Pitchoun — a French Bakery by Pershing Square

Pershing Square is an odd place.  Framed by the Jewelry District and the Biltmore Hotel, it is an inhospitable island of urban blight. (Read up for more info: KCET history of Pershing Square; Thoughts on redevelopment.)  But a couple new food places are popping up, including the very ambitious Pitchoun! Bakery.  Opened by actual French bakers with an apparently unlimited budget, does Pitchoun! live up to its aspirations to become a destination in the nascent Downtown dining scene?

Clark Street Bread — Is LA Becoming a Bread Town?



I don’t know what it is. For a town where nobody eats carbs, all of a sudden there are a few legit bakers plying their trade. I’ve written about Bakeshack, a farmers market operation that has been selling great loaves for a couple years. Now the Grand Central Market has these Clark Street Bread folks selling their Tartine knockoff loaves. Is all of LA having a cheat day?

Guisados update — new menu items

The opening of Guisados DTLA, the third outpost of Armando de la Torre’s best-in-class taco shop, is a good occasion to revisit and try a couple new things. On the left, a formerly secret menu item: chorizo quesadilla. On the right, beef mole. And a new drink!

Semi Sweet Bakery – Eggslut Should Be Taking Notes

Eggslut is garnering a lot of press for making breakfast sandwiches a destination, although I think they ruin them with a gigantic brioche that is 50% more bread than I want. The best breakfast sandwich downtown right now is the McFong at Semi Sweet Bakery. Oh, and their baked goods are really good, too.

DTLA Cheese – Holy Cow! That’s a Great Sandwich!

DTLA Cheese recently opened in the Grand Central Market as part of GCM’s ongoing effort to recreate SF’s Ferry Building. In addition to an admirable cheese counter (stocked with Mt. Tam!), and Sqrl jams, DTLA Cheese has started serving a quick sandwich service.

Bar Ama – Uh, It’s a Lot Better Tex-Mex Than Spoons

I don’t have that much to say about Bar Ama, Josef Centeno’s Tex-Mex restaurant in his growing dtla empire. I’ve only been once and it was fantastic. Centeno is always spot-on with flavors and always seems to have several tricks up his sleeves in creating new flavors. In this case, he dedicated this sophomore effort to his personal past — Ama is what he called his grandmother, and Tex-Mex is the cuisine of his youth.

The View from the Phlebotomist & Ikemen is Down

A view from Little Tokyo.

Chego East – Good News: Nothing’s Changed!

My tears have finally dried from the closing of Chego West. Good to his word, Roy Choi has moved everything east to the Far East Plaza in Chinatown and got up and running quick. This picture shows probably the biggest change (other than location): picnic tables and outdoor seating.

Simply Salad – Let the Court Staff Eat Salad!

Simply Salad just opened its second location in downtown LA, bringing a quick, fast, light lunch to an area heavy on good food but light on this kind of thing. Across the street from Pete’s Bar and Grill, home of a decadent blue cheese mac and cheese and a frequent lunch spot for police chief Charlie Beck, and near Baco Mercat, Bar Ama, Blossom, and Big Man Bakes. There’s a lot of good stuff there, but not a lot for those still sticking out new year’s resolutions.

L.A. Chicken – Tastes Like Lexus!

Never has the combination of an exclamation point and a question mark been so appropriately combined as they are on this sign for L.A. Chicken that announces, “La Chicken . . . Where the chickens taste like Lexus!?”