“It’s a confusing time,” says Rick Ross, one of the partners at Delicious Pizza. “I think the restaurants are ready to repurpose themselves for takeout and delivery. Of course, pizza, that’s always been this way. But what works best for the community and our employees, that’s what we’re focused on right now.”
Like every restaurants in LA, Ross is thinking creatively about how keep his business afloat in the face of the COVID-19 outbreak. “We just introduced a delicious vegan menu,” he says. “It all travels and gives people a healthy option.”
When they opened Delicious Pizza five years ago on West Adams, it was meant to be a source for the community, and Ross wants it to continue to be that. “There’s not a lot of food options down there, but we all have to see what the best practices are for picking up food, and practice the social distancing as much as possible so people stay safe.”
Ross is currently setting up an outdoor area where people can wait in their cars and then come to the door or a pickup table outside to grab an order once it’s ready, but that could change depending on the regulatory measures the city ends up installing. For the time being, restaurants are coming up with their own solutions. “They might not want the people doing it that way — we’ll see,” he says. “They might want people to come in one at a time.”
It’s absolutely incumbent upon us as citizens to protect our community and ourselves by practicing social distancing for the unforeseeable future. And so restaurants, our most popular locus for social gathering, will be hit hard. The best way to help them is by feeding ourselves. Apps make that possible, and thanks to conferencing platforms like Zoom, we can still have virtual dinner parties and happy hours (with “quartinis” and “isolibations”). Delicious Pizza, known for hosting dance parties and vinyl shopping, is currently figuring out a way to share its DJ nights online. “People will be creative with the way they share their DJ sets,” says Ross.
Is it ideal? No. But it isn’t permanent either. Until then, here are some restaurants running delivery during these uncertain times. Help out and stay connected with your loved ones.
Gwen Butcher Shop & Restaurant
Hollywood
Chef Curtis Stone’s high-end joint just launched on Caviar for the first time, with offerings from both the butcher shop and restaurant. Lunch dishes currently include bread and butter, a market salad, tuna and meatball sandwiches, a half roast chicken with harissa, a pork chop with thai black mustard, and a Creekstone NY strip, as well as vegetable sides. Dinner offerings will include appetizers such as lamb ribs with leek ash yogurt as well as the roast chicken and pork chop mains, meatballs with tomato sauce, and Gwen’s signature cuts. Sides such as broccolini with juniper vinaigrette and charred cabbage with celeriac dukkah will also be available in the evening. Guests can also call (323-946-7513) for more information about butcher shop offerings.
6600 Sunset Blvd (map)
Sightglass Los Angeles
Hollywood
Opening a restaurant is hard. Opening a restaurant during a pandemic? Can’t envy Sightglass. That said, debuting with a delivery and a takeout only model may help them iron out kinks. They’ve got a special menu of culinary offerings such as whole roast chickens and bagels from culinary director Brett Cooper and pastry chef Jillian Bartolome. More importantly, their wildly delicious coffee can also still be ordered for nationwide shipping through their website. We will continue to need coffee.
7051 Willoughby Ave (map)
Broad Street Oyster Co.
Malibu
Malibu is probably LA’s most socially distant neighborhood already, but they should still play it safe. Broad Street Oyster Co. has introduced delivery through UberEats and Postmates. The New England-inspired seafood pop-up also has pickup. Buttery lobster rolls, clam chowder, Caesar salad and seafood stew all sound soul-quenching in these chilly, wet days. They plan to launch more menu and takeout options soon.
23359 Pacific Coast Hwy (map)
Rustic Canyon Family
Santa Monica
The Rustic Canyon Family of restaurants (Huckleberry Bakery & Café, Sweet Rose Creamery, Milo & Olive, Milo SRO, Cassia, Ester’s Wine Shop & Bar, Tallula’s and Birdie G’s) have ended dine-in service, but are rolling out a bunch of curbside pickup and online delivery services. Huckleberry will debut some family-style meals later this week. Cassia will have wonton noodle soups in addition to its charcuterie fried rice. Milo SRO has pizza. Ester’s will have free delivery on orders over $100, which is easy to do when stocking up on wine. Birdie G’s will have Matzoh Ball soup.
