Skip the grocery store with these local produce boxes

Los Angeles is a beacon for some of the most colorful and bountiful produce in the country, a city whose farmers’ markets usually include celebrity chefs, tourists and every level of home cook all there to ogle the hand-packed boxes of beets, the bunches of basil, the sheen off a mound of fairy tale eggplant. 

A few of L.A.’s biggest farmers’ markets are still up and running, but if you want to avoid crowds entirely—or your nearby grocery store keeps running out of items—you can still find fresh, local produce, pantry items, meat, seafood and even wine, and it’s already boxed up and ready to go.

All Time

Los Feliz’s café-by-day, full-service-restaurant-by-night is pivoting to offer not only a selection of dried goods and grocery basics, but also a range of “survival kits”: The boxes range in contents and price, with options for wellness teas and brewed concoctions, grocery boxes for pescatarians, meat lovers and vegetarians. There’s even an option that’ll stock your fridge and your wine collection. The market fruit box involves a grab bag of local fresh fruit for $25, while the produce box, at $62, comes packed with whatever’s fresh from the farms (avocados, potatoes, fennel, onions, cabbage, carrots, you name it). Order your box(es) of choice online, then pick up from All Time—or, if you’re in the neighborhood, you could even qualify for delivery.

County Line Harvest

County Line Harvest wasn’t expecting to sell 1,500 of their new community supported agriculture (CSA) boxes in their first week, but desperate times call for great produce. The Thermal- and Petaluma-based operation is now offering Tokyo turnips, mesclun mix, rainbow chard, golden beets and beyond via weekly boxes in a handful of varieties: There’s a family-size box for $40, a smaller box for $25, a box full of produce that’s meant for juicing for $40, and even an option to pay $20 and donate a box to a restaurant worker in need. Simply place your order online, then choose your pickup location, which includes choices of Mar Vista’s Lady and Larder, Echo Park’s Triniti, West Adams’s Highly Likely, Venice’s Gjusta and more. If you’re near Culver City, Rockenwagner Bakery is offering home delivery of these babies; just call 310-577-0747 to find out more.

Jon & Vinny’s

One of the city’s coolest restaurant empires is opening up its produce supply to us all along Fairfax. Jon Shook and Vinny Dotolo now sell two CSA-inspired boxes packed with the kind of produce you see on the menu at Jon & Vinny’s, Animal, Petit Trois and Kismet, including the freshest kale, cauliflower, garlic, citrus, carrots and more from the likes of Coleman Family Farms, Pork and Flowers, and Schaner Family Farms (who’s also doing their own designated CSA box at Lady and Larder). Order by emailing orders@jonandvinnys.com, then pick up at Animal.

Thao Family Farm

Kong Thao’s family-run Fresno farm keeps some of L.A.’s best kitchens stocked, and now you can up your produce game, too. Each $40 box includes “peak-of-the-season” produce that’s all grown, harvested and hand-packed by the Thaos. The items will change weekly, but this week’s box includes the likes of fennel, daikon, Thai shallots, green garlic, Chinese mustard greens, beets, carrots, kale, one pound of Japanese mountain yams and more. To order, email kongthao03@yahoo.com and arrange your pickup—which, by the way, can take place all over the city from multiple restaurant pickup points, including Downtown’s Bar Amá, Culver City’s Roberta’s Pizza, Chinatown’s Highland Park Brewery and Mid-City’s République.