Where to eat in the Bergamot Station area of Santa Monica
East of downtown Santa Monica is more residential. Hiding between the homes, office parks, and apartment buildings is an unassuming foodie destination. This has a lot to do with all of the offices in this neighborhood. This is the area of a lot of tech companies, entertainment, and start-up companies. MGM, Riot, and e-Harmony once called this area home. Thankfully they left behind a lot of great food in the area. These are my recommendations for where to eat in the Bergamot Station/Virginia Park area of Santa Monica.
Before COVID, I spent a lot of time here due to doctors and acupuncture appointments. If you are also in the area for medical appointments or hospital stays, I hope this post directs you to other restaurant options than bland cafeteria food.
Like my last two posts, Where to eat in Downtown Santa Monica and Where to eat on Main Street, the categories are organized by price from lowest to highest. If you are out and about in the Virginia Park/Bergamot Station area of Santa Monica, using my table of contents will help you to find great places to eat and drink.
Table of Contents
I just want a good cup of coffee
10 Speed Coffee
My favorite place to kill some time before appointments in the area is 10 Speed Coffee. It sits on the corner of 20th and Santa Monica Blvd., perfect if you have appointments at offices that are part of UCLA medical center, which is concentrated in this area.
10 Speed Coffee specializes in pour-overs and strong coffees that are perfect for the not-so-much-sleep set of doctors, nurses, and all-night workers in the area.
They also have plenty of places to sit and have a lot of laptop workers who call this place home base.
Hours, costs, and other information
- Website: https://www.10speedcoffee.com/
- Location: 1919 Santa Monica
- Cost: A shot of espresso is $3.5 a large latte with regular milk is $6.
- Other: The Calabasas location has a bike shop in it, hence the name. See the website above for more information.
Where to eat Breakfast in Bergamot Station
Rae’s Restaurant
I love a greasy spoon, no-frills type of breakfast. No cumin-scented carrot hash browns, no sous vide buffalo steak and eggs for me. I just want a good breakfast with strong coffee that kind of makes me want to take a long walk afterward. This is what you will find at Rae’s on Pico. It hasn’t changed since the 1960s and is a perfectly preserved piece of Googie architecture.
This is a classic dinner that serves steak and eggs, chicken fried steak, french toasts, and always an option to add a pancake.
Hours, cost, and other information
- Website: So old-school they don’t have one
- Location: 2901 Pico Ave.
- Cost: You can leave really, really full for less than $9. CASH ONLY.
- What to eat: They do the classics well.
Where to eat Lunch in Bergamot Station
A Cut Above Butcher
I mentioned A Cut Above in my Third Street Promenade post as a great second stop after getting your farmer’s market bounty. Not only can you buy something to cook on your own at A Cut Above, but they also have an extensive eat-in/to-go menu.
This nose-to-tail butcher offers in-house cured meats and sausages for their sandwiches, pickles and pates for its banh mi, a good mix of fat to lean in its burgers. This is one of my favorite places to get lunch when I am in the area. I think they have the best BLT and fried chicken sandwich in all of Los Angeles.
Also available are bone broths, chili and soups, and homemade pickles. If you get burgers or brats to grill at home, don’t forget the pretzel or brioche buns.
Hours, cost, and other information
- Website: https://www.acabutchershop.com/
- Location: 2453 Santa Monica
- Cost: There is a huge range here; best to check the menu
- What to eat: THE BLT! Also, their Bahn mi and Jidori fried chicken sandwiches.
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Where to eat lunch in Virginia Park on Saturday
Virginia Park Farmers’ Market
I know the above heading is very specific.
I love the Sunday Mar Vista Farmers Market, but the one located in Virginia Park on Saturdays is a close second.
The Virginia Street Farmers’ market on Pico and Cloverfield has a lot of similar vendors to the Mar Vista Farmers’ Market–like Wild Local Seafood and Fresno Evergreen. This market concentrates on produce–you won’t find a lot of clothing or candles here. There is some competition for who has the best seasonal produce, but not as much, which is refreshing to me. I don’t have to think, “Who has the Cara Cara oranges again?”
