The Shoppy Shop 2.0 has entered the chat

Producers are taking the curated shopping experience into their own hands, plus a new print food magazine, and more

I’ve just returned from two weeks eating my face off across Taiwan, so I’m on the vegetables-at-home train while I battle ye olde jetlag and get back into my L.A. routine. But before I left, I did manage to sneak in an early dinner at Bar di Bello, the ultra-chic new Italian clubhouse from the team behind Gigi’s and Wexler’s. I’m not the biggest fan of the sterile Sunset Row development (whose other tenants include the controversy-baiting Noma Projects retail shop and, uh, Baggu), but I was charmed by the cocktail list (including a tomato-infused dirty martini—a fruit that seems to be having a moment on cocktail menus; see also: Vandell) and a buttery penne served straight out of its stainless sauté pan. The room is gorgeous; the clientele, too. Take someone you want to impress.

And not new, but still notable, and as a reminder, if you haven’t been in a while: Mariscos Jalisco? Still unequivocally got it. I stopped by for a pre-trip fix, figuring I wouldn’t have much Mexican food in Taiwan (accurate), and even after all these years, the golden-fried, salsa-topped taco dorado de camarón is still one of God/Raoul Ortega’s most perfect creations. Never forget.

[Editor’s note: I’m feeling generous, so today’s on-point issue from Jamie is free :)]

If the first wave of beautifully merchandised, artisan-leaning, local producer-championing food retailers like Cookbook Market, Gjusta Grocer, and L.A. Homefarm (aka Shoppy Shops v 1.0) offered breadth (a little bit of olive oil here, a pile of extremely photogenic local produce there), the new wave of specialty markets in L.A. is going for depth (i.e., twelve kinds of pork sausage).

That’s because some of Southern California’s best farmers, fishers, and growers are taking retail into their own hands by opening their own dedicated storefronts. Think luxury farmstand, in the heart of the city. And considering this city basically pioneered the form—Cookbook opened its first location, in Echo Park, in 2010—the fact that the Shoppy Shop 2.0 is happening right here, right now, makes all the sense in the world.

Chief among them is Peads & Barnetts, Mariposa-based purveyors of incredibly delicious, pasture-raised, richly marbled Berkshire pork and beef from mature cattle, along with gorgeous, weird (I say this with deep affection) flowers like proteas and banksias. They’ve been selling at local farmers’ markets for years, and are a favorite of virtually every A-list chef in town. But despite being stocked at a handful of other specialty grocers, they’ve never had their own dedicated brick-and-mortar presence, until now. Third-generation owner Oliver Woolley, along with his wife Daniela and partner (slash produce liaison and queen of the farmers’ market) Sam Rogers, decided to transform their current storage facility in West LA into a beautifully-stocked, public-facing market and community space, appropriately dubbed Good Things.

Photos courtesy of Good Things.

When the market soft opens on May 7th (just in time for Mother’s Day), it will be fully stocked with a wide selection of pork, beef, and flowers, along with oils, vinegars, salts and spices, a gardening section (natch), new and used cookbooks, and well-sourced housewares, including, per Woolley, “dreamy” French glassware and handmade knives from Catalan bladesmiths Pallarès. “We don’t want to have a massive variety of anything—just simple, good things that have been around for forever and deserve a place on your table,” says Woolley. They’ll also, thanks to linen partitions which divide the space into flexible quadrants, play host to a variety of events and workshops (they recently hosted a cookbook talk with Masienda, former tenants of the space, and Now Serving; and Rogers says upcoming programming will range from floral arrangement classes to incense making to after-school programming for kids).

Peads & Barnetts is not the only producer going the retail route. Last year, fellow farmers’ market favorite Weiser Family Farms opened what I can only describe as an urban farmstand in the Row DTLA, selling farm boxes, baked goods from Tehachapi Grain Project, and their cult-favorite Bonny Melon tees (plus the actual melons, when in season). And Liwei Liao, aka “The Dry-Aged Fish Guy,” just expanded his Sherman Oaks-based operation, The Joint, to a 4,000-square foot flagship speciality fish market/handroll bar/cafe/wholesale dry-aging facility, also in DTLA, that he’s calling “the world’s largest dry-aging hub.” (I stopped by the opening a few weeks ago; it’s cool to see the dry-aging cases filled with whole fish in various states of age, and then be able to buy the finished product by the pound, all while snacking on a handroll and sipping a matcha.)

Going brick-and-mortar makes sense on multiple levels: financially, it provides some cushion for producers, since retail customers purchase and pay full price on the spot (unlike wholesale accounts), and farmers’ markets take a cut of sales. Supply chain-wise, farmers have control of their own products. And from a community perspective, customers get a chance to get up close and personal with the people who grew their food, as well as their friends and neighbors. “There’s something really beautiful about being able to feel that connection to the land without having to drive three hours to go visit these places,” says Rogers. “Instead, we have all of that come to you.”

Peads & Barnetts Good Things
11515 W Pico Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90064
Thurs-Sun, 11 a.m.–7 p.m.

Weiser Family Farmstand
1320 E 7th St, Bldg M2, Suite 140, Los Angeles, CA 90021
Tuesdays & Thursdays, 11 a.m.–3 p.m.

The Joint Seafood & Uoichiba
600 1st St, Los Angeles, CA 90012
Tues-Sun, 9 a.m.–9 p.m.

I recently stopped by No Bad Days’ first in-person event, a conversation between chefs/cookbook authors Ifrah Ahmed and Angel Dimayuga about Ahmed’s stunning new cookbook, Soomaliya (the first Somali cookbook to be published in 20 years!). The event was hosted at Flavors From Afar, the mission-based East Hollywood restaurant owned by Ethiopian chef Meymuna Hussein-Cattan, who has turned her kitchen into a place for fellow refugees, asylum seekers, and immigrants to cook the foods of their native countries. Although I only sampled a few snacks from the cookbook (shoutout to the bajiye, little black-eyed pea fritters), I can’t wait to get back for a proper meal: the scene was popping on a Friday night, and the Egyptian koshari is calling my name.

There’s a new print food publication in town: To-Go Zine, an L.A.-focused magazine, with stories, quizzes, crafts, and more. The first issue is themed “Care Package,” with a cover story on Altadena food business, and now through 5/31, all proceeds are going to CHIRLA.

Sometimes we can have nice things: Chao Krung, one of L.A.’s oldest Thai restaurants, bought their building. [LA Mag]

tasbeeh herwees on the celebrities and associated hotties taking advantage of the freakishly good lighting at Lazy Acres Natural Market. We need more of this hyper-local reporting (and, as Vanessa Anderson points out, a co-op on the East side, please!) [No Bad Days]

Rachel Kushner’s list of where to eat now that Taix is closed is perfect. [Instagram]

Two contentious L.A. institutions under one roof: Erewhon smoothies x the new LACMA. [LACMA UnFramed]