The Daily Dose Cafe
The Daily Dose Cafe is an organic cafe and espresso bar in downtown's Arts District in Los Angeles, California, United States, best known for its farm-to-table inspired style of cooking known as California cuisine.[1] Restaurateur, food activist, and chef Sarkis Vartanian opened the cafe in 2012, dedicated to serving organically produced food, artisan coffees, home made baked goods, and nutritionally balanced classic meals. All ingredients come from their regional farm, community gardens, local vendors, and farmer's markets to make regional organic produce more accessible to the industrial Downtown community of Los Angeles in the ethos of the slow food movement.[2]
| The Daily Dose Cafe | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Restaurant information | |
| Slogan | "In the Alley" |
| Established | 2012 |
| Owner(s) | Sarkis Vartanian |
| Food type | Local and organic California cuisine |
| Street address | 1820 Industrial St. |
| City | Los Angeles |
| State | California |
| Country | United States |
| Coordinates | 34.0356°N 118.2338°W |
| Seating capacity | 150 |
| Website | dailydosela |
Historic landmark
The alley
The historic alley is one of the Art's District most relevant landmarks. The cobblestone-lined alley sits in between turn-of-the-century industrial buildings and bow-truss brick structures. The Daily Dose Cafe was built on top of these hundred-year-old railroad tracks.
This alley used to function as an interchange track within a series of switching track plans in the railroad yard known as "The Patch". It is the oldest switching district in Los Angeles served by the Santa Fe Railroad. It was full of narrow passages and curving brick buildings, built with curved walls to match the track. These buildings were served by a patchwork of tracks down streets and alleys.[3] Trains terminating in Los Angeles arrived at Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway Le Grande Station on the corner of 2nd and Santa Fe.
The Patch
The Patch (including industries between Fifth and Sacramento Streets and the "Market" on Alameda Street) played a major role in the Los Angeles railway system served by the Santa Fe Railroad.
"It seems important to note that the Santa Fe is able to switch the industries in the district between Fifth and Ninth Streets and have all cars set within approximately three hours after the arrival of the train without the use of any longitudinal drill tracks, such as those on Alameda Street." - From the "First Street 1918 Description" document[4]
The origin of the nickname "Patch" is unknown. Some theories say refers to the lamps on switches, glowing red and green in the night, reminiscent of a patch of strawberries or green vegetables. The area was industrialized in the 1880s, and the name could refer to the garden patches that existed prior to industrialization.[3]
The curved brick building where the Daily Dose Cafe is located belongs to the District #22 called "Canal".[5][6]
Historical significance
Because the Santa Fe Railroad included multiple industry railroad tracks into the terminal, and a small crew of switch-men could have the cars reset for departure to their respective industry, it created the connection for merchants between the East and West Coasts, fueling rapid urban development in Los Angeles of new economic growth and whole markets circa 1918. Shipping fostered cultural epicenters in Los Angeles, Chicago, and New York.
The Daily Dose Cafe's team opened it with a commitment to the building's purpose since its inception: service. These structures originally served by the Santa Fe Railroad and AT&SF nearly a century ago received freight train cars arriving and departing with goods and services, such as produce from a network of Californian farms, railroad mail express, and tourism.
Structures that were once goods sheds, engine rooms, and warehouses in the yard are now inhabited by Daily Dose Cafe, the Bread Lounge, Hauser Wirth & Schimmel, Angel Brewery, Southern California Institute of Architecture, and One Santa Fe, and previously American Apparel's headquarters. These community-based organizations are a living narrative of the origins of Los Angeles, and highlight the vital role the railroad had played in the city's urban industrialization into the major global city it is today. Thecafe's staff embrace this century old mission of service. The culture of the past continues to serve the present in this iconic landmark.
"We would haul a cut of cars from First Street Yard and cut them off in the street while we went light engine into the Patch. Usually we switched Star Truck and Warehouse first and shoved our pull cars through those interesting curved brick buildings and cut them off by the building known as "the walnut house" (The Walnut Exchange). We also switched the Metropolitan Warehouse (the bigger "Old House" on the left and the "New House" on the right. There was a three way puzzle switch to line toward the old house, new house, or straight rail across Mateo Street. There was also a "Middle Patch" district by that magnificently lettered "Nate Starkman Paints and Varnishes" building, LA Times (rolls of paper) and "the furniture house."[7] - Quote from a railman in the 1970s describing first-hand experience working in the switching yard
Social change
Farm-to-table
Serving seasonal dishes, the Daily Dose sources the ingredients that are locally grown and harvested by regional farms, farmer's markets, and bakeries. The menu changes are determined by what is fresh and in season. The quest for fresh seasonal ingredients have always determined the cuisine, thus the Daily Dose Cafe has created a network of farmers, ranchers, and dairies that produce and supply ingredients. Vartaian, the owner, obtains produce from the South Pasadena, Echo Park, and Atwater Village farmer's markets. He acquires deli meats from Fra'mani, an Italian restaurant owned by Paul Bertolli, who co-founded Chez Panisse with Alice Waters. Waters and Bertolli were pioneers in the farm-to-table movement of the United States in Berkeley, California during the 1960s.
The Vartanian Ranch
Tomatoes, herbs, fruits, and eggs from ducks, geese, and chickens come from the Vartanian Ranch, an eight-acre farm in Temecula, California.[8]
Aeroponic gardens
The farm uses 60 vertical hydroponic tower systems manufactured by Future Growing. These columns of aeroponic gardens growing herbs and vegetable are pesticide-free, organic, and harvest enough to feed 80 people for 10 months out of the year. The white, food-grade plastic towers are stacked on 25-gallon reservoirs.
