FFF in LA: The Coffee Oscars

Today I made The Captain (aka my husband) drive 10 miles from home for a cup of coffee. He wasn’t happy about it (mumbled something under his breath about me being high-maintenance) but oh how his mood changed when he took that first sip! In a city filled to the brim with really bad beverages, it is indeed possible to find a coffee in LA that is so good it can possibly change your life. Or your husband’s mood. I found three, and if the Coffee Oscars existed, as they should, these would win the little gold man hand’s down. Drink up.

Urth Caffé — It’s certified organic which means it’s grown 100% chemical free. Even better than that, this may be one of the best latte’s I have ever had. Rich, aromatic, utterly smooth with the best foam art (above right) ever created, I couldn’t resist something sweet on the side. The Napoleon (above left) is a dreamy concoction of Urth’s secret recipe pastry cream in puff pasty and finished with caramelised sugar. What a partnership. 

Intelligentsia — This is the coffee we drove 10 miles for and frankly I would happily drive 100 miles for a latte this good. Coffee making is treated like a science in this retro lab-like cafe. If you have the stomach for it, grab a hot chocolate (bottom left) too. It will change the colour of your day.

CaffeLuxxe — We travelled out to Santa Monica for this coffee break, only to arrive and discover that The Captain had left his wallet behind. Back we went (silently) to retrieve said wallet and make the journey, like Groundhogs, back to Santa Monica. All was not lost … we savoured one of the best soy lattes we’ll ever have in this lifetime, and proved that a truly great caffeine hit can mend all manner of minor marital hiccups!

FFF in LA: Hollywood Farmer's Market

I am an obsessed Farmer’s Market groupie, so the Hollywood Farmers’ Market must be the food equivalent to The Rolling Stones. There is simply no other market like it.

A vast open-air street affair, it buzzes with around 90 farmers, 30 baked goods suppliers and more food vendors than you could shake a hoe at. This is sheer fresh food heaven. I picked up fresh linguine straight from Mama and a kicking and screaming lobster direct from Santa Barbara. I couldn’t resist a loaf of organic bread and trio of Greek dips; Skorthalia (garlic puree), eggplant with walnuts and classic Taramosalata.

Next was a bunch of fresh Californian-grown camomile pretty enough to pop in a vase, and some mushrooms so gorgeous they looked more like coral than vegetable. For lunch it was a fresh watermelon juice, melt-in-the-mouth French crepe with strawberries plucked from the garden that morning and for dessert, a thick slice of apple and cinnamon cake fresh from the oven.

The Hollywood Farmer’s Market is an exile from average on main street.