Coachella 2014: What to eat and drink

Short order is a celebration of over thirty years of friendship and culinary collaboration between Amy Pressman and Nancy Silverton. Highlighting their shared passion of bringing the best seasonal ingredients to the table, each menu item at Short order is crafted emphasizing locally raised, organic, artisanal and handmade products. This restaurant is Amy and Nancy’s showcase for foods prepared the way they personally love to eat. Short Order represents their comfort in the simplicity of cooking as they would in their own homes.

If by the late afternoon, you still haven't met your day's caffeine quota, make your way down to Stumptown. The PDX coffee company makes it way to Downtown's Arts District in a 7,000-square foot warehouse space that houses a 60-kilo Probat coffee roaster, pastries from Sugar Bloom and a menu of 20+ coffees and espresso-based drinks. Plan your visit for 3pm, when the staff leads daily cuppings (that's coffee tastings, for you non-coffee nerds) .

To juice or not to juice, that's not even a question in this town. And in the midst of the city-wide juice frenzy, the latest to open up shop is this La Brea storefront. Pick up bottled, cold-pressed juices—try the eponymous green with pear, lime, cilantro, mint and kale or a seasonal concoction like the cold-weather comfort made with yam, carrot, cinnamon, ginger made from organic, local ingredients—or detox with an eight-juice-a-day cleanse from 1 day ($70) to five ($350). There's also Kombucha on tap—hello, Portlandia—and power shakes—we love the eye-opening Rise & Grind ($8) with espresso cubes, Stumptown coffee and chocolate protein powder and dark chocolate chips and chia, banana, almond butter mix called Chia-Spa ($8), perfect for a post-yoga drop-in from the next-door Moksha Yoga. For those who prefer to chew, there are vegan selections of sandwiches and salads from Silver Lake's Flore and locally baked, gluten-free sweets. Peruse other locavore goodies like handmade aromatherapy candles and paintings for sale from Lab Art.

Who says you can't break out your dance moves and enjoy a craft drink at the same time? The nightlife heavy hitters behind Seven Grand and The Varnish, together with NYC's Death + Co. booze pioneers, have accomplished the near-impossible—a premium cocktail discobar. The 3,000-square-foot basement of the O Hotel downtown is split between a cozy pool hall boasting what has to be the most epic drink menu (50 beverages, to be exact) and a very Saturday Night Fever "disco" room, complete with an analog LED dance floor. It's probably the only place in town where you can nurse a true Old Fashioned while grinding up on a stranger beneath a ceiling made of reflective balls. Groovy baby.VitalsGood for: Either getting down and boogying or geeking out over artisanal libations. If you're digging the drinks, then you probably won't be intimidated by a 50-cocktail-deep menu divided into seven sections like "Classy as F**k," then further grouped into either shaken or stirred. Yeah, it's a lot to take in, but you'll be drinking like a pro. Did we mention the cocktails are $13 a pop? The scene: There's something inherently hip about entering a bar through a back door in a downtown alleyway. Inside, a pool table, cushy booths, and black walls all bathed in a cool blue glow personify the downtown speakeasy. You'll find young professionals mingling and edgy downtown dwellers in search of the next big drink.The playlist: If creative cocktails are the venue's bread, eclectic music is its butter. Cr

Most restaurants on the Sunset Strip don't try very hard. They don't have to—they have a built-in tourist/booze market that doesn't know good food from bad. So, it's refreshing when a place comes along that doesn't know how the system works and opens a restaurant on the Strip that's actually really good. The Eveleigh is that restaurant. Duck confit with lentils, pappardelle with pork ragú, hanger steak with romesco sauce—the kitchen keeps it simple and gets it right. Brunch is a relaxed affair frequented by people who probably never visit the Strip at night. Most of the seating is outside, either on the front patio, which is covered in shaggy Astroturf, or the enclosed back terrace, offering views of the city.

