Los Angeles Basin at Kelson Reviews Stuff

Coffee Cartel ★★★★★ Offbeat local coffee house with atmosphere that makes you want to hang out there.

The Comic Bug ★★★★★ Open, inviting, and kid-friendly, with friendly staff and a wide selection. Frequent artist/writer signings.

Doma Kitchen (Closed) ★★★★★ Used to be a great Eastern European restaurant. Bounced around the South Bay for most of a decade before closing.

El Amigo ★★★★★ Great spot for takeout Mexican food. I particularly like their Chile Relleno. Dine-in, limited parking.

El Tarasco

★★★★☆ Small local Mexican fast food chain in the South Bay area. Great for takeout. Lots of outdoor seating at Artesia and Hermosa locations.

The Empanada Shop

The front of a low building with an extremely shallow gabled roof, right off the sidewalk, with room for two storefronts. On the full-height windows in white, and hanging from a smaller, red sign facing the sidewalk, are the words THE EMPANADA SHOP. Two small white tables, each with a pair of orange chairs, sit in front of the window, and you can see several stools inside.

★★★★★ Great selection of both meat and veggie fillings, plus desserts (the chocolate one is intense).

Entradero Park Loop

Small lake or large pond. At the near end is large pillar-type drain. A baseball field is visible at the far shore, next to some thicket of plants, unidentifiable from this distance. Beyond that, brown-green hills with houses on top and dirt trails winding along the hillside.

★★★★☆ Relaxing walk through scrub habitat around a basin with restored wetlands. Not much shade, good for spotting birds.

Hopkins Wilderness Park

Narrow dirt trail curving out of sight among green-leaved trees and smaller plants. A small metal sign can just be seen saying Native Habitat Restoration Area.

★★★★☆ A good place to bring your kids or just take a shady walk in something that feels like nature. Lightly wooded, some hills, trails, a stream and a duck pond, plus picnic areas and camping.

King Mediterrano

Corner of a single-level retail building. A sliding window is visible under a narrow awning. Potted bushes line a larger awning, obscuring the patio area behind them. A metal railing protects the patio from the parking lot, and a set of bollards protects the other side of the corner. Above the sliding window and around the corner, the sides of the roof are emblazoned KING MEDITERRANO.

★★★★★ Mediterranean/Mexican fusion, right at the 3-way border between Torrance, Lawndale and Redondo Beach. You can get a wrap with shawarma or falafel at a lot of places, but where else can you get a shawarma burrito with mozzarella, jalapeños and chipotle sauce?

Lavender & Honey

★★★★☆ Good coffee, pastries and sandwiches, maybe a bit expensive. They also sell artisan honey and beeswax products.

Madrona Marsh Preserve ★★★★★ One of my favorite places to walk in the South Bay, the preserve is the last remnant of seasonal marshes that once covered the western part of the LA basin.

Natureba

Small building painted green next to a sidewalk lined with palm trees. Dried palm fronds cover an awning, and two small round tables, each with a pair of chairs, flank an open glass door.

★★★★★ Tiny small business, great smoothies and tropical juices, plus Brazilian-style grilled sandwiches and Açaí bowls.

Neighborhood Grinds (Closed) ★★★★☆ This used to be a great local coffee shop.

Pure Bean ★★★★★ An indie coffee shop and roaster that opened in a space vacated by CBTL a few years back.

Redondough (bakery/cafe)

Corner storefront with a few tables beneath the overhang on one side and neon signs featuring a coffee cup with a face, a fried egg on toast, and an astronaut on a croissant -- excuse me, a *crescent*.

★★★★★ Bakery with coffee, tea and sandwiches. I usually get one of their cream cheese and fruit-filled croissants. Breakfast sandwiches are also very good.

Taishi Hainan Chicken ★★★★★ Variations on chicken and rice, all of them good.

Two Guns Espresso

Stark black and white image of a sign painted directly on an outer wall. Wooden boards are visible next to it, and the top of a window frame below it. The sign reads 'How about a cup of' in cursive, and then in MUCH LARGER SANS-SERIF BLOCK LETTERS, 'JOE'.

★★★★★ Serious coffee. Small chain in LA’s South Bay that introduced the Flat White to the region in the early 2010s.

Union Pizza ★★★★★ Thin-crust pizzas are good, deep-dish pizzas are REALLY good. My favorite is the Classic Deep Dish (spinach, roasted garlic, ricotta and mushrooms) - and normally I don’t even like mushrooms.

Reviews Tagged “Los Angeles Basin”