Having a bite while grocery shopping is the new casual dining out.
Maybe it’s the kill-two-birds-with-one-stone philosophy, but retail market style cafes are a budding trend all over LA. We're not suggesting that you do your weekly grocery shopping here, but you can load up on gourmet treats to impress your friends when they pop by for drinks or a sweet hostess gift for dinner parties during the holidays.
Stir Market (West Hollywood/Los Angeles)
This boutique California take on the classic European food hall experience is equal parts grab-and-go-counter, retail market, bar, and indoor-outdoor dining. Choose from multiple food counters, including a rotisserie with goodies ranging from Provencal chicken to porchetta, seasonal salads and sandwiches, artisanal pastries, or the wine and snack bar with cheese and charcuterie items. The urban epicurean retail products are great for scoring everything from Dave’s spaghetti sauce to a jar of Nutella for late night snacks. The 4,000 sq ft space was opened by Food Network personality Chef-Partner Jet Tila and Executive Chef Chris Barnett — a veteran of the Michelin starred Relais D’Auteuil in Paris and most recently the Four Seasons at Beverly Hills. The duo combines their culinary knowledge to create a neighborhood market hall for day to night dinning. Start your day with the Moroccan baked eggs with Merguez sausage or Meyer lemon pancakes with maple whipped crème fraîche and candied lemon zest. At night the menu changes to crispy pig tails with fennel pollen, grilled flatbreads, or charred prawns with garlic, lemon, and chili.
GC Marketplace (Universal City/Los Angeles)
Celebrated chef and event producer Gary Arabia (of Global Cuisine by Gary Arabia), recently opened GC Marketplace in the heart of the Cahuenga Pass near Universal Studios. The multi-concept culinary destination brings Arabia’s talent for entertaining and the finest artisanal ingredients together. With all food made in-house, the marketplace offers a series of vignettes where guests will find everything from a French style boulangerie, house-made pizza and sandwiches, a cheese and charcuterie counter, premium blend coffee, and even a retail wine space. Although known for his innovative presentations and extravagant events, this is a more down-to-earth Arabia that you can take home, so to speak. (After all, this is the chef credited for inventing “body sushi.”) A few G-rated highlights include pork belly Benedict; challah French toast with cinnamon apples; crab and truffle risotto with Dungeness crab; and a banh mi with spicy chicken. Unusual for this type of concept space, there is also a 12 seat chef’s table, located in an intimate setting tucked away from the marketplace.
Little Jewel of New Orleans (Chinatown, Downtown)
At first glance this Cajun ‘jewel’ downtown resembles a local AM/PM mini-market, but take a closer look at those products lining the back shelves from Zataran’s crab boil to Paul Prudhomme seasonings and Café du Monde chicory coffee. Chef-owner Marcus Christiana-Beniger hails from the Big Easy, so it's authentic ingredients and cooking methods all the way here – even the bread for the 10 inch sandwiches and the Blue Plate mayo is imported. Step up to the front counter and order a whopping po’boy – like the surf and turf with roast beef that is cooked for 12 hours, then is topped with fried golden shrimp and dressed with house remoulade. If a giant sandwich that can easily feed two people is not for you, other options include plates of catfish, Andouille sausages, and a life changing crawfish mac-n-cheese. There's also a blackened chicken salad if your are attempting restraint (actually, if you are, this is not the place for you). Relax in one of the back tables by the deli style counter. A giant chalkboard in the back calls out the specials of the day but we recommend any meats cooked low and slow overnight then topped with gravy; or a bread pudding laced with whiskey sauce. Just pretend that you are in New Orleans getting ready to hit Bourbon Street and let the good times roll — or as they say in the Crescent City, Laissez les Bon Temps Rouler!
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Image from Stir Market by Jesus Banuelos