Flowerboy Project - Making Lincoln Charming

There is a part of me that will always be the hopeless romantic. A perfect morning for me is to walk or bike somewhere, get a delicious coffee and pastry, buy some fresh flowers, and grab that birthday gift for the party later, and it would be cool if that could all happen in one spot. Well, now it can with the opening of Flowerboy Project in Venice. It's exactly the kind of place I love ... I just never thought it would be on Lincoln Boulevard.

Lincoln is of course on the rise, as businesses can't afford the ridic rents on Abbot Kinney (though Lincoln is not far behind), and very cool places like Nick Fouquet Hats, Golden State, Superba Bread, and The General Store have already totally upped the ante on the former rather eyesore of a boulevard. Flowerboy Project is now charming up the stretch of Lincoln anchored by Cafe 50's on the corner, and I fell instantly in love when I visited this week for the first time.

Sean Knibb has lived and worked in Venice for 35 years, doing beautiful landscaping and raved about gardens and home decor for some of the most gorgeous businesses and residences through his Knibb Design (that also used to be based on Abbot Kinney, in the house where Pardee Properties is now). He wanted to do something new that incorporated all his areas of expertise, and Flowerboy Project was born, and opened for business in July.

Inside the bright and welcoming space, you first notice the flower area. There is a bike in the corner (very Venice) and scissors and twine and paper for you to cut and create your own bouquet. I love that! You can be creative and selective and make exactly what you want out of their beautiful blooms that are delivered to them fresh from the Flower Mart downtown.

You can get your coffee (from Vittoria) and your pastry (from Sugar Bloom Bakery), and your juice (from Clover Pressed Juice) and either take it to go with your fresh bouquet in your bike basket (my favorite weekend morning look), or have a little respite in the airy, minimalist seating area in the back.

There are wonderful treasures (most from Alchemy Works and Apolis, based downtown) displayed on creative shelving units made out of metal ladders. Cool.

Unique jewelry and art hangs from the walls, any of which might be just the perfect thing for those loved ones in your life that might be hard to find gifts for. They won't have seen these beautifully curated items anywhere else, I'll bet.

The friendly staff was welcoming and informative (a refreshing change from some of the little brats working at some of the "hip" places around town these days), and seemed genuinely happy to be there. And why not? Interesting, creative people come in and out all day for nice things, in a manifestation of what Knibb envisioned Flowerboy Project to be ... a meeting place for both local and global people providing goods that are also both local and global. A right encapsulation of Venice, in one little spot.

As it's a Knibb project, you will still see locals here (also a refreshing change), but you may also meet someone brand new that also likes cool places, and all these makings of a great day.

I congratulated Knibb and took my stuff to go, as I'd envisioned. When I walked outside to leave, I noticed that the sign out front said "Organic Coffee - Cold Pressed Juice - Pastries - Flowers - + Things For Someone You Love". That's a perfect description of Flowerboy Project, a wonderfully welcome addition to the Venice family that is keeping with our tradition and love of all things unique, creative, and well, awesome.

Flowerboy Project is located at:
824 Lincoln Boulevard
Venice
Open daily from 7 am - 5 pm
Instagram/Twitter/All that - @flowerboyproject

B1 Breadshop Opens in Venice - Delish!

B1 Breadshop has just opened in Venice (and downtown LA), and they have the very best croissants around. Period. I'm picky about that stuff, and these are GOOOOOOOOD.

The address is officially 2805 Abbot Kinney, but that's kind of tricky, as you really enter on the other side, in the little strip mall where Johnnie's Pizza and Wacky Wok are located. I went in today, and it is still pretty sparse in there, but you get your croissants, baguettes, and split to go eat them. I remain completely loyal to The French Market for my coffee, but as much as I adore them, they have never had pastries of any quality to mention. Strange, for them being French, I know. The B1 people are from France too, I was told by the very sweet lady working, so maybe they can sort out some kind of arrangement together?

In the meantime, I will now have two stops to make for a glorious morning repast of perfection.


B1 Breadshop
2805 Abbot Kinney
Venice



*Thanks to Bret at Yo Venice for turning me on to this deliciousness!

Kristy Choo and Jin Patisserie Make Venice Sweeter

There might not be a better place in the whole world for perfect chocolate than Jin Patisserie, and I can walk there. Serving up the most exquisite pastries and gorgeous, delicious chocolates since 2003 on Abbot Kinney, Jin is a true local treasure.


