LAGuide
Where To Take Your Parents Who “Heard About Avocado Toast”
photo credit: Holly Liss
Your parents aren’t the coolest people on the planet, but they make an effort - just last week your mom called to tell you she took an Uber. So when they come to visit you in Los Angeles, they really want to try some of that avocado toast they just heard about. Take them to these spots, where they’ll be able to do that, and try a few other LA breakfast staples, too.
The Spots
Sqirl started as a shop for pickles and jam, but now features two of LA’s most iconic breakfast dishes - the crispy rice salad and the sorrel pesto rice bowl. Both are fantastic, and we’re pretty sure your parents don’t have anything like this back in Jersey. Their avocado toast is great, too. One warning: Try to go on a weekday, because there are serious lines on weekends, and we know how your dad feels about waiting for a table.
This Abbot Kinney spot helped change the LA restaurant scene with their vegetable-centric menu, house-made breads, and “whole animal” approach to cooking. But your parents will mostly care that John Stamos is sitting in the corner, and wonder aloud why everyone is wearing sunglasses inside. And while they don’t actually have avocado toast on the menu, if your parents insist, you can order a very good version next door at Gjelina Take Away.
photo credit: Jakob Layman
Botanica is one of those vegetable-focused places you know your parents will like, as long as dad doesn’t hear the words “vegetable-focused” beforehand. This Silver Lake spot is bright, airy, and serves a very good brunch - our favorite dish is the Turkish eggs. Your parents will spend the whole meal discussing Cleveland’s lack of nice patios, while you focus on your arugula-and-gin cocktail (maybe make it a double). It’s also two blocks from the Reservoir if you want a post-brunch walk.
photo credit: Jakob Layman
A recent-ish addition to East Hollywood that’s become a neighborhood go-to, Friends & Family isn’t just grain bowls and pressed juices (although they have those, too). It’s a great spot for patty melts, fried chicken sandwiches, and deli-case egg salad. It’s a huge space, so even though half the self-identifying writers on the Eastside come here to work, you’ll still be able to find a table. Just be prepared for your mom’s inevitable “Doesn’t anyone in this town have a real job?” question when she sees the crowds in here. No mom. No, they don’t.
photo credit: Jakob Layman
This Los Feliz spot looks an awful lot like any number of places in town: It’s bright, has an all-wood interior, a vegetable-heavy menu, and a constant crowd of Eastsiders. But this isn’t just another kind-of-healthy restaurant, it’s one that also serves interesting stuff like labneh and soft-boiled eggs, and absolutely tremendous broccoli toast. It’s the kind of place that will have your parents wondering aloud why they can’t get vegetables this back home, and secretly start considering getting a timeshare in Silver Lake. Sorry.
photo credit: Jakob Layman
For a town that’s supposedly afraid of gluten, there are a lot of places making excellent bread in LA. And Lodge Bread is one of the best - this perpetually-crowded Culver City spot puts a great twist on all kinds of bakery staples. Plus, they have pan pizza, though only in limited quantities, so make sure you get here before the lunch rush. The cured fish is also very good, just be aware that your parents will inevitably compare it to the cured fish they tried that time they visited your cousin in New York. They’re different things, dad.
Breakfast is important, but seeing celebrities in their natural habitat is also pretty high on your dad’s to-do list. And the Go Get Em Tiger in Los Feliz is a very good place for him to do both (as a bonus, the celebs are usually nursing hangovers). You’ll also get to tell your siblings back home how much your dad fell in love with a “yeast-raised waffle,” and how mom ordered a turmeric macadamia latte.
On first glance, Destroyer might not seem mom-and-dad approved. This Culver City daytime spot/cockpit of an alien spacecraft has the menu projected on a wall, and the people making your food in the open kitchen are absolutely, monastically silent. The food most closely resembles a cross between a flower arrangement and sculpture - which might make your folks uncomfortable. But once they start eating, they will immediately forget all their reservations about this place.