Up the Standard’s Review for Myrtle Tree Garden Café & Market in Monrovia, CA

Myrtle Tree Garden Café & Market  Monrovia, CA

We give Myrtle Tree 5/5 stars!

 Ambiance:

Nestled in a historic building & preserving  much of the historic brickwork, a skylight, & earth-tones, the Myrtle Tree Cafe brings relief to Old Town Monrovia. Everything is very neat & clean, so comfort takes you over when you sit down. We were surrounded by beautiful plants & smooth, finished wooden furniture. Softly playing samba-esque background music that perfectly complements the garden-style atmosphere (think Santana’s Oye Como Va & Volare by Gipsy Kings, for example) expediently ships your stress straight to Timbuktu. The air conditioning is at the perfect temperature, & on a hot summer day you won’t want to leave.

*A side-note: The wide tables & chairs in the photo above are just the perfect height; not too low or too high from one another. This means that you can keep a comfortable straight back while you eat; a rare treat nowadays.

Variety is the spice of life, & it’s all here in both community & European food options. The customer-base varies from families to students; church groups to local businesspeople. The place attracts a wealth of ethnic diversity; folks of all ages are included among its patrons. The Monrovia Farmer’s Market takes place right outside every Friday evening, making this stop a great satellite base for browsers & anyone in the mood for that old fashioned community experience.

 Local art, jewelry, and home-made organic soaps & candles are sold inside the Myrtle Tree, as well – it’s almost as if the Farmer’s Market extends into this hidden gem of a cafe.

Food:

*Note: We order everything without dressing or condiments so as to gauge the true quality of the food. We recommend ordering this way for the best experience at most restaurants as condiments tend to steal the show from the more substantial ingredients.

We ordered 1/2 sandwich & 1/2 salad (it’s not on the menu but they’ll make it for you if you ask!) We not only got our half-sandwich & half-salad – we actually received a WHOLE (panini) sandwich & a generous portion of salad, winding up with about a $4.50 value! Organic Black Cat brand (Intelligentsia) coffee was enjoyed, served with Heritage Farms Organic milk from a cute personal ceramic creamer, if you ask for it, all with free refills – the only problem with that is the coffee comes from a default dispenser with the dreaded plastic nozzle (pretty standard, but we recommend opting for the espresso drinks instead in order to avoid unnecessary consumption of leeched plastic particles).

As we were dining in and to our great appreciation, everything was served in ceramic (no plastic or plastic-lined ‘to go’ cheapskate-ware)  & the salad was really washed – still slightly moist even though we ordered it without any dressing; it was unmistakably fresh & thoroughly washed. This is the first time we’ve ever seen proof that a restaurant-salad was actually washed. Savory was the panini – the Jamon Serrano panini, to be exact (named after the special ham from Serrano, Italy that resembles prosciutto) that, paired with Manchego cheese & fig jam, gives this sandwich a distinct and lovable flavour. The 1/2 tuna salad (really, it was a whole tuna salad) was made from thinly sliced organic heirloom carrots, cucumbers, greens, & tomatoes as well as delicious tuna from Italy. We were absolutely giddy with each bite & sip about this meal. We could not stop smiling.

Service:

Excellent, accommodating, patient service by friendly people. Everyone here is genuinely smiling, even us – & we’re picky! There are no passive-aggression issues with the service here; just prompt, genuine good service that takes great care in presenting the high-quality food that the restaurant is actually very proud to serve. The servers here keep a positive attitude, accommodate special orders and modifications with no attitude, and serve the same high quality food each time you visit.

Price:

Everything is absolutely delicious & organic & *almost reasonably priced with consideration for its value & quality! The Myrtle Tree beats Pasadena’s Green Zone out of the park in terms of pricing for organic meals.

*That said, the pricing on the organic Myrtle juice (we enjoyed the GREEN type!) is actually a bit hefty for the quantity of juice you receive, especially since it comes in plastic.Try Pasadena’s nearby Juice Served Here for an amazing organic juices and powered-up nutmilks in glass!

 

In consideration of Myrtle Tree’s awesome imports selection & the incredible, truly healthy organic options available here, we believe this is the best café in Monrovia &, we’d venture to say, in all of Los Angeles. Natural treats from France, Britain, & Italy are available here. Our review especially features Chewits from Belfast, England! Delicious & fruity, you’ll be fighting yourself not to gobble the whole package of Chewits up in one sitting.

 

Check out those great ingredients!

If dining in, we recommend browsing their menu & calling your order in slightly ahead of time for immediate service upon arrival. If you don’t mind a brief stay, prepare for a six- to ten-minute wait for your meal, possibly more if you come during the noontime lunch rush. (It’s worth it, so hold on! Everything is made fresh to order.) Also, during this brief rush-period, the table-busing can be a bit slow.

