Feed Body & Soul opened early this morning on Abbot Kinney Boulevard in Venice. Taking over the former J’s Kitchen space, the restaurant looks fantastic, sculpted by owner and designer DeeAnna Staats into an enchanting expanse with RETNA-reminiscent, Arabesque script** bleeding through the walls, a dazzling, contemporary four-sided bar, spice-lined shelves, and well-placed sculptures and paintings.
In addition to a small retail area, chef Matthew Dickson’s breakfast, lunch, and dinner menus appear to be targeting the street’s legions of Lululemon-heads and SpinCyclists, crafted around seasonal organic greens, hand-made pickles, veggie spreads, smoothies, juices, and teas, and making use of a broiler to roast chicken, eggs, salmon, and pork loin entrees. Dishes, which include plenty for the specialty diet set, include a daily roster of soups, salads, and light sandwiches with ingredients like wild rice and cabbage and stacked root vegetables over lunch and dinner, and acai-spiked bowls of grains and fruit and bowls of warm quinoa in the morning.
Fortunately, not everything here is intended to unmuddle your thoughts or extend your life, as the restaurant’s drink selection includes a roster of cocktails designed by talented barman Marcos Tello. Among the seasonal smoothies, fresh juices, house-made soda, Groundwork’s French-pressed coffee, and Serendipitea tea, you’ll find cocktails, priced between $10 and $12, including a “Bees Knees” with organic honey, “Moscow Mules” with ginger-coco nectar syrup, persimmon caipirinhas, satsuma whiskey smashes, and margaritas with bio-dynamic curacao.
Taking place among an emerging genre of super-healthy, produce-driven concepts with driven chefs at the helm, seen in other newcomers to the Westside like M.A.K.E. Kitchen and the southern expansion of Cafe Gratitude, Feed has a rather ambitious battle plan itself, opening at 7:00 A.M. and closing at 11:00 A.M. every day.
The restaurant is currently open in Venice for lunch and dinner, and will debut dinner this coming Monday.
Feed Body & Soul, 1239 Abbot Kinney Blvd. Venice; 310-450-5550.
**The work was done by L.A.’s own Cryptik.
