Please The Palate Pick of the Week: Little Damage Charcoal Ice Cream

Written by Allison Levine on March 31, 2018

Food

I love ice cream and never need an excuse to eat it. But, when there are added health benefits, it becomes that much easier to justify. That is why the Little Damage Charcoal Ice Cream is the Please The Palate pick of the week.

Little Damage Ice Cream Shop is a family-owned shop in downtown Los Angeles that makes local, fresh, organic soft serve ice cream. The ice cream is made daily in small batches and there are four flavors offered at a time. What makes Little Damage unique are the colors and flavors, including the turquoise blue “Unicorn Tears” and the black “Almond Charcoal”, “Black Roses”, “Black Thai Tea” and “Upside Down” flavors.

The black ice creams get their color from activated charcoal and the signature hand-rolled black cones are also naturally colored with activated charcoal. Activated charcoal is a fine black powder made from bone char, coconut shells, peat, petroleum coke, coal, olive pits or sawdust and it has a variety of proposed benefits, ranging from lowering cholesterol to whitening teeth and curing hangovers.

So, while the soft serve ice cream is creamy and tasty, and not too sweet, the fact that it has health benefits makes it all the more enjoyable and that is why it is the Please The Palate pick of the week.

Little Damage
700 S. Spring St.
Downtown LA

NoMad Hotel in Downtown Los Angeles

Written by Allison Levine on March 29, 2018

Lifestyle Food

Located on the corner of Olive and 7th street in downtown LA, the 1923 neoclassical neutral-colored building is rather nondescript from the outside.

But inside is another world. The NoMad Hotel has transformed the one-time Bank of Italy building into warm opulent space with dark jewel-toned velvet everywhere. The towering lobby can be entered through the doors on 7th Street. The space is broken into several areas, including a bar, a library and the casual Lobby Restaurant. Overlooking the lobby is the Mezzanine Restaurant, the more formal dining option.

Please The Palate Pick of the Week: Little Fluffy Head Cheese Tea

Written by Allison Levine on March 24, 2018

Food

Cheese tea? Yes, I wrote that correctly and you read it correctly. Little Fluffy Head is a tea shop located in downtown Los Angeles and they specialize in cheese tea and it is the Please The Palate pick of the week.

It really is hard to image cheese and tea being mixed together. But, the trend was started in China and is popular throughout Asia. While it was questioned by many at first, apparently people line up for hours to get a cup of cheese tea in Asia. In the fall of 2017, Little Fluffy Head was opened by owner Jenny Zheng in downtown LA to offer cheese tea to Los Angelenos.

So, what is cheese tea? You may be thinking of a chunk of cheese placed in a cup of tea, at least that is what I had first envisioned. In fact, cheese tea consists of a thick layer of creamy cheese foam that is sweet and salty, paired with a refreshing sweet tea. Read More +