Laidrey Coffee Roasters

Laidrey Coffee on Ventura Boulevard in Encino is a remote-worker cafe with a few quirks worth knowing. The interior is small. The outdoor seating leans into couches and pillows, which is unusual for an LA cafe and reads more like someone's patio than a coffee shop. The wifi is fast enough to use, with one regular clocking it at over 300 megabits, and there are outlets for laptops.

The CBD add-in option to drinks is a real menu item, not a gimmick, and is on the differentiator list. The maple oak latte is the signature, and it is the move for a first visit. The specialty latte rotation, the cortado, and the matcha latte cover the rest of the drinks board. The red velvet coffee is a sweeter option for people who want one.

The food menu exists, which puts Laidrey in a smaller category than the espresso-only cafes around it. Avocado toast and breakfast sandwiches are the orders. Breakfast burritos are on the menu. That makes the shop a viable morning-into-lunch destination rather than a quick stop.

Two things to flag before going. The music gets loud enough that one remote worker called it out as a problem for taking calls, so if your day involves video meetings, you need to factor that in. The parking is metered street parking, which is the LA reality but is worth planning for if you plan to camp for several hours.

What the shop does well is a real LA cafe that takes both the food side and the workspace side seriously without becoming a co-working space with espresso bolted on. The couches outside are the differentiator, and they are the seat to claim if you are working with a laptop and want air on the same trip. The maple oak latte is the drink to put next to the laptop. The avocado toast is the lunch.

For remote workers in the Valley who want fast internet, real food, and a cafe that does not look like every other Ventura Boulevard espresso bar, this is the version the area has.