Vaya Con Carne's Profile
Cinco de Mayo celebration on the West Side
Honestly, if I were taking a out of towner out for Mexican food on the westside, I'd go to Tacos Por Favor. It's a slice of L.A. life type of taqueria, and they do have beer. And since it's not a bar per se, it might lack the "amateur night" aspects of a place like, say, El Compadre.
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Tacos Por Favor
1406 Olympic Blvd, Santa Monica, CA 90404
Cheap and good in Palm Springs?
Taqueria Tlaquepaque is a new one for me - looking forward to checking it out.
Cheap and good in Palm Springs?
Ha! I've been to El Gallito and I like it, but I agree - it's most definitely not a destination restaurant. Perfectly adequate, though, and I'll probably go there on my upcoming trip.
Eagle Rock lunch places?
Head down York to My Taco in Highland Park. Or for that matter, explore other Mexican options in HP, such as El Huarache Azteca.
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My Taco
6300 York Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90042
Japanese ice cream parfaits?
Hanaichimonme might - IIRC they have a pretty big dessert menu.
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Han's Bibimbap
333 S Alameda St, Los Angeles, CA 90013
Cheap and good in Palm Springs?
Thanks, I'd forgotten about Rick's - probably the best breakfast option in the area, if I remember correctly.
Los Angeles coffee - I'm calling you out (many boos, and one hooray)
I started noticing a Starbucks on every Los Angeles street corner probably in the mid to late 1990s. I really don't recall coffee being a big thing in Los Angeles before that - it was always something I made at home and had no expectation of being able to find when I went out.
I lived in Seattle in the late 1970s, and IIRC there was just that one Starbucks in the Market for a very long time. Seattle had Starbucks, Berkeley had Peet's, and Los Angeles had a few random indie coffeehouses (the Go-Between, where I briefly worked; the Onyx, where the coffee was a joke).
Cheap and good in Palm Springs?
Going to PS soon after an absence of several years. I know there's been a lot of high-end restaurants that have opened up, but I don't do high end - I'm a dive/ethnic eatery fan.
My favorite place out there has always been the Indian restaurant in the north side of town, but I'm looking for a few other suggestions. A place for a hearty, non-sweet (think omelettes) breakfast would be great, but I'd love to hear other suggestions too. Thanks!
Miracle-Mile chow
I love Frank's on Fairfax south of 3rd for Mexican breakfast on Saturdays.
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Frank's
363 S Fairfax Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90036
Palm Springs/Desert Hot Springs/Joshua Tree/29 Palms
Oh, I wish I'd seen this in time for your trip - then I could have given a shout out to Sam's Pizza and Indian Food in JT. Yes, Indian food - and some of the best I've had in Southern California. Can't vouch for the pizza, since I can't stand the stuff, but their Indian food is wonderful.
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Sam's Pizza
61380 29 Palms Hwy # 13, Joshua Tree, CA
Los Angeles coffee - I'm calling you out (many boos, and one hooray)
I like a very dark roast too - I lived in Seattle as a teen in the 1970s and was basically weaned on the original Starbucks :) Thanks, I've got to check this place out soon.
Los Angeles coffee - I'm calling you out (many boos, and one hooray)
Where do you buy your beans?
westside produce-driven restaurants?
Tender Greens in Culver City is all about the produce - big salads and entree plates for around $10 each. The menu says the entrees come with salad and mashed potatoes, but you can sub grilled veggies for the potatoes - what they're grilling varies by season. This is probably my favorite "healthy" meal in all of L.A. - I'm not even a salad fan, but their baby spinach salad is fantastic.
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Tender Greens
9523 Culver Blvd, Culver City, CA 90232
Diners?
Website and directions: http://bluestarrocks.com/directions.htm
If going south on Alameda, turn left on 15th, pass a bunch of scrapyards and it will be on the right.
Do report back - thanks :)
Diners?
There's been several changes of ownership at Millie's over the years, and countless changes of cooks. I haven't been since the mid-1990s (I waitressed there 1994-1995) - once the atmosphere changed to the "no cell phones, be mean to the customers" rock-star shtick, I lost interest. Anyway, the Millie's cooks that IMO made the best CFS can now be found at Blue Star, where the service is super friendly and there isn't a two-hour wait for a table, so, it's win-win!
Diners?
Yeah - there's a sort of Millie's connection to Blue Star. The owner used to cook at Millie's. And the Saturday cook used to own Millie's. But neither at the same time.
Diners?
