ShopEatSleep

Candela oxfords at Gossamer

During the whole month of February, ShopEatSleep readers get 20 percent off at Gossamer, a new-ish clothing and accessory boutique on Abbot Kinney Boulevard in Venice. The store reminds me of Anthropologie but cozier — and definitely more local. Mother-and-daughter team Gwen and Ash Heier opened the shop back in September and offer everything from Michael Stars to Black Orchid denim to Daftbird. And in keeping with the local and homey aesthetic, the store features a living wall of plants and furniture from neighboring AK vendors. To get your 20 percent off coupon to use in-store, email thegirls@gossamershop.com with “ShopEatSleep – 20% off” in the subject line.

Gossamer
1410 Abbot Kinney Ste. 101
Los Angeles, CA 90291

Inside Akasha. From Eater LA.

It’s the day before Thanksgiving. You don’t have plans, but you want to have plans. What to do? Check out the holiday dinners from these L.A. restaurants, and take your pick.

Akasha: This Culver City eatery is offering a $55 per person, three-course meal ($30 for kids 12 and younger), including a pie buffet for dessert. All dessert courses should be buffets! But I digress.

Starter options include winter squash soup, a salad with persimmon, pomegranate and goat cheese and an assortment of biscuits. Entrees include slow-roasted turkey, pomegranate-jalapeno jelly glazed ham, and wild peppercorn and sage-roasted tofu. The pie buffet includes class pumpkin pie, sweet potato pie with candied pecans, spiced pumpkin cheesecake with gingersnap crust, and pear and cranberry tart with cinnamon crumble. There’s much more; take a look at the Web site for the menu.

Joe’s Restaurant: This veritable Venice Beach institution is serving up a $52 per person, four-course meal ($20 for the kiddos). You’ll start with sunchoke soup, then move on to your choice of a greens and squash salad, Swiss chard ravioli, sweetbreads, mussels, or diver scallops. Main dish options include turkey with all the fixings, lamb with a pumpkin risotto, monk fish and shrimp, or vegetables with quinoa. The dessert course includes your choice of pumpkin pie, persimmon and pomegranate bread pudding, apple pie, or chocolate marquise.

Campanile: Mark Peel’s Mid-City mainstay has a $65 per person, five-course meal ($39 for kids) on the menu. You really can’t go wrong at Campanile. To start, there’s a mushroom barley soup. Then it’s on to your choice of a bibb lettuce salad, chicken liver crostini, or warm roasted vegetable salad. Then comes turkey for your main and another course of savory bread pudding, sweet corn succotash, mashed potatoes, cranberry chutney, and Blue Lake beans. Last is a dessert of either pumpkin ice cream, spiced apple bundle, or mixed nut tart.

If none of those hit the spot, also check The Rundown‘s list of Thanksgiving dinners, including Anisette, Henry’s Hat, Jar, The Langham and Whist.

• Intelligentsia Venice: The grand opening of the long-awaited second L.A. location for the Chicago-based chain happens tonight. Look out for free coffee, Wurstkuche sausages, and beer and wine from Silverlake Wine. Live DJs, too. Venice, May 22. From FoodGPS.

• Valley Greek Festival: The 36th annual three-day festival of all things Greek. Admission is free, but food’s not, so you’ll have to shell out for that souvlaki and mousaka (you’ve seen “My Big Fat Greek Wedding,” right?). Northridge, May 23-25.

• UCLA Jazz Reggae Fest: It’s back! And this year, the “jam” day seems pretty good with Erykah Badu, De La Soul and People Under the Stairs. I’m not so familiar with the artists playing on reggae day, but you should go and tell me about it. Westwood, May 24-25.

Empty Stores on West Third Street. Photo from WWD.

Women’s Wear Daily has a story on the increasing number of boutique and specialty retail store closings around Los Angeles, with Robertson Boulevard, Melrose Place, Montana Avenue and West Third Street taking the hardest hits. I covered this for the LA Business Journal back in March when more than 30 storefronts were either empty or in the process of closing up shop. Other parts of the city have been affected as well, including Venice’s Abbot Kinney Boulevard, and a drive down Pico Boulevard between Robertson and La Cienega boulevards yesterday revealed some new empty retail spaces that I hadn’t noticed before.

But not all parts of the city are losing places to shop: Malibu Lumber Yard, the new swanky retail center next to the Malibu Country Mart, just opened last weekend. Good idea or bad idea? Time will tell, but in the meantime, head over to the Lumber Yard for free Crumbs cupcakes on Saturday (April 25). They’re giving out 1,000 freebies starting at 9:00 a.m., per EaterLA.

• More coverage at RackedLA