Ferry Building

Walking around the Ferry Building on a Saturday morning is one of the best culinary experiences in San Francisco. That's when the Farmer's Market takes place. People buy their produce and other food items. Inside the building itself are many retail stores and restaurants. Cheeses, breads, pastries, ice creams, salumi, teas, etc. You name it, it's probably there in the Ferry Building.

Wait a minute! I forgot Scharffen Berger Chocolate ...

Here are a couple of places where I bought some food. Frog Hollow Farm had some morning pastries fresh out of the oven, that I couldn't resist. Across from that place, I bought some prepared food for my lunch. I suppose that by looking at the bag, some can tell where I got these items. I'll tell you later.

My lunch consisted of a gratin with truffles, pork tenderloin slices, a tart with pluot & frangipane (I think), and a savory kugelhopf. Include the view from the first picture and some jazz clarinet music from one of the old-time street musicians wearing a suit and you got yourself a wonderful dining experience.


Here's where I bought my lunch.

Boulettes Larder was recommended to me by a friend. It's not a restaurant, actually. It's a kitchen where they cook and bake all the food items for customers who want to buy some things to take away and eat at home or wherever.

Ferry Building Marketplace
One Ferry Building
San Francisco, California 94111
(415) 983-8000

http://www.ferrybuildingmarketplace.com/

Los Angeles Culinary Scene: Downtown LA

For many years, downtown LA was dead after 5 p.m. People just don’t go out to dine in downtown LA. The only places to eat at night would be in hotels, near the Music Center or Chinatown. That’s about it, folks. Oh yes, don’t forget the Original Pantry, “We never close. We're never without a customer.” Most of the places to eat in downtown were open during the day, serving breakfast and lunch to those working in downtown LA.

Then, the Los Angeles City Council passed the Downtown Adaptive Reuse Ordinance (Ordinance 172571) in June 3, 1999. Ever since that ordinance, developers have been taking old historic buildings and turning them into updated residential spaces, live/work lofts, condominiums, and apartments, even to this day. Today, over 30,000 people live in downtown LA. And the number of restaurants and bars have increased. Ralph’s Supermarket has returned to downtown LA in over fifty years. And there are plans to transform Seventh St. into a downtown version of Restaurant Row. Now, if Trader Joe’s would just move into downtown ...

The culinary scene is getting better, I suppose. I do have a concern about the plethora of corporate chain restaurants and the apparent lack of more fine dining and independent restaurants.

Historically, downtown Los Angeles has a few restaurants that has stood the test of time: Philippe’s (1908) ; Pacific Dining Car (1921) ; Original Pantry Cafe (1924) ; Clifton’s Cafeteria (1931) ; Phoenix Bakery (1938) ; Langer’s (1947)

And here are a few sections of downtown to consider in your culinary adventure: Olvera Street ; Chinatown ; Fashion District ; Little Tokyo ; Grand Central Market ; Arts District ; Bunker Hill ; Financial District ; South Park ; Historical Core ; Bunker Hill ; Civic Center

Besides those restaurants already listed, here are some others that show the variety that’s available in downtown Los Angeles: Traxx ; Ciudad ; San Antonio Winery ; Nick’s Cafe ; Sam Woo ; Empress Pavilion ; Golden Dragon ; CBS Seafood ; Mayflower ; Spring St. Barbecue ; Asian Noodles ; Sushi Gen ; Kagaya ; Izayoi ; Curry House ; R-23 ; Fisherman’s Outlet ; 6^th St. Bar & Grill ; Grand Central Market ; Noé ; Water Grill ; Engine Co. No. 28 ; Seven Grand ; Seoul Jung ; Patina Group ; Palm ; Arnie Morton ; Daily Grill ; California Pizza Kitchen ; McCormick & Schmick’s

Okay, here are a few photos, all taken from Downtown Los Angeles:

Until next time,

--F&I

Los Angeles Culinary Scene : an introduction

This is the city ... Los Angeles, California. Mind you, it’s been said that Los Angeles is not a city: it’s thirty-four suburbs put together. Either way, the Los Angeles area is huge! The island of Manhattan in New York City has a land area that covers 23 sq. miles, slightly more than the cities of Santa Monica and Beverly Hills combined. Contrastly, the city of Los Angeles covers an area of 469 sq. miles, and that doesn’t include the rest of the County of Los Angeles, whose land mass covers over 4000 sq. miles.

The County of Los Angeles has 88 incorporated cities. Here is a partial list of these cities within the County of Los Angeles:

Alhambra • Arcadia • Azusa • Beverly Hills • Burbank • Compton • Culver City •

Duarte • Gardena • Glendale • Glendora • Huntington Park • Lancaster •

Long Beach • Monrovia • Montebello • Monterey Park • Palmdale • Pasadena •

Rosemead • San Gabriel • Santa Monica • South Pasadena • Torrance •

West Hollywood • Whittier

And here are some communities and geographical designations within the incorporated city of Los Angeles:

Atwater Village • Boyle Heights • Downtown Los Angeles • Eagle Rock •

East Los Angeles • Echo Park • Hancock Park • Highland Park • Hollywood •

Koreatown • Little Armenia • Little Tokyo • Los Feliz • Reseda • Silverlake •

South Central • Thai Town • Van Nuys • Venice • West Los Angeles •

West Valley • Westwood

And I haven’t even include Orange County, Ventura County, Riverside County, and the other counties that make up the area known as Southern California. At this point, you’re wondering why I’m giving this geography lesson when this is supposed to be a food blog. Good question. Let me paint this scenario:

Someone from outside the LA area writes a post on a food discussion website and asks, “I’m coming to LA next week. Please recommend me a really great restaurant. Thanks!” And if you notice, people living in LA will probably ask that person some pointed geographical and travel questions, like “Where in LA will you be staying? Will you have a car? If so, how far do you want to travel? What time of the day will you be driving?”

Folks, the Los Angeles area is HUGE!! Geography plays a significant factor in deciding where to go to eat. I know people who live in Santa Monica who think that driving to Beverly Hills for dinner is too far, never mind driving to downtown LA or to San Gabriel Valley. We’re not New York (i.e., Manhattan) or even San Francisco, where many of the restaurants are close together, relatively speaking. Mind you, LA does have some wonderful local, neighborhood restaurants. It just depends what neighborhood you’re in.

I hope this introduction, albeit geographical, helps you to understand the vastness of the Los Angeles area and its culinary scene.

Welcome!

Welcome to The Food and I, the blog where I write about The Food. That would include the food I cook at home, the food I buy at various stores and markets, the food I dine out and eat at various restaurants and houses of family and friends. You get the basic idea, ehh? Culinary cruises, culinary comrades, culinary cohorts, and of course, cuisiniers, or cooks! Yes, I’ll put a few photos into the blog, along with some links (as in Internet links, not sausage links necessarily). Links to restaurants, food-related stores, food section in newspapers, as well as other culinary blogs and/or websites.

On my next few posts, I’ll probably start with an introduction to the Los Angeles culinary scene, as well as intros to surrounding areas, like Las Vegas, Santa Barbara, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera ...

Until next time, just sit back and enjoy ...