OPEN FACE FOOD SHOP Modern Danish Sandwich Shop
From traditional Danish flavors to elevated American fare, you will find something for everyone at Open Face Food Shop. Simply put, chef Lene Houck creates amazing menus using farm fresh, seasonal ingredients in modern, inventive pairings. Lene and her husband Mark hope that their neighbors and friends will enjoy both the food she’s lovingly created and the welcoming atmosphere surrounding it.
Homemade. Handmade. Honest.
Open Face Food Shop
5577 West Adams Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90016
Summer Hours:
Wednesday- Friday 11am- 4pm
Weekend Brunch 10am- 3pm
Closed Monday and Tuesday
Periodic Closures for Private Events are noted at the top of the page.
What day, what day, What a day!
We are SO grateful to all of you for your support while we worked on this fantastic and deeply meaningful event.
NFYI (National Foster Youth Institute) seeks to place alumni of the child welfare system at the center of child welfare policy discussions and strengthe the social safety net for vulnerable children and families.
more to come when we have a little more time, but I can’t imagine a better way to spend the day. We’re both energized, and frankly… pretty tired:-)
Thank you all again, and we’ll see you for brunch tomorrow!
Lene, Mark, and the Open Face team.
#openfacefoodshop #westadams #healthyeating #farmersmarket #freshfood #putapickleonit #bestsandwiches #sandwich #danish #smorgasbord
#regardingherfood #saverestaurants #eatlocal #replenishrrf #cumulusdistrict #smfm #thehfm #hyawestadams #shopsmall
Prepping for Saturday’s big event and finishing our new Gaviota Strawberry Shrub!
Deep strawberry flavor with enough zing to make it super refreshing… A perfect complement to your Danish open faced sandwiches or burger!
Can’t wait for you to taste it when we reopen on Sunday (after Saturday’s big catering event).
Thanks again to all our amazing guests for their support! ❤️❤️❤️
-Lene, Mark and the open Face team
#openfacefoodshop #westadams #healthyeating #farmersmarket #freshfood #putapickleonit #bestsandwiches #sandwich #danish #smorgasbord
#regardingherfood #saverestaurants #eatlocal #replenishrrf #cumulusdistrict #smfm #thehfm #hyawestadams #shopsmall
Record breaking Friday! … Daddy needs a cocktail 🙂
Thanks to everyone for an amazing Friday!
On a day like today we soooo feel the love and want to express our gratitude to everyone that came out to join us on a busy, beautiful afternoon. We know you have choices and we’re honored you chose us. Thank you.
Daddy’s cocktail tonight; the classic
“Brown Derby”
2 oz Woodford Reserve
1.25 oz fresh squeezed grapefruit
.75 oz honey syrup
Thanks to our neighbors Kenn Thomas and Maria Perez for the grapefruit ( from his own trees) and the honey ( from her own bees!)
So grateful to you all. See you tomorrow for brunch!
- Mark and Lene
#openfacefoodshop #westadams #healthyeating #farmersmarket #freshfood #putapickleonit #bestsandwiches #sandwich #danish #smorgasbord
#regardingherfood #saverestaurants #eatlocal #replenishrrf #cumulusdistrict #smfm #thehfm #hyawestadams #shopsmall
First real sunrise in weeks!
With all the rain( a-a-a-allll the rain…), it seems we haven’t had a beautiful sunrise in forever.
Yeah,we have to get up early to prep everything and open the restaurant but days like today make the early hours worth it! So beautiful.
Hope everyone that didn’t get a chance to sleep and got a chance to welcome the day the same way. Looking forward to feeding you all today!
Now… where is that coffee? 🙂
-Lene, Mark, and the Open
#openfacefoodshop #westadams #healthyeating #farmersmarket #freshfood #putapickleonit #bestsandwiches #sandwich #danish #smorgasbord
#regardingherfood #saverestaurants #eatlocal #replenishrrf #cumulusdistrict #smfm #thehfm #hyawestadams #shopsmalll
The upside of all this rain*
Hi, Everyone! Happy first days of spring!
With luck the “monsoon season” is pretty much behind us and we can get back to the business of serving farm fresh deliciousness in sunny comfort on a regular basis. Many, many thanks to everyone for their patience with the unpredictably wet days. We’re looking forward to more of the glorious SoCal spring weather we’ve been accustomed to from now on. Fingers crossed.
While it’s still a little early, gorgeous spring produce is beginning to peak its head around the corner at the markets and we couldn’t be more excited. Stay tuned for lots of fresh new things on the menu.
Thanks again for your support and we look forward to seeing everyone soon!
-Lene, Mark and the Open Face/ HYA West Adams team
@openfacefoodshop
@hyawestadams
*The buds are really starting to come out at the restaurant! Bonus points to anyone that can name the beautiful plant in the photo growing at the restaurant.
