I'd like to personally thank Melina Davies for bringing Olive & Thyme to Toluca Lake. She and Alex Eusebio of Sweetsalt are certainly responsible for establishing the neighborhood's food scene.

Walking into Olive & Thyme, you're enveloped in eye candy, with lots of little details: from the flowers (peonies on every table) to the vintage farm animals sweetly placed in each nook.

The gourmet restaurant and marketplace serves breakfast, lunch and dinner but my favorite is lunch. Their Cobb salad with spicy Russian dressing is a go-to.

The case is always filled with vibrant salads and sides, as well as incredible cheeses and charcuterie.

The space is quite large and lends itself well to pursuing the marketplace filled with sweets, cookbooks and home decor treats. Our fave, Hedley & Bennett, is represented with mini aprons.

Olive & Thyme is located at 3821 Riverside Drive in Toluca Lake. Closed on Sundays.

This is a recipe I found and adapted from Saveur a few years back, while preparing for a cocktail party. Frankly, this is one of the most delicious things I have ever eaten. Learn how to make this well and you will never need to learn another appetizer recipe again (unless you are serving vegetarians, of course). It is the perfect combination of salty and sweet. It's even yummy enough to be a dessert. And you only need four ingredients! No seasoning or oil! The only thing I would say is use the finest, highest quality ingredients available. The main difference I have found between a good bacon wrapped date and a bad one, is the quality of ingredients. Since there are only four, make them all of the highest quality.

For each single bacon wrapped date, you will need:

1 Slice of Thick Bacon

1 Date

1 Almond

About 1/2 Teaspoon Goat Cheese

Optional: Toothpicks (Makes for easy serving)

(When making them for a party, I would plan on 2-3 per person)

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. With a small, sharp knife, slice one side of the date lengthwise.

Place an almond inside.

Fill the rest of the date with goat cheese.

Wrap a piece of bacon around the date and secure with a toothpick.

Repeat the above steps until all of the dates are stuffed and wrapped, placing them on a roasting tray as you go along. Bake about 10-15 minutes, until bacon is completely cooked and golden brown. Cook a few minutes longer if you like your bacon extra well done. If you bacon is burning (looking more black than brown) turned oven down to 425.