Venice Services

Somehow, Chilean chef Juan Ferreiro intuits exactly what we want to eat. Prepandemic, this involved light, hyperseasonal, fresh fare like smoothies and farm-to-table grain bowls. Now, from the confines of home, we’re craving California-style comfort food—healthy with a dash of indulgence. Ferreiro’s lamb kofta doused in zingy tzatziki and crunchy herb salad, crispy chicken sandwiches with pickles and secret sauce, and the heartiest breakfast burrito laced with roasted salsa and Oaxacan cheese are…as absolutely perfect as they sound. Order online for delivery or curbside pickup.

Chef Evan Funke’s crispy-on-the-outside, pillowy-on-the-inside sfincione (Sicilian focaccia) is justifiably famous around town. And then there are the silky, saucy plates of pasta. Funke and the Felix team have adapted to the current environment by deconstructing their signature pasta dishes for assembly at home. Order fresh pasta kits (we’re partial to pappardelle with Bolognese ragu and the simple rigatoni pomodoro) and cook them yourself at home. Or if you want to get through the cartons of dried pasta you’ve probably accumulated in recent weeks, order pints of Felix’s sauces without the pasta for your refrigerator, plus a sfincione to mop up every last morsel of sauce. If you really can't handle the thought of cooking, well...anything, order the polpette as an antipasto and the tonarelli cacio e pepe to follow. Cocktail kits (choose the mezcal negroni—just do it), wine, and beer are also available to go with your order.

If you’re going to open a flower company, you might call it something sweet and whimsical. If you’re going to open a flower company with wit and irreverence, you might call it Pigsty. Which is exactly what Hope Sword did. Sword’s wild and free-flowing florals have accented many of goop's haunts in California, including Little Prince and Jenni Kayne. When this Venice-based doyenne’s not tucking in a Malibu/Santa Barbara/Palm Springs wedding tent, she’s sprinkling her zero-waste bouquets in the windows, tables, and rafters of local eateries and boutiques. (You can also stock up on Pigsty’s sleeves of blooms at the Butcher’s Daughter, the Waterfront Café, Rainbow Acres, and more—weekly.) And when she’s doing none of the above, she’s usually foraging the California hills for grasses, poppies, passionfruit vines—anything green, wild, and beautiful. Sword's arrangements are nontraditional—imagine mashups of dahlias, garden roses, protea, ranunculus. And they're so rich with shape and quirky personality, you may catch yourself waving back at one of the hand-shaped leaves in her bouquets. She's hyperattentive to detail but also flexible when working with clients. After all, it takes a certain level of vision…

For kiddie birthdays, Venice Beach-based Fire and Creme’s party boxes are nothing short of life changing. Choose from tableware, decoration, and goodie bag boxes (or just pick up all three and save yourself a headache), all of which fit a certain theme—Cowboy Wanted, Gone Surfing, and Party Like a Gypsy are standouts. For extra brownie points with the littles, check out the dress-up section.