Hint: It’s edible… for the fearless 🙂
M
#openfacefoodshop #westadams #healthyeating #farmersmarket #freshfood #putapickleonit #bestsandwiches #sandwich #danish #smorgasbord
#regardingherfood #saverestaurants #eatlocal #replenishrrf #cumulusdistrict #smfm #thehfm #hyawestadams #shops-mall
Hi, everyone. Just a quick note that we will be closed Wednesday 03.08.23 for a multi day corporate event. Sorry for the inconvenience but we’ll be open for regular service Thursday. We appreciate your patience.
For those that are curious, the photo is of the dry ingredients for our home made Danish rugbrod (Danish rye) that is the underpinnings of our beautiful Danish sandwiches. It looked so cool it almost seemed like art 🙂
Thank you to everyone for your continued support; you are the reason we get up in the morning 🙂
Mark and Lene
#openfacefoodshop #westadams #healthy eating #farmersmarket #freshfood #putapickleonit #bestsandwiches #sandwich #danish #smorgasbord
#regardingherfood #saverestaurants #eatlocal #replenishrrf #cumulusdistrict #smfm #thehfm #hyawestadams #shopsmall
Hail-leluyah! It’s been such a long time since I’ve seen hail… Not since we left the East Coast!
What an amazing, crazy thing 🙂 and now the sun is out!
Super fun
#openfacefoodshop #westadams #healthy eating #farmersmarket #freshfood #putapickleonit #bestsandwiches #sandwich #danish #smorgasbord #feediyourfriends
#regardingherfood #saverestaurants #eatlocal #replenishrrf #cumulusdistrict #smfm #thehfm
A quick note of thanks
Lene and I wanted to take a moment to express our deep gratitude to all our customers, supporters and friends for helping us through a truly busy and amazing week. We have missed seeing you in person, and we are looking forward to getting the restaurant open for service again starting Wednesday.
Another great big THANK YOU to Mary Sue Milliken @regardingherfood for inviting us as well as the team at Breguet Timepeices for their kindness and support. It was a fascinating experience being around the most sublimely beautiful machines in the world and the team that creates them. They are works of art without equal and a week we won’t soon forget.
One more heartfelt thank you to everyone, and we’ll see you on Wednesday!
-Mark, Lene and the Open Face/ Food By Lene Team
#openfacefoodshop #westadams #healthy eating #farmersmarket #freshfood #putapickleonit #bestsandwiches #sandwich #danish #smorgasbord #feediyourfriends
#regardingherfood #saverestaurants #eatlocal #replenishrrf #cumulusdistrict #smfm #thehfm
Last evening event of the week!
Tomorrow morning we’ll make another 165 delicious meals for our Frieze friends then wave goodbye to an amazing week.
Thanks again to our hosts, to all of you and everyone who supports the arts in this incredibly creative city ❤️❤️❤️
-Lene, Mark and the Open Face team
#openfacefoodshop #westadams #healthy eating #farmersmarket #freshfood #putapickleonit #bestsandwiches #sandwich #danish #smorgasbord #feediyourfriends
#regardingherfood #saverestaurants #eatlocal #replenishrrf #cumulusdistrict #smfm #thehfm#breguet
Frieze Day 3 5:30am
Already well underway (and thank the stars for strong coffee)!
In addition to serving the Breguet Timepiece lounge, we are making 150 meals for the hard working staff and volunteers that make Frieze run!
Todays menu included some of the Open Face Food Shop favorites:
-Chicken and tarragon salad with crispy capers and shaved fennel.
-Spicy tofu vegan bánh mì
-Muchi curry tuna
-Red cabbage and carrot slaw with pepitas and dried cranberry
-Farmer’s market Winter Salad
-Wild Oregon Bay Shrimp (Breguet Lounge)
-Fresh Lemon Tarts (Breguet Lounge)
-Lene’s signature cookies
Lots more, as well!
Service is its own art form and we’re honored to support the community of artists in all its forms in one of the greatest creative cities on earth.
OK, Back at it! We have an event this evening and we’ll be back in the kitchen at 5am tomorrow for another 180 Sandwiches.
Woohoo!
See you tomorrow!
#openfacefoodshop #westadams #healthy eating #farmersmarket #freshfood #putapickleonit #bestsandwiches #sandwich #danish #smorgasbord #feediyourfriends
#regardingherfood #saverestaurants #eatlocal #replenishrrf #cumulusdistrict #smfm #thehfm #breguet
A beautiful evening high on a hill…
Thanks to all of you for your patience with our last minute closure yesterday. The event was a huge success and our team was on point for the new Minority Leader @hakeemjeffries and 12 other sitting congressmen (as well stars from the “LA Sky” too many to count). Leader Jeffries is the first person of color to lead a congressional caucus in American history; his words last night were insightful, inspiring and important. It was a great evening.
