Want to know how to disarm even the snootiest barista? Ask him to make you a flat white. Chances are, his carelessly but carefully groomed handlebar mustache will quiver as he, flummoxed, suggests — nay, informs you — that what you really want is a latte. Skip all that pretension and order a flat white from the proper source: Longshot Coffee. Mark Baird set up his mobile espresso cart after an unsuccessful citywide search for coffee as good as it is Down Under. Using his own custom roast, his espresso is smooth, and the flat white is exactly what it should be. That is, not a latte. Longshot usually is found supplying caffeine on movie and television sets; a few times a week, though, he can be found serving perfectly pulled espresso drinks, including, yes, flat whites, at the farmers markets at Yamashiro and in Sherman Oaks. If only it were as easy to track down Arnott's Tim Tams. Various farmers markets. (323) 495-3015, longshotcoffee.com.

—Tien Nguyen