When you first step into Goldie's, you can’t help but love the space: A raised garage door separates a lovely patio from the pretty interior dining room, and, as is for farm-to-table restaurants these days, there’s lots of wood. Both inside and out, you’ll find wood panels, wood shelves, wood tables, even neat stacks of logs shelved in a back wall, as if you were in the middle of Iowa preparing for the winter rather than the middle of LA perusing a distinctly Californian-style menu. The fare here is both expected and not: There's the almost obligatory kale salad ($12), but also burrata with cubes of watermelon grilled just enough and toasted milk powder that lends a welcome crunch ($14). Some flavors, though, like the roasted carrots with buttermilk and spiced pistachio ($10), don’t quite come together; still, you appreciate the effort. The bigger downside, really, is the price: While plates can be comfortably shared by two, you'll have to order at least four to feel sated. And that can add up. Vitals Eat this: The menu is separated into four sections, Raw, Veg, Small Plates and Large Plates, and you’ll do well to order one from each section. The sea bass ($24) and other seafood choices are strong, and grilled dishes take advantage of the kitchen’s wood and coal-burning oven. Drink this: Goldie’s has a very well-stocked bar with excellent cocktails, several of which follow the season as faithfully as the food fare. Try the Battery Park ($14), a sort-of Old Fashioned made w

What started as a happy-hour snack has grown into one of the hottest, most relevant restaurants in town. Chef Josef Centeno's first solo venture captures not only the zeitgeist of Downtown's white-hot dining but also the incredible multiculti spirit of Los Angeles at large. Located in the Old Banking District, just around the corner from Skid Row and some of Downtown’s brightest emerging art galleries, the always-bustling restaurant is particularly jammed on Art Walk Thursday nights. But that’s also one of the best times to go. Housed in a historic building with vintage-looking tables and chairs, the quasi-industrial restaurant manages to look and feel as if it’s been around forever; when in reality, it opened in 2011. That original snack is the "bäco," an unlikely hybrid that is equal parts Mediterranean flatbread, Mexican taco and sheer, mad genius. If that sounds even remotely like some weird fusion cuisine, think again. Fusion is what happens when cuisines collide. For Centeno, this is just a reflection of the way he interacts with the world around him. Reading the menu, one gets the sense that Centeno has a hard time shutting off his creativity. This is clearly not a guy who meditates. The ever-changing menu offers more than 65 items at any given time. The bäco is now available in seven or eight iterations, including the original: a soft, pillowy flatbread stuffed with Centeno's unique take on carnitas (normally just pork, his includes beef) along with fresh herbs, baby

Owner and chef Sharlena Fong's Downtown newbie offers homey desserts like pop tarts, 7-Up pound cake and maple-bacon sticky bun. Donuts shine with the best being the show-stopping strawberry shortcake donut. If Proust had his madeleine, then any good American had the strawberry shortcake Good Humor bar, which is just what the crumb-coated cake round tastes like.

The best people are often those who don’t take themselves too seriously, and the same applies to restaurants. With its prime location on the Sunset Strip, The Church Key has every opportunity to be as banal as the next place; socialites and tourists will walk through these doors regardless of what’s on the menu. But what makes West Hollywood’s new addition special is its delicious food and delightful quirks. The décor is so Restoration Hardware, it feels like you’ve just entered the loft of an E! TV personality; however, stick with it and you’ll find yourself snacking on pig ear “Cheetos” dim sum, sucking on alcoholic ice pops frozen right at your table by a Pan Am flight attendant, and having a ton of fun. The printed menu offers a number of shareable plates that are substantially sized, and run anywhere between $6 and $30. It’s easy to get caught up in the delectable-sounding selections, but don’t forget the dim sum carts floating around, which serve a spectrum of small bites—from sashimi to falafel—that cost between $5 and $9 each. As for drinks, the house specialties cover the gamut with gin, vodka and whiskey. Try The Shot in the Dark, a frothy, slightly sweet cocktail that’s almost too easy to drink with the amount of bourbon it contains. For a party of two, the best strategy is to order two to three dishes off the menu, which can be enjoyed during your 30-minute wait for the dim sum carts. The service is slow, better for a leisurely two-hour dinner than a quick bite.

Puffy tacos, light, deep-fried versions of this town’s staple, may be the claim to fame at Bar Amá', but the essence of chef Josef Centeno’s second Downtown venture lies in its Queso ($9). The molten orange substance with both the color and viscosity of melted Velveeta cheese tastes shockingly similar to the low-brow, store-bought stuff. It may be confusing at a restaurant where $12 gets you two tacos, but we’re happy to dive right in to flavors this good.   Centeno, the top-notch toque of the popular Bäco Mercat, upgrades down-home dishes including Frito pie, taquitos, fajitas and enchiladas. That melted bowl of queso is topped with avocado, diced red onions, a dusting of cotija and served alongside a mound of piping hot, glossy tortilla chips, fresh from the fryer. Go for haute dishes such as banana leaf-wrapped rabbit ($24)—the menu proudly declares, "All meat is from Niman, Heritage, Paso Prime & Pitmas Farms"—cooked on the wood grill. Lighter items on the generally heavy menu include hearts of palm salad ($12), a stringy bed of cactus, palm hearts, citrus and quesillo cheese, and a small bowl of cauliflower florets ($9) dressed with a cilantro pesto and a heavy shower of lime. Neither would be out of place on Bäco Mercat’s pan-cuisine menu. Much like its sister restaurant, Bar Amá is one of those new-old places, built to look like it has been around for much longer than its three-months. Planks of chevron-pattered, reclaimed wood against an unfinished ceiling and patte

