Clementine

More like 3.5 stars. It took me forever to get to Clementine. But finally I did. And then forever to actually get there, I hate Santa Monica Blvd in Century City.

So what do you get for $27 for lunch at Clementine? 1 salad combo of 3 salads of your choice, 1 very small container of shrimp cocktail, and—the reason I finally made it there: 1 Elberta peach shortcake.

Salads:
caprese of large heirlooms, very nice mozzarella: very good.
soba noodles w/ chicken: chicken good, noodles a little bit mushy.
curry-roasted cauliflower: it’s ok, a bit too charred.

Shrimp cocktail:
Excellent! It’s more like a gazpacho, but less soup, more shrimp. They should just offer it as a gazpacho, I’d like to eat more of the soup part. Lots of avacodo, which is great.

And, the piece de resistance: Elberta peaches!!!
Chef/owner Annie Miller adopted one of Mas Masumoto’s famous Elberta peach trees, at Masumoto Family Farm. Then I guess the Clementine staff went to harvest the peaches. Then Miller made them into peach shortcakes.

Elberta peaches. First of all, I like my high class peaches unadulterated. Really good peaches are good all by themselves, they need nothing. So for me, anything done to them just detracts from the heavenly peaches that they are.
But, this is a shortcake. The peaches are barely cooked (a plus!), but with too much cinnamon. The shortcake part is a scone—an excellent scone, which was—is it possible?—moist. The whipped cream is good too.

I guess if I were just rating the shrimp cocktail, and if I could have just gotten a whole Elberta peach, my rating would be an enthusiastic 5.

hmm Craft adopted a tree too. Maybe they went in together. Maybe I’ll have to go to Craft again.

I’d been wanting to try Clementine for some time, and I finally went for lunch during the week. It’s cute, casual, clean, and cozy. They also have a small sidewalk patio, which I rather preferred given how loud and too cozy it was inside. Parking is limited with only a small lot and some metered street spots, but the fresh food almost makes it worth the trouble.
Clementine offers a selection of contemporary American breakfast (albeit limited hours), lunch, and bakery items in addition to ready-made foods. What impressed me was how unbelievably fresh all the food looked. The prices are a bit steep, but for the quality of ingredients it may be worth the few extra dollars.

Absolutely in love with their roasted beef sandwich. People love their salads and soups, but I usually order the sandwich and some pastries. It can get real crowded during the weekend, but I like to go their on weekday afternoon. They always give me free Chocolate cookie (which is actually really good)

Always great food but on the pricey side. Need to try thr grilled cheese next time. The specialty salads are good too.