![](https://heysocal.com/wp-content/themes/heymediadev/assets/img/logos/beacon_white.png)
![](https://heysocal.com/wp-content/themes/heymediadev/assets/img/logos/logo-white.png)
Close your eyes. Picture a pesto rice bowl with sheep’s feta and lacto-fermented hot sauce. Seared polenta with spring vegetables and greens. Sounds like a dinner menu, right? In fact, it’s brunch a la Sqirl, the restaurant at the corner of Virgil and Marathon, which has taken the Silver Lake food scene by storm. Despite its small sign on the door, Sqirl has had a giant impact on the way we think about our first meal of the day and it has ushered in a new generation of California cuisine.
The thing about many restaurants is that they live or die by word of mouth. In Sqirl’s case, a constant line out the door and around the corner on the weekends means the restaurant is thriving. Their signature jams have spoiled me so much that I cannot imagine eating anything else in the morning. I am not even going to tell you which flavor I like best for fear that it will sell out. The only upside of waiting in line to get my monthly jar of jam is that it has given me a chance to hear all about the past and future of this place.
Jessica Koslow puts the girl in Sqirl and is ready to confirm or deny all the rumors. I was about to ask her if it’s true the cafe is expanding, but the first thing she did was lead me next door into what will soon be Sqirl Away, a grab-and-go counter and a brilliant solution to the fact that the main restaurant is always packed. Is it true that Sqirl will open a restaurant in New York? “That was true until it wasn’t,” says Jessica. I tell her I always hear that the chef and owner of the restaurant used to be a TV producer. “I only worked in TV for three years—it’s funny that people say that.”
But I did learn about a couple exciting plot twists. In a challenge to the Eastside food snobs who feel some ownership over Sqirl, Jessica will soon be opening a yet-unnamed restaurant on the other side of the 405 with a touch of “Jewish diaspora and cuisine from Morocco and Israel.” And she just published 280 delicious pages called Everything I Want to Eat, in early October. It will be the first cookbook I’ll ever buy because everything that Jessica wants to eat, I probably do too.
Keep up with Sqirl and their upcoming grab-and-go shop, Sqirl Away, by visiting their website here.
We are able to provide high-quality political journalism to you for free thanks to our advertisers. So that you can continue to enjoy HEYSOCAL's in-depth reporting, we ask that you please turn off your ad blocker and come on in, free of charge.
Subscribe to our newsletter for this giveaway and many more. Also, stay in the loop for SoCal news and updates.
Your subscription has been confirmed. You've been added to our list and will hear from us soon.
Your request has been confirmed! We will get in touch with you shortly.
This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.
Essential Cookies should be enabled at all times so that we can save your preferences for cookie settings.
If you disable this cookie, we will not be able to save your preferences. This means that every time you visit this website you will need to enable or disable cookies again.
This website uses Google Analytics to collect anonymous information such as the number of visitors to the site, and the most popular pages.
Keeping this cookie enabled helps us to improve our website.
Please enable Essential Cookies first so that we can save your preferences!
You can find more information about our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy