Granville Is the Updated Deli Food We Need in a Cool Space Now

Posted on by Diversions LA

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The Granville Cafe in West Hollywood is a gorgeous space. It’s open, with an indoor/outdoor aesthetic, filled with sunshine and fresh air, yet blissfully covered from heat and rain. The small restaurant group has four other locations – Glendale, Burbank,  Studio City, and Pasadena.

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The WeHo location is both glamorous and relaxed, with greenery, a patio, and, a sparkling bar area, and an indoor tree.

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House-crafted food made with local and organic ingredients are the key notes here. It’s honestly exciting to get an updated, healthy take on both comfort soup and sandwich fare along with more innovative dishes – in a lovely setting.

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In short, it’s an impressive modern-casual spot with style; meant for relaxing over an excellent coffee or cocktail, as well as ordering a full meal. We sampled a variety of dishes, and all were beautifully presented and crafted.

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Granville stresses their use of hormone-free and antibiotic-free meats and fish, local and organic greens, artisan cheeses and breads, non-GMO veggies and oil, as well as sustainable and organic coffee and espresso. It’s all about quality food in ample portions that are well-presented, and fresh.

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We started by sharing the smoked salmon spread and rye crisps. It was terrific, a creamy blend of dill, horseradish, cream cheese, and salmon of course. Honestly could be a meal in itself.

spring chicken salad

My companion had a crisp, plentiful salad with chicken, seasonal berries, gorgonzola, candied pecans, red onion, and a light but sweet caramel vinaigrette.

I opted for the rainbow trout, which was exceptional It’s pan-seared, with a nice, nutty-tasting pepita crust. On the side, I had the preserved lemon & butter pan sauce. It came with “a seasonal organic vegetable,” which for me was a lovely, fresh asparagus. 

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To drink, my companion had what she termed a “really nice, fresh iced tea.” I had the Granville Bloody Mary, crafted with a smooth Purus organic vodka, topped with celery stalk and olive garnish. The mix was tangy but not overwhelming, a good craft drink. 

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Dessert is both inventively presented and extremely good: not overwhelmingly sweet, fresh-tasting, and ample enough to share. We tried the Devil’s Advocate flourless chocolate cake with cream cheese frosting – gluten free; as well as the Berry Patch Shortcake with fresh berries, sweet cream, and silky almond buttermilk biscuits.

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Last but not least, I had a beautifully prepared cappuccino, made with organic espresso.  

Traditional brunch fans will not be disappointed by the menu, either. We saw egg and toast dishes of all kinds.

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Comfort food fans can feast on hearty dishes like the mac n’ cheese, below, with plenty of cheese. Recently sampled at the giving-back charitable event Masters of Taste, it’s delicious. Including veggies with the blissfully cheesey dish is an inspired idea that adds a healthful note of crispness without compromising comfort-food tradition.

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And what would any deli-type menu be without matzoh ball soup? It’s a heady, fragrant mix served at Granville, considerably lower in sodium and so much fresher than many counterparts in town.

matzoh ball soup

And best of all – the inclusive menu has many vegan, vegetarian, and gluten-free options available.

53034455_1271180213048297_8642418048680067072_nWeekend brunch is served til 2 p.m., cocktails, lunch, and dinner on the daily. So, as the sign says “come as you are” just about any time, for excellent food, a comfortable, stylish setting, and a sleekly modern take on deli and coffeshop fare amplified with a fresh and healthy focus.

Granville is located at 8701 Beverly in WeHo; hours are:

Monday – Wednesday 11:00 AM – 10:00 PM

Thursday 11:00 AM – 10:00 PM

Friday 11:00 AM – 11:00 PM

Saturday 10:00 AM – 11:00 PM

Sunday 10:00 AM – 10:00 PM

Genie Davis; photos: Genie Davis, and provided by Granville

Nature is Nurtured in Transcendent Exhibition at Loft at Liz’s

Posted on by Diversions LA

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Jackson Pollock once responded to a colleague’s questioning of his work with the retort “I am nature.” Curator Gary Brewer has taken that idea and run with it, in a beautiful, thoughtful exhibition of the same title at Loft at Liz’s in mid-city through April 22nd.

It is not any one person who embodies nature, after all, we are all a part of the natural environment, we are its components, its caretakers (of sorts), its outgrowth. We seek the succor, inspiration, and purpose in the wonder around us, the burgeoning, blossming of the spirit. Art reveals all of this and more, our connectedness in and of nature, our revels in it, our destruction of it.

