John O'Groats: Brunch 7 Days a Week

John O'Groats on Pico Blvd near Rancho Park has been serving breakfast and brunch all week long for almost three decades.  It is a neighborhood standby that I had never been to, so a confederate and I had brunch there on a weekday this week to sample their offerings and avoid the weekend hordes.  The restaurant has been successful over the years and has absorbed two adjacent storefronts into its original spot, tripling the original seating capacity.  The Pico location is only open for breakfast and lunch, from 7 am - 3 pm.

This is not a "chef driven" restaurant.  It is updated diner and brunch spot classics, with some innovations and some nods to the healthy eating demographics of West LA.  The biscuits are allegedly a highlight of the menu, so we began with them.  The biscuits were on the dry side and even a pat of "Land o Lakes" butter was not able to make them moist or satisfying.  Neither the Colonel or Bisquick has anything to fear.

We both opted for the 2x2x2: two each of pancakes, eggs and bacon.  They offer both traditional and turkey bacon, or for $1 more spicy turkey sausage.  The pancakes are a choice of buttermilk or buckwheat.  I ordered the buttermilk pancakes with scrambled eggs and spicy turkey sausage.  The sausage was spicy and flavorful and the eggs were fluffy and light.  The sausage was worth the surcharge.

The buttermilk pancakes are large.  The order of two was more than I could eat at this meal even if I wasn't saving room for other meals that day.  They were of a medium consistency, not heavy but also not light and airy; something in between.  This was a lot of breakfast and aside from the biscuits, we enjoyed everything we had.

On the weekends, O'Groats serves corned beef hash.  During the week a salmon hash is available but I am holding out to try the corned beef version on a weekend visit.  The omelette selection also looked promising.

The ambiance was cozy without being precious.  There is also an Encino location which served dinner as well as breakfast & lunch, but that location was not visited.

John O'Groats: 10516 Pico Blvd. (West LA).  Phone: (310) 204-0692.  Website: ogroatsrestaurant.com

Lunch at Eva Restaurant

Chef Mark Gold's Eva Restaurant offers a 3 course lunch for $22. Javier from the blog Glutster and I had lunch there this week and had a tasty meal amidst the crowds of customers who were looking to cash in their Groupons.

The 3 course meal was corn soup or gem salad, short ribs or halibut and donut holes or melon. We both opted for the little gem salad and the halibut and I chose donuts while Javier was virtuous and had the melon.


The little gem salad was a refreshing way to begin the meal. The salad had the greens, halved cherry tomatoes, green onions, diced onions a lightly dressed sauce. The salad (pictured above) was attractively plated and was portioned appropriately for a three course meal.



The halibut was served alongside a bed of rice with grilled root vegetables and a light creamy sauce. The halibut was well cooked and flavorful and was also appropriately portioned. The rice absorbed the sauce as well and was a starch that did not overwhelm the fish.



I finished with the donut holes from Bob's donuts. These were gone from my plate in a matter of seconds. Although I don't have a sweet tooth I do have a weakness for good donuts and these were rather good. The dessert was just a touch of sweetness before you went on your way. I had heard that Eva may bring on a pastry chef, although that is unconfirmed at this time.

Service was friendly and efficient and they were able to get us through the meal in a reasonable amount of time, a key consideration at lunch. The Eva website reports that lunch is now served Fridays only, so plan accordingly.

Eva is located at 7458 Beverly Blvd, Los Angeles. Phone: (323) 634-0700. Website: evarestaurantla.com

Fried Chicken Sandwich @ BLD

I recently had lunch at BLD restaurant on Beverly Blvd, when I tried to drop in for lunch down the block at Eva, only to find the days they are open for lunch had changed. Luckily BLD, home of the Tweet a Dish, was open for business and was able to squeeze us in.

The restaurant was packed and they were barely able to accommodate us at a table as we did not have a reservation. Its always good to see a restaurant doing great business. Most of the BLD lunch menu are salads, sandwiches and burgers. I opted for the Buttermilk Battered Fried Chicken Sandwich. It came with barbecue sauce, arugula, provolene cheese and either french fries or salad. I opted for the french fries.



