Who Should Consider Semaglutide for Weight Loss?

Kelly tries a savory galette bretonne and a pair of eclairs from two of the market’s French eateries.

Table at Third & Fairfax is a weekly dining column in 2023 where Food and Drink editor Patricia Kelly Yeo will eat her way through the Original Farmers Market. Each column will drop on Thursday for a week-by-week recap of her journey through the classic L.A. tourist attraction. Last week, Kelly visited Charlie’s Coffee Shop.

It feels like half of the people I know are in Europe at the moment, so I’m feeling a little FOMO as I visit the Original Farmers Market the day after the 4th of July, the whole place filled with tourists from elsewhere. They speak other languages, carry designer bags, arms full of shopping bags from the Grove. This is their vacation to La La Land, not mine. For the most part, I’m staying put in L.A. this year in order to work on a novel. Though the choice is wholly mine (and makes visiting the market 52 times in 2023 far more feasible), I find myself drawn to the savory buckwheat crepes from the French Crepes (est. 2000), which superficially resemble the ones I had at Breizh Café while visiting Paris last year.

From past experience, I know a crepe at the Farmers Market is likely to have nothing in common with one I’ve had abroad. The stall’s sweet crepes, one of which I tried in January, don’t even measure up to the relatively tasty Millet Crepe, which has locations along Sawtelle and in Little Tokyo. Still undeterred by this fact, I decide to order the Mamy Lisou ($17), which combines Emmental cheese with jambon de Paris and a fried egg, sunny side up. While I’m waiting for the crepe to be ready, I finally get around to trying something from Michelina Artisan Boulangerie (est. 2017), which is directly across from the crepe stall.

Over the last few months, I’ve eyed the French bakery’s pastry case, so I know exactly what I want: Two eclairs ($10 each), one chocolate and one raspberry. Excitedly, I bring them over to the counter at the French Crepes. Taking a bite into the raspberry eclair, I’m immediately struck by how hard the choux pastry is. The fruit flavoring—fairly unique in L.A.—reels me in, however, and I end up eating most of the first eclair. The chocolate one, however, is fairly pale brown, and the milk chocolate filling inside lacks the velvety, deep cacao flavor I prefer in chocolate desserts. Like the first eclair, it’s hard and almost unappetizing, so I take just a few bites before digging into my savory crepe, which arrives after a few more minutes’ wait.

Since it’s almost 2 o’clock, I’m struck by how breakfast-y each bite of ham, egg and cheese feels to my palate. The crepe batter, though delightfully crispy around the edges, has little to no buckwheat flavor. On its own, it’s rubbery and almost tasteless. It’s a poor excuse for a savory crepe, and not exactly cheap either. It makes me wish I could point readers to a decent savory crepe, but I’ve yet to find a good place in Los Angeles. (If you know of one, please email me!)

Meals from Table at Third & Fairfax fall into three categories: Skip It, Worth Trying and Must Have.

Vendor: The French CrepesOrder: The Mamy Lisou (savory buckwheat crepe filled with Emmental cheese, jambon de Paris and a soft fried egg)Verdict: Skip It. While the sweet crepes are okay, the market’s creperie churns out terrible savory ones.

Vendor: Michelina Artisan Boulangerie Order: Chocolate and raspberry eclairsVerdict: Skip It. These were hard and overpriced.

AstraZeneca sold its U.S. headquarters in Fairfax to Delle Donne & Associates in a deal valued at $50 million, but company officials insist the pharmaceutical giant is not going anywhere.

On the same day it closed on the sale, the pharmaceutical giant signed a long-term lease agreement for two buildings on the 80-acre campus it has occupied for nearly two decades.

"AstraZeneca remains committed to the state of Delaware," spokeswoman Alexandra Engel said. "Selling the site and leasing back a smaller footprint will allow us to more efficiently use our office space while lowering ongoing operational costs."

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The drugmaker, which recorded $23 billion in revenue last year, declined to disclose terms of the lease it signed with Delle Donne, the development company owned by the family of WNBA star Elena Delle Donne.

Ernie Delle Donne, president and chief executive officer of the Stanton-based company, said AstraZeneca signed on for enough years to make him "extremely comfortable."

"Having AstraZeneca remain in place was extremely important to our future plans for the property," he said. "Them, along with JPMorgan, Nemours and DuPont's Experimental Station all being nearby will be a major selling point as we begin to market the site to future tenants."

The sale and leaseback contract was finalized on June 30, but only became public this week. The deal completes a plan AstraZenca first revealed last summer when it put the property on the market.

