Oyster Blog

coffee

Montana Avenue: The real local’s spot in Santa Monica

by Lesley Bracker on December 6, 2010

R+D Kitchen, a popular restaurat and bar on Montana Avenue in Santa Monica

R+D Kitchen, a popular restaurat and bar on Montana Avenue in Santa Monica

Santa Monica is known for its great shopping and fantastic restaurants (some of the best in all of Los Angeles), but Montana Avenue is where you’ll experience how the locals live, eat, and shop.

Montana Avenue’s shops, restaurants and cafes run along 12 tree-lined, charming blocks between 7th Street and 20th Street — ideal for a half day of exploring. Each block has a variety of boutiques, eateries and coffee spots, and you can glimpse the Pacific in the distance. Start on one end, walking one side of the street, returning the other end – it doesn’t matter if you start at 7th or 17th.  If you want to know how it feels to live in Santa Monica, this is where to go: not to the Promenade or Pier, but to this neighborhood.  In fact, you’re more likely to spot a celebrity here than any other area of L.A.

You won’t have trouble finding coffee, as there are several Starbucks, a Peets, and the famous Caffe Luxxe, known for its authentic lattes and devoted following (all are open as early as 6 a.m.).  Feel like taking a yoga class?  There are several studios, and yoginis carrying mats are ubiquitous. Want to buy a top that you won’t see anyone else wearing?  Your choices are literally endless, as there are no chains stores here — not a Gap in sight.  You will find a Kiehl’s, however, and a small William Sonoma. The boutique Planet Blue can be expensive, but they always have a great sale rack, and you’ll find items seen on a celebrity in this week’s People. Savannah is where to go for exclusive designer clothes and accessories.

For dinner, choose from local favorites Via Portafino, R+D Kitchen (with the street’s only full bar), or Father’s Office, with its famous burger. Babalu has an endless champagne brunch, Blue Plate is a local hangout for breakfast, and for lunch, consider Kreation or Rosti for their amazing salads.

Morning, noon, or night, this street is bustling with activity and will provide  a wonderful visit to a beautiful neighborhood.

-Lesley Bracker

[Photo Credit: Flickr/Muy Yum]

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Chicken and waffles in a San Francisco alleyway

by Carolyn Jung on June 14, 2010

Chicken and waffles at Little Skillet, 360 Ritch St.

Psst…I can hook you up with a fix at a good price. Primo stuff, too, bro. This way. Come on. Come on. Down this alley.

In San Francisco, if someone beckons you down an alley like that, don’t be afraid. They’re just leading the way to Little Skillet, a lunchtime walk-up window serving tasty Southern-style fried chicken and waffles, as well as BBQ pork sandwiches, Cobb salads, and red velvet cupcakes. Located at 360 Ritch St. (at Townsend between 3rd and 4th streets, and a short drive from the W San Francisco), this offshoot of Farmer Brown restaurant is open Monday through Saturday, 9:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.

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Four specialty shops for New York coffee snobs

by Brendan Spiegel on February 2, 2010

Gimme! Coffee

A gourmet cup o' Joe at Gimme! Coffee in lower Manhattan

[Flickr/Premshree Pillai]

We’ve already told you about the best places to lounge over coffee in New York, so what about drinkers who could care less about the lounging but are super-serious about the Joe? New York has actually been a little late to the artisan coffee craze that has swept West Coast cities like Seattle, Portland and San Francisco over the past decade, but the city is now home to several notable specialty coffee shops.

Cafe Grumpy: When this local mini-chain, which operates its own roasting facility in Brooklyn, opened a Chelsea outpost in 2006, they brought in two Clovers, the $11,000 machines that give baristas a wide degree of control over each single-brewed cup.  When Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz wandered into the shop to try a cup, he liked it so much that he ended up buying the company that makes those machines. Cafe Grumpy’s sole Manhattan shop is just a few blocks from the GEM Hotel, with two more locations in Brooklyn. 224 West 20th Street

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