Trends: picnics, Spanish cuisine, soft serve

HOLLYWOOD BOWL. BELOW: SAN MARINO CAFE & MARKETPLACE

BASKET CASE

A look at the top picnics in town. BY CAROLE DIXON

Since ideal summer weather really hits Los Angeles in September and October, it’s time to grab your provisions and head to the beach, Hollywood Bowl, your favorite park, or a rooftop for a picnic. Here’s where to nd some of the best baskets.

Family owned since 1989, Nicole’s Market & Cafe in South Pasadena is local secret for loading up on excellent imported European cheese, such as the Essex Manchego from Spain, prosciutto, salami, pâté, and daily organic fresh French baguettes. Don’t overlook the array of deli salads, from Greek to ratatouille, or the exclusive French wine selection. For a simple sandwich x, Roma Market is still making hundreds of the famed Italian deli staple, including chicken or eggplant Parmesan in marinara sauce and mozzarella on crusty Italian bread.

San Marino Cafe & Marketplace offers the Balboa Italian Sandwich with layers of Felino salami, mortadella, prosciutto, and provolone on ciabatta bread or the Voodoo Vegan with roasted red pepper hummus, avocado, and pepperoncini. The San Marino chop salad is perfect for a morning outing with smoked salmon, hard-boiled egg, avocado, and applewood-smoked bacon.

Stop by Korean market and deli Yangban in the Arts District for interesting cold salads, such as honey and walnut carrots, blistered snap peas with everything bagel seasoning, and chilled noodles with roasted seaweed. You’d also be wise to order the twicefried chicken wings and don’t forget the deli pickles, along with canned wines.

Put a Spanish Portuguese twist on your picnic from Rapido with wine, to-go canned cocktails, and Iberian tin conserva offerings, plus sandwiches on Jyan Isaac bread. For your sweet tooth, Botanica in Silver Lake has custom baked-goods boxes for preorder with customer favorites like dark chocolate olive oil cake and zucchini quinoa muf ns.

The Hollywood Bowl still offers catered picnic boxes that can be preordered the day before a concert and picked up at the Plaza Marketplace or delivered to your box seats. Menu highlights from chef Suzanne Goin include Spanish fried chicken, double-bacon cheeseburgers, and grilled chicken breast with almond sofrito, along with wine pairings from Caroline Styne.

For outdoor movies, pick up celebrity favorite Sweetzer Gourmet Popcorn from the Hollywood Farmers Market with avors such as habanero caramel, herbs de Provence, and strawberries and cream.

If you want someone else to do all the legwork, Casa del Mar and Shutters in Santa Monica will set up a beach picnic with an umbrella, table, and cushions for seating with a mezze-charcuterie spread and coconut water to sip, but you must be a hotel guest to partake.

MUST-PACK TIPPLES

› Ysidro is a Santa Barbara–made canned spritz with premium Junmai Ginjo sake and organic grapefruit, sold locally at Wine + Eggs. › Texas favorite Ranch Water is made from Cazadores Tequila Blanco, sparkling mineral water, and fresh lime juice. › Wander + Ivy makes organic wine blends from top global vineyards in single-serving glass jars.

SPANISH LESSONS

We’re now spoiled for choice for Iberian fare across the city.

BY CAROLE DIXON

With a recent boom in Spanish restaurants in L.A., we narrowed down the list for some of the best paella, tapas, meatballs, pan con tomate, and more.

World-famous chef and humanitarian José Andrés is back in Los Angeles with several new concepts at the Conrad.

A standout dish at the flagship finedining concept, San Laurel, is the jamón Ibérico de bellota, which is hand cut ham from the famous acorn-fed, blackfooted Spanish pig. Pair with a grilled romaine served with Manchego espuma cheese and black truffle.

On the same floor, Agua Viva offers patio dining with more sweeping views, featuring traditional patatas bravas, croquettas with Dungeness crab, and chilled Spanish gazpacho soup with green pepper. You can also find two bar concepts and hotel guests can even indulge poolside. Next up is a return of Bazaar Meat (opening in early 2023) that we have missed since the one at SLS in Beverly Hills closed several years ago.

Dos Besos feels like a little slice of Europe in Old Pasadena. Spanish chef Alejandro Llobet Domenech’s albondigas meatballs are made with a mixture of beef, pork, and Manchego cheese. The pan con tomate is perfectly light and crunchy with just a smear of tomato, garlic, and olive oil. The seafood paella for two is the perfect date-night dish topped with two large prawns in the shape of a heart.

