For me, it’s been inconvenient to drive through the stretch of Santa Monica Blvd that goes through Century City since it was besieged by the most puzzling display of interminable construction imaginable — I’d never seen a u-turn light before, or needed one so often. But for the businesses that have been largely cut off from that main artery of traffic, it must be devastating. It seems like their only way to remind the world that they still exist is the wild array of signs on the side of the blvd.

I’ve been concerned about Clementine ever since the construction began. I used to work nearby, and walk across Santa Monica Blvd to get there for lunch most days (after using the morning to check their daily specials and plan my meal). That route has long been cut off by the construction, and they’re barely on a functioning road anymore. How can a business survive if customers can’t get to it?

We went there for lunch a few Saturdays ago, and I was happy to see that it was bustling with customers. I think it gets a good local traffic, and I hope that enough food-lovers brave the orange cones and arrows to find their way there.

Clementine is something of a gourmet cafe, with sandwiches, soups, salads, take home meals, and baked goods. The owner, Annie Miler, has worked at Campanile, and she keeps the grilled cheese traditional alive with annual Grilled Cheese month in April and fantastic sandwiches all year long.

I think what I like so much about Clementine is that everything just looks and tastes so fresh, so homey, so inviting, and so elegant. There’s a certain in-the-know excitement there, and I’ve known people to get positively beautific at the thought of Clementine.

Speaking of that, if you do go, and the Tomato Soup is available, get it… for its smooth, pure essence of tomato (note that the Roasted Tomato Soup is a little different; chunky and smoky). The Banana Bread, baked in its own mini-loaf pan and with walnuts on top, is another favorite. Beyond that, get whatever looks good to you. That’s what we did.

Cold Meatloaf Sandwich with Caramelized Onions, Iceberg Lettuce and Our Special 10,000 Lakes Dressing on Country White Bread. I was afraid that a cold meatloaf sandwich would be too wintry for a lunch on such a hot day, but it turned out to be perfectly refreshing. The meatloaf had a fine texture that approached that of country pate, and the iceberg lettuce and dressing were perky and light. I also liked the bits of cheddar cheese in the meatloaf, and their homemade pickles.

Grilled White Vermont Cheddar on Country White Bread with Bacon and Roasted Tomatoes. A perfect grilled cheese sandwich.

Marble Cake. It’s surprisingly hard to find a simple chocolate cake in bakeries, and this one was perfectly moist and chocolate-y, with a fudgy icing; the kind that seems somehow light, no matter how rich and dense. My culinary school experience tells me that it might be made with shortening — it’s just sooo moist and smooth — but I could just be making that up.

Carrot Cake. Another quintessential version of a classic. It has pineapple in it, and is very moist. I appreciated all the icing, too, even if I didn’t eat it all.

Thumbprint Cookie and Butterscotch Brownie with Walnuts. I was a little leery about the thumbprint cookie whose thumbprint went all the way to the side of the cookie, but that just made that edge wonderfully caramelized from the orange marmalade. Otherwise, its a nicely balanced sweet citrus butter cookie. The Butterscotch Brownie had a nice ever-so-thin crust on top and a molten butterscotch body. Sweet, but the more I ate, the more the caramelized flavor unfolded.

In other news, this was the winner of the 2006 Cheeseball:

Here’s a glimpse at some of their pastries, including scones, banana bread, apricot buns, cupcakes and those brilliant little biscuits with country ham.

And some of their salads.

And they do afternoon tea, which I have not been to… yet.

This entry was posted on Monday, June 19th, 2006 at 6:18 pm and is filed under Bakeries/Pastry Shops, Highly Recommended, Los Angeles, Sampling. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.