Up the Standard really put Myrtle Tree’s feet to the fire, and it passed all of our tests with flying colors. If we ran a restaurant, it would be just like this (we’d probably hire another employee to bus tables at rush hour, though)! We have continued to visit Myrtle Tree several times since our first visit, & we’re hooked! Try the Organic Black Cat brand (Intelligentsia) latte, the Tuna Salad (the tuna comes from Italy & trust us – this salad does not require any dressing, so order it plain – you won’t regret it!), & the Organic Butternut Squash Bisque!

Here are a few more recent photos:

 

 

 

 

 

The extensive cheese selection is impressive; and there is a charcuterie case to match.

How would you rate this?

–Up the Standard

 

Up the Standard’s Rating for Juice Served Here in Pasadena, CA

Coming Soon!

Up the Standard’s Review for: Amy’s Organic Soups (Thai Coconut)

We rated this soup 5/5 stars! This soup has a wonderful flavor, & we’re very picky. The ratios of coconut milk to veggie broth& spice are just right, despite our expectations (we assumed it would be too mild or too salty… but nope). There were real lemon grass & kaffir lime leaves inside the soup, which we were very happy about (you don’t eat these- but they serve as proof that real, whole spices were added, instead of ground ones or substitutes). There was enough soup in the can, light though it was, to fill us up for a good few hours. On top of all that, it’s (mostly) organic! The price isn’t too steep, although it’s slightly more expensive than conventional soups (understandable) winning it a B on our Price-o-Meter.  We would gladly eat Amy’s Organic Thai Coconut soup instead of ordering from a restaurant, any day. And that’s saying a LOT!

Drop us a comment or leave a rating of your own!

-Up the Standard

Environmental Policy and the United States: The Honor System Doesn’t Work

Since the Industrial Revolution, unprecedented environmental destruction has converted much of our once rich and abundant landscape into a poisonous and barren place. Whether it’s concrete-covered Downtown Los Angeles or a clear-cut forest in rural Georgia, the United States is giving up its natural resources at an unsustainable rate in exchange for industrial development that is enjoyed only by the financially elite.

Unsustainable.

Let’s just think about what that means, for a second. Forests are running out of trees that take hundreds of years to grow. Water is so polluted with mixed contaminants – even compounds that bind and become new chemicals – that it cannot safely be reclaimed. Our globally-shared air can only be cleaned by trees, which we are losing rapidly to paper companies and sugar, palm, corn, & soy farms.

Deforestation in Novo “Progresso, Pará, in 2004 was the second worst on record” – Photo courtesy of The Guardian

The bottom line is, without strict and well-enforced laws, private interests have been and will continue to exploit the environment at the expense of humanity, and all of life on earth, simply to gain immediate profits. We all know the inevitable outcome of this uncontrolled activity. It’s time we start making and enforcing environmental protection policies that reign-in this destruction.

Many developed countries – especially in Europe – have taken great strides in the creation and real-time enforcement of environmental policy. Yet, the United States has always lagged lazily behind in terms of these efforts by leaving it up to companies to self-regulate on the honor system, failing to implement a realistic and practical recycling system anywhere in the country, failing to prevent toxic dumping and allowing toxic roadside runoff systems to act as primary water sources for human consumption. Even when policies are created to mitigate the effects of these activities, they are rarely – sometimes never – enforced.

Additionally, the United States has failed to adequately provide public transportation systems, allowing private automotive companies like General Motors and oil companies like Shell and British Petroleum completely control over 99% of America’s transit options, leaving the American people to deal with the carcinogenic air pollution (smog) that settles in their valleys and gets stuck in their mountains – not to mention the endless oil spills. The United States government has allowed a few colossal corporations to make decisions for the entire country, using lobbyists funded by private profits to destroy the theoretically democratic political system. The United States has, without question, become an Oligarchy, wherein the few wealthiest elites make all of the decisions using their money, purchasing fake but effective support from individuals who they pay directly. Non-profits and regular folks cannot even begin to compete, whatever the cause, against these money machines.

Regular folks have jobs, school, families to care for, and make less than they need to support themselves, on average. In order to protest, they must risk their livelihoods. It is at their own personal expense that they take hours off of work in order to assemble, make signs, contact one another, contact their local government, and make their voices heard about a policy – if they ever find out about a policy at all. The system is set up against regular folks, and these are the people who will suffer the consequences of big corporate wins. These are the folks

whose water will be poisoned

whose air and food will be poisoned

“…with liberty, and justice for all.”

