Lemonade Alley

I live in Mar Vista, which is a great neighborhood if you like to walk. There are great donuts (Spudnuts), a good Campos branch, a pet store and a post office all within walking distance of my house. But this isn’t about my mail or tacos. It’s about lemonade. There are two gourmet shops that recently opened on Venice Blvd. around Grand View: The Curious Palate and Earl’s Gourmet Grub. Both offer pastries, sandwiches, soups with a cool decor and plenty of hipsters with strollers. And they both offer really good lemonade. (As a disclaimer, I should say that I like my lemonade tart – wincingly tart.) The good news is that their varieties are quite different. The Curious Palate has a yummy blue rosemary lemonade and Earl has a cold-busting tasty ginger lemonade. Both are great with a taco or a donut, or a Cake Monkey pop tart that I bought for the way home (from Earl’s).