food + lab + dogs + sammiches = lunch

having a dog is awesome. if he is anything like charlie, he will take his fetch toy and ram it into your legs to indicate to you that he wants to play (you may get bruises from that), he may pee on your telephone because he has yet to master the art of holding it in, and maybe, just MAYBE, if you're lucky, your dog will have a penchant for jumping up and hitting your crotch with his nose because he is so excited to see you. my little charlie does all of the above. lucky you say? you betcha.

having a dog is also restrictive. you can't leave them home too long during the work day and making plans for vaykay better include your little fur love or at least a place to house him while you're away. eating out with a doggy in tow means places with patios only...and of course dog friendly places since i can't imagine the ivy which i think has a patio would be dog friendly...other than for celebrity dawgs.

anyways, after buying baked goods at the "eat my blog" bake sale, with sook's dog cooper in tow and my charlie and hanh, marie, jessica, and our dog walking friends, we stopped by food + lab for some grubbin'. it's a teeny place chalked full of olives and pickles and things that have been marinating in salt and vinegar for a luxuriously long time. somewhere in all that was my lunch.

the back patio area was big enough for our dogs to have a field day sniffing out crumbs. it also made for a chillaxin environment to grub on for us hongry eaters. i can imagine it being pretty perfect during a summer day when summer ever comes back again...oh, how is miss you so!

i ordered their prosciutto sammich with ricotta and fig, hugged between two sweet slices of raisin walnut bread ($10.50). though pretty to look at, it wasn't tasty to me at all. i thought the sweetness of the raisins and figs overpowered the prosciutto which made the sammich more of a dessert sammich than a savory one. i did not expect that, and theref0re, it did not agree with me belly. i did not finish my 1/2 of the sammich.

the side of greek salad ($2.50) was tasty though and pretty to look at. ok, maybe i looked at it for 2 seconds before i devoured it. chomp!

my friend got the grilled chicken with avocado, sun dried tomatoes, and queso blanco on ciabatta bread ($9.50). that was a far superior sammich to mine. a good, satisfying sammich with just the right amount of tang from the sun dried tomatoes. i'm glad we made the exchange before either one tasted our own respective choices because i'm not sure i would have gotten a 1/2 of this baby.

the whole lunch ended on a silly note of having an under $20, 99 cent store challenge (ahem). the meters were also calling us back to our cars. anyways, weho is so close, yet so far for me. although i may not make a special trip out here just to eat these sammiches at food + lab, it is a good choice for an easy chillaxin lunch with your dog. i believe charlie was able to find some cat poo to nibble on as we munched our lunch.

Food + Lab Cafe and Marketplace
7253 Santa Monica Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90046
(323) 851-7120
www.foodlabcatering.com/cafe.html

price: $$
verdict: it's aight