As new restaurants continue to open further and further east in Downtown LA, the new Faith & Flower is located in the heart of Downtown LA, on the corner of Flower and 9th, in the former short-lived Towne Food & Drink. This long-awaiting restaurant is the vision of David Bernahl and Rob Weakley from Coastal Luxury Management and Stephane Bombet, who opened Picca, Mo-Chica and Paiche.
Faith & Flower combines the glamour of old Hollywood with the modernity of current Downtown LA. Everywhere you look you will see a balance of old with new. As you walk in, the restaurant, which seats 140 people, is lined with sofas along the wall, and to your left is the bar and lounge with long communal tables. The main wall from the front entrance is made up of vintage doors from the early 1900s (except one that was a dressing room door for Bob Hope). No attention to detail has been spared, even the host stand is an original ticket booth from an old theater in Downtown, and plates are vintage. But then adjacent to the bar is a mural of a woman by renown street artist Robert Vargas.
Set in Downtown LA, the Los Angeles Food & Wine Festival (August 22-25, 2013) is a four-day epicurean event showcasing the finest in food and drink culture throughout Los Angeles and culinary personalities from throughout the country. As we get ready for the third annual event, a preview event was held at Duff’s Cakemix on Melrose Avenue where press and bloggers were invited, along with chefs, to decorate cakes and mingle with some of the participating chefs. As a preview for LA Food and Wine, this event was a great reason to finally go inside Duff’s Cakemix Bakery and DIY cake shop, which I have been wanting to check out.
We arrived and were greeted with wine and grilled cheese sandwiches by Chef Eric Greenspan (Owner of The Foundry on Melrose and The Roof on Wilshire), who will soon be opening his much-anticipated Greenspan's Grilled Cheese. Lucky us, we enjoyed Greenspan’s 2008 Grilled Cheese Invitational Gold winning “The Champ” – grilled taleggio cheese and short rib sandwich served on raisin-walnut bread with an apricot caper puree. Yum! Yum!