"It's definitely a fair price," said John Kaczowka, senior vice president at the brokerage firm CBRE. "It's a great location that's just outside the city and accessible from two major roadways. I think [Delle Donne] will be very successful with that property."

The drugmaker says it now plans to consolidate its operations into the two office buildings closest to Concord Pike (U.S. 202), known as the Alapocas and Brandywine buildings. AstraZeneca said it will spend an undisclosed sum to renovate those structures, which collectively total about 380,000 square feet.

Once that move is complete sometime around late 2018, Delle Donne will invest another $50 million to renovate the other two buildings on the site, known as FOC and FOP. Those buildings collectively total about 500,000 square feet of office space.

The campus is approved for another 900,000 square feet of development, and Delle Donne said his company is weighing the best use for that land.

"We're contemplating a mixed use that could involve housing, retail, office space and possibly even a hotel," he said.

Delle Donne & Associates is developing a similar mixed-use project on 16 acres of the University's of Delaware's Science, Technology and Advanced Research Campus off South College Avenue in Newark – the former site of a Chrysler Assembly plant.

The developer said he sees the AstraZeneca site as the second piece of major redevelopment projects in opposite ends of New Castle County. Delle Donne & Associates also paid $55 million to purchase the 450,000-square-foot Christiana Executive Campus near the Christiana Mall in late 2016.

"A location with this kind of geography, physical plant and incredible infrastructure doesn't come around very often, at least not in my lifetime," he said of the AstraZeneca site. "This is really something special."

AstraZeneca built its North American headquarters in Delaware in the late 1990s after state leaders, led by then-Gov. Tom Carper, lured the company with what remains one of the largest incentive package in the state's history.

The state ponied up a $41 million package of grants and tax credits, along with $70 million in road improvements near the campus, in exchange for AstraZeneca's pledge to increase its workforce at the site from 2,400 to 4,000 by 2004.

The pharmaceutical company met that obligation and more, reaching an employment peak of 5,000 workers in 2005, only to have patent losses and a global recession lead to a major restructuring that has gradually reduced the company's local workforce ever since.

Following a round of layoffs last December, AstraZeneca now has about 1,500 workers in Delaware spread across its headquarters campus and a packaging facility near Newark.

"Ultimately, that deal made a whole lot of sense," Carper said Thursday. "Do I wish they still had 4,500 employees? You bet. But I'm glad they still have 1,500. Not a lot of employers in Delaware have that many."

As AstraZeneca's headcount has shrunk so has its need for office space.

AstraZeneca has demolished several buildings on the campus in an effort to reduce its Delaware footprint, including 450,000 square feet of research space — accounting for 35 percent of the property's total square footage. That move came after the drugmaker phased out its entire Delaware-based research development, cutting 500 jobs in Fairfax and 600 more throughout the United States.

In 2013, the pharmaceutical giant also sold the 15-story Rollins Building in Fairfax to a company affiliated with the owner of Applied Bank for $10.5 million. Less than a year later, AstraZeneca sold two buildings totaling 357,000 square feet on its south campus to JPMorgan Chase for a reported $44 million.

AstraZeneca is only the latest in a string of major companies that have consolidated space in Delaware over the last year.

Capital One announced in April that it plans to move all 2,200 of its Delaware employees into two adjacent office buildings in downtown Wilmington. Bank of America said in February that it plans to move all of its 1,200 Wilmington employees to a single building in its three-structure downtown Wilmington complex.

Kaczowka said those moves likely have as much to do with office design, as efforts to save money.

"Gone are the days of large private offices," he said. "Companies today are trimming the size of their work stations and creating tighter, collaborative environments. That means they need less space for their employees."

Engel, the AstraZeneca spokeswoman, said the new design for the company's office space in Fairfax will offer room specially designed to support "concentrated individual work, one-on-one meetings, private phone calls, socialization and formal meetings and presentations," giving employees "freedom to exercise personal preference over which space they want to work."

"This strategy has proven within the AstraZeneca community to foster more vibrant and collaborative working environments for its employees," she said.

While AstraZeneca has vowed to remain in Delaware for the foreseeable future, some see the company's gradual move to sell off its real estate holdings as a troubling sign.

"To me, it says impermanence," said Lawrence Hammermesh, a professor of corporate law at Widener University's Delaware Law School.

"Maybe they just don't want to be in the business of owning real estate and would rather hand that over to someone with a specific expertise in that area," he said. "But I can't help think that it's a lot easier to pack up and leave when you rent than when you have to sell a building."

State Sen. Greg Lavelle, R, Sharpley, represents the district where AstraZeneca is based. He said he sees the deal as an opportunity for Delaware.