This market also has a smaller ready-to-eat and coffee area. If Mis Padres are there, get the chilaquiles or a flaco. Hit the fresh squeezed orange juice stand while you are there. You won’t be sad you did.
Hours and information
- Website: It is really bad and unhelpful. See hours and location information instead.
- Location: 2233 Pico Blvd
- Hours: Saturdays, 8:am-1:PM
Happy Hour in Bergamot Station
Neat
I love a good cocktail bar. Who says that happy hour needs to be focused on Well drinks? Not me, and definitely not Neat. Happy hour is daily from 5:PM-7:PM and has a wide range of draft beers, wines, and drink specials.
The inside is a nice moody respite from the glaring sun. Not as down to the vintage details as the 1933 group, but a great cocktail bar, and a good alternative to sports bars in the area.
Happy Hour cocktails
- Bramble on Rose-Gin, Pisco, Rosewater, Cassis, and cucumber. $8
- Old Fashioned or Cold Fashioned- The former is their version of a classic, and the latter is your version using a spirit of choice. $9
Hours, cost, and other info
- Website: http://www.neat.la/
- Location: 11780 West Pico
- Cost: Drinks are around $13
Dinner in Bergamot Station
Milo + Olive
This has been a popular place since it opened. It is a farmers’-market-driven Italian restaurant with a carb-heavy menu. Not surprisingly, because Milo + Olive’s creators are known for their bread and bakery items, they do know their way around a good bag of flour.
Whenever you mention Milo and Olive, the first thing people say in return is, “The garlic knots!!” Which are a must-order. Instead of being small knots bathed in butter and chopped garlic, Milo + Olive’s garlic knot is a whole head of garlic baked inside a giant pizza dough purse. When you cut into it, garlic cooked in its own juices and butter comes pouring out; just rip the bread and dip it in that magicalness.
The restaurant itself is pretty cramped, so you need to be okay with being up close and personal with Santa Monicans (Monikers). This place is a local hotspot, but they will welcome you with open arms if you are a tourist.
Hours, Cost, and other information
- Website: https://www.miloandolive.com/
- Location: 2723 Wilshire
- Cost: Garlic knot is $13, pastas are around $21, and pizzas are around $22.
- What to eat: Garlic knot, chicken meatballs, and breakfast pizza
Birdie G’s
Birdie G’s has become one of my favorite places in Los Angeles. It reminds me of the supper clubs I grew up going to in the Midwest. Its menu hits some supper club classics with Jewish and Eastern European flavors brought into California. If you aren’t sure what that means, you should make a reservation.
When you are there, order the relish tray where you get a multi-onion dip, fresh California vegetables–like ice plant, and tons of pickles. Then you will get a taste of what I am talking about.
Since I wrote this post in 2019, Birdie G’s has only gotten better. They have added a happy hour with happy hour-only menu items and a tasting menu called Smorgåsbird. I talk about that tasting menu at length in my Instagram post here.
Other plusses to adding Birdie G’s to your favorites are that it is on the Expo Line–no drinking and driving–and that it is around the corner from Bergamot Station’s art galleries if you want to kill some time looking at art before your reservation.
Hours, cost, and other information
- Website: https://www.birdiegsla.com/
- Location: 2421 Michigan
- Cost: The cost is pretty choose your own adventure, and best to go with a group as much of the menu is meant to be shared (after COVID-19, of course)
- Eat: Everything
I hope this post gave you a lot of choices for where to eat in Bergamot Station. Again, like where to eat in Santa Monica, if you think I forgot anything in this area, please let me know in the comments. I don’t have the opportunity to eat everywhere, so your recommendations can help others who are spending time in this area to catch some art, start a new tech job, or run to the dermatologist. I would love it if my comment section became a conversation section.
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- For where to eat in downtown Santa Monica, click here.
- For where to eat on Main Street Santa Monica, click here.
Comments (1)
Urban Hike: Santa Monica to Venice – This Ugly Beautiful City
November 19, 2021 at 6:43 pm
[…] I am a bit of a farmers’ market junkie and I have written about that in my post about the Hollywood Farmers’ Market and talked about my favorite market in the city. The Sunday market isn’t the only Santa Monica Farmers’ Market–this post talks about the downtown Santa Monica Market and this post talks about Virginia Avenue. […]