PB&J LA Opens at the Grand Central Market

All Photo by Billy Bennight for The Los Angeles Beat

Bonnie and I had a chance to be a part of a special preview and presser for the hottest new ticket in LA for the opening of “PB&J.LA” in DTLA’s Grand Central Market. On Friday a good size crowd had gathered at PB&J.LA to experience the adventure in a unique concept of peanut butter and jam as cuisine. As Adam Fleischman puts it, “PB&J LA is not you mom’s peanut butter and jelly.” The exterior of the space is clean and modern in design and open where you can see you sandwich being made to order. Bonnie and I spoke with Jimmy Franklin, who explained his original concept and the hurdles him and his partners had to jump to bring PB&J.LA into reality, landing this game changing concept into the Grand Central Market. It was Jimmy’s pitch to Adam at Sky Sport & Spa that got the ball rolling with the idea exotic mash-ups with untraditional nut butters and great new takes on jams and jellies for these gourmet and tasty new takes of the traditional peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.

Adam and Jimmy

We met up with Adam to talk more about the concept and before we knew it he was ordering up for 4 PB&J versions for us to sample. Adam Fleischman is well-known for Umami Burgers and 800 Degrees Pizza. Adam is very interested in novel takes on food and innovative cuisines. He spared no time in acquainting up with PB&J LA’s menu in a brief conversation. We rallied with enthusiastic volleys of what really our appetites and before we knew it he had those sandwiches made. From there we spent more time exploring the space before the bag was ready containing the sandwiches, potato chips and speciality drinks. Our sandwiches were the the Old School, Indian, Italian and Red Eye. They are perfectly crimped bread discs of crustless goodness. I had the Old School first and it was delicious. Then the Red Eye because I can refuse a sandwich that had espresso built into the peanut butter and dark chocolate raspberry jam, jams! I had the Italian for a savory change direction with hazelnut butter and cherry tomato jam and lastly The Indian. The Indian was like What?! – Yum! as the mixtures of the spicy mango chutney spread amongst the rich flow of curry cashew butter. The arugula and daikon radish in the crustless sandwich were welcome textures on this taste adventure. There are a number drink choices to choose from; like, strawberry almond milk, cafe au lait almond milk and iced yuzu matcha. I had the Peruvian cacao almond milk drink and it was a really good pairing for our tasting. Both Bonnie and I were sated in the after glow of all of these amazing tastes presented in there wondrous PB&Js creations.

PB&J LA is now open to the public and the hours are from 11am to 8pm 7 days a week. Sandwiches start at $5 and top out at $8.50. These magical mix-ups are exotic, unique and delicious and they make PB&J LA a destination stop at DTLA’s Grand Central Market. There menu is something millennial, vegan and vegetarians will dig, while everyone one else will want to haunt it for PB&J LA’s take on a traditional family staple by migrating it into this wild, inventive and ever-changing gourmet takes on one of America’s most beloved comfort foods!