Rate-A-Restaurant #307: Sqirl LA

Restaurant: Sqirl LA

Location: 720 N Virgil Ave (East Hollywood)

Type of restaurant: Breakfast/Cafe




We stipulated: I pass by Sqirl LA's shop on Virgil almost every day on the way to work. And every day I say to myself, "I must stop there sometime for coffee and a bite for breakfast." Today was that day.



They stipulated: "Long Beach-born jam-maker Jessica Koslow spent time working in pastry at the James Beard award-winning restaurant Bacchanalia in Atlanta, Georgia. When she returned to California, Jessica was attracted to the diversity of local produce – beautiful and honest snapshots of the state’s vigorous growing seasons. Her preserves are made without shortcuts. In order to maintain the brightness of the fruit a batch can take up to three days to produce. The results are meticulously crafted preserves that not only portray the wealth and diversity of California's crops and its generous seasons, but also remind us of the value in the antique process of preservation."



What we ordered: Coffee and pudding cake



High point:  That pudding cake is fantastic. I'm giving in to the holidays and enjoying a few baked treats like this. No regrets. I licked the wrapper.

Low point: Parking's a bit tricky, given the traffic on Virgil in the morning. Just be patient, you'll find a spot.




Overall impression: Great coffee, great selection of baked goods and an interesting, changing menu. Between Sqirl, Square One and Valerie's Confections all close by, this part of town is overflowing with great breakfast/brunch/lunch/coffee spots.

Will we return: Yes, to sit down and properly enjoy a meal.

Sign of the Times: Parking In... Wait, Where?

Spotted while driving down Virgil in East Hollywood. This is a spectacular misspelling. Parking in "rare." And no one caught that?

Who Polices the Parking Enforcers?

Discarted is rightfully a tad annoyed to find their friendly neighborhood parking enforcement officer using a loading zone in a middle of the day to grab lunch. They write:

Case in point: this video, taken this past week in East Hollywood, where our dogged local parking enforcement officer uses the loading zone as a parking spot for her lunch break. This is the same parking officer who tirelessly drives up and down our neighborhood blocks all day long, looking for cars on the wrong side of the street on street cleaning days and in red zones and with expired meters.

Somewhere we missed it in the Los Angeles city code where parking enforcement officers don’t need to obey the law. Wow, what a job perk!

It's not just there; a commenter writes: "They routinely park in 3-minute passenger loading zones on Hope St. between 7th-8th streets downtown while they workout at the Bally’s Gym inside Macy’s Plaza. on their lunch hour, i guess."