We all try to stay in touch the political environment around us; the decisions our elected officials make on our behalf effect us every day. We had the chance to speak at length with our new representative @sydneykamlager (she was VERY well informed) and her commitment to our district was front and center. We even got to spend a few minutes with @repkatieporter, one of our heroes and a newly announced candidate for US Senate. Lots of work and lots of fun.
Thanks to the incredibly generous hosts for allowing us to support this watershed evening and thanks to all of you for your own support. We appreciate it.
See you for brunch!
⁃Mark, Lene and the Open Face Team
Looking forward… and back
It’s the New Year again. If I recall we’re supposed to say something prescient; about the days that are ahead for us and what the next year is sure to bring for us all. Instead though, we just want to say this;
Thank you.
Your support over these last couple years has kept us going, often when we felt we couldn’t do it anymore.
Your smiles and kind words between bites, your willingness to share stories of your day, bringing new guests, family and friends… theses moments sustain us as much as the food we prepare hopefully does the same.
Thank you for your patience with our frequently crazy schedule of restaurant, catering, retail store and all the other balls we are trying to juggle right now. Your faith in us is inspiriting and we appreciate it. Mightily.
The rest of this is kind of personal so you don’t HAVE to keep reading, but…
Like a lot of you we have our own goals for the year; better health, better life balance, more time to rest and recover more often… the kind of things that always seem to fall to the side when the needs of service present themselves. We’ll do our best to honor those commitments to ourselves because it really is important and we’ll support you in your quest for perfection this year as well. Seems like a fair trade 🙂
Most of you know that January 1st is our wedding anniversary and this year is our 27th. Just… wow. So lucky in so many ways.
Every year Lene and I sit down and try to put into words everything we hope will come into our lives in the coming year (we don’t included winning lottery ticket because that’s always a given) and we choose colors that feel right to us at the time. This year the colors mirror our store HYA which just had it’s first birthday. If you’re more food inclined they are also the colors of Carlsberg beer and chili aioli so that’s a 2-fer. Foreshadowing? Maybe.
We look forward to another year filled with smiles, laughter and happy bellies with you. Probably some bad jokes to balance things out too, but you take the good with the bad.
Happy New Year to you all. Let’s make it great together.
Lene, Mark and the Open Face/ HYA team
Extended Holiday Hours!
Holiday Heroes Happen Here
As we head into the final weeks of the holiday season, we are extending our hours beginning Monday through Christmas Eve.
We know this time of the year can be really stressful, and we’re here to help. We have something for everyone on your list, including HYA gift cards in any amount (if you still can’t decide). Our friendly and knowledgable staff will guide you toward finding the perfect gifts for the people you love. Yes, you can “Shop Small” and still find it all!
•Home Made Jams @openfacefoodshop
•Toys for kids (and pets, too)
•Hostess Gifts
•Greeting Cards
•Ornaments and Decor
•Handmade Quilts (it’s getting cold!)
•Danish Design Houseware
•Party Starters
•Last Minute Finds
•Amazing Coffees and Teas, Tinned Fish, Handmade Pasta
… and so much more!
We’ve stocked our shelves with hand made and hard to find goods from other small, women owned, minority owned and local businesses that you won’t find online and support your own neighborhood.
Holiday Heroes Happen at HYA!
Come by and visit us, we’re here to help 🙂
Happy Holidays however you celebrate!
Lene, Mark, Amy and the entire HYA team
#westadams #westadamsla #losangeles #hiddengem #losangelessale #hya #shoplocalla #supportlocalla #localla #adamsblvd #smallbusiness #hyageneralstore #smallbusinesssale #westadamssmallbusiness #shoplocalsalela #cumulusdistrict #midcityla #shopsmall #bestgifts #regardingher #womenowned #laistgifts
So much to be thankful for
This Thanksgiving has me reminiscing a little.
When we first started our business almost 20 years ago, it was just the two of us. Just Lene and I and a whole lot of hustle. I would shop at the markets, help prep and clean, and Lene would make… magic.
The path we’ve walked has been side by side, every step of the way.
This thanksgiving feels like the early days. No big staff, just Lene and I in a quiet kitchen cooking delicious food for a family we have come to love and appreciate. They will share it with their loved ones (taking second helpings of everything), invite us to toast this wonderful life with them and make a memory they can keep forever. A part of their story.
Without a doubt these are the moments all our lives are built upon, like beautiful photos on a gallery wall, or stacked together like a deck of cards; each containing a special memory and each deck unique and amazing.
These last few years have been hard on us all, and harder on the restaurant industry than most who aren’t in it will ever know. Even so, we’re thankful.