I ordered the sandwich because it was a fried chicken sandwich. Unfortunately the only flavor that came through was the barbecue sauce, which totally overwhelmed everything else. It could have been grilled chicken or anything else under the flavor of the barbecue sauce and the consistency of the melted cheese. It was fine but it just had no real essence of fried chicken. The french fries were very plentiful, easily enough for two and were nicely seasoned. If you are looking for a barbecue sandwich for lunch, this is the sandwich for you, but if your eyes light up when you see the words fried chicken, stay away as you will be disappointed.

My dining companion had the lamb burger, which I tried and was not something either of us would order again. Just not enough lamb flavor. The service was good during the course of our meal and its a very pleasant room during the day, with the light streaming in through all of the big plate glass windows. We were thankfully able to ignore Jake Pavelka, seated at the next table over, as he did not speak loudly. All in all, not a place I will rush back to for lunch.



BLD restaurant is located at 7450 Beverly Blvd at the corner of Vista. Phone: (323) 930-9744. Website: www.bldrestaurant.com

Lunch on the wane? fewer options in LA

In recent weeks Bastide has ended its lunch service in favor of expanding to six nights a week, adding Monday, and Eva has shrunk lunch service to Thursday and Friday down from four days per week. Is this the beginning of a trend?

Sit down upscale lunch spots have been concentrated in the downtown and Beverly Hills / Century City business districts. Perhaps it is a location issue more than anything else?

As an Angeleno who enjoys eating real lunches and not just a salad or sandwich on the go, this is a disappointing series of developments and I hope this lunch retrenchment is over.

Reddi Chick: A Westside Institution

Reddi Chick is a Santa Monica / Westside institution, and has been located in the Brentwood Country Mart since 1979 (according to the country mart website). Their specialty is baskets of rotisserie chicken over french fries. Generations of westsiders have grown up on their famous "chicken baskets." Josh Loeb and Zoe Nathan, the owners of the new Sweet Rose Creamery also in the Brentwood Country Mart, mentioned to me that they ate at Reddi Chick literally hundreds of times while growing up in the neighborhood.

They have other things on the menu but almost everyone gets a chicken basket as the fries come hot right out the the fryer and then some seasoned salt is added. The chickens are rotating on rotisseries right in front of you and they get tremendous turnover. The line can appear long but it rarely takes more than 10 minutes to order and usually less than five. The chicken is juicy and part of the appeal is the little cups of ketchup and bbq sauce provided with your order. Reddi Chick BBQ provides wet napkins because this is the kind of spot where your hands are going to get very dirty. A chicken basket and a soda is about $10 + tax.

I am not sure what goes into the bbq sauce, but it is addictive, both for dipping the chicken and the fries. Part of the charm of Reddi Chick is sitting on the patio of the Brentwood Country Mart and relaxing. You order at the counter, step over to the left and shortly thereafter your tray of baskets is placed in front of you. Customers bring their food to their tables; there is no waiter service. Reddi Chick is popular with families and kids, so expect to see a bunch of them around.

If you are getting your order to go, it is more economical to order a whole chicken and a side of fries than to get multiple chicken baskets. Pictured above are chickens waiting to be cut into pieces and placed in baskets of golden fries.

Free parking is available in the Brentwood Country Mart parking lots. There are many parking attendants who are vigilant about people only going to the mart (there is a Starbucks and a Yoga studio next door on San Vicente, both of whose customers are notorious for trying to park for free in the BCM lot).

Reddi Chick is located in the Brentwood Country Mart, 225 26th St. (just South of San Vicente). Phone: 310-393-5238. No website.

Starry Kitchen - Tofu Balls are Back, Adios Malaysian Curry Chicken

Starry Kitchen opened three months ago in California Plaza downtown as a lunchtime option offering a rotating choice of four proteins in wraps or sandwiches with flavorful pan Asian flavors (think Malaysian curry chicken). The downtown location represents a migration from an operation that founders Nguyen and Thi Tran originally ran in their North Hollywood apartment last fall. Note that dinner service begins next Thursday.

