Category: Places

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The Table: A Reading series that mentors would-be lit event hosts

So you’d like to start a reading series — but don’t know where to start. Well, now there’s a reading series to help you with that!

The Table Reading Series pairs would-be lit event hosts in need of guidance with more seasoned mentors who have lit event organizing experience under their belt. From planning the reader line-up to budgeting to promoting the event, the newbies get the help they need planning one event for the series, while mentors get to pass on their knowledge and know-how. The idea is that organizing one event for The Table will empower the new hosts with the experience and confidence they need to plan more events on their own.

Dreamed up by Natashia Deon, author of Grace and organizer of the (now sadly defunct) Dirty Laundry Lit reading series, The Table held its first event July 2017, with an event curated by Zoe Ruiz. Since then, there’s been one event a month at the Hollywood Hotel, with a new host or few for each event — and new mentors.

“It’s a one time experience for all, unless a mentee chooses to become a mentor,” Natashia says.

I finally made it to my first The Table reading in February. Themed Writing of Exploration, the event was put together by writers Rachael Warecki and Ashley Perez. There were spirited readings, a short panel discussion, a full bar, and free chocolate on the tables —

Make sure to come to the next The Table event — because I’ll be reading! Also in the lineup are memoirist Patrick O’Neil, poet Julayne Lee, Carl Kemp, and Erika Ayon. The event’s organized by Ramona Pilar and Anita Gill, with Women Who Submit cofounder and poet Xochitl-Julisa Bermejo serving as mentor.

The Table Presents: Redemption
April 15, 2018, 2:30 pm to 5 pm
Hollywood Hotel, 1160 N. Vermont Ave., Los Angeles

Want to be the next host for The Table — or want to mentor a new host? Just email Natashia at info@tablelit.com to get started. Or  go to an event! “The best way to be involved is to come to the event and find me,” Natashia says. “Let’s chat.”

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LA Lit Fic: A new monthly book club party at The Last Bookstore

LA Lit Fic with Siel Ju book club at The Last Bookstore

LA Lit Fic with Siel Ju book club at The Last Bookstore

After blogging about all the great book clubs in L.A., I’m now taking the only logical next step. I’ve teamed up with The Last Bookstore to start a brand new book club on L.A. fiction!

Called LA Lit Fic, this book club will read novels by L.A. writers, or from L.A. presses, or featuring L.A. in a big way. The goal is to get L.A. people reading L.A. fiction — and meeting L.A. writers too!

At each monthly book club party, I hope to have the author her or himself drop at the end to answer burning questions, sign books, and hang out with the fans. Yes, I said book club party (not meeting). There will be wine and an equally festive non-alcoholic drink, plus cheese, crackers, cookies, and crudite.

Get your ticket now! Your $35.95 party ticket includes the month’s book, party eats and libations, entree to a cool off-limits nook of The Last Book Store, a chance to meet the author and get your book signed — plus good times with fellow L.A. book lovers, including me!

Edan Lepucki Woman No 17We’ll kick off our inaugural book club party with Edan Lepucki’s Woman No. 17 — a fun, snarky, and emotionally-charged read starring a recently-separated memoir writer and her nanny — who’s really a performance artist playing the part of a nanny. There’s intrigue, illicit romance, estranged mothers, and lots of SoCal sun — basically all the things you might look for in a good L.A. novel.
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LA Lit Fic with Siel Ju
(Facebook event page)
Our March read: Edan Lepucki’s Woman No. 17
Tuesday, March 20 at 7:30 pm – 9 pm (Edan arrives 8:30 pm)
The Last Bookstore, 453 S. Spring St., Los Angeles
Tickets: $35.95 (includes a copy of the book, party, and more)
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I hope to see you there! Feel free to email or tweet me with any questions. And if you’re an L.A. novelist with a book that’s just out or about to come out — and you’re game for a future book club party — get in touch with me.

Earlier:
* 6 best book clubs in Los Angeles
* 11 best bookstores in Los Angeles for writers

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Giveaway: A Ticket to The Joshua Tree Experiential Arts and Writing Retreat

*** Winner selected! Congratulations to Suzanne — Hope you enjoy the retreat! ***

Here’s your chance to spend a blissful weekend writing in the desert — getting inspired by the natural habitat around you while communing with and learning from fellow writers and artists.

That’s the goal behind The Joshua Tree Experiential Arts and Writing Retreat, happening November 17 to 19 at Mojave Stars Ranch in Wonder Valley. This weekend event includes explorations through Joshua Tree as well as creative writing exercises and ecology talks — plus a unique opportunity to publish your newly-created work.

