Alphabetical lunch series 2023: Outdoor dining edition

Jake was very pleased to enjoy mango sticky rice on the dining patio at Sweet Rice in Gardena, Mother’s Day weekend 2023

In autumn 2018, Jake and I had an “alphabetical lunch” series, where we went out to eat at 26 places, from Amandine to Zacatecas. Places had to have food Jake would eat (so, realistically, a breakfast/brunch/dessert menu), and be reasonably accessible and welcoming to us. We preferred non-chain places and didn’t lean too hard into the Beach Cities, because there are so many amazing options in Torrance, Gardena, Inglewood, El Segundo, etc.

In spring 2023, we did it again, but this time added a requirement: the places had to provide some form of outdoor dining. It might be some plastic chairs set up outside a boba shop, or a full patio set up. But since we’re still not doing indoor socializing, outdoor dining was key. (And honestly? We had no trouble finding 26 places, A-Z, to eat safely outdoors. It’s just not that hard, and it is often very pleasant. I recognize that in some other climates, it might be more difficult, but in Southern California, it’s extremely doable year-round.)

Here’s this year’s series, with links to our Instagram posts from each place. We started this series on April 11 and finished on May 27. We only did one repeat from our 2018 series (Oh My Burger, in Gardena; it’s that good).

1. A is for Azucanelas (Hawthorne)
2. B is for Blue Butterfly (El Segundo)
3. C is for Capri Gelato (Hermosa Beach)
4. D is for Dipped (El Segundo)
5. E is for Eclair & Cafe (Torrance)
6. F is for Frogs Bakery (Gardena)
7. G is for Grain Cafe (Redondo Beach)
8. H is for Honeymee (Gardena)
9. I is for Intelligentsia Coffee (Venice)
10. J is for Japonica (El Segundo)
11. K is for Kirari West (Redondo Beach)
12. L is for Local Kitchen (Torrance)
13. M is for Menchie’s (Redondo Beach)
14. N is for Northern Cafe (El Segundo)
15. O is for Oh My Burger (Gardena)
16. P is for Panelas Brazil (Redondo Beach)
17. Q is for Quickly Boba (Carson)
18. R is for Redondough (Redondo Beach)
19. S is for Sweet Rice (Gardena)
20. T is for Tomboy’s (Lawndale)
21. U is for Utsava (Torrance)
22. V is for Veggie Grill (El Segundo)
23. W is for Westchester Farmers Market (Westchester)
24. X is … well there’s an X in Texas Loosey’s (Torrance)
25. Y is for Yo-Way (Gardena)
26. Z is for zPizza Taproom (Westchester/LAX)

April 2023

Two chalk drawings completed in April; the rabbits after a Japanese woodblock (they are grouchy in the original also), and the Duchess after a German duchess’s portrait. The Duchess looked like this for less than 24 hours; an unexpected overnight rain blurred her before sunrise on May 1. I also remade a linen maxi dress into something shorter and more asymmetrical, with zero waste (the whole bottom section was attached to the side, essentially). I didn’t crochet anything very photogenic; mostly just some wooly wrist covers. Jake and I started another alphabetical lunch series, this time only focused on places with outdoor seating; we’re almost half-way through, so that’ll be its own post in a few weeks. And today (May 1), I’ll start my 100th new Wikipedia article for 2023.