Thankful for our beautiful little restaurant.
Thankful for our customers, catering clients, and hard working staff.
Thankful to our farmers, vendors and all the supporting pieces that allow us to do our work.
Thankful we’re still here despite pretty lousy odds sometimes.
For me though, I’m most thankful for my partner in this life; one of the most gifted and tenacious people I will ever know, and someone that agreed to walk this road at my side wherever it led us. I am so, so lucky.
Today, it led us back to the beginning, and I would do it all again as long as she agreed to be there.
Wherever the road takes us.
Happy Thanksgiving to you all and thank you for your support. It truly means the world.
- Mark & Lene
#openfacefoodshop #westadams #healthy eating #farmersmarket #freshfood #putapickleonit #bestsandwiches #sandwich #danish #smorgasbord
#regardingherfood #saverestaurants #eatlocal #replenishrrf #cumulusdistrict #smfm #thehfm #hyawestadams #shopsmall
The change of seasons is always bittersweet. Yes, tomatoes are taking their final bow (farewell, amazing summer friends), but squash, persimmon and the southern bounty of citrus is waiting in the wings. Very exciting 🙂
Came into the kitchen today, the last week for our “Inside Out BLT”, to find these gorgeous cone head cabbage being prepped for our Danish Remoulade…the cabbage Lene grew up with and the only proper ingredient for the purist 😀
Thanks to the geniuses @the_garden_of_ for always making things so beautiful and thank you, summer’s bounty, for another great season.
Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!
Lene, Mark and the Open Face Team
#openfacefoodshop #westadams #healthy eating #farmersmarket #freshfood #putapickleonit #bestsandwiches #sandwich #danish #smorgasbord
#regardingherfood #saverestaurants #eatlocal #replenishrrf #cumulusdistrict #smfm #thehfm
Stage two
after two days of maceration, the fruit (Gorgeous Pluerry from Tenerelli Orchards) is ready to be cooked down. Once the temperature hits 218° to 220° and it will be ready to go in the jars for final canning
Already delicate and delicious… Can’t wait!
#openfacefoodshop #westadams #healthy eating #farmersmarket #freshfood #putapickleonit #bestsandwiches #sandwich #danish #smorgasbord
#regardingherfood #saverestaurants #eatlocal #replenishrrf #cumulusdistrict #smfm #thehfm
Beneath this gorgeous naturally hazy exterior hides one of our all-time favorite harvests of the year.
Pluerry (a cross between a plum and a cherry!!) have a short growing season and we managed to secure the last hundred pounds for our upcoming holiday jam sampler boxes @hyawestadams
Both tart and sweet with a surprising flavor of cherries on the finish (yes, this fruit actually has a finish), it’s bright, firm, delicate and incredibly elegant.
HUGE kudos to John Tenerelli and family @peaches.la_ for putting their heart and soul into this spectacular beauty.
Stay tuned… We are so excited!
#openfacefoodshop #westadams #healthy eating #farmersmarket #freshfood #putapickleonit #bestsandwiches #sandwich #danish #smorgasbord
#regardingherfood #saverestaurants #eatlocal #replenishrrf #cumulusdistrict #smfm #thehfm
What an amazing event! It’s not every day we have the honor of serving the President, the Speaker of the House, half a dozen sitting congressmen, judges, movie and tv icons.. all under one roof. Wow…
With the immensely important midterms right around the corner we’re truly honored to be able to do our part. Even more, we truly appreciate everyone’s patience and support during our recent closure.
We spent today getting ready for the weekend , and we’ll be open tomorrow for regular service… and our first big sale at @hyawestadams, rain or shine!
See you this weekend and thanks again!!
-Lene, Mark and the Open Face team
#openfacefoodshop #westadams #healthy eating #farmersmarket #freshfood #putapickleonit #bestsandwiches #sandwich #danish #smorgasbord
#regardingherfood #saverestaurants #eatlocal #replenishrrf #cumulusdistrict #smfm #thehfm #whitehouse #presidentbiden #midterms #vote #bekind #speakerpelosi #shopsmall
What a beautiful event last night!
It ended up being a bit longer than we had expected (more than one person missed their flight home) but I guess when you’re having a really great time. there will be other flights! 🙂
One more REALLY big event tonight, then we can get ready to open the restaurant again for the weekend, and for our first big sale @hyawestadams!
thanks for your patience and your support while we get through these two challenging but meaningful evenings and we will see you over the weekend!
-Lene, Mark and the Open Face Team
#openfacefoodshop #westadams #healthy eating #farmersmarket #freshfood #putapickleonit #bestsandwiches #sandwich #danish #smorgasbord
#regardingherfood #saverestaurants #eatlocal #replenishrrf #cumulusdistrict #smfm #thehfm #visionarywomen