Poet Ariel Fintushel, one of the two facilitators the event along with San Francisco poet Sean Negus, sums it up as “a 3-day retreat in the desert with experiential arts and writing workshops leading participants through the ecosystem for generation of new culturally conscious work to be curated into an annual anthology.”

As you might expect from the setting, the schedule includes some very Californian activities — a desert initiation workshop, high noon ceremony, and a talk called “Altered States and Psycho-Spiritual Legacies of the Desert” among them. But the core of the schedule is geared towards getting participants to generate writing. There’s goal-setting on the first night, lots of site-specific writing exercises, process discussions, and open times for individual writing.

Interested? Check out the full schedule on the retreat website, then enter to win a ticket to the retreat by leaving a comment on this post with a brief reason why you’d like to go. The giveaway closes September 21, 2017 at 11:59 pm PST.

Or if you can’t wait for the giveaway to run its course, get your Eventbrite ticket now at the early bird price of $50. If you wait, the ticket will go up to its regular $125 price.

Keep in mind the ticket covers just the workshops and scheduled events. For lodging, camp on the cheap at Indian Cove — or if that’s not your style, book a nearby hotel or airbnb.

I’d love to go to the retreat myself, but I’ll be out of town that weekend for the Miami Book Festival. I’m looking forward to reading the anthology though —

The Joshua Tree Experiential Arts and Writing Retreat. Mojave Stars Ranch, 4815 Meriwether Road, Wonder Valley. Fri, November 17, 2017 – Sun., November 19, 2017.

Photo by Christopher Michel

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Best coffee shops for writers in Los Angeles: Central LA

Picky writers can’t just go to any coffee shop. We need good working spaces with comfy chairs and tables. We need decent wifi and electric outlets for our laptops. We (or at least I) need good reading light. And we like to be able to hang for a few hours without feeling like we’re overstaying our welcome.

Which is to say — I’m really putting together this best coffee shops list for me.

I often find myself stuck in a part of town I don’t know very well — usually before or after some event — because I don’t want to drive home until after rush hour ends. Now (or more accurately, soon, when I finish this 5-part guide covering most L.A. neighborhoods), whatever area of Los Angeles I happen to be in, I know where I can stop to read or get some writing done while I wait for traffic to clear.

Earlier:
* Best coffee shops for writers in Los Angeles: Westside
* Best coffee shops for writers in Los Angeles: The Valley
* Best coffee shops for writers in Los Angeles: Northeast LA
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West Hollywood: The Assembly. 634 N. Robertson Blvd.

This is a coffee shop for the minimalist writer. The clean aesthetic calms and clears the mind! Add in the little vases of succulents and the cute outside courtyard area, and The Assembly wins the award for the most photogenic cafe in the L.A. area.

A small decaf soy latte will cost you $6.50, served in a pretty ceramic cup. There are also juices and snacks for sale; the wifi and ambiance are free —

Hollywood: Insomnia. 7286 Beverly Blvd., Los Angeles.

I have a real soft spot for this coffee shop because I spent so much time here in my teens and twenties, when I lived near the area. Insomnia’s pretty old school: well-worn but comfy sunken couches, cash only policy, a late midnight close time, stale day old pastries cocooned in saran wrap sold for a buck. It may also be the last coffee shop in L.A. with no website —

This place has some serious regulars, who one and all seem to be eavesdropping on conversations to add to their screenplays — even more so than most L.A. coffee shops! It has somewhat terrible reviews on Yelp due to the Korean owner who can come across as curt and impatient — but she’s always been nice to me….

Third Street: Verve Coffee Roasters

Like its downtown location, this Verve spot is a joint venture with Juice Served Here, my favorite juice shop to write in. It’s a bright, spacious place with both super-healthy raw superfood snacks and sugar-and-gluten-packed pastries.

I recommend the $8 juice flight for both variety and hydration while you write —

Larchmont: Larchmont Bungalow. 107 N Larchmont Blvd, Los Angeles.

This popular coffee shop-restaurant is great for getting some writing done before a reading at Chevalier’s down the street. I think they’re best known for Red & Blue velvet pancakes but I got the gluten free quinoa ones — tasty but very heavy!

This is a big place with lots of indoor and outdoor seating where you can stay for hours, eating more and more things.

Koreatown: Document Coffee Bar. 3850 Wilshire Blvd. #107, Los Angeles.

Get a hojicha soy latte here! Hojicha is a roasted Japanese green tea with a lovely nutty taste — and this cute little cafe in Koreatown is the place that introduced me to it.

This is a smallish but cheerful place with a well-populated communal table in the middle where millenials sit staring into their laptops with headphones on while completely ignoring the people on either side of them. It can be a good setting for serious writing!

