Picnic LA: Fast Casual with a Fine Dining Flair (Culver City, CA)

Culver City residents and workers have a great new lunch spot. Picnic LA is a fast casual, produce-driven spot that's perfect for a quick lunch, takeaway orders, and now even deliveries. Opened by trio Brad Zions, Noah Ellis (who formerly worked in the Red Medicine kitchen), and Eliot Silver, Picnic LA is slinging healthy, vegetable-heavy menu that features produce and proteins from local farms and ranches.

Walking in, you'll see today's selections of entrees, salads, and more displayed on the counter

Each item can be purchased individually, or you can get a combo. A combination of any entree with any 2 salads will be $14.50, $17.50 for entree and 3 salads, or get 3 salads with no entree for $12.

The bread they use come from Lodge Bread Co, a new darling in the LA bread world, which is also made in the Culver City area.

As I mentioned, the items here are produce-driven so there are a lot of vegetable items featuring local farm products like in this Citrus and fennel salad

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Healthy Dining at Freshii (Boston, MA)

When you eat out as much as I do, and eat as much unhealthy stuff as I do, a dinner filled with salads and healthy options is a welcomed change. A couple weeks ago that change came in the form of a blogger dinner at Freshii in Back Bay.

Freshii is a fast food franchise out of Canada that focuses on fresh, healthy items like salads, wraps, juices and such. They have multiple locations in Boston including one on Dartmouth St in Back Bay.

We tasted samples of quite a few things during dinner including the popular Metaboost Salad (field greens, spinach, kale, mangos, carrots, edamame, almonds, goat cheese, balsamic vinaigrette)

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Cochon Butcher: New Orleans' Best Sandwiches, Elvis King Cake

Happy Mardi Gras! Where are you all celebrating this day of revelry?
In honor of this day, I thought I would post my favorite place I visited last time in New Orleans. NOLA is home to many great sandwiches that were invented here, but this places takes them to the next level. Yes, Cochon Butcher is a hip, "craft" sandwich place. And the sandwiches are amazing.

The Muffuletta was invented at Central Grocery in New Orleans, but I believe the best muffuletta in the city is here at Cochon Butcher. The giant sandwich costs $12.

Sure, there is something satisfying in the messy, old school sandwiches (and you shouldn't miss a pilgrimage to Central Grocery - still a great spot!), but the muffuletta here is perfect. Great sesame bread, the right ratio of olives, various deli meats and mozzarella. Of course, the key is the fact that the meats they use at Cochon Butcher are housemade or house cured, so it's a flavor you won't get elsewhere.

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