Kristy Choo was born and raised in Singapore. She always loved to bake (me too!), but craved travel and adventure (me too!), so never really saw herself working in a kitchen. She became a flight attendant to satisfy some of her wanderlust, but kept thinking about what she truly loved to do, and that was to create wondrous dessert delights.


To that end, Choo decided to attend the California Culinary Academy in San Francisco, where she focused on pastry training. She then went back to Singapore and worked in a hotel there, furthering her training, and joined the Singapore National Team for pastry competition. Meaning she was really, really good at what she did. She was also married by then, and her husband's work kept him in Los Angeles, and the long distance thing was hard. Choo decided she needed to join her husband in L.A., and that was when she started thinking about opening a little place of her own.

Driving around Venice one day, Choo saw the space recently vacated by The Hydrant Cafe was available on Abbot Kinney. It was a little cottage with a courtyard, just about the perfect size for what she had been envisioning. Venice was also perfect, in her feeling, as she explains, "I liked the FEEL of Venice. It wasn't pretentious, people are comfortable with themselves here." Exactly.

Choo started the process from scratch (like her pastries), knowing nothing about the ins and outs of starting her own business, and she did it all herself, with no help. After the usual rigmarole with city inspectors, permits, suppliers and the like ("Crazy!"), Choo opened for business in September 2003, and has been blowing our minds with her concoctions ever since.


It kind of amazes me that even many people that live right in the neighborhood have never been to Jin (named after Choo's own middle name). It IS kind of hidden behind its tall gate, and you have to walk through the garden, past the cherry blossoms, to get into the little house where all the treasures are displayed, but it is just truly not to be missed.


Jin serves exotic and wonderful teas, little tea sandwiches and quiches (lovely for birthdays or the shower type event) but the real masterpieces are the desserts. Choo originally wanted to only do desserts, but after learning the local needs/wants/habits, decided to give people the choice of savory before diving right into the sweet. If they want. Many of us have no problem skipping right ahead to the sweet bliss, all made right there in the Jin kitchen.


Like - our number one favorite - Sea Salt Caramels. There is also a cake called "Inspiration" that is a sea salt chocolate caramel dream. The macarons are too much - brightly colored little rounds of melting in your mouth deliciousness (again, get the sea salt caramel one of those too!). The artistic chocolates (packaged so beautifully you don't want to open the box) are ridiculous - lavender, mango-basil, yuzu, cinnamon, Earl Grey, passion fruit, lychee, each better than the next - and are perhaps the best possible hostess gift ever. No one will ever be mad at receiving a box from Jin, I assure you. The amount of bags from Jin cruising up and down Abbot Kinney on Valentine's Day this year made it clear that the local people know what's up for impressing their loved ones. Likewise, Choo's chocolate Easter eggs are flawless works of art that I like to just stare at each year. Remarkable.


There was a Jin location for a while in Century City in the Intercontinental Hotel (closed last year), and a Valentine collaboration with Japanese department stores, but Choo is most happy in her little house in Venice, welcoming the locals and tourists alike who share her love for the original qualities of our town. She likes that her shop is unique, that people can only get her creations here in Venice. How lucky we are!


Choo hopes that Venice "won't be like other places. Venice is a precious part of Los Angeles. Everywhere else people look the same, here they have PERSONALITY." Now that Choo and her husband have a child, she doesn't get the time to enjoy Venice as much, but has noticed all the changes taking place along Abbot Kinney, like we all have. She can't stand First Fridays (again, like most of us nowadays), and really prefers the older school way things were (ditto). But, also like most of us feel, the personality of place really outshines all the rest, and Choo's local regulars are now her friends. She can't picture her little chocolate factory anywhere else. She loves it here. We love having her here.


Try this ... maybe you're having a little challenge of some sort. Go to Jin. Pick out something, anything from the pastry or chocolate case. Take it with you down to the beach. Look out over the horizon. Let the breeze wash over you and the sweet dissolve in your mouth. Even if just for that moment, everything will be so much better. It really is about the simple pleasures in life. And Jin has them for you in abundance.

Jin Patisserie
1202 Abbot Kinney Boulevard
Venice
310.399.8801