Downtown LA: Cognoscenti Coffee. 1118 San Julian St., Los Angeles.

I discovered this place because I needed to caffeinate right before a Soulcycle ride next door. This spacious cafe felt like a quiet, ideal spot for writing.

The cafe also doubles as a little shop of locally made goods, with soaps, candles and other little desirables. And yes, the soy latte got me through my workout!

Los Feliz: Bru. 1866 N. Vermont. Ave., Los Angeles.

Bru has the benefit of being right down the street from Skylight Books — so you can get a little writing done here before rewarding yourself by buying some books. The place has a simple aesthetic, friendly baristas, and good wifi.

Earlier:
* Juice Served Here: Best juice shop for writers in Los Angeles
* 11 best bookstores in Los Angeles for writers

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Taste New York in L.A.: 5 new restaurants

I’ve declared June New York month because I’m in New York right now on my east coast book tour!

I’ve been so excited about this trip that before flying out, I actually prepped by checking out New York restaurants that recently opened in Los Angeles. Apparently the west coast is the place to be if you’re a chef, because a whole bunch of new yummy spots have sprung up. Here’s how my pre-NYC tasting tour went:

by chloe. 2520 Glendale Blvd., Silver Lake.

I’d put by chloe on my list of places to visit in New York after reading a review in The New Yorker last month — then googled it to find out L.A. already has its own location, right next door to a 365 by Whole Foods.

The review recommended veggie burgers and fries with the house made beet ketchup, but all that sounded heavy because I’m more of a salad for lunch girl. So I got the Spicy Thai Salad — which with quinoa, edamame, almonds, and a very sweet-and-sticky apricot-sriracha glazed tempeh ended up being really filling. I’m glad I asked for no wontons and peanut dressing on the side because all that with the tempeh glaze would have been way too much!

Afterwards I was too full to be tempted by the delicious-looking vegan treats — but my friend Ian got this tiramisu cupcake and made me jealous —

As a sidenote, has anyone else noticed that The New Yorker’s suddenly started reviewing a lot of vegan restaurants lately? Did the magazine get a veg restaurant reviewer?

The Butcher’s Daughter. 1205 Abbot Kinney Blvd., Venice.

This very popular vegetarian eatery on Abbot Kinney often has a wait — but the food is worth it. Just visiting the restaurant’s Instagram page full of avocado toasts will make you drool. When I went, I got the macro bowl — forbidden rice, black beans, roasted veggies, and hummus on arugula with an egg and a hunk of avocado — and for dessert, the juice flight, which comes with four cold pressed juices of your choice.

The Venice location’s an open, airy space with lots of sunlight — which is to say that to me, The Butcher’s Daughter seems very Californian. Perhaps New Yorkers just like to eat the same stuff Angelenos like to eat — Namely, avocados.

Erin McKenna’s Bakery LA. 236 N. Larchmont Blvd., Larchmont.

My NY-in-LA tasting tour had a third vegetarian-friendly spot: Erin McKenna’s Bakery. This cute bakery’s not only vegan but also gluten-free, soy-free, refined-sugar-free and kosher.

Unlike the pristine prettiness of Sprinkles or Vanilla, Erin McKenna’s embraces a homier look, with cupcakes that look proudly hand-iced and not-quite-uniform. I think donuts are the most popular items here, but I had to get the double chocolate crumb cake — a generous slice of moist decadence.

Baohaus. Far East Plaza, 727 N Broadway #130., Chinatown.

Edde Huang’s Baohaus is famous for its pork belly baos — but the three veg places I visited must have had an effect on me. When I got up to the order counter at this tiny, mostly to-go spot, I saw a flyer that said “vegan managers meal @ baohaus L.A. only!” and on the spur of the moment, ordered that.

This was a mistake. The dish was basically supposed to be a fried tofu rice bowl — served with eggplant salad, peanut cucumbers, stir-fried Chinese broccoli, and garlic chili cabbage over a bed of cauli-rice. I was mostly excited about the eggplant salad — but when I got my compostable bowl, there was no eggplant to be seen. On top of that, the tofu was very greasy, and the oily-spicy flavors of the veggies really, really didn’t go well with the slightly soggy cauli-rice.

Squished inside an old, noisy mall in Chinatown, this spot, though new, is rather run-down looking and unpleasant to eat in, with harsh fluorescent lights and aluminum countertops. All in all, I’m not interested in repeating this experience, but I did learn an important lesson: If a place is best known for pork, don’t order the vegan dish.

Sweet Chick. 448 N Fairfax, Los Angeles.

