Jonathan Gold Reviews Sqirl, A "Sort-of Cafe"

This week Jonathan Gold files on Sqirl, a "sort-of cafe" run by jamstress Jessica Koslow in Silver Lake. It's not the most comfortable place, but if you can endure the line and cramped interior, the toast is worth the wait:

But if you enjoy chaos as much as you do toast smeared with chocolate ganache and almond-hazelnut butter; toast with poached egg, lemon zest and cream; toast served with quince paste and transparent slices of prosciutto; or toast crowned with fried egg and greens, Sqirl may well be your favorite place in the city — as dedicated to eggs and green vegetables as Animal is to dangling bits of swine.

B-Rod files thinkage on Spago and is pleased with the restaurant's redesign and new menu: "It's mind-boggling how many different corners of the globe this kitchen manages to touch on. It's even crazier that it manages to do justice to every single type of cuisine it attempts ... From the Thai-tinged coconut, peanut and ginger in an amuse of carrot soup to the Indonesian flavors on a delicate barbecued stingray and beyond, there's no doubt Spago's menu has become more Asian than ever, and with fantastic results. But the simple excellence of this kitchen's pasta is hard to beat — the piping hot, smooth, sweet interior of the pumpkin agnolotti; the rich yellow yolk running out of a single, giant uova da raviolo, served carbonara-style with smoked bacon. [LAW]

The Elsewhere: Consuming LA frequents 101 Noodle Express, e*star LA discusses Urban Garden, Eat: LA hits El Taurino, Gastronomy visits Surati Farsan Mart, kevinEats at CUT, and A Hamburger Today talks U-Mini.