“Modern Israeli” is the latest flavor to hit the LA
restaurant scene, and
Jaffa on 3
rd St is a prime new example. If you
get to Jaffa early, as I did, you might have to wait a few extra minutes for
the lavosh to finish baking, but you’ll be glad you did. The fresh-baked
flatbread – warm, spongy, with browned spots, and good bready flavor – makes a
perfect wrap for the cornucopia of Israeli flavors, generally including a base
of Israeli salad (chopped greens, cucumbers, tomatoes, red onion), tahini
(sesame purée),
zhug (a Yemenite condiment of hot peppers ground up with
coriander), and pickles. I tried the “sabich” which featured thinly sliced and
crisped eggplant, hard-boiled egg, hummus, and mango amba (a middle-Eastern savory
chutney). It had a nice fresh crunch against the soft bread, with different
bits of the complex flavors popping up in different bites. The accompanying
taboulleh was a very fresh tasting variety of finely chopped greens with bulgur
wheat in a citrus and light oil dressing. Oh, and that Jaffa shake! Made with
almond milk and tahini (maybe with bits of halveh?) and dates, with a drizzle
of date syrup on top. The space is lovely too. (I wish I’d taken a picture before
it got busy and it felt invasive to get a good scene shot.) There’s a covered
sidewalk patio area, but even the inside is largely opened up, with two
oversize windows with opened shutters and tables creatively built into the
sill, so that some people are literally sitting in the window. The décor palate
is mostly light/white and wood, with bold blue water glasses on every table and
blue bottles here and there adding a nice color pop, and fun blue and white
irregularly shaped dishes.
After lunch, I went to check out the Kenneth Hahn Park, atop
the Baldwin Hills, where I’d heard they have great views over the whole LA
basin. It seemed a lovely day for it, with just enough clouds to be scenic but
not obscure the views. Indeed it was a rewarding vista easily earned with a
short hike. While I didn’t find a complete 360-degree spot, I did find one spot
I could stand and take in at least 270 degrees, from Palos Verdes due south all
across the Santa Monica Bay to the west, the Hollywood Hills to the north and
around to the downtown LA skyline. It is amazing what you can see. Need to get
back here with my real camera, as the iPhone doesn’t do it justice. I could see
much of Catalina Island beyond Palos Verdes, and not just in silhouette. I
could see the distinctive Googie “theme restaurant” at LAX, and watch planes
landing and taking off. I could see the entire bay out to Point Dume. It is a
marvelous vista of this vast and vibrant city.
Descending from the park, I headed to the
Fabrik Projects
gallery on La Cienega, to see a Marilyn Sanders photography exhibit called
The Ferocity of Flowers. The flowers in these striking photos are very
recognizable, yet she makes you see them in new ways. Normally, color is one’s
dominant impression of flowers, but these photos are all sepia tone or silver
gelatin prints. Without color, one is drawn instead to contemplate their shape
and structure, and the way that light plays on them. On many of these, the play
of light is fascinating, as it is sometimes direct, sometimes reflected,
sometimes backlit translucence, or all of those interacting at once. Translucence
and reflection illuminate shape and structure in unexpected ways. The other
thing that makes these photos intriguing is the scale. She gets very close,
closer even than the usual flower macro shot, creating an intimacy and an
altered sense of proportion. Some of those pistils and stamens looked like
something I could reach out and dance with. Some of the petals looked
like a surface I could imagine sliding on or climbing. In one shot of lilies, a
light source from behind creates a thin glow along the edge of the petal, the
way one might see the first glow of dawn breaking over giant sand dunes in the
Sahara. I wanted to ascend it. Beautiful and fascinating.
See the complete set of
photos from this day here.
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