Thirteen different artists show us this connection, theirs, and ours, in a beautiful exhibition of tactile images in a variety of media.

Aline Mare Nature

Aline Mare (above) offers a variety of photographic artworks that in some cases – as with two lightbox photographs – literally glow. But each of her works here, which utilize rich and hypnotizing natural elements such as crystals, roots, and seedpods, create a light-filled world; the universe in miniature made large again; the universe within our bodies. A world of wonder pulses from her images, enveloping, beginning, a process of natural creation and passage.

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While the work and medium is completely different, Bonita Helmer’s lush acrylic and spray paint works take us on a journey that seems both inward and to a distant planet. The silvery grey and periwinkle blue backgrounds here are barely enough to contain these travels.

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Perhaps one should undertake them on Charles Dickson’s awe-inspiring mixed media work, “Sankofa Spaceship Dogon Class.” Dickson uses found objects to create a starship that goes artistically where few have gone before; highly detailed, translucent in sections, and suspended from the ceiling, it was both a focal point of conversation and attention at the exhibition’s opening, and a literal invocation of transport. His aluminum “Point of Departure,” a silvery wall sculpture that dazzled with light, accentuates the idea.

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David Lloyd offers a series of mixed media works on wood and paper, with geographic components that resemble both kaleidoscope and origami flower. If these works indicate growth and change, then they’re a natural step toward the astonishing work of Gary Brewer, below, who would’ve been remiss not to include several of his own lush oil on canvas, and watercolor works on paper, here.

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Brewer’s work offers both interior and exterior intricacies, mutable, vividly colored, dream-like. They take on inner and outer space at the same time; we contemplate what could be the molecular building blocks of existence, and life forms sailing through the stars, forming new worlds. There is gravitas and majesty in this work, but also a playful sensibility, an inward joy.

Jesse Standlea

Joy is perhaps not the zeitgeist in the narrative Jesse Standlea presents, in sculptural works that are beautiful but dark, their titles focused on “Mortality,” and an awareness of the natural order of things: all things die, some things come back.

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At least that is the case if we do not destroy our own natural world.  Monet Clark’s color photographs, give us images that point to the invasion of the natural world by human beings, and the destruction that cavalier dominance can cause.

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Nick Brown’s mixed-media painted works, which include materials such as cotton rope, white sage, and shark teeth, are beautiful, but fused with a kind of inward sadness. And it’s no wonder: the images are representative of the remains of burned homes in the San Bernardino mountains. 

Paul Paiement

Perhaps we are only a small step away from our own destruction – if we destroy nature, and it is us, then we are all nothing but ash. Or perhaps there are boundaries we could set for change, as in Paul Paiement’s works in acrylic on wood-panels, depicting the dichotomy between natural settings and man-made structures (above). His ceramic and acrylic insect “Hybrids CS” series is something else altogether: is this the mutated result of man and nature in consort?

Mabula

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Richard Mabula’s untitled oil on canvas and board four-panel painting is dark and monochrome, evoking the color of raw wood; on the far right, a smiling/fierce skeletal face seems like a warning of what will happen if we do not respect nature – and our own.

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Shiri Mordechay

Equally dark yet somehow redemptive are  Shiri Mordechay’s small individual drawings on paper, above, each offering precious clues to a different world.

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Xu DaRocha takes us full circle, perhaps, with ceramic moon rocks that appear about to gestate; blissful floral colors in acrylic on canvas works, and a world with choices to be made, as with the sultry snake and equally reptilian blue hand invading the floral bliss of “How far is heaven.”

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Perhaps that is the point here: if we are nature (and we are), it is imperfect and wonderful, profoundly holy and routinely ruinous; ready to bloom and consume, to thrill, inspire, destroy, and rise again — whether here on this earth, or in another form of natural eternity.

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Work by Aline Mare, above.

There will be an artist talk on April 17th at Loft at Liz’s – go get in touch with your natural self.

– Genie Davis; photos: Genie Davis, Gary Brewer

Celia Center Arts Festival: Art and Family Fun for a Cause

Posted on by Diversions LA

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Save the date: Friday April 12th and Saturday April 13th, the Celia Center is holding their second annual Arts Festival, Adopting Resilience, Fostering the Spirit of Creativity: The Voices of the Fostered and Adopted.