“The last couple or so years have proven to us more than ever how much people like to be around other people. We crave camaraderie,” says Llobet Domenech. “Plus, a variety of Spanish tapas to share is always fun.”

Also in Old Pasadena, Saso has a fun pintxos-snack menu with Basque cheese, mussels, and squid-ink rice that can be enjoyed before a show at the adjacent Pasadena Playhouse.

Otoño in Highland Park is not new,

DONO

SAN LAUREL. BELOW AGUA VIVA

but you’ll still want to snag a seat at this tiny spot and enjoy the trio of a Spanish gin and tonic, paella negra with scallops, and chorizo Iberico or potato churros with Manchego. Bar Moruno in Silver Lake is the place for a hefty slice of tortilla Española, an array of conservas, and oven-roasted feta.

In the Valley, Gasolina Café only offers paella once a month as a special treat, but other must-try dishes include croquetas de jamón and cordero albondigas. The marketplace offers a selection of conservas (Daporta small squids and Ramón Peña Atlantic horse mackerel) sourced from 10 different canneries, mostly in Spain and Portugal.

Dono is Michelin-starred chef Brendan Collins’ ode to the Iberian Peninsula next door to his Fia restaurant in Santa Monica. Expect modern tapas or larger-format seafood paella, and Moorish lamb-shank tagine, along with burnt Basque cheesecake for dessert.

SOFT SPOT

We all melt for soft serve. BY CAROLE DIXON

Soft-serve ice cream is synonymous with a summertime childhood beach treat, but this dairy dish (and vegan versions) is making its way onto menus at proper restaurants for a legitimate dessert course. Don’t worry about extra calories—most soft serve is made by simply adding air to frozen ice cream.

One of the best soft-serve options in town can be found in Old Pasadena at Agnes Restaurant & Cheesery. Keep it classic and go with vanilla, which is extremely thick and creamy, and add a variety of fun toppings, like crumbled cookies or chocolate Midwest “puppy chow.”

In addition to its unique Indian pizza and pasta menu, Pijja Palace on Sunset in Silver Lake also offers two wonderful soft-serve options with cookies and cardamom or malted chai, so be sure to save room for dessert.

Mid-city’s Sa y’s takes two avors, two avors, such as boysenberry and vanilla, and swirls them together, resulting in an swirls them together, resulting in an old-school “push-up pop” vibe. Nearby, Tsubaki in Echo Park features a hojicha parfait with roasted green tea soft serve, golden sesame, black sugar, burnt miso, and candied K&K ranch walnuts that feels healthy and almost too pretty to eat.

Speaking of health forward, after a workout or massage in the new HEIMAT well-being concept club in Hollywood, head to the fourth oor for chef Michael Mina’s Mother Tongue. Treat yourself guilt-free to one of the softserve sundaes, such as the matcha with sage-roasted peaches, honey oat crumble, agave almonds, and crunchy, vegan Moringa Puffs. The EVOO soft serve

Don’t worry about extra calories— most soft serve is made by simply adding air to frozen ice cream.

MOTHER TONGUE SAFFY’S

is actually made from yellow peas and served with chia-seed cake with lemon syrup, extra virgin olive oil, Maldon sea salt, and raw honeycomb (which can be removed to make the dish vegan).

Damian in DTLA has a soft serve with mangos and crunchy pepitas that hits all the right sweet notes after a long, indulgent brunch on the patio.

While tableside Caesar salads, meat carving, and martinis are a strong move lately with some of the top restaurants, next time you are in Beverly Hills, stop by Tommy’s upstairs for dinner. After your meal, the team can wheel over an entire soft-serve cart that includes sauces like banana caramel, chocolate, and triple-berry compote, along with sprinkles, cherries, whipped cream, and pistachios to top the dessert made in house from a Straus milk base. According to chef Vartan Abgaryan, this upscale presentation is rooted in nostalgia. “People are dining out again and this dish makes you feel like a kid—everyone gets excited when they see the cart,” he says.

If you want a grab-and-go treat from a walk-up spot, Magpies, in Highland Park, Silver Lake, and at the Hollywood Bowl, offers both milk- and plant-based avors from blueberry pie to frozen hot chocolate that are worth braving the line for. If you’re having friends over, grab one of the popular soft-serve pies with avors like banana pudding and strawberry shortcake.