Recommendations for casual eating places that serve organic meat

[pkts]

I'm looking for places that serve meals with organic meat in a casual environment (preferably "order at the counter types) on the west side or Hollywood area. Added bonus if you can suggest some Thai or Indian! My go to place is Interim Cafe in Santa Monica but would love some variety.

I enjoy Lemonade and GTA but the latter just 'tries' to serve as much organic and local as possible and the former doesn't seem to try at all. My best bets are vegan organic places but I'd like the luxury of ordering meat dishes without the hormones and antibiotics.

Thanks!

[wienermobile]

No counter here but try Paul Martin's in El Segundo. Organic, Sustainable and Local with plates priced mostly between $10 and $22.
http://www.paulmartinsamericanbistro....

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Paul Martin's American Bistro
2361 Rosecrans Avenue, Suite 180, El Segundo, CA 90245

[libra20]

I went on their website. From what I could see, the meat was "natural" or "free range" but not organic.

[libra20]

Akasha has an organic turkey burger. What is GTA?

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Akasha
9543 Culver Blvd, Culver City, CA 90232

[AAQjr]

the new Gjelina Take Away. The G ver of Mozza to go...

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Gjelina
1429 Abbot Kinney Blvd, Venice, CA 90291

[goodhealthgourmet]

places to look into:
Bloom Cafe
O! Burger
Salt's Cure
A Votre Sante
True Food Kitchen

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A Votre Sante
13016 San Vicente Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90049

Salt's Cure
7494 Santa Monica Blvd, West Hollywood, CA 90046

[libra20]

Yes, O! burger has beef and turkey burgers as well as hot dogs. Everything is organic.

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O! burger
8593 Santa Monica Blvd, West Hollywood, CA 90069

[pkts]

Wow, thanks! More suggestions than I could have hoped for!

[goodhealthgourmet]

you're welcome! there are other, more pricy options too, but you specifically asked for "casual" so i didn't bother including them.

[libra20]

I'd love to hear some more options :)

[goodhealthgourmet]

as mentioned by other posters, Inn of the Seventh Ray & Jiraffe.

other possibilities:
- Restaurant 2117
- BOA Steakhouse
- Craft

note: most of the meat at BOA & Craft isn't organic, but BOA does offer an organic NY Strip, and Craft usually has at least one or two organic meats on the menu a a given time - depends on the season and where they're sourcing at the moment.

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Jiraffe Restaurant
502 Santa Monica Blvd., Santa Monica, CA 90401

Restaurant 2117
2117 Sawtelle Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90025

[libra20]

Thank you!!

[goodhealthgourmet]

always happy to help :)

[Ringo Gato]

I don't have a restaurant recommendation but suggest you contact Lindner Bison at
http://www.lindnerbison.com/index.html
I buy their products at my local farmers' market and I believe there is a restaurant in Santa Monica (as well as one in Santa Barbara) that serves their meats. There products are free range, grass fed but probably not certified organic.

Grass fed, free range meats are unlikely to be from animals that had hormones or antibiotics. The organic designation tells you the animals' feed was organic but, more likely than not, they were finished with grains (corn, wheat) and soy which are not part of their normal diet, but they are used because they make the animals fatten up fast. Grains and beans in feed tend to make the cows ill, at which point conventional operations give them drugs (plus the drugs fatten them faster). Grass fed, free range animals don't as a rule, get ill as a group and grow slowly (no hormones).

Grain fed beef, whether organic or factory farmed, have unhealthy characteristics with regard to fat content (too much), fat profile (excess omega-6, deficient omega-3 and no CLA). The cows eat a diet that pushes them into a pro-inflammatory state.

[westsidegal]

ringo,
fwiw, even if the cows are not ill, the "conventional" operations feed them antibiotics at sub-therapeutic dosages just to attain the additional weight gain.

[JudiAU]

Library Alehouse in Santa Monica offers a Lindner Bison burger.

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Library Alehouse
2911 Main St, Santa Monica, CA 90405

[katydid13]

I believe Cheebo (on Sunset) would fit the bill. I've only ever had their pizza, which is tasty, but I can't vouch for anything else on the menu.

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Cheebo
7533 W Sunset Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90046

[Servorg]

Look for local LA restaurants the serve Niman Ranch meat and you will come away with everything you are looking for and more: http://www.nimanranch.com/organic-mea... Some of the places I've seen it are listed below.

