Highland Park's food identity is pastrami on double-baked rye, huaraches the size of a sandal, tacos on blue corn tortillas and pizza by the slice. It is a heavy neighbourhood, and enjoyably so. The green layer exists, it is genuinely good, and it operates on a schedule that will catch you out: the best of it closes at three in the afternoon, which is exactly when someone who has been walking York Boulevard all day starts thinking about a salad.
The good bowls here stop mid-afternoon while the delis run into the evening, so the same craving at 2pm and 4pm has completely different answers. Tell Karpo the time and it will only show you what is still serving.
The one that closes at three
Kitchen Mouse Cafe is the neighbourhood's anchor for this, and it runs 8am to 3pm daily. The menu is built for gluten-free, vegetarian and vegan eating without being restricted to it — toasts, pancakes, tacos, bowls and sandwiches, made with organic ingredients.
Three things to order. The quinoa bowl is quinoa with roasted vegetables and tahini, which is the straightforward version. The buffalo bowl is brown rice, black beans, collards, yams, a dill-cashew sauce and buffalo sauce, which is considerably more interesting and the reason people come back. The kale Caesar uses a vegan dressing with croutons and is the closest thing here to a conventional salad.
The 3pm close is the single most important fact on this page. This is a breakfast-and-lunch room, not an all-day café, and arriving at half past three means the category has closed for the day.
The plant-based deli, which runs later
Maciel's Plant-Based Butcher & Deli at 5933 York Boulevard makes its own plant-based meats in house and does dairy-free cheese. Most sandwiches run around fifteen dollars, and the Classic Italian — meat-free salami and pastrami, pepperoncini, cherry pepper spread — is the one to order.
It is not a salad shop and that is precisely why it belongs here: it is the address that solves the same problem after Kitchen Mouse has shut. A sandwich built on plant-based ingredients is a different proposition from a bowl of leaves, but it answers the same question, and it does it at five in the afternoon.
Working the rest of the neighbourhood
There is a technique for eating lightly in a heavy neighbourhood, and it is ordering sideways rather than looking for a dedicated place. Joy On York at 5100 York Boulevard is order-at-the-counter Taiwanese with almost everything under fifteen dollars — vegetable-forward dishes are on the menu and the turnaround is well under half an hour. Highly Likely at 5526 North Figueroa Street is an all-day café with a backyard patio that shifts into dinner service after 5pm, running from 8am to 9pm Monday through Thursday, 8am to 10pm Friday and Saturday, and 8am to 9pm Sunday — the longest hours of anywhere useful on this list.
Cafe Birdie is the sit-down option with a seasonal menu, Art Deco finishes and a craft cocktail list, which makes it the right room when the salad is dinner rather than a repair job.
The two-street problem, again
As with everything in Highland Park, decide which street you are on first. York Boulevard is the walkable strip and holds Maciel's and Joy On York; North Figueroa sits on the old Route 66 alignment with the larger rooms, including Highly Likely. The drive between them is short and the walk is not, and getting this wrong is the standard way an hour disappears here.
Choosing
Before 3pm, and you want an actual bowl: Kitchen Mouse. After 3pm, and you want something light: Maciel's on York. Cheap, fast and vegetable-forward: Joy On York. Late afternoon into evening, sitting outside: Highly Likely on Figueroa. Dinner where the salad is the starter rather than the point: Cafe Birdie.
Practical notes
Addresses: Maciel's Plant-Based Butcher & Deli 5933 York Blvd; Joy On York 5100 York Blvd; Highly Likely 5526 N Figueroa St. Kitchen Mouse Cafe runs 8am to 3pm daily. Highly Likely runs 8am–9pm Monday to Thursday, 8am–10pm Friday and Saturday, and 8am–9pm Sunday, with café service shifting to sit-down dinner after 5pm. Parking is metered street on both strips and tighter on York around midday. The Metro A Line stops at Highland Park station, which puts the Figueroa addresses within an easy walk.
Tags: #SaladNearMe #HighlandPark #LosAngeles #KitchenMouse #Maciels #YorkBlvd #NortheastLA #NELA #Vegan #GrainBowls #HealthyEating #CoffeeAndDessert #LAEats #Figueroa
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Ask Karpo first
The best bowls in Highland Park stop at three while the delis run to the evening, so the same question has two different answers an hour apart. Ask Karpo what is still open right now, which street it is on, and what to order sideways if the green places have already shut.
