Los Angeles Restaurants with Great Markets

Bay Cities Italian Deli & Bakery is best known for their monstrous sandwiches on freshly baked bread. But most of the real estate is devoted to Italian products. The selection of pastas and sauces is dizzying and includes specialty items like rainbow striped lasagna noodles and black squid ink spaghetti. Choose from over a dozen brands of canned San Marzano tomatoes, a pantry staple. And if you’re in need of a 1,000-gram container of imported salted capers, you’re in luck. Be sure to put a loaf of their signature bread in your basket.

At Farmshop, you can pick up a great bottle of California wine or the makings of a perfect cheese platter at their sizable Brentwood Country Mart marketplace. They even carry fresh duck eggs from Apricot Lane in Moorpark and blueberries from Malibu’s Thorne Family Farm. But it’s the assortment of sweet and savory gourmet condiments that’s truly dazzling. Fans of black licorice should treat themselves to a package of Salty Black Licorice made with Jacobsen sea salt from Oregon. But, warns Farmshop buyer Emiliano Lee, “The stuff is dangerous… you may just eat the entire box in one sitting.”

Many consider the Chinese chicken salad at this West L.A. institution the city’s best. At Feast From the East, you’ll find the makings of their famed salad - minus the lettuce and chicken - in the small retail area upon entry along with big bags of crunchy wonton strips, their signature dressing and tiny packages of sliced almonds and roasted sesame seeds. They also stock everyone’s favorite Japanese sweet snack, Pocky, and boxes of crispy chocolate covered rice crackers.

Located on the outskirts of Koreatown, Guelaguetza is a temple of Oaxacan cuisine with a sizable marketplace. Glass bottles of mole negro, mole coloradito and mole rojo share real estate with cloth bags of Chocolate de la Villa Real imported from Oaxaca. You can also pick up the restaurant’s own Michelada blend. Just do a chili/salt rim and mix it with your favorite ice cold Mexican beer, and you have happiness on a warm L.A. afternoon. Kids will go straight to the candy counter, where they can score chocolate lollies, Pulparindo (a spicy tamarind sweet) or Lucas chamoy, a hard-to-resist hot and sweet powder in a tiny red, plastic missile-shaped vessel.

Products from local artisans star in the retail portion of Harvest Moon Kitchen & Marketplace, a sunny neighborhood cafe located in Valley Village. There are fluffy handmade marshmallows and decadent caramels from Little Flower Candy Company, bags of Groundwork Organic Coffee, and jams from Coldwater Canyon Provisions, including their award winning Strawberry-Rhubarb. Other offerings come from farther afield, like Arvum Vinagre de Jerez from Spain and Himalayan sea salt.

Along with recipes from the Joan’s On Third kitchen - bags of fresh potato chips and to pair, premade to-go containers of onion dip - you can pick up a summer-friendly bottle of Rose, Paso Almond Brittle, or pints of ice cream from Oregon’s Salt & Straw in flavors like Stumptown Coffee and Bourbon. The cheese counter is terrific. Up front, next to the cheeses, there is Milanese Hot Salami, Finocchiona dry salami with fennel seeds and Fra’mani Salametto and Soppresseta. Then there’s a whole second section with duck salami, wild boar salami and more. Can you say picnic?

In addition to baked goods like their stellar coffee crumb cake, the Larder at Tavern, Suzanne Goin and Caroline Styne’s sun-filled modern day farmhouse, stocks a small selection of pantry staples such as couscous, organic Santa Barbara pistachios and Equator organic coffee. Refrigerated bacon-wrapped parmesan dates, a signature of sister restaurant AOC, come a dozen to the pack, ready for your oven. For a special, Wonka worthy treat, consider a Larder Bar, a substantial, creamy bar of chocolate loaded with Marcona almonds, white fig and raisins and a touch of fleur de sel.

Snack food with a healthy bent is the overriding theme of the marketplace at Stamp Proper Foods. There are bags of sun-dried goji berries, spicy jalapeno tomato chips, and maple cranberry kale nola. In the refrigerated section, you can grab a can of Asian pear and ginger Kombucha. Restaurant chef and owner Catherine ‘Cat’ Baker is especially fond of the chocolate mint IN BAR, calling it, “the best bar for maintaining blood sugar.”