This contemporary southern comfort food place is known for fried chicken and waffles — so of course that’s not what I got. Why be normal? Also, I just really don’t digest gluten well, and fried chicken often tastes to me too — fried. This time though, my meal worked out well! The Grilled Octopus — with gochujang BBQ, peanuts, and lime radish on Charleston Gold rice — was warm and comforting and delicious with savory spicy tang.

Keep in mind that in the afternoons, Sweet Chick serves ONLY chicken and waffles; the full menu is available only at mealtimes. But at any time, you can enjoy the hip hop on the speakers and the full cocktail menu —
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Maybe I’ll revisit the New York locations of these restaurants and see how they compare while I’m on the east coast! And when I come back, I’ll try some of the more formal NY-in-LA restaurants that have also opened up in the last year:

* Beauty & Essex. New American.
* Tao. Pan-Asian.
* Rao’s. Southern Neapolitan Italian.
* Serafina Sunset. Casual Italian, with a focus on thin crust pizza.

Been to these yet? Let me know your recommendations in the comments.

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5 trendy spots for healthy meals on the go in Los Angeles

Don’t have time to nori-wrap your tempeh bulgogi or to slice-n-bake sweet potato toasts for your paleo tartine? Indulge your love of health fads and fusion food alike at these healthy to-go spots this spring.
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Kye’s. Santa Monica: 1518 Montana Ave.

This sunny spot is the home of the Kyerito — which is basically a leaf or nori-wrapped breadless burrito. A special slip wrap keeps the warm stuff from touching the wrap part, so nothing gets soggy.

I loved the Tempeh Bulgogi Kyerito — a Korean-fusion deal with gochujang, kimchi, tempeh, rice, plus veggies and herbs, all wrapped in romaine. Most of the ingredients are local and organic too.

Kye’s also offers salads and soups — plus vaguely healthy sounding desserts like vegan black bean brownie and kabocha pie I hope to try one day —

Honey Hi. Echo Park: 1620 W. Sunset Blvd., Los Angeles.

If you’re headed to an event at Stories or 826 LA in Echo Park, stop in at this organic and local, no refined sugar or gluten spot for a bite to eat. I recommend the breakfast bowl, made with sweet potato hash, pastured turmeric poached egg, Niman Ranch uncured bacon, greens, avocado, herbs, sumac, and smoked paprika.

The place also has sourdough tartines, sandwiches, juices and smoothies, and all the currently trendy health craze drinks: bone broth, reishi hot chocolate, bulletproof coffee, and more.

Erewhon: Three locations: Venice, mid-city, and Calabasas.

Once, I zoned out while driving west on Venice to a reading at Beyond Baroque, overshot it, spotted Erewhon, stopped in to eat a paleo tartine — and forgot about the reading. The sweet potato, greens, bacon and egg combo was delicious!

I got a green juice in a reusable glass bottle and a kelp salad too and ate everything in the sunny patio by this health-conscious grocery store and deli. The day was warm and the food was perfect.

The downside: Lunch cost me $30. Also, I missed the reading —

Sweetgreen. 8 locations around the city.

This popular salad-and-bowls chain’s been expanding like crazy across the country. Back in February, I had a Pesto Portobello bowl in Santa Monica — then flew to Washington DC for the AWP Conference and had another one. It’s a tasty warm dish: quinoa, arugula, roasted chicken, portobello, corn, chickpeas, and spicy broccoli tossed in pesto vinaigrette.

Sweetgreen takes local and seasonal seriously. At each location, a chalkboard lets you know where exactly the ingredients for your meal came from.

That does mean that some dishes will come and go with the seasons — so get them while you can! This OMG Omega bowl is a perennial though, and one of my favorites: arugula, baby spinach, cucumbers, tomatoes, basil, avocado, roasted steelhead and nori furikake, tossed in miso sesame ginger dressing.

Frozen Fruit Co. Santa Monica: 729 Montana Avenue, Suite 2.

Okay — Soft serve ice cream perhaps doesn’t qualify as a healthy lunch on its own. But the tasty stuff at this place makes for a healthier dessert option! Frozen Fruit’s ice creams are basically just frozen and blended fruit — no dairy, gluten, or white sugar — with a few other clean ingredients.

And the concoctions are surprisingly creamy and tasty! The chocolate flavor — made with coconut milk and cacao — is my favorite. The place offers a bunch of toppings, from carob chips to the more delicious real chocolate chips, though I didn’t try those. Just the ice cream was enough.

Earlier:
* Best place for oysters after shopping at Alias Books: Plan Check
* Melrose Station: Best speakeasy hidden behind a bookcase