The Alcove Cafe Celebrates Ten Years in Los Feliz
By Michael Hepworth
The Alcove Cafe is an extremely popular spot in Los Feliz that is celebrating ten years in business. Interestingly, it is in fact three separate ventures under one umbrella. There is the restaurant itself, the BIG BAR and a chocolate company that were all launched by owner Tom Trellis.
Los Feliz used to be one of the most underappreciated places to live in Los Angeles, but now it is a high rent and swinging singles territory—perfect fodder for a restaurant like the Alcove whose 230-seat space doubles as a popular meeting spot.
The restaurant is located in two historic bungalows, one of them being the oldest building in Los Feliz, which is primarily used for functions and private dinners. The restaurant is so busy that it is open as early as 6:00 am to serve breakfast, and keeps going strong until around 1:00 a.m., or even later.
The drink to sample is called ‘Thorn In My Side,’ which is a potent combination of rye whiskey, vermouth, ginger syrup and lime juice (recipe below). Others include the gin based Cockney Sparrow, the rare bourbon concoction called St. Anne’s Helper and the housemade coconut vodka and sherry treat known as the Mo Chi Chi.
Alcove Chocolate which was started in 2008 consists of a 12-flavor collection ranging from sweet & savory, to dark and milk chocolate. All the range comes in 3 oz. bars and have very distinctive packaging.
The menu at the Alcove is very eclectic and an example of some of the appetizers indicates what you can expect from the entire meal. To be more specific, I liked the Chickpea and Potato Samosa with coconut curry sauce and the Mini Bluefin Crab Cakes w/chipotle chili. Unfortunately I missed out on the Black Tiger Shrimp Tempura w/ginger soy glaze and the delicious sounding Medjaal Dates stuffed w/goat cheese and wrapped in applewood smoked bacon.
A sampling of the main courses started out with a Nicoise style salad w/ahi tuna, haricot vert, olives, egg, tomato and red onion in a lemon vinaigrette. Hard to go wrong with a combination like that as with the Blackened Chicken Salad w/strawberries, dried cranberries, feta, pine nuts and arugula in a strawberry vinaigrette.
The best main course was certainly the Hanger Steak with a creative combination of portabello skewers w/ an avocado tomatillo salsa. However I was less enamored with a Canadian-style dish called Hearty Poutine, a kind of mushy combination of cheese and French fries which seemed at odds with the overall savory flavor of the entire menu. However I do understand that it has been doing well as a comfort food with regulars since being recently introduced to the menu.
The wines served with my meal were a Dauvergne Ranvier 2010 from the Cotes du Rhone and a 2011 Malbec from Andeluna 1300.
www.alcovecafe.com/cafe
Thorn In My Side
1 oz Rye Whiskey
1 oz Bianca Vermouth
¾ oz Ginger Syrup
½ oz Fresh Lime Juice
Directions: shake/strain into Collins glass w/ice. Top w/dry english cider. Garnish w/ 4 dashes of angostura bitters & lime wheel.
The Alcove Cafe is an extremely popular spot in Los Feliz that is celebrating ten years in business. Interestingly, it is in fact three separate ventures under one umbrella. There is the restaurant itself, the BIG BAR and a chocolate company that were all launched by owner Tom Trellis.
Los Feliz used to be one of the most underappreciated places to live in Los Angeles, but now it is a high rent and swinging singles territory—perfect fodder for a restaurant like the Alcove whose 230-seat space doubles as a popular meeting spot.
The restaurant is located in two historic bungalows, one of them being the oldest building in Los Feliz, which is primarily used for functions and private dinners. The restaurant is so busy that it is open as early as 6:00 am to serve breakfast, and keeps going strong until around 1:00 a.m., or even later.
The drink to sample is called ‘Thorn In My Side,’ which is a potent combination of rye whiskey, vermouth, ginger syrup and lime juice (recipe below). Others include the gin based Cockney Sparrow, the rare bourbon concoction called St. Anne’s Helper and the housemade coconut vodka and sherry treat known as the Mo Chi Chi.
Alcove Chocolate which was started in 2008 consists of a 12-flavor collection ranging from sweet & savory, to dark and milk chocolate. All the range comes in 3 oz. bars and have very distinctive packaging.
The menu at the Alcove is very eclectic and an example of some of the appetizers indicates what you can expect from the entire meal. To be more specific, I liked the Chickpea and Potato Samosa with coconut curry sauce and the Mini Bluefin Crab Cakes w/chipotle chili. Unfortunately I missed out on the Black Tiger Shrimp Tempura w/ginger soy glaze and the delicious sounding Medjaal Dates stuffed w/goat cheese and wrapped in applewood smoked bacon.
A sampling of the main courses started out with a Nicoise style salad w/ahi tuna, haricot vert, olives, egg, tomato and red onion in a lemon vinaigrette. Hard to go wrong with a combination like that as with the Blackened Chicken Salad w/strawberries, dried cranberries, feta, pine nuts and arugula in a strawberry vinaigrette.
The best main course was certainly the Hanger Steak with a creative combination of portabello skewers w/ an avocado tomatillo salsa. However I was less enamored with a Canadian-style dish called Hearty Poutine, a kind of mushy combination of cheese and French fries which seemed at odds with the overall savory flavor of the entire menu. However I do understand that it has been doing well as a comfort food with regulars since being recently introduced to the menu.
The wines served with my meal were a Dauvergne Ranvier 2010 from the Cotes du Rhone and a 2011 Malbec from Andeluna 1300.
www.alcovecafe.com/cafe
Thorn In My Side
1 oz Rye Whiskey
1 oz Bianca Vermouth
¾ oz Ginger Syrup
½ oz Fresh Lime Juice
Directions: shake/strain into Collins glass w/ice. Top w/dry english cider. Garnish w/ 4 dashes of angostura bitters & lime wheel.
