It’s official. Prohibition is over. Marking an end of an era, Lowell Farms: A Cannabis Café has opened its doors in West Hollywood. The posh eatery serves farm to plate meals alongside local California organically farmed cannabis. The avant-garde restaurant and lounge is forecast to be the chillest place to hang in downtown Los Angeles.
America’s first cannabis restaurant
It’s been over 100 years since marijuana-style bistros existed in the United States. Formerly called “cannabis tea pads,” these locales ceased to exist after prohibition-era laws kicked in.
All that ended on October 1, 2019, when Lowell Herb Co. partnered with Houston Hospitality and opened America’s first marijuana cafe restaurant. The historical move ushers in an all-new kind of dining adventure.
L.A.-based nightclub owners, brothers Mark and Jonnie Houston of Houston Hospitality, crafted a distinctive nightlife aspect to the Lowell Café vibe. Soon, it will come to life at night, buzzing with excitement. With a list of celebs already lined up, Lowell’s Café will feature A-lister entertainers like Miley and Noah Cyrus, Jimmy Kimmel, Paris Jackson, Sarah Silverman, Bella Thorne, Diplo, Chelsea Handler, Mark Ronson, January Jones, Calvin Harris, Halsey, Usher, David LaChapelle, Awkawafina, Ireland Baldwin, and The Weekend.
Celebs are no strangers to Lowell’s brand
The natural and organic marijuana cultivation practices have found a following of famous fans. Grown without pesticides on local Santa Barbara farms, Lowell Herb Co. is a leading online dispensary based in Santa Barbara.
Inside the marijuana cafe, a wall of fame pays tribute to David Bowie, Woody Harrelson, Lenny Bruce, and other cannabis evangelists, as Sean Black likes to call them. Black, co-founder of Lowell Herb Co., is honored to be leading the way by bringing marijuana cafés to the United States. Additional wall art he is proud to exhibit celebrates pioneering marijuana advocates like Tommy Chong and Snoop Dogg.
Get used to asking for the Budtender
At marijuana cafes, a Budtender will be your bud connoisseur. Your “host,” if you prefer, who will assist you table side. Guiding you through the flower options and explaining the strains, effects, and methods to suit you individually will be his role.
The atmosphere is open and airy. Lush plants cascade from the ceiling and down walls meeting substantially-sized trees in planters. Flourishing pothos pour down over trellises. Lowell’s Cafe is brightened overall by the abundance of green.
It’s a lot different than cannabis cafes in Europe and around the world. In places like Switzerland, cannabis cafes are low profile, darker rather than light and bright. An upscale cannabis restaurant and lounge, like the one in West Hollywood, is a fairly new phenomenon. Also, according to a resident, regulatory agencies require THC levels to be lowered in Geneva marijuana cafes. Not so in California.
Other restrictions in the state have limited the café’s sale of edibles as well as alcohol while laws are being fleshed out. The restaurant expects to sell cannabis-infused food in the future, however.
Lowell Farms Café’s very own celebrity chef Andrea Drummer
Every great restaurant has a great chef. Meet, celebrity chef and marijuana advocate Andrea Drummer. As a traditional chef, she was a “Cooking on High” Netflix contestant and former head chef at the L.A. Ritz-Carlton Executive Lounge.
She leads the kitchen by creating masterful foods that best meld with a marijuana cafe experience. She infuses cannabis flavors with herbs, spices, and other flavors into the food and drink menu. As an innovator of cuisine, she pairs foods with strains, in essence, curating cannabis. It’s a whole new culinary niche she’s pioneering. As a chef, Drummer welcomes food critics to try one of her pairings.
“A kush [strain] is a little more pungent, so it pairs better with a stew, or something like a beef or a meat product,” Drummer explained to The Washington Post, adding, “A lighter lemon profile goes nicely with a fish.”
Lowell Farms: A Cannabis Cafe opened on October 1, 2019. It’s located on N. La Brea Avenue, West Hollywood. To make a reservation for parties of 6 or more people, email [email protected].
