By Geo Ong
Last week I mentioned that I was the luckiest person alive. This week I’ve gone to heaven.
Culver City, California, has fast been rising as a place you actually want to be, with handfuls of independently run coffeehouses, restaurants, and bars. Last Saturday I found myself on a short strip of Sepulveda with various points of interest within walking distance, which, as many UM readers should know or be aware of, only occurs once in a blue moon on a clear night with no smog.
First there’s Tanner’s Coffee, a small coffee house on the corner of Sepulveda and Lindblade that has a relaxed atmosphere, good coffee, and free wi-fi. I had time to kill before meeting friends at the Scarlet Lady Saloon, a dive bar on the corner of Sepulveda and Sawtelle. I figured I’d get some dinner so I utilised the coffee house’s wi-fi to look up a restaurant I had passed in my car several times without ever going in, Green Peas.
On the short walk from Tanner’s to Green Peas – longer if you include the fact that I started off the wrong way (I haven’t walked in three years) – I passed a pho restaurant with easily the greatest name in the world. Ready for it? Pho Show. Even if they didn’t offer vegan options (which they do!), I would still like this place on account of its brilliant name.
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I continued on in the right direction to the Christmas-light-lit fronterior of Green Peas and walked into my heaven. Where do I start? Well I was greeted warmly at the door by a man wearing a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles t-shirt. Before I could engage him in a conversation on which one had the best weapon (Michelangelo, pho show) my eyes found the menu boards. Vegan options galore, from sandwiches to breakfast to quesadillas to pizza. I went right away for the pizza, since the last pizza I had was one I made myself. (‘Made’ is perhaps a misleading term. ‘Assembled’ is more appropriate, I suppose. Also, ‘piled together’ would work.)
Five minutes later I found myself seated comfortably in front of a big screen TV, watching the Lakers with a slight lead over the Dallas Mavericks, with a whole pizza to myself, and another friendly Green Peas employee, this one wearing a purple Lakers t-shirt, discussing our favourite basketball team with me. I had found my heaven. How could it have gotten any better?
The Lakers won by five. That was how.
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
Image may be NSFW.Clik here to view.
