Salad Days

Love, love, love the Springtime Chopper Salad with asparagus, sugar snap peas, baby carrot, fennel, spring onion, avocado, mixed greens and kumquat dressing at Feed on Abbot Kinney.

Lunch: Sorted.

http://feedbodyandsoul.com

One of a Kind

Isn’t it mortifying when you show up for lunch at Goldie’s and every other person is wearing Current Elliot jeans, Ancient Greek Sandals, a Philip Lim  muscle tee and carrying a Celine trio. WTF? Break away from the herd!

http://ofakind.com

Couldn’t Make Cannes?

Don’t fret. Spritz some Oribe Cote d’Azur Hair Refresher on your pathetically unglamorous hair and imagine you’re at Flower Market on the Boulevard Jean Jaurès with Cary Grant.

Or not…It’s raining there anyway.

http://www.neimanmarcus.com/p/Oribe-Cote-d-Azur-Hair-Refresher/prod157160247/

The Santa Monica Promenade

AKA the uncoolest place on the Westside. However, there are some bright sparks among the chain store, mass produced garbage.

Here’s what I love on the Promenade (and environs).

Drinks and dinner:

Michael’s - The food is average but the garden is gorgeous. Only go if you can sit outside. And use the ladies as they have some great art hanging in there. I am obsessed with Kim McCarty’s gorgeous watercolors. http://www.kimmccarty.net

http://www.michaelssantamonica.com/about.html

41 Ocean - A new private members’ club that is hoping to be the Westside’s younger, cooler answer to Soho House. It has a beautiful bar, a very cool private poker room that you have to walk through the kitchen to get to, and great outside space.

And now for the kicker: you can smoke here! (I know that is very non-PC but sometimes I love smoking).

http://41oceanclub.com

M.A.K.E Matthew Kenney Cuisine  - Horribly pretentious name, but unbelievably good raw vegan food…or, as per their the website, “a living foods restaurant, featuring cutting edge plant-based cuisine”. I love the black pepper kelp noodles with chanterelles, snap peas, olive crumb and pea vines.

Super chic minimalist decor and never very busy as it’s in the Marketplace at Santa Monica Place where everyone else eats Sbarro in the food court surrounded by hyper-active, screaming kids.

http://matthewkenneycuisine.com/restaurants/santa-monica/m-a-k-e/

Shopping:

Supra - THE coolest kicks ever.

http://www.suprafootwear.com/

Wasteland - I love consignment stores and this place (on Fourth St) sells a great selection of vintage, designer and modern clothing. I always find a great pair of J Brand or Current Elliot jeans (average price around $40) and once picked up a genuine Chanel bag here for $80. For real.

https://www.shopwasteland.com

Venokado - I love wine, and I love tchotchkes and funny greeting cards and finding the perfect Christmas present for my sister in May. This place delivers on all of those.

Co-owned by Susan Brink, who is the sommelier for Dominick’s, Little Dom’s, Soho House, the staff are always spot on when making wine pairing suggestions. It is also in the dreaded Marketplace at Santa Monica Place but there is no place else to buy good wine in the vicinity. They have also just opened a Cook by Vendokado store with a really unique selection of specialty cookware and utensils so even more justification.

http://www.venokado.com

Designer Hair

Balmain has just brought out a haircare line made up of a Silk Perfume, Argan Moisturizing Elixir, Volumizing Mousse,Texturizing Salt Spray and a Session Spray all infused with argan oil and silk protein to hydrate, invigorate and rejuvenate and totally hypoallergenic, paraben and sulphate-free.

Just what you need in your A4 Papier tote.

Coffee Fix Fixed

I LOVE a good Italian-style cappuccino but for some reason Downtown Santa Monica has been a desert in terms of a good cup of coffee (Starbucks and Coffee Bean are acceptable for a drip coffee in an emergency but their cappuccinos are shite). Thankfully, an oasis has just sprung up in form of the new Cafe Demitasse on 3rd Street, between Wilshire and California.

The original location in Little Tokyo is a destination thanks to its Kyoto style iced coffee, which served in super hip cold sake carafes, with an interior chamber for ice to keep the coffee cold while avoiding any dilution by the ice.

For all you coffee nerds please note that Demitasse also uses house-roasted Trystero beans and is the only place in LA to have the ultra exclusive Alpha Dominche Steampunk multi-group siphon machine !! 

While I am a Caffe Luxxe devotee, it is always nice to have another option (especially when on the very mainstream, largely lame duck Promenade), which leads me to my next post: The Only Things I Love on the Promenade…..

(And, yes, I know there is a Groundworks in the Marketplace at Santa Monica Place but frankly you have to fight through too many tourists and take too many escalators to get there.)

http://cafedemitasse.co