Crossroads Kitchen
West Hollywood
You can order Crossroads Kitchen, a plant-based spot, through Doordash, Grubhub and Postmates. They’ve also just launched new home meal kits containing ingredients to make several of the restaurant’s signature dishes at home. Dishes serve two people, cook in less than 15 minutes, stay fresh for 3-4 days and can be prepared at your convenience. Orders are accepted over the phone with pickup and delivery available daily between 12 and 6 p.m.
8284 Melrose (map)
Delicious Pizza
West Adams & Hollywood
Pizza party time. The West Adams location is doing lunch and dinner as of now, with the Sunset location offering breakfast as well. Both are available for delivery or pickup. Their vegan options include pizzas and breakfast burritos. They’re also trying right now to find a way to host their vinyl DJ nights via a digital radio (news on that here), and you can always order records through their Delicious Vinyl site.
5419 West Adams Blvd. (map)
6601 Sunset Blvd. (map)
Killer Noodle
Sawtelle
A nice bowl of ramen sounds soothing. Killer Noodle is Tsujita’s spicy ramen joint. Their bowls vary in intensity and could help you sweat out a fever, but don’t quote us on that. They are not doing delivery or dine-in at this time, but they are doing takeout, and have a designated place on their patio to pick up your order.
2030 Sawtelle (map)
APL Restaurant
Hollywood
APL is running a to-go menu available for curbside pickup (call when close and they’ll walk it out) and hand-delivery within a one-block radius of their restaurant. The lunch menu includes BBQ, beef stew and Matzoh ball soup. There’s a full menu for dinner, and you can order the soup and stew cold for storage. You can also order wine to-go, but they have to open it, you have to taste it, and then they have to recork it — but at 25% off, it’s worth the hassle.
1680 Vine St. (map)
Homestate
Los Feliz, Playa Vista and Highland Park
Kudos to these guys. They were among the first to have a plan in place, sending out an email blast last week detailing their steps (removing communal items like salsa, curbside pickup), how they were helping their employees (paid time off for anyone showing symptoms of sickness) and references to the CDC website. On top of their social responsibility, they make some damn good tacos that are more than worthy of the support. You can order through their app for free delivery.
Paper or Plastik
Midcity
The neighborhood spot is available for curbside pick-up and delivery, with a 10% discount for Postmates deliveries. They’re available breakfast, lunch and dinner and do a great job making wholesome food — shakshuka for breakfast, chicken salad for lunch, lentil salad for dinner. They also make delicious desserts.
5772 Pico Blvd. (map)
SOCALO
Santa Monica
The new restaurant is offering a 10% discount on pickups and deliveries through its website (code: STAYHEALTHY). Their fresh squeezed juices, fresh salads and lamb birra (braised lamb) are all salubrious options. SOCALO is located near St. John’s Hospital and the UCLA medical facilities, who they will also be catering to. If you find yourself over here, they plan to roll out other options and in-house agenda in the coming days so stay tuned.
Update 3/17: SOCALO has made the difficult decision to end their delivery and takeout service. They tell us they hope to be up and running again by Easter.
1920 Santa Monica Blvd. (map)
Other favorites offering delivery: All Day Baby, Cosa Buona, Joy, Pine & Crane, Pizzeria il Fico, Wexler’s Deli
Nota bene: It’s difficult to keep one’s head up when faced with so much uncertainty and a barrage of bad news, but it is very important, mentally, to practice optimism. Watch comedies. Talk with friends. And read good news stories. For instance, doctors have made a first attempt to cure blindness using CRISPR, which is pretty cool. And the last Ebola patient was recently discharged in the Congo — staying home for a few weeks seems like a cakewalk next to that. Or marvel in the fact that global living standards have improved, despite what the news will tell you. I took these from The Goodnewspaper, a site that only reports positive stories. You may want to subscribe as a counterbalance.
This article was featured in the InsideHook LA newsletter. Sign up now for more from the Southland.
