A Brand New Daytime Cafe Arrives in Sleepy West Adams

Coffee bar and restaurant Highly Likely opened in West Adams this week on Jefferson between La Brea and Buckingham. The cafe wants to introduce its fare to longtime residents, as well as the current influx of businesses that moved into West Adams from the Westside.

Highly Likely is unique to the neighborhood, as most adjacent restaurants serve food but don’t offer interior seating. Former private chef Kat Turner created the cafe’s easy breakfast and lunch menu, which includes a grass-fed burger, Japanese breakfast bowl, seasonal soups and salads, burritos, and sandwiches. Highly Likely churns out espresso drinks and horchata chai lattes, as well as a Japanese green tea lemonade combination a la Arnold Palmer. With eventual city approval, Highly Likely will add a beer and wine menu.

When husband and wife Alex Matthews (CEO of Juice Served Here) and Chelsea Matthews of branding and marketing agency Matte Black moved into West Adams in late 2016, they longed for a walkable cafe. The couple partnered with Gracias Madre’s Cary Mosier, and rebuilt a former furniture store into Highly Likely.

The Matthews know and love West Adams’ institutions like Harold & Belle’s and Mel’s Fish Shack. “We’ve been humbled by the amount of turnout with little awareness of it being open,” says Chelsea Matthews. “This is Kat’s first foray as a restaurant chef, with a great community that wants to try her food. If you follow her Instagram stories, she’s fun and lively and fits with the quirkiness of Highly Likely.”

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