Restaurant: The Butcher’s Daughter
Location: 1205 Abbot Kinney Blvd, Venice, CA 90291. (310) 981-3004
Date: September 20, 2017
Cuisine: Vegetarian
Rating: Good for being vegetarian
Abbot Kinney is one of the bastions of hipness, and The Butcher’s Daughter is so “tres LA.” It’s a sort of spiritual successor to the Newsroom, filled with vegetarian food and a 70% female crowd.
They pay a lot of rent, of course.
Hipster baked goods.
The attractive shabby-chic meets garden decor.
Demographics are as expected.
The menu.
Surfer’s Breakfast. Breakfast burrito, farm eggs, avocado, black bean mole, new potatoes, green salsa, sour cream. Obligatory breakfast burrito. Not my thing, and like a lot of vegetarian food guaranteed to produce bloating.
Vietnamese Bahn Mi. Seared cauliflower, mushroom pate, pickled vegetables, classic baguette, cilantro, harissa mayo. Got this figuring it would have more flavor than most. Sandwich was pretty good, strong strong vinegar flavors. The “pate” didn’t have too much in the way of taste though.
Pad Thai. Handmade rice noodles, thai basil, pea shoots, peanuts, tamari thai, scrambled egg, cucumber-carrot salad. Not bad for being vegetarian. Very “bright” (sour) from the probable tamarind. Not as complex as a real pad thai (with the shrimp and fish sauce), but fine.
Overall, the Butcher’s Daughter is an attractive place with good energy. Eating here did feel like, and they got about as much flavor as you can imagine from it, but still not as much as in the fully leaded versions. The menu focuses on juices, smoothies, and vegetarian “imitations” of more meated LA dishes. There is also the bloating factor all these vegetables subbing as meat lead too, but hey, it does feel lighter.
We went down the street for some Blue Bottle. Achem, Nestle coffee.