
The El Prado to Canyon pipeline isn’t linear, it’s circular.
So Many New Coffee Shops…
How’s It Going To End, Montrose
Lil East, El Sereno
Loop Espresso Club, Eagle Rock
Concierge Coffee, Arts District
Camel Coffee, Los Feliz
Some Other Spots I Want to Check Out —
Brötli — a swiss bakery (The ‘DM to order’ structure is bringing me back to 2020)
Fondry — Kumquat’s new croissant spot
Liu’s— chinese bakery + cafe
Bhan Kanom Thai — Thai dessert shop
Jar — a chophouse Katie keeps talking about
Boy Blue — a pop-up serving pizza + things
Spina — Italian food in Atwater
Sobar — Ju-Wari Soba
Jilli — modern sool jib, looks fun
🗓 Coming Up…
Pizza Collabs all month long:
Woon x Mozza partnered up for a Pork Dumpling Pizza with mozzarella, chives, scallions, shiitake mushrooms + Woon’s dumpling sauce! In New York, Omsom collabed with Roberta’s on a ‘fusion slice of YA DREAMS — SPICY THAI GUANCIALE 🍕’ cute.
5/09 Graza 2.0 drop
5/11 Plants + Spaces x Muhly launch party (👏 Maddy!)
Baker’s Bench looks closer to opening… they’re fully funded!
Also opening soon: LA Grocery + Cafe. AND in case you missed it, Melrose Hill is exploding with development. Soon, a second location for both Little Fish + Honey Hi — Jumbo Time Wines, Holy Basil, and Bar Etoile (from the owners of Domaine LA). More here…
Recent Bites
MacnPeas — *not pictured* the asinine amount of black pepper I piled my bowl with
Matcha Latte at Home — (Rocky’s duh) with steamed Koatji milk (which I got at The Eddy in Santa Barbara and still haven’t come across in LA yet!)
Mirai Vegan Sushi — when in La Jolla ;)
Out of Thin Air Bread — I first read about Alessandro Jang’s bakery in The Angel (which I highly highly recommend reading) Since then, Out of Thin Air has been coming up in my life constantly. Their bread has ended up at my house THRICE this week alone —
Danielle brought me a fougasse from the FLL x Bucatini market
On a different night, I asked her grab some bread to pair with the brothy beans I made. I was just told Bub’s was out, and she was at Suá Superette. The Gochujang Sesame loaf ended up being a fun twist. I’ve been smothering it with ramp butter every morning since.
And lastly, a friend brought me a baguette + yuzu almond croissant from the Atwater farmer’s market yesterday— which I didn’t take a pic of, but trust, it was gorg and delish. You can also find plain, chocolate, + ham / gouda croissants at their market table (as mentioned in The Angel!)
Ramp Butter + Oil — I didn’t feel the need to jump on the ramp wagon until I saw Justine Snacks post. And then when I saw them at Whole Foods I figured why not. It only took 3 employees and 9 minutes to figure out how to ring them up.
Joy — I took my aunt and uncle to Joy for lunch Friday, one of my go-to neighborhood spots to host out-of-towners. It’s so reliable. Food is delicious — the shrimp wontons are better than I remember every time. You can order light with a bun, rice + cold case sides, OR completely spill over your table with scallion pancakes, dan dan noodles, mapo tofu + soup… up to you! I also appreciate their selection of hot teas, shaken teas, and wine! (It was Friday after all…. )
They have dessert, but I’m more of a post-meal espresso kind-of-girl. Kumquat is just up the street.
Had some friends over this weekend— Maddy made OJ, Monica made Cae Sal. I’m so lucky.
Feels like a bunch of things are closing.
First Foxtrot, then the online delivery app Feed…
I’m sure you’ve seen what’s been going on with Wine + Eggs…
A few more closures I just came across —
B’ivrit In Cypress Park (sad I never got to try!) Pie Hole in the Art’s District, Pinky’s + Atrium in Los Feliz.
Vegan spots Flore + Nic’s on Beverly. Sage hasn’t closed but it started selling meat and (So did Burgerlords). Seems like a trend.
I also just read that Big Sur Bakery burned down!? Devastating. So many sweet memories there.
More positive vibes:
Love this account btw… Restaurant Memes By Céline
🔗 Last Week’s Most Clicked Link
I want one of these Garibaldina Society Vests (and I haven’t even been yet.)
I interviewed the co-founder of Graza recently and he was fairly cagey about the packaging. I jotted some thoughts down that I never published, but the gist was basically: graza gets a lot of heat for their plastic bottles, but without the squeeze bottle, what is even the point of the brand. I'll be interested to see what they reveal! My guess is a new product: salad dressing like you said, maybe vinegar, another cooking oil product? I saw sometihng on their site alluding to something called the frizzle but I didn't get any other info about it.
omg graza know how to get the gals talking don’t they 👀