Pick your Picnic
Summer is just around the corner which means it’s time to ditch the silver for plastic and enjoy your haute cuisine basket style while at your favorite concert venue.
Here are a few places where it’s just a trendy to eat out of a box!
This year marks Patina’s 16th season collaborating with the bowl and brings with it new menu items from restaurants Café Gratitude and Gracias Madre. Prices range from $69.00-88.00 for a basket for two, but each one has about 4 types of dishes inside. Highlights from The Dandelion ($69) include the honey stung golden fried chicken entree with warm glazed cinnamon rolls. The Sunset ($88) serves a roasted hanger steak with summer vegetables and horseradish cream, and finishes with flourless dark chocolate cake, local raspberries, and chocolate sauce.
Perfect for the Pasadena Pops Marston’s has a special menu dedicated to just picnic baskets, or for a $3.95 surcharge you can have anything on the regular menu as well. They all come with a beverage, utensils, and dessert and best of all nothing is over $30 dollars. Keep it light with their Vegetarian Picnic Dinner ($23.00) which includes an orzo salad made with kalamata olives, basil, sun-dried tomato and spinach, grilled eggplant, heirloom tomatoes and fresh mozzarella with a pesto vinaigrette, plus fresh berries and a rustic roll.
Every Friday through the end of the summer Ray’s will be offering three course dinners to go as well as picnic baskets to be enjoyed during the Friday night Jazz concerts on the lawn. Prices range from $40-$100 dollars but considering that the concerts are free, this is really one of the best dinner and a show deals around. The Duke ($40) is all-inclusive of disposable plates, napkins, plastic-wear, bread, and butter while The Louis ($100) is a deluxe luxury basket offering a bottle of wine, real china, a fold-out table, a picnic blanket, and cloth napkins presented in a wicker basket. One more added perk, it’s a dog friendly venue!
Brownie points for affordability, Foodlab in West Hollywood specializes in clean organic eats, and the philosophy extends to the packaging of the Picnic Box. Each $20 box includes your choice of over 20 sandwiches, a vegan salad, a daily side salad of your choice, a cookie by Deluscious Cookies, a bottle of water, a stick of gum and ecofriendly picnicware.With a meal this biodegradable you might find yourself asking…did I eat anything at all?
Perfect for a night under the stars at the Griffith Observatory, Say Cheese Silver Lake offers a great made to order picnic basket menu of salads, sandwiches, meats, breads, and of course cheeses. Featured wines and champagnes are available in convenient split sizes. Prices range from $3.25-$10.99 but a word to the frugal, an actual picnic basket will set you back $11.99.
