Lamill Coffee Boutique
Silver Lake, CA 90026
Phone: (323) 663-4441
- Price:
- $
- Cross Street:
- Effie Street
- Specialties:
- Coffee
- Hours:
- Sun-Thu 7am-10am, Fri-Sat 7am-11pm
Editorial Review for Lamill Coffee Boutique – by Martha Burr
In Short
The purr of La Marzocco espresso and Clover machines is usually overwhelmed by the buzzing mob of Silver Lake's coffee aficionados at this neighborhood caffeine haunt. French baroque motifs frame the elite space, where nonchalant chicks in Chococat baby tees rub elbows with old-school skate punks, tattooed soccer moms and alt-trepreneurs. Tableside servers brew a deluxe list of limited premium blends with a sliding scale of complexity for varying levels of coffee snobs. There's the ubiquitous plunging French press; the scientific drip brew of Chemex; the hi-tech, vacuum-brewed Japanese siphon; and the insulated, filter-funneled Eva Solo. An upscale cafe menu by Michael Cimarusti (Providence) includes Dungeness crab cocottes, an Asian-style BLT with pork belly, clam cakes with yuzu aioli, crispy-skinned New Zealand char and liquid tiramisu.
Hits: The coffee world hasn't been this rocked since a certain Seattle-based company became a household name in the '90s; dining and drinking here is not just a meal or a drink--it's an experience. Staff are knowledegable, friendly and diligent, even amid peak-time chaos.
Misses: Prices can really add up fast, so it's hard to justify the expenditure for everyday drinking. The menu is wonderful, but also likely unfamiliar to many people--you might not understand which dishes are among the limited breakfast picks.
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Insider Tips
Know Before You GoAlthough the space opens daily at 7am, cooked breakfasts aren't served until at least 8am.
Save TimeWeekends are jam-packed, particularly at brunch time, when lines for tables flow out the door. Seats are more plentiful on weekdays and off hours; on weekends arrive before 11am to beat the rush.
What to DrinkThe menu offers 22 blended teas and many herbal varieties. There's also Valrhona chocolate milk and a virgin "mojoto" lime spritzer. Both the tea and regular house Clover-brewed joe are more affordable than the table-brewed coffees.
The ExtrasWalking distance from the Silver Lake Dog Park, the shop is a great place to stop for Oscar's house-made dog biscuits.
User Reviews for Lamill Coffee Boutique
07/15/2008 Posted by LUCILUCI
This place has amazing food with the same purveyors as Michelin starred restaurant, Providence... the crab scramble amazing... the ABLT and the Sophia Panini to die for... and i could eat 10 of the Passionfruit Gelee desserts! Everything created by hand, (even the Valhrona ganache is homemade), and they are doing creative drinks that no one in the coffee industry is doing. Every time I go, there are celebrities... Leo di Caprio, Ron Howard, Lindsay Lohan...so bring your out of town guests. Worth every dollar, and the attention to detail impressive.
Pros: parking in back, no wait, great drinks and food
Cons: different entrances so confusing to know how to sit
06/24/2008 Posted by no2yes
I fell inlove with LAMILL's coffee at first sip. Not just the coffee, but the entire dining experience. The cafe/boutique is beautifully decorated, the staff is friendly and very well trained and their $9 miniature-size sweet potato pie dessert is just enough to tease your palet, (never enough to please it, never mind sharing!), nevertheless delicious. When LAMILL first opened, I made it a point to meet people there, whether for business or personal, and took all my friends and family there with the excuse of trying another of their specialty coffee. Their tiramisu expresso is delicious, but again, EVERYTHING IS TOO PRICEY! Which made me a bit upset because after becoming a regular and noticing how much I was spending on coffee and snacks alone (I wouldn't call ANY of their meals anything else), I realized I could make my money go further by eating across the street at Michelangelo's and save the coffee experience for coffee and nothing else. I haven't been back in 2 months because I fear becoming a regular again and then, getting upset with myself for overspending. Now, if you can enjoy just one coffee experience alone and perhaps, an expensive snack or bite-size dessert for the price of a dinner, I find no better place to splurge than here.
Pros: Exquisite coffees, limited parking, shops adjacent
Cons: EXPENSIVE!!!
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