Mission and mascot
The Daily Dose believes that "every human has the right to organic good healthy food", says Sarkis Vartaian about embracing localism and the adopting the farmer's methods of "bringing conscious healthy food that are brilliant for the body for an affordable price."
Inspired by the working person, the cuisine menu is named after the Butcher, the Tailor, Mike the Mechanic, and the Farmer. Daily Dose features a monkey named Mike D. "Mike D the Monkey represents the average working man - "Monkey in a Suit" who are like us - 'Food For Us by Us' ", explains Vartaian. The atmosphere of the Daily Dose is an ode to the working man.[9]
Notable collaborations/community events
Local emerging chefs and community organizations are in constant collaboration with the Daily Dose, hosting events with the goal in "bringing fresh food to an area, where it isn’t available". A lunch program in partnership with American Apparel, whose Downtown Los Angeles headquarters was also located in the Southern Pacific Railroad Station in the heavy industrial area on Alameda Street, provided about 5,000 textile manufacturers and immigrant workers with local, fresh, nutritionally balanced lunches.
An American Apparel lunch program called Room Service, Kitchen Table Thanksgiving, Devon's Table Oktoberfest, and Esotouric tours are some many community-based events hosted at the cafe.
Culinary influences
On a walking expedition in the European countryside while overcoming a health crisis due to excessive weight gain, then cancer, Sarkis Vartanian encountered the slow food movement in Italy, a local community who encourage the enjoyment of regional produce, traditional foods, grown organically and in the company of others, and teach the importance of defending agricultural biodiversity. Back in Los Angeles and opposed to the culture of fast food, Vartanian pursued his passion to make organic produce more accessible by advocating an urban industrial farm and cafe with outdoor seating on the railroad tracks of Industrial Street.[10]
The Daily Dose Cafe is a modern proponent of the California cuisine style, emphasizing vegetables and foraged foods while maintaining the traditional emphasis on local foods and presentation that Chez Panisse pioneered in the Bay Area in the 1960s. Vartanian through Daily Dose has significantly advanced the reach of the slow food movement culture to the high density urban environment of Southern California, transforming a heavily industrial landscape in the Arts District neighborhood with his culinary craftsmanship.[11][12]
Location and filming
The Daily Dose Cafe is often a featured location for photographers, television series, student films, and motion pictures for its traditional European coffeehouse experience, as designed by Vartanian.
The exterior of the restaurant is covered in vines and plants. The neighboring space is used as a gallery space for local artists. The cafe serves as an oasis from the heavy industrial truck depot, as well as a symbol of the ongoing transformation that has taken place in Downtown Los Angeles Arts District.[13]
- Vogue photo editorial with Skater Girl Sierra Prescott sits at the Daily Dose[14]
- Rizzoli & Isles, Season 6, episode "Scared to Death" - Daily Dose Cafe played the role of the Boston, Massachusetts-area cafe
- CSI: Cyber, Season 1, episode "Firecord", 2015, the Daily Dose Café masked as the Washington, D.C.-area coffee shop
- Revenge, Season 3, episode "Endurance", 2014, the exterior is briefly shown
- ''Revenge, Season 3, episode "Impetus", characters standing outside the cafe
- Scandal, episode "Dog-Whistle Politics", Daily Dose Café stood in for the Café Graisseux (translation Greasy Coffee Shop) in Paris.[10]
References
- Keller, Caitlin (21 March 2013). "'Food and fiction,' Daily Dose, Border Grill small plates, more". The Los Angeles Times. LA Times. Retrieved 7 November 2017.
- Grostronomnom. "Test Kitchen with The Daily Dose". The Tasty Awards. Retrieved 7 November 2017.
- Jordan, Keith (25 December 2009). "The Patch Railroad / Operations". www.patchrailroad.net. Retrieved 7 December 2017.
- Dept, Railroad Commission of the State of California Engineering (1920). Report on Railroad Grade Crossing Elimination and Passenger and Freight Terminals in Los Angeles. Wayside Press.
- Jordan, Keith (December 2008). "Patch Operations". Patch Railroad.
- Jordan, Keith (December 2008). "Patch Operations. Destination Descriptions" (PDF). Patch Railroad.
- "ATSF_Switchman". www.bobsgardenpath.com. Retrieved 2017-12-08.
- "Get Your Daily Dose | hautenosh.com". hautenosh.com. Retrieved 2017-12-10.
- Semicoe, Jenni (16 December 2010). "Get Your Daily Dose". Blogdowntown. Retrieved 8 November 2017.
- Lindsay. "The Daily Dose Café from "Scandal"". I Am Not A Stalker. Retrieved November 11, 2015.
- Silva, Valentina (April 23, 2016). "How This Restaurant Lost More Than 100 Pounds and Devoted Himself To Health Food". Vice: Munchies. Retrieved 7 November 2017.
- Guzman, Richard (28 Oct 2016). "How a neighborhood transformed in the downtown L.A. Arts District". Daily News. Los Angeles Daily News. Retrieved 8 November 2017.
- Bobb, Brooke (29 July 2016). "Burritos and Beer: Taking a Food Tour of L.A. With Skater Girl Sierra Prescott". Vogue. Retrieved 7 November 2017.