The non-profit organization is featuring the work of diverse artists in a wide range of mediums; along with the art exhibition, performances, readings, workshops, children’s activities, and an artist’s panel are all part of the event.

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The artists participating were encouraged to explore their personal experiences as individuals who were adopted and/or in foster care. They’re offering experiences in musical, performance, and visual arts, as well as in the healing arts.

The event will be held at the Highways Performance Space,  a co-presenter of the festival in partnership with Celia Center. The opening reception is scheduled for 6 – 8 p.m. on the 12th. The art exhibition will be viewable through April 28th.

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The LA-based, non-profit Celia Center was founded in 2012 by Jeanette Yoffe, a child therapist with a special focus on adoption and foster care issues. Inspired by her own experiences in the foster care system and through the adoption process, Yoffe also had a strong desire to merge her previous career in the arts as a dancer and actress with her activism.

The center provides workshops, salon support groups, and other events throughout the year, supporting and uniting those who’ve worked their way through adoption and foster care.

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Joffe (left) will be one of the performers at the Celia Center Arts Festival. Other highlights of the weekend event include a writing workshop, and a celebrity book reading for children with track athlete Steven Benedict (right); the opening reception is focused on the CCAF’s visual art group exhibition, curated by Nicole Rademacher (middle image), herself both an artist and an adoptee.

Attendees will have the opportunity to hear evening performances at 8 p.m. both nights of Voices from the Past to Present, a 90-minute presentation of narrative, poetry, spoken word, and theater pieces assembled by actor and playwright Brian Stanton; the event will also include Yoffe’s performance from her own play, What’s Your Name, Who’s Your Daddy. The play recounts her experiences in foster care and adoption by a New York Jewish family, a work which inspired Yoffe in her work as a psychotherapist.

Rock Willk

Also featured will be Rock Willk (above), Julayne Lee, and performance artist Kayla Tange; as well as Jerri Allyn, reading a letter written to the biological son that she found. The event will additionally include a reading from Susan Harris O’Connor, writer of a seminal autobiographical book, The Harris Narratives: An Introspective Study of a Trans-racial Adoptee.

A writing arts workshop will also take place at 4 p.m. on Saturday. Both this workshop, Writing the Unsaid, and the evening performances require purchased ticketing; tickets are available at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/celia-center-arts-festival-2019-tickets-51995221106

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Free programming at the event includes children’s activities such as face painting from 12 noon – 3 p.m. on Saturday; a celebrity book reading at 1 p.m. from professional track and field athlete and Olympic Trials Qualifier Steven Benedict, a former foster child who has run in some of the world’s most prestigious events.

Event goers can expect to experience VR painting with Google Tilt Brush as well. And for ages four and up, there will be a Healing Arts Table for children in foster care and/or adoption and their families. Free for adults will be an artists panel and Q&A moderated by curator and Highways museum director Rebeca Trawick.

For more information, visit https://www.celiacenterartsfestival.org/

Highways Performance Space is located at 1651 18th Street, Santa Monica, CA, 90404

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  • Genie Davis; images provided by Celia Center Arts Festival

Borderless at Gabba Gallery Transcends Geographic Boundaries

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Mikael Persbrandt – “Restauranten,” above

For the second installment of Gabba Gallery’s international series, Borderless, three Scandinavian artists represented by Norway’s Gallery Art Oslo are coming to Los Angeles.

The three are Ari Behn, Espen Eiborg, and Mikael Persbrandt, each both popular and highly regarded in Scandinavia. The exhibition opens March 23rd and runs through April 6th.

Behn is well-known in Norway and Denmark not only as an artist but through his best-selling collection of short stories, Sad as Hell, and a national television series, Ari and Per. His rich palette and sometimes whimsical figurative work is highly narrative. Vibrant pieces each tell a complex and highly emotional story, as with his work “The Crossing,” below.

Ari Behn - The Crossing

Behn describes the piece as depicting an “opening to other worlds, and new, great experiences.” Reflecting passages in our lives, the final passage here takes us from birth to death, the work revealing his belief that experiences of transition “make miracles possible…” In this work, beneath a darkening sunset sky, a green explosion flies, labeled “Boom,” small nude human figures  – one of which may represent a Christ-like figure – fall beneath a blue river into a strange new pink, a lustrous glowing shade enveloping them, infusing their demise with hope.