This den of mescal comes from the city's craft-cocktail innovator Cedd Moses (Seven Grand, The Varnish, Caña Rum Bar) and were we in Wonderland, Alice would be one of his regulars. At the Downtown den, Mexican kitsch meets psychedelic rabbit murals with an impressive list of tequilas (a mix of Highlands and Lowlands) and mescals (there's Illegal and a bang-up selection of Del Maguey) in-between. Seating is limited inside with an outdoor area that's accessible through the poolroom. Watch out for unruly cue-sticks. Vitals Good for: The psychedelic wall art and hip scene lends themselves to a great Downtown stop for pre-dinner cocktails or weekend drinks with a group, especially if someone in your party is an amateur pool-playing enthusiast with a penchant for Oaxacan libations. The scene: DJ's and dancing give way to lines at the bar and a bit of a wait for your drinks, with a rowdy Downtown crowd mingling with curious Silver Lake and Echo Park Oaxacan-spirits seekers. The playlist: With drink in-hand, make a go for the old-school jukebox. Anything from the 90's will do, then let yourself sink into that proverbial rabbit hole. The bartender says: The well-dressed bartender can talk you through the intricacies of mescal and tequila or, if you name a flavor preference and price point, take care of a selection for you. Drink this: Try the signature cocktail, The Spiced Daisy ($13), which, though a touch sweet, is perfectly accented with zippy jalapeño, refreshing cilantro, s

Chef Josef Centeno has had quite the last few years: His Bäco Mercat opened in 2011, a wonderfully casual place where you can spend your lunch hour eating a fantastic bäco sandwich. Then came Bar Amá in 2012, a festive spot near Bäco Mercat that focuses on puffy tacos and other hallmarks of Tex-Mex cuisine. So you may have reasonably expected that for his third act, Centeno would open another spot that's as casual, as boisterous, as those two. Sort of. Centeno’s newest restaurant, Orsa & Winston, certainly feels casual: The ambiance is low-key enough that you can walk in wearing exactly what you would wear to Bäco Mercat or Bar Amá. But unlike those two, Orsa & Winston is dimmer and comfortably sparse, a decidedly more adult space with excellent service and music playing at sensible decibel levels. And unlike those two, dinner revolves around a Japanese-Italian-ish “omakase” tasting menu: based on your stomach and your ambition, choose between four-, five-, nine- and twenty-plus (!) courses. Whatever you choose, you will not choose wrong. The meal starts with an amuse—a small jar of creamy fennel panna cotta, say—then moves on to one memorable dish after another. An absolutely lovely, perfectly wintery chestnut soup with Maine lobster and a dollop of crème fraîche. Fluffy milk bread focaccia with rich homemade butter. A wonderful combination of geoduck and Koshihikari rice topped with sweet uni. While the menu as a whole could use a touch more balance—maybe a few more acids

Antler horns on the walls, plaid wallpaper, multiple pool tables, an impressive variety of Scotch, bourbon, rye, single malt and other whiskeys from around the world (and an extremely knowledgeable bar staff who pour them)—Downtown's popular Seven Grand is a whiskey lover's man cave.

With locations all over town, Kazunori Nozawa's mini-empire favors straightforward, no-nonsense fresh fish dishes over the usual 'Dragon' and 'Rainbow' rolls—as exemplified by Noawa's trademark "Trust Me" menu, which decides diners' sushi dishes for them.

Downtown nightlife entrpreneur Cedd Moses' experiment wth a private bar charing $2,200 in annual dues didn't exactly come at the right time, and so the precious cocktail museum that was the Doheny soon morphed into something more Latin and vibrant. Caña Rum Bar features 140 gourmet rums for cocktails that include mojitos, Tiki drinks and margaritas. The sense of exclusivity isn't gone, but the $2,200 membership is. It's now only $20.