"AstraZeneca by their own account is going through a transitionary period, and I'm hopeful they will be able to execute their vision," he said. "But you can't wring your hands forever. This deal opens the property back up to multiple, good-paying employers, and I'm optimistic we're going to get good results."

Contact business reporter Scott Goss at (302) 324-2281, [email protected] or on Twitter @ScottGossDel.

As Art Pleasanton walks through his Wilmington hardware store, he typically stops each customer to help them find what they need.

But lately, it's the customers who are stopping Pleasanton, to bid him farewell and thank him for his years of customer service.

After almost 45 years at Fairfax Hardware in the Fairfax Shopping Center on Concord Pike, Pleasanton is retiring. The store isn't going anywhere — Jeff Ulmer, the owner of Action Hardware in Branmar Plaza on Marsh Road, will be running it much the same — but the announcement marks the end of the career for one of the community's most beloved local business owners.

"There's so many great people in this area that I've gotten to know. It's kind of sad," Pleasanton, 63, said. "I'm going to miss everybody here. The guys that work here and all of the customers. It's real good and just a great store, great community."

The store first shared the news in a Facebook post on May 22. That post has since received more than 400 likes and 130 comments, all of which herald Pleasanton's personalized service.

"Your store was the best kept secret in Delaware," wrote Helen Lowry. "You and your staff helped me so many times and I always appreciated it. You will be sorely missed but I guess everyone should be able to retire sometime."

The sentiment was the same in the store Friday morning.

Wayne Faulk was one of the many customers to congratulate Pleasanton. He still remembers how the store had stocked a part for a toilet from the 1960s. That purchase was made more than 20 years ago.

"He carries things that Home Depot and Lowe's don't carry," Faulk said. "You go in their great big store and ask for this and they say, 'I don't know. I've never heard of such a thing.'"

Perhaps no display of support for Pleasanton is as telling as the banner that now hangs in front of Fairfax Hardware. After the store announced Pleasanton's retirement, a customer, Phyllis Schmidt, made a banner that reads, "Farewell Artie," and posted it next to the front door overnight.

The banner has, or had, white space at the top for customers to write a message. In only a few days it was almost filled.

"I think that the outpouring of support from the people in the community toward Art is a real testament to what Art has built here," Ulmer said. "It's non-stop."

The beginning

In the winter of 1975, Pleasanton was dating Kris Kresge, the sister of Bob and Jack Kresge. The Kresge brothers owned Fairfax Hardware after their father, Harry, purchased the store from Charlie Noonan in the early 1960s.

Pleasanton was working as a bricklayer, a profession that typically slows in the colder months. The store needed help, so the Kresge brothers asked Pleasanton to come aboard.

"Here it is almost 45 years later. I'm here," Pleasanton said. "I never married Kris, but I got a hardware store out of it."

After he worked at the store for almost 20 years Pleasanton and his wife, Janice, took ownership of Fairfax Hardware when the Kresges decided to retire.

What's been the secret to their years of success? How do he and his employees navigate a store with thousands of items, each of which Pleasanton says has a minimum of 10 related questions?

It starts with being honest.

"The main thing is find out where the merchandise is and ask people if they need help," Pleasanton said. "And if you can't, then be honest with them. Don't bulls--- them. ... They're not going to trust you anymore, they're not going to ask you questions anymore."

The future

Pleasanton handed over ownership about a week ago but he will still be in the store for the next few weeks. Then he'll retire to the Chesapeake Bay, where he and his wife purchased a home a year ago.

Pleasanton grew up on a dairy farm in Cecil County, Maryland. Much of his family — he has seven brothers and a sister — including his 89-year-old mother is still in the area. He wants to spend time with her and with his twin grandchildren.

Ulmer, whose family has been in the hardware business for more than 40 years with their store in Branmar Plaza, plans to keep the Fairfax store operating as it has been. He described it as the stores becoming one big family.

"I grew up at that store," Ulmer said. "My father ran it for many years and then I did. We always tried to serve the customer — customer service first — and offer fair prices and a good selection of merchandise.

"And from everything I can tell, that's exactly what Art was doing here."

Contact Brandon Holveck at bholveck@delawareonline or (302) 324-2267. Follow on Twitter @holveck_brandon.

By Sam de Brito

Updated October 12, 2015 — 3.41pmfirst published at 2.53pm

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Forgive the shameless plug, but this is the entry we had to have. Think of it as our first, fumbling kiss… I promise to be gentle. The name of this blog and, the reason I landed this gig, are because of a book I've just written titled No Tattoos Before You're Thirty… what I'll tell my children.