It is well-known that China does even less to protect their environment than the United States, but in exactly the same fashion – except there is no legal way to protest in China. Chinese folks have no safe or legal way of expressing discontent with their government. If they do, they do it at their own personal risk – and it is a great one.

So, fellow Americans and friends from around the world, let us exercise the rights we are lucky enough to still maintain, and voice our opinions about environmental policy – from local to national. It affects each and every one of us. We must never stop improving our systems, and we have a long way to go. We must not settle for “getting by.” We must raise our standards. Let’s get talking about this!

Please send us your comments and feedback!

It is already too late for millions of people living in these countries who have fallen ill with cancer due to pollution of their water, air, and food. It is also too late for many animal species, such as the Yangtze river Dolphin (which was rendered completely extinct by the sheer levels of pollution in their only home) and hundreds more worldwide, averaging about one extinction each year since the 1800’s and two each year since 2011:

1800 – The last known Bluebuck was shot, making the species the first African antelope to be hunted to extinction by European settlers.^[12]

1825 – The mysterious starling died out.

1826 – The Mauritius blue pigeon becomes extinct due to excessive hunting.

1827 – The Tonga ground skink dies out from its only home in the Tongan Islands.

1852 – The last sighting of a great auk was made off the coast of Newfoundland. The bird was driven to extinction by hunting for its fat, feathers, meat, and oil.^[5][13]

1860 – The string tree from the island of St Helena becomes extinct because of habitat destruction.

1860 – The sea mink becomes extinct because of hunting for its fur.

1875 – The broad-faced potoroo was last recorded.^[4]

1876 – The Falkland Islands wolf became extinct.^[4]

1878 – Labrador duck declared extinct after last appearances in Long Island three years earlier.

1883 – The Quagga, a sub-species of the plains zebra, goes extinct.

1886 – The red alga known as Bennett’s Seaweed from Australia disappears because of the massive human activities.

1889 – The last Hokkaido wolf dies from poisoning campaign.^[14]

1901 – The last certain specimen of the Australian pig-footed bandicoot is collected.

1900s

1896 – The eastern elk, a subspecies of elk in the US and Canada, dies out in Minnesota. They were over-hunted for food, clothing, sport and decoration for the Jolly Corkers who used their teeth as symbols.

1890 – The last known Atlas bear, Africa’s only native bear, is killed by hunters in Morocco. The bear was heavily hunted and used for sport in the Roman Empire.

1890 – The eastern hare-wallaby was last recorded.^[4]

1905 – The last known Honshū wolf of Japan dies in the Nara Prefecture

1910s

1910 – The Usambara annone from Tanzania no longer grows in the tropical forests.

1911 – The last Newfoundland wolf was shot.^[14]

1914 – The last passenger pigeon died in captivity at the Cincinnati Zoo. Excessive hunting contributed to the extinction of the North American species, which was formerly one of the world’s most abundant birds.^[15]

1918 – The last Carolina parakeet died in captivity at the Cincinnati Zoo. The bird, formerly inhabiting the southeastern United States, was driven to extinction by exploitation, deforestation, and competition with introduced bees.^[16]

– The last Tarpan, a Ukrainian wild horse, dies in captivity.

The Thylacine was exterminated into extinction.

1925 – The Kenai Peninsula wolf was driven to extinction.^[14]

1930 – Darwin’s rice rat was last recorded in the Galápagos Islands. Its extinction was probably caused by the introduction of black rats.^[17]

1932 – “Booming Ben,” the last known heath hen was seen on Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts.

1933 – The cry pansy from Europe becomes extinct due to habitat loss and overcollection in the only place where it grew, France.

1934 – The indefatigable Galapagos mouse becomes extinct four years after Darwin’s rice rat on the same island.

1935 – The desert rat-kangaroo was last recorded.^[4]

1935 – The Mogollon mountain wolf and the Southern Rocky Mountains wolf were hunted to extinction.^[14]

1936 – The last thylacine died in captivity. Hunting, habitat loss, disease, and competition from domestic dogs all may have contributed to the extinction of the species.^[18]

1937 – The last known Bali tiger was shot.

1938 – Radula visiniaca, a liverwort native to Europe becomes extinct.

1939 – The Toolache wallaby was last recorded.^[4]

1940 – The Cascade mountain wolf was hunted to extinction.^[14]

1942 – The Texas wolf was purposefully driven to extinction.^[14]

1942 – The last confirmed sighting of the Barbary lion, although unconfirmed reports surfaced until 1970.^[19]

1952 – Last reliable report of the Caribbean monk seal.

1952 – The Bernard’s wolf was hunted to extinction.^[14]

1956 – The crescent nail-tail wallaby was last recorded.^[4]

Circa 1960 – The last Mexican grizzly bear is shot.

