Gjelina Take Away (GTA)

I haven't been addicted to a new place like this in forever....maybe ever.

It's a local place in Venice called Gjelina Take Away otherwise known as GTA.

It's an offshoot of Gjelina, which is right next door.  Gjelina is the brain child of Travis Lett, to read more about him go here: LA Times article.  Gjelina has gotten very popular, lots of press, Bon Appetit recently wrote it up too.  On any given day, and night, there are a dozen people standing outside waiting up to an hour to get a table, inside or outside, patio is very nice, they do have communal tables as well.  Once you get a seat you'll be super happy, great waiters, helpful staff all around, well except the hostesses.  No fun having the hostess job and let's just say they aren't the friendliest gals.

But skip all that, go to GTA, right next door, 

it opens up at 7am and this past weekend I went back three times.  

 Seriously I'm working my way through the menu, even making SB sample a few vittles.

So far my favorite has been the jamon on toast, aka ham on toast.  They smear a bit of tomato on the toast and delicately lay a few nice layers of the best jamon on a crunchy piece of bread.  Today I ate two of them in between sampling the mixed berry turnover.

Also delish is the salmon on crunchy toast with capers, peppers and a nice hard-boiled egg on top.  Over the weekend we tried the egg breakfast sandwich,  this was good, with Gruyere, bacon, kale, and tomatoes, very messy, the kale was nutritious but hard to bite in and the whole leaf came out at once, but worth a try.

The biscuits and jam make my friend C think of her grandmother's biscuit.  Their smeared with butter and strawberry jam.  No latte's here, but you can get a Cordona or Cortona, what is it with L.A. and our coffee names.  It's basically a very small cup of double espresso with a bit of milk.  I personally LOVE it, strong and just the right amount of cream.  C thinks it needs more milk, so it's really your preference.

Next up, an evening trying out the pizza's.  I love the ones next door and they have a wood-burning oven here too.  A co-worker was a bit disappointed by the pizza's initially as they were undercooked in the middle, but that was a few weeks into their opening, so hopefully they've figured this out.

Drop by and hang out with all the hipster parents and their pets for a quick, Italian style breakfast.  Makes me think of running into a cafe in the other Venice, Italy that is, to get a cappuccino in the early morning.

Gjelina Take Away (GTA)
1429 Abbot Kinney
Venice Beach, CA 90291