By Carole Dixon
It’s not often that you can enjoy dinner and a movie alfresco on the grounds of a National Registry of Historic sites while amid the graves of former Hollywood notables from Cecil B. DeMille to Rudolph Valentino and Johnny Ramone. On the Fairbanks lawn of this famed cemetery on Santa Monica Blvd., you can do just that. After you pick up a bottle or two of vino from Lou Wine Shop and Tastings in Los Feliz or Silverlake Wines, grab your blanket and pick up a picnic for watching a scary flick like Rosemary’s Baby. If you hear a scream or see a suspicious shadowy figure — not to worry, you’ve got great grub at hand to comfort you.
DeSano Pizza Bakery
While they specialize in Neapolitan pizzas made by the restaurant’s Italian-born master pizzaiolo, their calzones have a cult following — particularly the Gigiotto that’s stuffed with broccoli rabe, sausage, and buffalo mozzarella, and are easier to eat while laying down. Add a couple of the stuffed-to-order chocolate or plain cannoli’s for dessert and canoodling after the flick.
Top Round Roast Beef
Stop by this retro-cool pit-stop for a shake — the Elvis custard made with bananas, salted peanuts, and fudge or the pistachio strawberry swirl. Let’s be real, those will be gone by the time you get to Santa Monica and Western, along with the curly fries, so best to stick with a 10-hour slow roasted BBQ roast beef sandwich, a buttermilk fried chicken, or ‘dirty’ dog with gravy on the side.
Café Gratitude
For a more virtuous grazing picnic, order pressed juices and vegan, all-organic snacks such as an “Abundant” artisanal antipasto plate with cultured tree nut cheese, baked yellow peppers, green olives & capers, oven roasted herb tomatoes, pickled market vegetables, and warm crostini or gluten-free buckwheat crackers; or a kelp noodle pasta with wild arugula, basil hempseed pesto, cashew ricotta, and Brazil nut parmesan. Oh, and don’t forget the booze at Larchmont Village wines just down the street — maybe not so virtuous.
Blue Plate Oysterette
The custom “Tackle Box” will have you covered with plenty of to-go option for the cemetery. Grab a few of their celebrated lobster rolls on a brioche bun or Saigon grilled salmon with Asian slaw and a side of house-made sweet potato chips. Wraps and salads are also available. Open seven days a week, this is convenient for Westsiders who are heading East to the cemetery.
Chego
If you are coming in from Downtown, make a stop at Kogi Truck guru Roy Choi’s brick and mortar Asian rice bowl eatery in Chinatown. The “chubby pork belly” topped with a fried egg on two heaping scoops of white rice, or the prime rib rice plate should keep you satisfied, but pick up an order of the Korean fired meatballs as well and make some new friends on the lawn.
Photo by Rachel/Flickr
