Cube Cafe In The Afternoon

The time between 2-5pm is usually when when restaurant employees eat or when the lunch shift goes home, but before the dinner shift begins, so finding a good place to eat during these hours can be a challenge.

Thankfully, Cube Cafe is open all day and serves up a varied menu from small bites to full plates until 11:30pm. I met some friends for a 3:30pm meal and was surprised to find the restaurant was half full in the middle of the afternoon! I guess we weren't the only ones who eat at "odd" times.

Still or sparkling triple filtered water is offered gratis to all tables, and it tasted as clean and fresh as any bottled water. They offer teas, coffees, and wines, and house made limonata and aranciata (lemon and orange sparkling sodas). We were offered a taster plate to start with Nicasio cheese and candied pecans that was an unusual combination of pungent cheese with sweet crunch that worked perfectly together.

I chose the Charred Baby Romaine with olive oil croutons, shaved red cow parmesan, cherry tomatoes, anchovy vinaigrette for $10 that had enough anchovy to make me happy. This was a nice light bite for anyone who wants something green and fresh with some flavor.

I also had the Braised Baby Octopus, served with charred radicchio, cipollini onion marmelata for $8. I loved the accompaniments and the baby octopus was tender, my only note would be that some of the octopus was not as tender as other pieces, but overall the flavors were well balanced.

Kerry ordered the Margherita pizza and was shocked that it was so big (about 18" x 12"). Made with buffalo mozzarella, basil for $13, this passed Kerry's pizza taste test (she is a Margherita expert) and she loved the thin crust.

Marian chose the Italian tuna paninni with basil pesto, market tomato, and an argula salad as her included side for $12. She was thrilled with the basil pesto accent to the rich tuna,

Brendan chose the Piedmontese burger for $15 with blue cheese, charred shallots, heirloom tomato, arugula. He is a burger aficionado, so his thumbs up was a good sign. He became addicted to the home made ketchup and was dipping every scrap he could into it (including bits of Kerry's pizza crust).

Finding a good place that is open all afternoon and late into the night is more difficult than it may seem here in Los Angeles, but finding Cube Cafe proves that there are food treasures if you look for them.