Table at Third & Fairfax is a weekly dining column in 2023 where Food and Drink editor Patricia Kelly Yeo will eat her way through the Original Farmers Market. Each column will drop on Thursday for a week-by-week recap of her journey through the classic L.A. tourist attraction. Last week, Kelly visited Patsy D’Amore’s.
I’ll be honest: There are just a handful of places for me to revisit before 2023 is over, and I’m desperately looking for different, service-worthy ways to keep this column going until the end of the year as I juggle revisiting places for Time Out’s annual Best New Restaurants list and work diligently towards putting together a definitive guide to the best fried chicken in L.A. As always, I’m also ensuring our best restaurant guide remains relevant and up to date. Naturally, all of these things require money, so I’ve also been cutting back on my expenditures for Table at Third & Fairfax. This week, I revisited Michelina Artisan Boulanger for a quick, relatively inexpensive sandwich lunch, even though I found their eclairs lacking when I bought a couple in July.
When I grab a stool at the counter on Wednesday morning, the glass counter is full of pastries, loaves of bread and other confections. As appealing as they look, I know they’re expensive (and, based on their eclairs, not necessarily good), so I bypass the thought of a croissant in favor of Michelina’s breakfast and lunch menu, which includes omelettes, salads, tartines, sandwiches and eggs Benedict. I try to ask for an iced latte with an alternative non-dairy milk, only to be told they only have whole milk in stock. In this day and age, particularly in Los Angeles, it’s ridiculous to not have any lactose-free alternatives, so I forgo a drink and settle on only the Le Parisien ($19), which consists of Brie, ham and butter on a baguette.
Within a few minutes, I’m biting into a thick slice of Brie with tendrils of delicate ham. As much as it pains me to admit it, after having such a bad experience with their patisserie, the pale baguette is delicious. I’ve tried almost a hundred sandwiches this year while attempting to exhaustively update our guide to L.A.’s best sandwich shops, and while Michelina’s wouldn’t make the list, it’s a tasty and worthwhile bite for folks craving a French-style sandwich. The boulanger-patissier doesn’t skimp on fillings either, which I appreciate. Before leaving, I make a mental note to try at least two more items before this column wraps at the end of December.
Meals from Table at Third & Fairfax fall into three categories: Skip It, Worth Trying and Must Have.
Vendor: Michelina Artisan Boulanger
Order: Le Parisien (Brie, ham, butter on baguette)
Verdict: Worth Trying. While we don’t love Michelina’s pastries, the sandwiches are a solid choice for lunch.