Paper or Plastik Cafe

A multi-roaster bar with a dance studio attached

Paper or Plastik buys from several roasters rather than committing to one house identity, so the beans on the bar change and the point of drinking here is comparison. Coffee runs beside a full tea list and wine, which puts the room in the all-day category rather than the morning-espresso one. What makes it unusual is what shares the address: the café is tied to MiMo Dance Studio and works as an artistic centre as much as a counter, artists-owned and family-run since it opened in 2010. Even the name is an argument, turning an everyday checkout question into a prompt about what any of us consume.

A design café at Pico and Ogden

The house calls the room a Design Café, and that is not decoration talk, because the look and feel of the space is treated as part of what is being served, reinforced by the dance studio and the wider arts programming. It sits at Pico and Ogden in Mid-City, visible from the street rather than buried inside a complex, with outdoor seating that uses the Los Angeles climate and curbside pickup for anyone who is not staying. The result is a flexible neighbourhood room: coffee counter, kitchen, design-minded space and creative meeting point at once, which is a harder thing to hold together than any one of them alone.

Order coffee, then eat from the California menu

Because the roasters rotate, the useful first order is a straight coffee drink that shows what is on the bar that week, or tea if coffee is not the aim. Wine belongs to the same all-day pattern and marks the point where the café turns social. The kitchen is California-inspired American cooking built on local, fresh ingredients and running all day rather than a pastry case with a lid on it, and vegan diners are accounted for. Catering runs out of the same kitchen for anyone organising something larger. Pair whatever is on the bar with the food and the room does what it was built to do, which is to feed and caffeinate a creative Mid-City crowd.