Field Trip: America's First Cannabis Cafe

BY TAMARA PALMER

Lowell’s Original Cannabis Cafe, the first restaurant in the country that sells THC products and also allows onsite consumption, opened last month in West Hollywood. I checked it out for an expensive snack ‘n toke last night.

Walk-ins are accepted, but reservations should be made for a spot in the preferred outdoor area, which is beautiful and green (the plants help absorb the impact of the smoke) and also loud and Drake-y, so you will probably be screaming at your companion. A flower server and food server take your separate orders, which are paid separately, and you have a 90-minute time limit that might have you nervously looking at your phone.

The indoor area

We paired our snacks with a medicated root beer with 10mg of THC, sipped slowly over ice

Since it was 8 p.m., our flower server recommended a hybrid pre-roll called Peanut Butter

The flower menu is extensive and includes some light edibles, concentrates, pre-rolls, flower, vapes and rentable accessories, like a gravity bong.

“Animal style” corn dogs with corn and bacon

Jalapeno mac and cheese bites

Fruity Pebbles bread pudding with creme anglaise and ice cream.

Properly silly, dessert was the hit of the food items we tried and we’d probably just beeline for sweets on future visits. The fried appetizers weren’t as exciting as we wanted for the price and I probably should have veered towards the salad and sandwich options, so food wasn’t the highlight of this experience.

West Hollywood has approved plans for more cannabis cafes, which should eventually spur some new tourism in the area. I would go back to have a fun session with someone who hasn’t experienced it before, but the motivation would be to explore more of the medicated side of the menu — maybe with an ice cream float on the side.

Lowell’s Original Cannabis Cafe, 1201 N. La Brea, West Hollywood