Origin Story, 2020 Barranca St, Los Angeles (Lincoln Heights), CA 90031
Origin Story opened earlier this year on the bottom floor of a new high rise apartment building in Lincoln Heights. It’s a small coffeehouse/café with no indoor seating, La Colombe coffee, Bread Lounge bread and pastries, and a menu of breakfast, toasts, bagels, hot and cold sandwiches, paninis, and salads.
The pastry case had many options from Bread Lounge, like danishes, muffins, croissants, bagels, and scones. They even had some gluten-free and vegan options. The cold case had beverages, cold sandwiches, and granola parfait cups.
Shakshuka ($13): 2 poached eggs in a tomato and red pepper stew with sumac and a crusty white roll. The menu said it came with ½ a baguette but I didn’t receive a baguette (maybe they ran out?). Anyway, I liked the warm white roll. It was light and chewy, with a slightly crispy exterior. Great for dipping into the chunky tomato and pepper stew and the egg yolks (yes, the eggs had runny yolks). Nice shakshuka – the stew had a little bit of spicy heat. The roll was big, so it was quite filling.
Flat white ($5): a small drink, good ratio of milk foam to espresso, strong but bitter. It’s nice that they let you choose between light and dark roast but I chose light roast and it was darker than I expected. Not a fan of La Colombe. No foam art.
Parking is surprisingly tough on this residential street. It’s right off the I-5, so you can hear the freeway traffic. There’s free wi-fi and a nice outdoor patio (not covered) with chairs and tables. I saw a few laptop campers but not many – it feels like the kind of place mostly locals would know about since it’s on a quiet street. They do have a rewards program.
4 out of 5 stars
By Lolia S.