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Jiraffe Restaurant
502 Santa Monica Blvd., Santa Monica, CA 90401

Wilshire Restaurant
2454 Wilshire Boulevard, Santa Monica, CA 90404

Urth Caffe
2327 Main St, Santa Monica, CA 90405

Inn of the Seventh Ray
128 Old Topanga Canyon Rd, Topanga, CA 90290

[libra20]

The link you provided for Niman Ranch talks about how their non-organic products compared with actual organic products. While I applaud them for not using hormones or antibiotics and treating their animals well, the reason why I chose only organic meats is that this is the only way to ensure that the animal is not fed any GMO-grain. Even the Niman grass fed beef is finished on grain which being non-organic could very well be GMO. I don't know whether GMO is a concern for the OP, but more and more evidence is coming out regarding it's dangers.

[Servorg]

To be labeled "organic" the animals must consume at least 1/3 of their feed from pasture http://articles.sfgate.com/2010-02-13/news/17875128_1_organic-meat-organic-trade-association-pasture according to this article by SF Gate.Com To say that Niman Ranch meat is finished on GMO grain is not supported by anything I can find. Finally, whether GMO grain presents ANY risk to humans is still being investigated, with very little hard scientific evidence that supports the allegation. But to go another step and say that there are health risks to humans who consume meat from animals that may have been feed GMO grain is simply without foundation.

I think Norman Borlaug, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norman_B... the Nobel prize winning scientist working in the field of agronomy said it best when he was quoted on this subject as follows:

"A good example to illustrate is the case of the common mushroom that most of us like to have with our steak or gravy. There are two [toxins] present in minute quantity. But if you isolate those, like Dr. Ames has, increase the dosage and incorporate it in the feed of rats, it's a beautiful carcinogen. Why don't we get [cancer from eating these mushrooms]? Simple reason is that we don't eat kilos each day of mushrooms. So dosage really makes the toxin or carcinogen. There's no zero risk in the biological world. ... "

[libra20]

Hi Servorg. The following quote is directly off the Niman Ranch website. "Our cattle are provided with ample grazing room, where they are raised on pasture and then finished on grain." Here is the link. This quote is from the first sentence of the second paragraph. http://www.nimanranch.com/beef.aspx Unless grain is organic it most likely contains GMOs since most estimates place over 70% of all non-organic corn as genetically modified and over 90% of soy is genetically modified. Both of these are used in animal feed. So, statistically speaking, it is very likely that the grain being used is GMO.

There are studies regarding GMOs and the dangers, they are not reported as comprehensively because most of the current studies have ties to industry.

[Servorg]

"There are studies regarding GMOs and the dangers, they are not reported as comprehensively because most of the current studies have ties to industry."

Lots of heat on this subject and very little light. And again, I can't find any studies that look even remotely legitimate that purport to show ANY danger to humans from eating an animal after IT (the animal) has consumed GMO grain.

[westsidegal]

servorg,
much of the gmo grain is modified to allow it to survive being exposed to huge amounts of Roundup (organophosphates).
these GMO grains are typically called "Roundup Ready" grains.
"normal" or non-modified grain would die of such exposure levels.
there is ample evidence that Roundup exposure is not beneficial, and, indeed, is harmful to human beings.
nobody is making you or even asking you to eschew Roundup or GMO grains or the meat that results from feeding such grain to animals.
what pkts (the op) WAS asking for, was help in sourcing organic meat, not your take on his/her choice.
also, although, as you state, dosage is very important in terms of a group's exposure to a carcinogen, if YOU are the member of the group that comes up with the disease, at that point the whole dosage argument starts to pale in importance.

[Servorg]

"what pkts (the op) WAS asking for, was help in sourcing organic meat, not your take on his/her choice."

Which I provided in my first reply in this thread. I was then responding to a different poster, "libra20" who seems to believe that there is some possible danger to humans from consuming animals that have (possibly) been fed GMO grain. Is that not clear in the trail of my posts above? Maybe it is time for that visit to the eye doctor after all? ;-D>

[westsidegal]

you're right in that i didn't realize that you were no longer responding to pkts and that you were, in fact, responding to libra20.
apologies on that issue.
fwiw, i do understand, though, why libra20, too, could rationally choose to avoid eating GMO-fed animals.
we all make choices about what health risks we want to take at any given time and how much weight we give to the various risks out there: you, me, libra20, and pkts.

on this board, i try to be respectful of the choices being make by these members.

[pkts]

I think this whole discussion has been wonderfully civil. There's hope for the internet ! I look for organic because it also encapsulates a lack of antibiotics and hormones and that is what is the most important to me. This whole thread has been very informative, thanks!

[JudiAU]

Any soy or corn that is not organic and / or not-GMO should absolutely assumed to be GMO, You can prefer it or not but unless they claim one of those things it is GMO.