1962 – The red-bellied gracile opossum was last recorded in Argentina.^[4]

1964 – The Hawaii chaff flower of the Hawaiian islands becomes extinct because of habitat loss.

1965 – Last sighting of the turgid-blossom pearly mussel, an American mussel.^[20]

1966 – The last Arabian ostrich died.

– Last sighting of the yellow-blossom pearlymussel, an American mussel.^[20]

Circa 1970 – The Caspian tiger becomes extinct. Nearly exterminated in the early 20th century the last of its population succumbed to deforestation and hunting.

1972 – The endemic to Jamaica Mason River myrtle becomes extinct.

Circa 1979 – Last sightings of the Javan tiger.

1981 – The Puhielelu hibiscadelphus becomes extinct.

1981 – Last sighting of the green-blossom pearlymussel, an American mussel.^[20]

– The 24-rayed sunstar (Heliaster solaris) likely becomes extinct due to climate change.^[21]

1985 – The gastric-brooding frog or platypus frog (Rheobatrachus silus) became extinct probably because of habitat destruction and disease

1989 – The golden toad of Costa Rica becomes extinct, perhaps because of climate change.

– The Atitlán grebe (Podilymbus gigas) dies out.

1994 – Saint Croix racer, a snake native to the Virgin Islands, declared extinct.

– Levuana moth from Hawaii goes extinct.

1990 – The dusky seaside sparrow was officially declared extinct in December 1990. The last definite known individual died on 17 June 1987.

1997 – The Hainan ormosia (a species of legume) which was native to China is no longer seen.

2000 – “Celia”, the last Pyrenean ibex, was found dead on 6 January 2000. However, in 2009, a female was cloned back into existence, but died 7 minutes later due to defects in the lungs, making it extinct once again.

2003 – The last individual from the St. Helena olive, which was grown in cultivation, dies off. The last plant in the wild had disappeared in 1994.

2006 – A technologically sophisticated survey of the Yangtze River failed to find specimens of the Baiji dolphin, prompting scientists to declare it functionally extinct.^[22]

2008 – The Liverpool pigeon (Caloenas maculata) is thought to have become extinct.

2010 – The Alaotra grebe (Tachybaptus rufolavatus) is declared extinct.

2011 – The eastern cougar was declared extinct.^[23]

2011 – The western black rhinoceros was hunted to extinction .^[24]

2012 – The Japanese river otter (Lutra lutra whiteneyi) has been declared extinct by the country’s Ministry of the Environment, after not being seen for more than 30 years.

2012 – “Lonesome George,” the last known specimen of the Pinta Island tortoise died on 24 June 2012.

2013 – The Cape Verde giant skink, is declared extinct.

2013 – The Formosan clouded leopard, previously endemic to the island of Taiwan, is officially declared extinct.^[25]

2013 – The Scioto madtom, a species of fish is declared extinct.

2014 – Acalypha wilderi has been declared extinct.

2014 – The Bermuda saw-whet owl has been declared extinct.”

– Wikipedia’s Timeline of Extinctions

Review for Banadir Somali Restaurant in Inglewood, CA by Up the Standard

Banadir Somali Restaurant:
Attire: casual
4/5 stars!

Our visit to Banadir restaurant was a singular culinary adventure. A small, faded blue awning with this hole-in-the-wall restaurant’s name can barely be seen from where we passed. We were politely invited in to choose our own table and be seated. It was as if the pleasant owner of Banadir, himself had invited us into his home for a traditional lunch, which was prepared with unique combinations of herbs and spices, and was served with bananas and sweet herbal tea.

The menu offered a few options: chicken, fish, goat, lamb, and steak; which included soup, salad, and drinks. We placed our orders and were immediately provided with these in addition to a banana each, along with lemon slices and a paste of what seemed to contain cilantro, jalapeno, and garlic and was to be eaten along with our meat. The goat entree was served with caramelized onions, and crushed garlic on fragrant basmati rice cooked with coriander and herbs, and finally was garnished with cilantro. Our baked tilapia filet was coated in a thin, crisp layer of breading which sealed in the flavor of the tender fish. We ate it with lemon and spice-paste, though it was just as delicious on its own.

Local friends and patrons stopped in as we chomped away, some just to say hello as others stayed for a meal. Folks were casually entering through the front door and leaving through the back (& vice versa) as if they were visiting a close friend or neighbor. Big rotary fans in the windows brought in a nice breeze.

Not only did it feel, surprisingly, as comfortable as if I was visiting family in my own hometown; the atmosphere was also pleasantly calm. We highly recommend Banadir!

-Up the Standard