Spilling the Matcha #10
Los Angeles Edition! Featuring Community Goods, Layla Bagels and Rustic Canyon!
Welcome to Spilling the Matcha, a weekly petite post where I spill honest reviews from New York City’s hospitality scene. Think cozy cafés, must-try restaurants, and cocktail bars worth lingering in.. or not. Check out my latest On the Agenda post for newly opened restaurants and pop-ups to check out this month!
Welcome to the tenth edition of Spilling the Matcha - I can’t believe we are already in double digits! After spending the week in LA/Palm Springs - I’m bringing you a very special issue of reviews from some of my fav spots in SoCal.
I’ve also included a new section after the review rundown titled: What I’m hungry for this week! A place where I’ll share recent musings - fashion, home, travel, etc! Now let’s get into these reviews!
If I’m visiting Los Angeles you’ll find me at Community Goods, likely more than once because it really is that good. Cream tops are a dime a dozen in this city and Community Goods has the best I’ve tried so far. The best part for me is that I'm not just enjoying a delicious matcha when I visit, they also have the most insane breakfast sliders on hawaiian rolls. I haven’t found anything similar yet in NYC but if you have.. please let a girl know.
Yes, the line is long but it moves quickly and is worth it if you are a matcha lover like myself. I highly recommend the matcha + breakfast sliders combo! If you are lucky enough to be visiting LA in the near future, Rocky’s just released an exclusive strawberry houjicha latte.
I finally visited Layla Bagels after constantly seeing it all over Tezza’s instagram and experiencing major fomo every time. It really is as good as it looks - their seasonal fruit right now was tangerine (a fav) and it just looked so beautiful and tasted delicious. You can’t tell in the photo but they sprinkled pieces of flaky salt on top - the best part imo! They also had a seasonal passionfruit collagen cloud matcha that was SO good.
Los Angeles is the type of place where I am not so afraid to try a matcha at a place that doesn’t specialize in it.. I could also see people’s matchas and determined the color was perf. Again.. there is nothing like this is NYC that I know of.. but if you do please let me know because I’d love to try it!
Rustic Canyon is the first restaurant I’ve visited in LA that genuinely felt like a neighborhood restaurant. This was a bit of a last minute reservation on my end and I didn’t do much research besides looking up their instagram and seeing a whopping 54k followers (some being people I already followed and would trust their recommendations).
Their menu rotates often due to the farm to table nature of the restaurant - we had so much citrus! I also loved my cocktail - the el negroni, made with a dark rum.
My recent trip is showing.. these picks feel a little more summer than spring - oh well!
1, 4, & 5 thanks to a visit to Brentwood Country Mart’s cutest store: Doen. The substack community really showed up for this one - thanks all for my first viral note :)
Emma Chamberlain’s new collection for West Elm is her style all wrapped up in one furniture & accessories collection and the price points are great - I want to grab these (2) wall hooks for my apartment. On my drive into palm springs, we stopped by the Desert Hills Premium Outlets and they did not disappoint. I showed restraint, but had to grab this (3) barrel shaped Longchamp - it’s not longer available on their website but I did find it on The RealReal. My love for the Tory Burch pierced collection continues with this insanely chic (6) ear cuff. Elevate your every day outfit with this (7) flip flop and (8) necklace, and (9) sunnies. A (10, 12) matching (bridal?!) set under $100? Yes. I missed my fav (11) eye patches while I was away this week - they are the best bang for your buck at $0.83 per set! I saw this (13) Jenni Kayne raffia tote while at Brentwood Country Mart and thought it would be a great bag to carry a laptop in the spring/summer - super lightweight and a chic shape. A little (14) animal print belt situation for those who like to play with pattern! The color of this (15) jelly flip flop is engrained in my brain..
Melissa McAlister is the author of The Moderne Museletter - A newsletter highlighting a playful mix of interiors, fashion, travel, and all the fun things NYC has to offer from local favorites to must-see spots. Curated from Brooklyn, with love 💌
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I’d pay a weird amount of money for those breakfast sliders and matcha right now