The Angel

The Angel

Share this post

The Angel
The Angel
Plugs — Camilla Marcus
Copy link
Facebook
Email
Notes
More

Plugs — Camilla Marcus

L.A. food, drink, and leisure recs from the founder of west~bourne + LINKS

Mar 29, 2025
∙ Paid
4

Share this post

The Angel
The Angel
Plugs — Camilla Marcus
Copy link
Facebook
Email
Notes
More
Share

Plugs is The Angel’s recs column. Every week, you’ll get six picks—a restaurant, a bar, a shop, an ingredient, a person, and a treat—from someone in Los Angeles who knows what they’re talking about, plus a selection of Angel-curated links. (Plugs are for paid subscribers of The Angel only; upgrade your subscription to receive all six!)

#74 is Camilla Marcus, a chef, cookbook author, sustainability activist, and entrepreneur. A second-generation Angeleno, Camilla started her career in New York, where she worked as the director of business development for Union Square Hospitality Group, co-founded the hospitality tech summit TechTable, and eventually opened west~bourne, a slice of L.A. in SoHo. The pint-sized spot was New York City’s first zero-waste certified restaurant, serving casual California cuisine, including a chopped cabbage salad I loved, with avocado, feta, and charred scallions. Since Camilla moved back to Los Angeles to start her family of four, she’s shifted to focus on crafting carbon-neutral pantry staples, like avocado oil and pancake mix. At the end of last year, she published her first cookbook, My Regenerative Kitchen: Plant-Based Recipes and Sustainable Practices to Nourish Ourselves and the Planet. Here’s Camilla with her Plugs!


Restaurant — Barras Santos

Barra Santos lives rent-free, forever, in my mind. I fangirl chef Melissa Lopez, hard, and think she’s created one of the gems of L.A. — surely a new classic — in just a few hundred square feet. It is always worth the drive to Cypress Park, and if only I lived closer. I have deep admiration for restaurateurs and chefs who can do so much with so little, nowhere to hide behind lavish design or gadgets — pure honest and wildly talented cooking. Years ago, before it became quite popular, I had an expansive trip to Portugal, and for years after I lamented that it’s impossibly hard to find Portuguese cuisine in L.A. Our move is to go around 4 p.m. when they open with all four (!) of our kids (if you know me, you know I am apt to be delinquent about reservations — is it the thrill of the walk in?! — and often with way too many toddlers and babies in tow). I especially love how they honor their produce, of course, from the best farms around California — often just gently kissed with fire and a punch of acid. And, regardless of the day or time, I feel compelled to wash their impeccable seafood and special sandwich with a porto tonico (essentially a sherry spritz). The move is to overorder (I dare you not to finish it all) — which usually ends up with us ordering the whole, curated, and perfect menu (my favorite way to enjoy any restaurant is to go all in). The only challenge I have is to be present because every visit I’m so taken with the dishes and charm that I’m yearning and plotting my next pop in.

Camilla's family at Barras Santos, tuna crudo.Camilla's family at Barras Santos, tuna crudo.
Photos by Camilla Marcus.

Keep reading with a 7-day free trial

Subscribe to The Angel to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.

Already a paid subscriber? Sign in
© 2025 Emily Wilson
Privacy ∙ Terms ∙ Collection notice
Start writingGet the app
Substack is the home for great culture

Share

Copy link
Facebook
Email
Notes
More