Conceived as an advice guide to my yet-to-be-born kiddies, it grew out of a column for a Sunday newspaper. In the book, the very first pearl I impart to my daughter is: "All men are liars. Any male between the age of thirteen and death who says 'I just want to be friends' wants to sleep with you. Men will say anything to get you in bed and none of them are to be trusted." Now, here's the bizarre thing…

Both of the female editors I worked with (at the publishing house and at my former Sunday newspaper) wanted to change this not-altogether-original advice to read: "All men are liars (well, most of them anyway)."

Their reasoning was and, I paraphrase, "you can't generalise, not all men are like you."

Really? And maybe I can interest you in buying the Harbour Bridge?

Men lie about everything: we lie about where we've been, who we were with and, especially, what we were doing. We lie about how much we like our girlfriend's cooking, clothes, friends, family, boobs and the boobs of their friends and family.

We lie about our income, exes, ambitions, how many women we've slept with, beers we've drunk, our abiding affection for pornography and what the hell that rash is.

"We lie so much it's like a second language," says comedian Chris Rock.

Why do men lie?

Simply; to avoid confrontation, pain and, ultimately, the growth that being truthful requires. The majority of men are still boys and we like things just the way they are, thank you. Taunts of 'why don't you grow up?' are like video game sweat off Lara Croft's back.

The more intriguing question, for me anyhow, is why do women lie?

As Chris Rock says: "You know what a man's lie is like? 'I was at Kenny's house'. A woman's lie is like, 'It's your baby'."

I've learned this lesson, to a degree, beating myself up for the tiny fibs I thought were tainting the sanctity of a relationship, only to call my girlfriend at her friend's place and hear…

"Aww, did she say was sleeping here tonight? I'm really sorry, Sam."

Still, I'm not cynical; I'm a pragmatist. I just expect that sooner or later, a woman is going to tell me a whopper that, if discovered, would change the course of both our lives.

What I don't get, is women, usually university educated, dating guys wearing skivvies, who insist men are different: that there are bad guys who lie and good guys who don't.

So, lemme clear that up for you right now, ladies.

The bad guys lie to get in your pants.

The good guys lie to get in your heart.

Why do you lie?

Read the comments on Sam de Brito's original column.

Eater LA has learned that chefs Jon Shook and Vinny Dotolo will close their seminal restaurant Animal on Saturday, June 17 after 15 years of operation. The Fairfax Avenue stalwart debuted in June 2008 and soon received local and national attention for its bold cooking and even bolder chef personalities. Known as the Two Dudes, Shook and Dotolo grew Animal’s following with a menu chock-full of rich cuts of pork belly, under-appreciated offals, and plenty of then-legal foie gras.

“After 15 years we have decided to close Animal. Our last day of service will be the 17th of June. A huge heartfelt thank you to all of the farmers, artisans, purveyors, team members past and present, guest chefs, the diners who came to support us and to all of our friends and families. We had fun, made great memories and will cherish it forever,” said Shook and Dotolo in a joint statement sent to Eater.

Animal took the city by storm with its no-holds-barred approach to food, and demand quickly ballooned for dishes like foie gras loco moco, crispy pigs ears, and a bacon chocolate crunch bar. This style of cooking grew to prominence in places like Montreal at Au Pied de Cochon and Joe Beef, and in London at Fergus Hendersons’s iconic St. John, but was a novelty at the time on this particular stretch in the Fairfax District.

While then-LA Weekly restaurant critic Jonathan Gold mostly embraced Shook and Dotolo’s drippy, over-the-top “Boy Food,” former Los Angeles Times restaurant critic S. Irene Virbila sniffed at its approach (“Hide the salt and the sugar … and maybe — just a thought — cut back on the bacon”) and former New York Times restaurant critic Frank Bruni wasn’t completely sold (“Animal isn’t a great restaurant, or at least it wasn’t when I tried it”). Shook and Dotolo received best new chef honors from Food & Wine magazine in 2009. Despite the mixed critical reception, Animal came to define an important moment in the late aughts LA dining scene.

Shook and Dotolo, who met at culinary school in Fort Lauderdale in the late ‘90s, initially rose to fame with a Food Network show called “Two Dudes Catering” and the cookbook Two Dudes, One Pan. In 2004, the two chefs launched a successful local catering company called Carmelized Productions. The chefs continue to operate Son of a Gun on West 3rd Street, Jon & Vinny’s (multiple locations), Helen’s Wines (multiple locations), and Cookbook Market in Echo Park and Highland Park.

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