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Ari Behn,  “Swinging London,” above

An inveterate traveler, Behn’s “Swinging London” pays homage to a city he clearly loves. Written in bold black letters on the vividly colorful surface of the work are the words “My Dear Swingin’ London Revisited” and “With Love.” The iconic “Be Calm and…” signage is posted with the classic phrase “and Carry On,” among beautifully rendered post-card-like images of the Tower of London and the Bombay Bicycle Club. There is a melancholic air to some of Behn’s work, which may fit with the well-known story of his marriage to and divorce from princess Martha Louise of Norway. From his palette to his expressive mix of figurative and abstract work, Behn offers a riveting visual story.

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Espen Eiborg, “Once Bitten Twice Shy,” above 

Also from Norway, Eiborg draws viewers into a world where imagination and reality mix and merge, a day-dream of art, that is both complex and passionate, infused with a sense of happiness as well as with an ever-present awareness of darker human deeds. His mediums are varied, using acrylic and oil paints, oil crayons, spray paint, tar, and glue, working with both brush and palette knife. The artist also enhances and contrasts his images with a thick glaze from industrial varnish. In “Once Bitten, Twice Shy,” Eiborg gives us a Storm Trooper from the Star Wars universe, a tiger, a gorgeous rose, beautiful women, and a lightning bolt. All are stand-out images that fuse together into a mysterious, evocative, and somehow boldly familiar place.

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“Red Hat Kate,” by Espen Eiborg, above

According to Eiborg, “When a painting reaches a critical point, I see it as being in harmony and at rest after a long journey, barren and aged with the poetry of travel. It pays homage to water, earth, sky, wind and fire, the elements from which it originated.”

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Mikael Persbrandt, “Bacon,” above

Swedish artist Mikael Persbrandt, is, like Behn, also an actor. Trained at Stockholm’s College for Artistic Education, his art and film career have paralleled in Scandinavia, starring in Susanne Bier’s Academy Award-winning In a Better World, and as one of the lead characters in the Netflix series Sex Education. In a solo exhibition of his art at the Gallery Sandgrunn, 80,000 visitors poured through the door to see his intense mixture of figurative and abstract expression, which though very different from Behn’s work, offers another fascinating and depth-filled perspective that blends these two approaches.

The haunting central blue figure in “Bacon” is both everyman, demon, and ghost; yellow lines around the chair in which the figure sits resemble the sides of a four-dimensional cube, or tesseract. The long horn cattle in an apparent stampede in “RUUS II,” seem to have arisen from a different dimension, a wonderfully eliptical web of sky and dust.

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RUUS II by Mikael Persbrandt, above

This isn’t the first time the three artists have been paired together: in fact, their work has been shown in over 60 international galleries since 2017.

Gallery Art Oslo partners Kenneth Stensholt and Einar A. Lund have worked with these artists for more than two years, Lund relates. For the show at Gabba Gallery the trio of artists seemed an exciting fit. “They all have a unique, honest, and expressive artistic language which I liked. They go beneath the surface and explore both their own emotional life and inner lives of others. They are not afraid of exposing themselves or their own lives,” Lund asserts.

He adds “For a long time I have admired Mikael Persbrandt, who is not only one of the most famous and merited theater and film actors in Scandinavia, but who is also a great painter. Very few are aware of the fact that he was a painter prior to being an actor.”

As to Behn, Lund explains that the artist’s divorce “resulted in a series of self-reflective, colorful, expressive paintings, for which he has achieved great recognition,” which Lund deeply admires. Behn’s open expression of coping with depression through his artwork was and remains profoundly affecting.

Espen Eiborg - Exploited

Epson Eiborg, “Exploited,” above

About Eiborg, Lund notes “His pop art has been popular in Norway. When he lived in New York, he sold works to, among others, Robert Redford, Sean Penn, Oprah Winfrey, Dolce Gabbana, Jennifer Lopez and David Bowie.” In a truly meta moment, during the exhibition’s opening March 23rd, Eiborg will paint a portrait of an invited celebrity. To find out who – you’ll have to attend.

Lund says he hopes he can continue to work with Gabba curators Jason Ostro and Elena Jacobson, who introduced the Borderless series in April 2018 with art from Latin America. Their goal: to connect Los Angeles with a different part of the world through the language of art. With Borderless: Scandinavia, they continue to do just that.

Gabba Gallery is located at 3126 Beverly Blvd. in Los Angeles. The exhibition opening runs from 7-11 p.m., March 23rd.  For more information, visit https://www.gabbagallery.com/