Michele StuevenSanta Monica-based boutique coffee roastery goodboybob and fashion brand Deus Ex Machina have teamed up to open a new cafe inside Deus’ “temple” at the corner of Lincoln and Venice Blvd in Venice.
Founded in 2016 as a speakeasy-style coffee shop in Santa Monica by Emmy-winning director and racecar driver Erich Joiner (who appears in the movie F1 with Brad Pitt), goodboybob is known for its rare, small-lot coffees from farms around the world.
The BBL (Courtesy goodboybob)
Some of the Venice specialty drinks include the BBL, which combines caramelized brown butter syrup with espresso and milk. Served hot or over ice, and a Guatemala Santa Marta Gesha, an elegant and delicate Gesha with flavors of jasmine, peach, tangerine, and pistachio. Produced by second-generation farmer David Rodriguez and his family, their farm is a model of sustainability with native tree cover and a healthy habitat for native pollinators.
Specialty food items include a variety of breakfast muffins served on a toasted Röckenwagner English muffin, like the Red Eye Roll with breakfast sausage, egg, California cheddar, and a red eye sauce, the Kickstarter with Nueske’s smoked bacon, egg, California cheddar, and aji aioli, and the Green Light, a combination of
egg, California cheddar, morning pesto aioli, and black sesame.
Desert to Desert is a one night only dining experience at Thompson Palm Springs, that will bring together three acclaimed chefs from Mexico City, Los Cabos, and Palm Springs on Saturday, Aug. 1, with seatings available at 5 p.m., 6 p.m., and 7 p.m., the experience features Chef Enrique Olvera, the two Michelin-starred chef behind Mexico City’s acclaimed Pujol, alongside Chef Abisai Sánchez of Manta at The Cape, a Thompson Hotel, a Thompson Hotel in Cabo San Lucas, and Chef Quentin Garcia of Lola Rose Grand Mezze. Together, the chefs will present a five-course tasting menu highlighting their culinary perspectives and the region’s flavors, featuring dishes like a scallop tostada with jicama, cucumber, and kimchi; roasted sweet potato with tamarind miso and almond mole; and a churro and chocolate dessert.
Raphael Lunetta (Michele Stueven)
Marelle at Sandbourne Santa Monica welcomes back The Guest List, a chef collaboration series celebrating friendship, community, and the stories behind some of Southern California’s best-known culinary voices.
Marelle Executive Chef Raphael Lunetta will welcome childhood friend and surfing buddy, the two-Michelin-starred Chef Josiah Citrin, for a one-night-only dinner on Saturday, Aug. 15, celebrating more than 45 years of friendship, food, and memories.
Inspired by the backyard gatherings and summer celebrations they shared throughout the years, Citrin and Lunetta will reunite around the grill for a family-style Basque BBQ on Marelle’s ocean-inspired patio. The menu features coastal California favorites like sliced ahi tuna with finger lime and white soy, grilled New Caledonian blue prawns, côte de boeuf, summer vegetables, and more, alongside a live DJ.
Chef Blake Shailes will step into the role of Culinary Director at the historic Grandmaster Recorders in Hollywood in September as the venue has shifted into a private event format, offering new, customizable tray-passed canapé, grazing station, and action station menus. Shailes held the position of Executive Chef for the restaurant from 2021 to 2024.
Menu highlights include mushroom and Taleggio arancini, Petrossian caviar with seaweed crackers and crème fraîche, and chocolate and coconut fudge bites. The stunning interior remains the same.
What’s Popping Up is a column in the L.A. Weekly that explores everything new in food and drink
Grandmaster Recorders dining room (Michele Stueven)