Increasingly, part of the contemporary travel experience has become booking a hotel with a kitchen or kitchenette. With a cooking space, hotel guests can whip up easy meals featuring locally sourced ingredients while also saving money on dining out, allowing them to splurge on other activities.
Few places are better suited for this than California, and especially the state’s largest city, Los Angeles. California grows many of America’s fruits and vegetables, and what’s more, if you’re staying at a hotel room with a kitchen in Los Angeles, then you have direct access to farm-fresh produce and more. Below, see a few of the best grocery stores in Los Angeles.
Grand Central Market
Part food hall and part open-air market, Grand Central Market, located in downtown Los Angeles, is the best of all worlds. After a major expansion and renovation a few years ago, Grand Central Market was named one of the best new eateries in America by Bon Appétit.
Lined with taquerias, pupuserías, popular ice-cream shops, a juicery and a brewery, Grand Central Market also has bakeries, a couple of different markets with fresh produce, a butcher shop and a Latin dry goods vendor.
Your in-room recommendation: Grab a taco from Tacos Tumbras a Tomas, a sandwich from Egg Slut or sticky rice at the aptly named Sticky Rice before grabbing some fresh bread and other foods to take back and enjoy at your hotel.
Grow
With locations in Manhattan Beach and downtown Los Angeles, Grow takes the concept of an organic grocery store but pares it down to the essentials — featuring meat, seafood, cheese, and fresh fruit and vegetables inside a small shop.
Starting as a mere cherry stand, it’s grown (see what we did there?) to two locations, featuring partners they’ve sourced locally and regionally. Additionally, they offer Los Angeles grocery delivery — even to your hotel.
Grow’s delivery hours are Monday through Saturday, with deliveries arriving by 7 a.m. when you order by midnight the day before. Enter the zip code of your hotel on Grow’s home page to find out if they deliver to you.
Nijiya Market
One of the many great things about Los Angeles is the influence of international cuisine on the food circuit, including Japanese. Los Angeles is home to one of the largest Japanese populations in America, which results in great Japanese restaurants and markets throughout the city, including Nijiya.
This market has multiple locations, including one in Little Tokyo, near downtown Los Angeles, and in Torrance, just a few miles from LAX. At Nijiya, you can pick up prepared items, like sushi and bento boxes, but also fruit and vegetables, rice, ramen and a wide variety of Japanese products to cook in your Los Angeles hotel.
Elsewhere, there’s Marukai, which has multiple locations across the city, and Mitsuwa Marketplace, which is part Japanese market and part Japanese food court, near Santa Monica.
Sorrento Italian Market
Why go out for an expensive Italian meal in Los Angeles when you can cook one from the comfort of your hotel using ingredients from an authentic shop like Sorrento Italian Market?
The market, located just a few miles from LAX, in Culver City, is a family-owned Italian market with a 50-year history. Here you can pick up everything from fresh-baked bread to gourmet pasta imported from Italy and Italian cheese and wine.
If you’re traveling with your family or a large group, you can also have items like lasagna, meatballs, ravioli and sandwiches prepared for pick-up.
Continental Gourmet Hawthorne
Continuing with the international theme is Continental Gourmet Hawthorne. Latin American influences are strong in Los Angeles, and Continental Gourmet delivers them in spades.
While the space, located in Hawthorne near LAX (with another location further south in Lomita), is known for its empanadas, it also has a market and butcher and sells imported South American groceries. Continental’s South American–inspired bakery is also a must. Don’t leave without an order of alfajores, which are South American cookies filled with dulce de leche — yum!
Local Farmers Markets
Finally, there are a number of local farmers markets throughout Los Angeles. Generally speaking, you can find a farmers market taking place on just about any day at just about any time throughout Los Angeles, year-round.
One of the best ways to find L.A. farmers markets near you is to consult the Los Angeles Almanac, which lists all of the certified farmers markets in Los Angeles, in order by city, and with days and times for each. Among the best markets are those in Santa Monica (near the Third Street Promenade), Mar Vista, Brentwood, Hollywood and Beverly Hills.
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