LA Diners
the embrace that never gets old
I finally made it to Max and Helen’s. I was meeting a friend on Larchmont, and we decided that if the wait was under 45 minutes, we’d give it a shot. We waited 40 minutes and took the time to browse Larchmont shops. She watched while I bought a blouse for more money than I would ever normally spend, as well as a fancy notebook for weaving notation and three pencils, which cost me $13. Maybe the arrival of the newly famed diner will help those three card/stationery stores on Larchmont survive. We sat inside, and breakfast was delicious. I would have expected no less. The pancake was the sleeper hit, along with the butter on the waffle. OMG. But please do something about the counter stools. We tried to make them work, but had to move to a table, which was vaguely disappointing. I love counters. The experience made me think a lot about diners. I share Phil’s love for them.
When I was growing up, there was no money for fancy or even medium-range restaurants. When my mom wanted a night off from cooking, we leaned on diners, and the LA of that time (the late ‘50s and ‘60s) had plenty. Our favorite was the U-shaped counter at Thrifty Drug Store in the shopping plaza at the intersection of Sunset and Hollywood Boulevards. We would settle onto the stools and look at the menu, but our order was always the same — we shared the open-face roast beef sandwich. The bread was Wonder-ful. The two untoasted pieces of bread were topped with thin slices of tender roast beef napped with an abundant pour of gravy. Fluffy mashed potatoes that had that whiff of almost too much time in the steam table completed the plate.
Mom and I would argue about additional gravy on the potatoes. I was nay, she was yea. The generous pat of melting butter was enough. If there was an accompanying vegetable, I don’t remember it. The cost of the plate was literally pennies. As we waited for the order to be set down in front of us, I would get up and browse the selection of Archie and Veronica comics on display while Mom chatted up the waitress. Another fave was Van de Kamp’s on Wilshire near Fairfax, where we would stop as a treat after my visit with the pediatrician. They were famed for their line of baked goods, but my childhood obsession was the chicken croquettes. And I was always angling for steak and eggs at Norm’s in Hollywood. I was a good eater. You can still get steak and eggs at Norm’s, but it’s probably better at Millie’s, although it won’t cost pennies anymore.
Much of the LA of my childhood is rapidly disappearing, including some of the greatest diners. RIP The Pantry, site of Sunday brunches with Mom and too many 2 AM dinners with high school mates after an evening doing something that we shouldn’t have been doing. (note, since originally writing this I see that The Pantry is coming back!) RIP Ships on La Cienega, where the tabletop toasters gave me more pleasure than they should have as I slid into adulthood. That it was replaced with a gas station was particularly galling. But the diner genre still exists here. It is as LA as the taco. And why wouldn’t it be? They are foundationally egalitarian. Diners that you want to frequent have settled into a patina that embraces you like a hug, even when they’re slightly showing their age. It’s more than the architecture and design, although that is certainly a part of it for some. They are extremely synergistic places to eat. The neighborhood, feel of the place, personalities of the servers, and the food, of course, create the sensation of coming home.
The Good Food team particularly values those diners that are owned by immigrants and have menus with all the American standard breakfast options, with an overlay of menu items that reflect the owner’s homeland. My go-to is CJ’s on Pico near Hauser. My order varies between huevos à la Mexicana and chilaquiles. But friends, I often go with a burger or breakfast burrito.
For a more Americana diner experience I love Clark Street Diner and Swinger’s. But with recent losses in mind, we need to be eating at all these places. Here are a few that spring to mind. Where do you go? What do you miss? Help us out — people who live in the Valley.
Cafe 50s - West LA
Cindy’s - Eagle Rock
CJ’s Cafe - Mid-Wilshire
Foxy’s - Glendale
Fred 62 - Los Feliz
Maxine’s - Venice
Millie’s - Silverlake, Pasadena
Nick’s Cafe - DTLA
Norm’s - La Cienega
Serving Spoon - Inglewood
Pann’s - LAX
Rae’s - Santa Monica
S&W Country Diner - Culver City
Swinger’s - Beverly Grove
Teddy’s - West LA
Twohey’s - Pasadena
Digestibles
Regarding Her, the support organization for women in food and beverage is having their yearly slate of events that coincides with Women’s Day. Take a look at what’s on offer. So many opportunities for a good time.
I wrote about getting food delivered by robot on my personal Substack, Evan’s Food Thoughts. Several people reached out and asked if I had read Kazuo Ishiguro’s Klara and the Sun. I have, and it lingered in my brain for weeks.
Continuing my love of Japanese “cosy” fiction with The Convenience Store by the Sea by Sonoko Machida. Expect a gentle exploration of connection and kindness in an unexpected place.
If you’re a person who finds watching dystopia helps anxiety with actual dystopia, Families Like Ours, a new Danish series, is excellent. What happens to people of privilege when a country shuts down due to climate change?
Here’s a Pie Playlist from the archives of our former colleague, KCRW’s Music Librarian, the late Eric J. Lawrence. Assembled by Anne Litt.
We had a KCRW employee mini pie contest this past week in our performance space. Thank you to all who took part. The winning pie, a perfect Passion Fruit Custard Pie with a Biscoff crust, was created by Liv Surnow, senior producer and performance studio manager. Kudos! What a pie!
And don’t forget that tomorrow, March 7th, at 11:55 PM is the deadline to register a pie for KCRW’s PieFest and Contest taking place on March 14th… 3.14… Pi Day!
Here’s one from Silverlake that is before your time, Evan. It was on Glendale Blvd. Just at intersection with Silverlake Blvd, across from the Mixville Market. I don’t recall the name of it. We used to order flour tortillas with butter and cokes.
Nat’s Early Bite Coffee Shop and Diner. Sherman Oaks/Van Nuys.
http://natsearlybite.com/about.html