Will travel for coffee.

OK, maybe that's a little extreme. But whether traveling or at home, I will shamelessly seek out the finest cuppa joe a town has to offer. Coffee, for me, is like pizza: I've never met a cup (or slice) I didn't like, but some are definitely better than others. In New York, I get my caffeine fix at places such as Abraço and El Beit; being an Oregonian, I've enjoyed watching the Stumptown Revolution in Brooklyn and beyond, and I like to visit there and Albina Press when in Portland, Ore. I often dream of living in the Hayes Valley neighborhood of San Francisco, just so I could saunter up to the Blue Bottle kiosk every morning (never mind that I love nothing more than starting my day with a pot of French press at my kitchen table). Philadelphia's La Colombe, Rockland, Maine's absolutely stellar Rock City Coffee, I could go on...

Then there's Southern California, where a solid 75 percent of my family resides. Kéan's is really great, and I used to love the Diedrich's in Old Orange before it morphed into a Starbuck's. On my most recent visits, my uncle and I have traded tips and taken turns pulling shots and whipping up lattés on his in-home espresso maker, which is all fine and good. But it turns out my love of coffee is just as much about, well, coffee as it is coffee shops, with their crush-worthy baristas, obscure magazines and piles of newspapers, always spinning the perfect soundtrack for the occasion.

Imagine the happiness I felt yesterday when I entered Lamill Coffee. Radiohead was playing softly and the 20 or so tables were abuzz with quiet chatter. My mom and I were mid-way through our drive from Orange County to her home in San Luis Obispo, and the Silverlake neighborhood of Los Angeles seemed as good a place as any to break. I'd read about Lamill on Ruth Reichl's Twitter feed, of all places, and some research revealed I needed to check it out, not just for the coffee but the food, too. Mom and I shared a totally indulgent lunch of clam fritters with yuzu kosho mayonnaise and a panino of coffee-rind cow’s milk cheese, scallions, chorizo and piquillo pepper, served with house-made potato chips, olives and cipollini onions. All very good, but the yuzu stole the show, brighter than lemon or lime, super tangy and perfect as a dip for the fritters (as intended), as well as my half panino and chips (inspired)!

Just as impressive is Lamill's drink menu, several pages in length and featuring coffee, espresso and tea. Serious coffee geeks will appreciate that they offer five methods of extraction and three times as many varieties of beans. Anyone not from L.A. will appreciate that they serve a green tea called "Nip and Tuck," which promises to "firm the skin and reduce fine lines around your eyes and mouth naturally." They also serve the Best Iced Coffee in Los Angeles, as voted by Los Angeles Magazine. Mom tried that with a little milk and was still shaking four hours later. I opted for my usual, an Americano. Not as much crema as I've seen or like, but still good enough to have me daydreaming about my next trip to L.A., something I never thought I'd do.