Prana Cafe

Owned by restaurateur Mikayel Israyelyan, who also runs the adjacent Republic, Prana Café serves breakfast and lunch classics with a pan-Asian flair. That means there might be a few krapao basil leaves with your eggs or sweet chili vinaigrette on your salad, but that’s about the extent of it. Overall the menu features satisfying American classics, with build-your-own omelets, French toast and pancakes for breakfast and soups, salads and sandwiches for lunch. Situated on the very trendy Melrose Place, it draws an impossibly chic crowd, and the addition of a weekly farmer’s market nearby means it gets crowded on Sundays. Almost all of the seating is outdoors, and it’s a lovely setting – especially compared to the cafes on Melrose proper, it’s quaint and peaceful. Just know the service is hit or miss, with wait staff that can act imperious or neglectful. At least there’s an accompanying mini bookstore/newsstand to pass the time.

TIPS: As it caters to the shopping crowd hitting up Marc Jacobs and Fred Segal, there’s no dinner served here.