Having an opportunity to try the Veggie Grill’s new menu items was a real treat. Riding my bike up to their restaurant at The Grove on Fairfax Avenue and Third Street to do so was pretty exciting as well.
Eleanor Kong learned first hand that starting a small business can push one to their emotional and financial limits. For 20 months her storefront welcomed no customers but rather plenty of high priced contractors to build everything up.
In the middle of Main Street, across the way from The Galley and behind the Ben and Jerry’s, is a small enclave that houses the newly opened Brick + Mortar.
It is nice live in a place where dining is not limited to a Red Lobster, TGI Fridays, Applebee’s or whatever is down by the local mini-mall. One great thing about Santa Monica is the diversity of its storefronts, boutiques, and restaurants.
When I asked five of my friends if they were familiar with the Third Street Promenade’s Café Crepe, they all replied “yes.” But when I asked them if they ever stepped inside for some food, the answer was “no.
Building your own burger is no longer a novel concept amongst some of the better griddles here in town. Marking off a checklist to customize your burger’s, bun, patty, and toppings, is certainly a fun and interactive way to chow down.
For most people Taco Bell can best be described as nothing more than a guilty pleasure. It has also been pegged as a late night mainstay (hence the company’s “fourth meal” ad campaign) for the drunk, stoned, and struggling dieters that have gone way off the deep end.
With the weather being as unseasonably pleasant as it has been, I have found myself riding my bike solely to bask in this glorious warmth. A stop into the 17th Street Cafe & Bakery was for no reason other than the fact that I was hungry, and I was on the corner of 17th Street and Montana Avenue.
Patrolling the Santa Monica streets with fellow food writer Merv Hecht, a hot lead brought us to the Yahoo! Center on the east side of town. The complex is a major business hub with some high profile tenants like HBO, Apple and, of course, Yahoo.
If you take a look back on the burger timeline in Santa Monica, somewhere along it the classic hamburger slowly transformed into an elaborate gastronomic experience.
Holiday crunch time on the Third Street Promenade certainly brings elevated levels of shopping mayhem. All of the congestion, large crowds and seasonal cheesiness does indeed bring out the Grinch in me.
Like any new business Z Garden is indeed working out some of the unexpected yet unavoidable kinks. Co-owner Shadi Abed, posts himself close to the entrance working partly as a greeter and also as the guy who has to shut the faulty door that wants to constantly stay open.
