My Favorite LA Coffee Shops With Easy Parking

and decent to great coffee! this is not an April Fools Joke.

Hello!

It’s officially been three months since I have last traveled anywhere, which is the longest I have gone in at least 6 years. It’s wild to be grounded like this, and feels like an out of body experience in many ways, even if the decision to not travel is mostly my choice. On the upside, it means i’ve gotten to spend more time exploring all the wonderful weird little side streets and strip malls that LA has to offer.

I have had a number of great meals as of late including a very charming dinner at Bar Etoile, which everyone should pop into if they get chance. I particularly loved the airy ricotta dumplings in a gorgeous whey-based brodo. Chef Travis Hayden makes the ricotta they use at the restaurant in house and has found a number of different ways to cleverly repurpose the whey, which is leftover from the cheese making process.

Destroyer in Culver City remains the best and strangest cafe in all of LA with unexpectedly mind-blowing dishes that don’t need to half as good or delightful as they are. I had a silky smooth cauliflower and frizzled leek soup for breakfast (more breakfast soups please) and this gorgeous kiwi bowl with tapioca, both chewy and puffed. Also many great, tender baked goods.

The meal that sticks the most with me is the lunch I had one weekend at Komal, located inside the Mercado La Paloma. It was a true pleasure to catch up with one of my favorite people, over a pile of perfectly pliable corn tortillas, made from masa that they grind right there. I can still smell the squash blossom quesadillas with a layer of caramelized cheese rippling through the center. I will be back asap, if not for a bucket of their mole and a small mountain of tortillas.

Also! I am not the best at remembering to shout out these things, but I was interviewed for this fun piece in The New Yorker about Indian pizza. I am also in Saveur magazine, chatting about my cookbook AMRIKAN in this story about diaspora cookbooks.

I am also craving Nerds Gummy Clusters non-stop since I wrote about them last week. You can read it here for free.

And now to perhaps the most useful guide I will ever write. Los Angeles is in the midst of a truly incredible coffee shop boom — most of them are quite charming with many (actually good!) novelty beverage options. And while I like great tables with comfortable seating, solid outlet access, and clean bathrooms, the feature I value the most when it comes to coffees shop is absolutely easy parking. Few things make me more annoyed than having to circle for 15 minutes to find a spot, when all I want is a great cappuccino and to send some emails or to have an in person meeting. Given the insane number of coffee shops opening across the city, I am sure I will have a part two to this in the near future. Okay let’s get into it: