WHY Great specials, fantastic hummus, fresh baklava and slightly lower prices for takeout. WHAT This workaday warehouse of Lebanese and Armenian food features a large dining room with banquet-style tables and murals on the wall. It’s open for breakfast, has a bakery and offers great specials off the beaten kebab-and-falafel path, including crunchy fried frogs’ [...]
October 28, 2011 | Posted in
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WHY Great lunch buffet. WHAT One of the original Old Town eateries, Mezbaan offers tandoori, benghan bharta, palak paneer and distinctive curries that diners can spice on a sliding scale of one to ten. Hyderabad specialties (like the delicious lamb pasinda) also are served. Live Indian music on Friday and Saturday nights, too. 80 N. [...]
October 28, 2011 | Posted in
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WHY Monkfish on saffron-shrimp risotto with a lobster sauce. Need we say more? WHAT Upscale style + moderate prices = busy restaurant. This Old Pasadena bistro draws a crowd with all entrées priced at less than $20. And $1 more buys salad or soup (try the carrot-rosemary) with any main course. It’s nothing exciting, but [...]
October 28, 2011 | Posted in
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WHY Substantial, inexpensive Southern breakfasts: grits, eggs, biscuits-and-gravy, sausage and similar such non-diet food. WHAT A greasy spoon of a breakfast nook, with a too-long wait and often-overwhelmed service on weekends but a nice vibe during the week. WHO Sony workers and local residents walking from home for breakfast. The regulars expect a wait and [...]
October 28, 2011 | Posted in
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WHY For an L.A. take on a Japanese maid café, with very good, carefully presented matcha and milk teas and lovely tea-friendly sandwiches, Japanese dishes and pastries, served with performance-art flair. WHAT Royal/T provides the most singular tea experience you can possibly imagine, blending underground Japanese geek culture with English high-tea conventions, served by waitresses [...]
October 28, 2011 | Posted in
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WHY Classic deli fare, plus customer-pampering waitresses straight out of Central Casting. WHAT Established in 1948, Billy’s is an institution that runs on homemade pickles, towers of lox and pastrami and lots of rye bread. A deli case and bakery case complement a dining room hung with sepia photos of a Glendale with Red Cars [...]
October 28, 2011 | Posted in
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WHY For true Italian espresso drinks made from a giant brass R2-D2 machine, with good panini and baked goods, too. WHAT This small caffé is authentically Italian—which means no hanging around with your laptop for hours. Instead, drink your carefully pulled espresso or glass of Valpolicella (it’s an enoteca, too) or eat your caprese salad [...]
October 28, 2011 | Posted in
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WHY For good, hearty breakfast burritos, burgers and chiles rellenos that go down very well after a surf session or a run on Torrance Beach. WHAT There’s a constant crowd at this cheap, reliable Mexican-American fast-food stand. Unless you’re a 16-year-old who just surfed for four hours, get the junior-size burrito—the regular size will hit [...]
October 28, 2011 | Posted in
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WHY Focaccia with cipolle (onion) or rosemary and potato; panini with prosciutto and provolone. You can also get the house-made focaccia to go. WHAT A little storefront on the gentrifying stretch of Hollywood Boulevard that’s home to Sabor y Cultura is run by a lovely Italian woman, whose focaccia is the key to the two [...]
October 28, 2011 | Posted in
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WHY Fried chicken and big waffles, of course. WHAT The name pretty much says it all. The original location of this small chain of gut-busting L.A. soul-food cafés, Roscoe’s is a Hollywood institution, and it’s a haven for people who can’t bear one more vegan scramble or nonfat chai latte. The fried chicken, waffles and [...]
October 28, 2011 | Posted in
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