[HaroldandMaude]

Sharky's website declares "100% Fresh, Organic and Natural"

[johnnyshungry]

wow Sharky's I'd never heard of them and prob. would have bypassed it for it's chain feel.
Also they so many locations thanks for the tip

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Sharky's
11 W Seaside Way, Long Beach, CA

[JudiAU]

The website requires a closer read as do their menu options. I don't think their claims would hold up with an and/or in that slogan. Some of their items are organic and some of their items are "natural" but clearly not all of it.

[libra20]

Nook Bistro in West LA serves organic chicken.

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Nook Bistro
11628 Santa Monica Blvd Ste 9, Los Angeles, CA 90025

[libra20]

Cafe Carolina in Encino is an Italian restaurant that uses organic chicken for the chicken meatballs and the farfalle

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Cafe Carolina
17934 Ventura Blvd, Encino, CA 91316

[libra20]

I asked at FIG in Santa Monica today and their meat/chicken is usually organic (although it doesn't mention this on the menu).

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Fig
100 Wilshire Blvd, Santa Monica, CA 90401

[Ernie]

Tender Greens

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Tender Greens
6290 Sunset Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90028

[westsidegal]

if the meat at tender greens is organic, they are absolutely NOT making that claim on their website:

<<Our beef comes from grain-fed hormone/antibiotic free cows. Our chickens are raised on the range in Northern California, not in cages. They are nourished with grain instead of hormone-rich feed>>

the beef may be grain-fed, but that doesn't mean it's organic. ) the grain could be GMO grain or grain full of pesticides/herbicides. ). for grain-fed beef to be called 'organic' the grain fed to the cows would need to be organic . . .

[Ernie]

Thanks for the info, but Tender Greens meat is in fact organic. I just called the Culver City location to verify this

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Tender Greens
9523 Culver Blvd, Culver City, CA 90232

[westsidegal]

ernie:
thanks for investigating this.
wonder why they don't say this on their website?
i would think that it would increase their business.
good to know.

[libra20]

They have an article on their blog that discusses the meat they source. It is not technically organic, but the cows are either grass fed or given non-GMO grains, as well as being free from hormones and antibiotics. http://www.tendergreensfood.com/blog/...

[westsidegal]

now i understand.
thank you libra20, for taking the time to investigate this for the rest of us on this board.

[subby]

I just checked out the menu on Tender Greens website, and they provide links to some of their suppliers. Here's what it says about their meat, from Cedar River Farms:

"Distributed brand of USDA Prime and Choice Natural Beef. The brand is owned by Skippack Creek Corporation. Holstein bull calves raised on milk supplemented with colostrum from the time they are chosen after 24 hours of birth. 400 days until harvest. No added growth hormones and no antibiotics within 300 days of harvest. Grain-fed."

Doesn't sound organic to me, in the least.

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Tender Greens
9523 Culver Blvd, Culver City, CA 90232

[JudiAU]

More places will have hormone and antibiotic free and/or grass fed than organic. Organic raises the price tremendously and makes it very difficult for restaurants.

Mizu 121 has a very good natural / organic option. Shabu Shabu on Sawtelle. Plus the organic veg upgrade is actually worth it, really tasty vegetables and an impressive variety.

Clementine uses Niman Ranch for a few dishes and Golden State uses Harris Ranch.

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The Golden State
426 N. Fairfax Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90036

[cant talk...eating]

Cabbage Patch comes to mind. Order at the counter. I really like this place, and have been to the downtown branch several times. Great quality food, nice change of pace from generic fast-food lunch options downtown. Not all the meat is certified, but they spell out what it is on the menu (free-range, no hormones, etc.). Lunch will be around $15 so it's not a taco truck but probably in line with what you're looking for. (so, what's "GTA"??)

[Servorg]

"(so, what's "GTA"??)"

Gjelina Take Away (the dedicated take out arm of Gjelina on Abbot Kinney in Venice).

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Gjelina
1429 Abbot Kinney Blvd, Venice, CA 90291

[tower20]

Check out:
Sauce on Hampton http://sauceonhampton.com/
Curious Palate http://thecuriouspalate.com/
Venice Ale House http://venicealehouse.com/

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The Curious Palate
12034 Venice Boulevard, Mar Vista, CA

[westsidegal]

the website for Sauce on Hampton mentions "grass-fed" meat, but doesn't specify "organic" nor even "grass-finished" meat.

[waterisgood]

Mizu 212 for shabu shabu on Sawtelle, inbetween Santa Monica and Olympic. They also have organic veggies, and most of the seating is counter ordering.