I think so - Kash Brouillet is the owner. I remember him cooking at Millie's waaaaaay back in the late 80s-early 90s.
Diners?
I think the consensus would be that the prices might exclude the Blue Star from truly being a diner/truck stop :) Pretty much everything on the menu is $10+, so that might affect the authenticity factor.
That said - it does have some of the other classic diner/truck stop/coffee shop elements in place: daily specials, a juke box, decent coffee generously poured.
Diners?
We never had many "diners" out this way - instead, we had "coffee shops" but many of them have been torn down or repurposed. Pann's and Rae's are two good examples; architecturally Astro in Silver Lake is another good one (but the food is pretty mediocre).
We also had a bit of what's sometimes called "programmatic" architecture - buildings shaped like the things the sell. Popular during the 1920s-1930s. Again, mostly long gone. You might be thinking of the Tail o' the Pup hot dog stand (I think this is now gone too?), shaped like a hot dog. There were also Chili Bowl shaped restaurants (one still stands on Pico in West LA, now a BBQ place) and tamale-shaped restaurants (one still stands in east LA, last I saw it was painted bring pink and now a beauty salon!). All of these places were small and had counters like the Pullman-car diners of the east coast.
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Astro Family Restaurant
2300 Fletcher Dr, Los Angeles, CA 90039
Please help me love the westside!
This must be a pretty common practice - I worked in a couple Asian restaurants when I was a teenager and they all did this. Another place I worked in recycled the uneaten bread off of tables, either from the bread basket or toast at breakfast.
80th Birthday in Pasadena/downtown?
The Raymond? It gets mixed reviews here, but it's the kind of place my 80ish mother would love. I've only been for lunch, but I liked it.
Il Fornaio in Pasadena might also work. They do well at accommodating groups, prices are on the moderate side, and I've always been pleasantly surprised by the food.
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Il Fornaio
24 W Union St, Pasadena, CA 91103
Raymond Restaurant
1250 South Fair Oaks Avenue, Pasadena, CA 91105
Non-sweet, non-baked breakfasts, NELA/Pasadena?
The Pines died a slow death. There were several changes of ownership, a couple of which really tried to keep the integrity of the original (except they did start offering ketchup!). The current incarnation is a Mexican restaurant called Habanero Grill. For a short time they continued to offer the Pines menu on weekends, but now they're all Mexican, all the time.
For the record, I have no idea if Habanero Grill's Mexican food is any good - if anyone can comment, please do!
Non-sweet, non-baked breakfasts, NELA/Pasadena?
Armons, really? Passed it a million times and never stopped - figured it would be in the velveeta-style-cheese category.
Mustard Seed has been on the must-try list for a while now, but until now I haven't heard much about it.
Thanks for the suggestions - both sound like they're worth checking out.
Non-sweet, non-baked breakfasts, NELA/Pasadena?
My issue with Auntie Em's portion sizes was that (at least when I went - couple years back) everything was served as a "breakfast sandwich." For folks like me who don't want to start our day with two big slices of white (albeit artisanal) bread, that left maybe one egg and a bit of meat for eight bucks.
Been meaning to check out LeRoy's for-like-EVER - thanks for the reminder!
Comfort Food off La Brea.....?
Is there still a Roscoe's on Pico near La Brea? Chicken and waffles sounds pretty comforting right about now.
Non-sweet, non-baked breakfasts, NELA/Pasadena?
Yeah, we considered Square One but thought the wait would be too long. Still hoping to try it someday though.
Angelique and Homegirl are great suggestions - only downside is that Homegirl only has *tofu* chorizo (which is just *wrong* to a girl whose username is Vaya Con Carne!). But that omelette with roasted poblano pepper & cheese sure sounds good.
Non-sweet, non-baked breakfasts, NELA/Pasadena?
This place sounds amazing - exactly what we were looking for (albeit a bit farther than we wanted to travel). Will definitely check it out!
Non-sweet, non-baked breakfasts, NELA/Pasadena?
We were considering Central Park yesterday, but got scared off by knowing that it's the same ownership as Shakers, Wild Thyme and Main Street Diner. The ingredients at those three seem to be pretty low-quality, so we expected Central Park would be more of the same but with higher prices. Can anyone confirm or deny this?
And thanks re: Little Flower - I'll definitely check out their quiche when I'm alone or in quiche-minded company :)
Non-sweet, non-baked breakfasts, NELA/Pasadena?
Thank you - another one for me to try. I hadn't even heard of Cafe Verde before.
