J. Paul Getty Museum
(1) 310 – 440-7330
1200 Getty Center Drive
Los Angeles, California 90049-1687

www.getty.edu

Open Hours:
10:00 am –  5:30 pm   Tuesday – Friday
10:00 am –  9:00 pm    Saturday
10:00 am –  5:30 pm    Sunday

At the J. Paul Getty Museum lives a fine collection of European paintings, drawings, sculpture, illuminated manuscripts, decorative arts, European and American photographs aside rotating special exhibits.  However, they all take a bit of a backseat to the wonderful Platinum LEED certified, modernist complex that highlights both nature and culture.  Designed by Natural light architect Richard Meier, the “Getty” is a as much a park as it is museum.  A haven in the sprawling expanse that is Los Angeles.

Admission to the Getty Center and to all exhibitions is FREE.  This is such a wonderful  opportunity for people young and old to connect to art, architecture and nature.  The building and grounds are such a stunning park, we enjoyed our time outside as much as inside.

The adventure begins as you descend into the underground bond-like parking structure- spiraling down level after level. Then you ascend via tram to the high overlook, floating your gaze over the city- breathing air fresh blown from the sea.  Meandering the inviting pathways, there are scattered bins with sun-umbrellas to protect against the strong sun.

One wanders in and out of the relaxed buildings; never feeling hurried or watched.  The staff is helpful and polite.  Photo taking is encouraged (no flash please) and the experience is one of wholeness. The collection is not about volume, but about experience.  The complimentary colored galleries fill with natural light to create a bond between viewer and art; a bond that I didn’t know I was missing until I found it at the Getty Museum.

Lawrence Alma Tadema: Spring

Venus Reclining on a Sea Monster with Cupid and a Putto by John Deare

For more images of the Getty Center, please see our Flickr page.

Pizzeria Delfina
(1) 415 – 437 6800
3611 18th Street
San Francisco, California 94110

www.pizzeriadelfina.com

Open Hours:
5:00 pm – 10:00 pm  Monday
11:30 am – 10:00 pm  Tuesday – Thursday
11:30 am – 11:00 pm  Friday
12:00 pm – 11:00 pm  Saturday
12:00 pm – 10:00 pm  Sunday

Since 2005 Craig and Anne Stoll’s neighborhood gem has been serving up their crunchy delightful pizza, along with soups, antipasti, salads and deserts.  As is the excellent trend in the Northwest, they are using local and seasonal ingredients as much as possible.  This is the type of pizza that is so good, you wind up ordering one for dessert!

We were lucky, staying with a friend and ordered a couple pies for pick-up.  I wish we had ordered more.  The star for us was the Broccoli Raab pizza featuring Star Route Farms broccoli raab, caciocavallo, mozzarella, olives and hot peppers.  On our next strip to San Francisco, we will definitely be making a more detailed visit to Pizzeria Delfina!

(above photo  Andre Karpov mural © Pizzeria Delfina)

(above photo  © Pizzeria Delfina)

Cole Coffee
(1) 510 – 653 5453
6255 College Avenue
Berkeley, California 94618

www.colecoffee.com

Open Hours: 7 am – 7 pm daily

We visited Cole Coffee (formerly Royal Coffee) on the recommendation of our local coffee clan at Abraço here in NYC.  This was their “go to” place when they lived out in Oakland.   They make an excellent drip and you can choose from several different varieties.  They offer some baked goods, excellent fresh sandwiches and a simple set of poached eggs.  Outside the cafe, there is a retail store to purchase all kinds of freshly roasted beans.

The real appeal of Cole Coffee- outside the delicious brews of course- is the nice outdoor seating and the excellent social scene.  It was quite obviously the spot for the locals.  There was a great mix of singles and families, straights and funkys, groups of friends who arrived together and groups of friends who met there.  If I lived in the area, I would surely be one of the hangers out!

M Cafe De Chaya
(1) 310 – 858 8459
9433 Brighton Way
Beverly Hills, California 90210

7119 Melrose Avenue
Los Angeles, California 90046

9343 Culver Boulevard
Culver City, California 90232

www.mcafedechaya.com

Open Hours:
9:00 am –    9:00 pm    Sunday – Thursday
9:00 am –  10:00 pm    Friday – Saturday

After studying macrobiotic cuisine for fourteen years, executive Chef Tachibe was certified as a Kushi Macrobiotic Chef Premier  by the Kushi Institute International.  This combined with his formal French technique, brings us his delicious Contemporary Macrobiotic Cuisine in this deli-style restaurant.

The M Cafe offers  a good selection of breakfast items as well as yummy soups, macro-sushi, rice bowls, salads, sandwiches, pastries and the best of healthy side dishes; like Kale with Spicy Peanut Sauce, Scarlet Beet Quinoa, Grilled Vegetables, Kabocha squash,
Sesame Soba Noodles, Broccolini Pepperoncini, Sesame Seaweed… quite an appetizing list.  We especially liked the Rice Milk Corn Chowder and all of the sides that we tried.  The 4 side plate is an excellent heaping of color.

We searched pretty hard for truly healthy and tasty food in LA.  This was actually much harder then we thought it would be.  By chance, we found theM Cafe and it was a happy ending.

Rice Milk Corn Chowder

Inari & Macro Sushi

Hijiki Inari