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Over the past weekend, Brentwood restaurant / market Farmshop held an open house for the community, and since I’m never one to turn down casual grazing and free samples, I happily trekked over to the West Side for the event. I’d never been to Farmshop before, and I can say with authority that walking inside its well-heeled doors felt like stepping into an episode of Giada at Home (minus all the rampant awfulness).

Yes, Farmshop is the place where former yuppies turned middle-aged homebodies go to drool. There’s plenty of upmarket food porn on display: vibrantly colored cauliflower, charcuterie as far as the eye can see, and the sort of cheeses that would make Ina Garten faint with joy. Clearly, this is not the place for bargain shoppers to find a deal.

However, while I may not be able to make Farmshop a weekly grocery stop, there’s nothing wrong with ogling at the goods. After the jump, check out some savory images from the event…

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I’m already very enthused based on the sophisticated font on the sign.

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Wines, cheese, and meats! Oh my!

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The crowd consisted of mostly middle-aged women with a few men thrown in for good measure. The food seemed to have everyone in a trance. This often worked against me as I found myself routinely cut-off by fussy ladies who absolutely NEEDED to walk in front of me, then STOP, then turn around, then scan the room for their friend, and then ask — to no one in particular — “Where is she??” Quite bothersome.

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Offerings from LA Creamery. Tasty, particularly the salted caramel on the left. Mashti Malone’s is still the best ice cream in the city though.

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Chocolates! As you can imagine, I grazed here multiple times.

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A lady serving wine.

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A lady serving cheese and various fruity items.

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A wide variety of salts. I tried three of them: the white truffle salt (yum), the black truffle salt (yum x 2), and the ghost pepper salt (hot!). The good news was that I had a cup of water (foreground) to wash it down. The bad news was that it was almond water and was just about the nastiest thing I’d had in a few months.

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More meats and cheeses!

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Charcuterie. I may have taken a sample or four.

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Colorful produce.

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I was not aware that rainbow cauliflower existed. Now I know.

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Nothing like chanterelles (misspelled above) to get my salivation on.

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And now the pastry case.

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Crazy-ass meringues. They look like alien garlic bulbs. (I’m sure Farmshop LOVES that description).

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Valentine’s cookies. Who will I give mine to? Probably my ice cream maker as it’s the only thing I seem to be in love with these days.

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Finally, a coffee station courtesy of LAMILL Coffee.

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I’m oddly fascinated by this setup.

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Foaminess, etc.

And that was basically it. To check out Farmshop with your own eyes, here’s the info:

Farmshop
225 26th St, Ste 25
Santa Monica, CA 90402
(310) 566-2400
farmshopla.com

3 replies on “Scenes from Farmshop’s Open House”

  1. I hate being randomly cut off by people like that (most often women)- and worse yet is after scanning for said friend and being generally oblivious that anyone else anywhere would want to move in the general vicinity they are blocking, they then take the last of whatever it was I was going for and wander aimlessly off to block other aisles/areas. Feh.

  2. Am I the only one who wishes they had a baker with better handwriting? Those cookies LOOKED delish, but the writing on them made them kinda bleah.

    B, next time you’re in a place with those annoying women who stop in front of you, make sure you have a crusty baguette of french bread in your handbasket and use it as a prod to make them move along. 😉

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