LA city guide: The best food, drink and shopping on Abbot Kinney
From restaurants and bars to boutiques and galleries, here’s your essential LA city guide to eating, drinking, shopping and playing on Abbot Kinney.
Mon Sep 17 2012
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Photograph: Jakob N. Layman
LA city guide, Abbot Kinney: Linus
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Photograph: Jakob N. Layman
LA city guide, Abbot Kinney: A. Kinney Court
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LA city guide, Abbot Kinney: Weltenbuerger
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LA city guide, Abbot Kinney: Heist
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Photograph: Jakob N. Layman
LA city guide, Abbot Kinney: Milkmade
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Photograph: Jakob N. Layman
LA city guide, Abbot Kinney: Bazar
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Photograph: Jakob N. Layman
LA city guide, Abbot Kinney: Tortoise General Store
Your day starts at Intelligentsia where you’ll join locals who queue up for single origin pour-over coffee and expertly-prepared espresso. Snag one of the few seats inside the industrialspace or at one of the communal benches on the front patio. Looking for late night eats? If you’re in need of something more virtuous, mini food emporium Local 1205’s front juice bar makes raw, organic juices and smoothies with fresh coconuts and homemade almond milk. There’s also a deli inside that pays homage to owner Craig Weiss’s NYC roots with sandwich meats from New York City’s Second Avenue Deli and Katz’s.
Axe may look new with its modern minimalist space, but it’s a longtime neighborhood favorite for healthy offerings like umami-filled brown rice bowls and the giant, 9-grain pancake for brunch. For more wholesome grains, the dinner-only Shima specializes in brown rice sushi. While traditionalists may scoff, locals saddle up to the sushi bar for buttery wild salmon, red snapper carpaccio with black truffle yuzu vinaigrette and homemade tofu.
Those looking for drinks pack into the Tasting Kitchen where expertly made cocktails are shaken and stirred using seasonal ingredients and rare spirits. For noshing, chef Casey Lane offers housemade charcuterie, handmade pastas and rustic, wood oven-baked meats.
For late night eats, Gjelina serves those wanting to see and be seen until midnight. No substitutions here, but you can’t go wrong with one of the wood-fired pizzas and plates of seasonal veggies and salads to share. During the day, the coveted seats are on the back patio where you’re likely to spot a celeb or two. For those seeking a more casual option (i.e. milk crates as seating) the restaurant’s next-door take away GTA also offers pizzas and sandwiches like the killer BLT made with Niman Ranch bacon and griddled sourdough bread.
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Locals only
The street’s business owners share their Abbot Kinney favorites
Tina Wakino, owner of Bazar
“There’s a real sense of community in Venice and transportation is by bicycle, skateboard, or foot. So, it’s impossible to travel even a block without bumping into one or two people you know. Everyone’s out and about in the streets and interacting with each other.”
Favorite cup of java: Intelligentsia
Hans Röckenwagner, Chef/Owner, 3 Square Café/Röckenwagner Bakery
“What initially drew me to Abbot Kinney in the ’80s and then again 6 years ago [when 3 Square Café and Röckenwagner Bakery opened] was its creative, independent streak. It’s one part West Village with its fantastic boutiques and its au courant design shops and one part Berlin’s Mitte with its irreverent pop-up stores, art studios and eclectic food scene. Plus, we have the weather and the beach. There’s no other street in the world quite like Abbot Kinney.”
Favorite stores: Tortoise and A+R
Craig Weiss, Owner, Local 1205
“Abbot Kinney is my home. I put my future and heart here. There are a lot of soulful people here who live their lives with integrity and want to improve their lives.”
Favorite restaurant: Shima. “It’s the only place I know of in LA that makes homemade tofu.”
Christopher and Michael Rosen, Owners/Designers, Guild
“Abbot Kinney is the only place in LA where you can park your car, eat, shop and spend a whole day here if you wanted to.”
Favorite Restaurant: Tasting Kitchen. “I’ve never had a bad meal there. The quality of ingredients is incredible. I will rarely eat pasta outside of Italian restaurants, but I will eat their homemade pasta.”
Rose Avenue: the new Abbot Kinney?
A few blocks from the famed Venice hot spot, Rose Avenue is enjoying a moment. The beautiful people have arrived and flocked to eateries like the vegan, raw NorCal import Café Gratitude—following up its Larchmont location with an expansive, light-filled indoor/outdoor space—and Superba Snack Bar which evokes an Argentinian hacienda, albeit one that has the block’s best people-watching.
Join the brunch and happy hour crowd at Oscar’s Cerveteca, which offers an extensive selection of beers on tap and by the bottle, along with beer-battered Baja fish tacos and LA Street Dogs that pay homage to the city’s bacon-wrapped dog.
Forget the usual list of cold-pressed juices. Moon Juice‘s menu may seem intergalactic—and prices exorbitant—but hardcore juicers find a home with the offerings of bee pollen, probiotics and anti-inflammatory maca in their smoothies.
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