The Trans have gone legit and they have a menu that changes every week. In order to showcase the extent of the menu and to provide variety to their customers, a dish is rotated off of the menu each week, and a new one rotated on, with the departing dish to return after a few months vacation. Today is the last day for the popular Malaysian chicken curry and the accompanying coconut rice, so hurry downtown if you want to try it, else you will have to wait a few months.

The Malaysian chicken curry (pictured above) was tasty and came with Korean glass noodles, a sesame slaw and coconut rice (a $1 upcharge from standard rice). The chicken was flavorful and I added some sriracha sauce to give it an added kick, which made it even better. The sweetness of the coconut rice tends to mute the spiciness of the curry. If you want additional spicy, the pickled chilies pictured at the bottom of this post are available to add to any dish. The japchae were well cooked and complemented the chicken and rice well. I really didn't need the slaw, but then again I don't get excited by slaw.

The infamous crispy tofu balls (pictured above) returned from a long hiatus this week and demand was high for these neon green crispy treats. Customers had been clamoring for their return and their wishes were granted. On Monday when I had lunch at Starry Kitchen, perhaps half of the customers ordered the tofu as Nguyen excitedly told people in line about its return. I preferred the Malaysian chicken to the tofu balls. The crispy exterior was fun to crunch on but it was just not as flavorful as the chicken.

At Starry Kitchen you order at the counter, receive a number and one of the staff will bring your food to your table. The staff and owners take pride in their product and are excited evangelists. The menu is on the blackboard (pictured above with Nguyen in the yellow shirt) and the crowd of eager lunchers can stretch out into the plaza at peak meal times. On Monday they were having a free soda day, which was a fun and unexpected bonus to the adventure of eating at Starry Kitchen. The genuineness of the proprietors comes through in their cooking, menu, and attitude: they want to feed you and make you happy. Starry Kitchen is what Chego should be, but fails to be.

Starry Kitchen is a feel good story but more importantly a happy belly story. To get the full backstory, read about their origins in LA Weekly.

Starry Kitchen is open Monday - Friday 11 am - 3 pm and will begin offering dinner on Thursday & Friday nights starting on Thursday May 27th.

Parking: Starry Kitchen will validate so parking is only $3 for 2 hours, which should leave you plenty of time to check out nearby Angel's Flight. $3 is a huge bargain downtown and is even less expensive than parking on the street at a meter.

Starry Kitchen is located at 350 S Grand Ave (California Plaza). Phone: (213) 617-3474. Website: www.starrykitchen.com

Sushi Gen - classic lunchtime bargain

Some compatriots and I tried and failed to eat dinner at Sushi Gen prior to the Radio Room at the Edison on Tuesday night as they were booked solid the rest of the evening. We made do with a very eh meal at Manten, a Japanese take on Chinese cuisine, across Honda Plaza, which I recommend be avoided.

This reminded me of Sushi Gen's well known Sashimi Lunch Special: a platter of sashimi, a bowl of miso soup, a dish of sunomono a bowl of rice and a bowl of tofu in a beef broth all for $15. I had not had this deal in a few years and was curious to see if it was still good or was coasting on its reputation so stopped by for an early lunch on Friday.

The menu was on the menu when I sat down and a waitress came by to take my order within two minutes before I had even had a chance to look at the menu. Fortunately I knew what I wanted - the sashimi lunch special. After ordering the lunch special ($15) and a hot tea ($1.50) the waitstaff set a land speed record for delivering waiter ordered food to the table. Not two minutes later the sashimi platter, miso soup, sunomono and tofu all arrived at the table, followed by the bowl of rice a minute or two later.

The sashimi platter is generously portioned and included tuna, yellowtail, toro, spicy tuna, diced yellowtail with scallions and cooked salmon among others. While the fish is plentiful, some of it is cut more like scraps than like sushi, so purists be aware. The toro was rich and buttery, full of fatty flavor and mouthfeel. Toro is not something I expect to see on a combination or special plate, let alone one priced at $15, so that is even more of a special treat.

The tofu is cubed and cooked and arrives in a broth in a bowl, like Agedashi Tofu, only not fried. It is a fine prelude to the main event but not especially flavorful or interesting. The miso soup was piping hot.

The overall verdict was that the sashimi lunch special at Sushi Gen is not only a great value but a great lunch. The deal is no secret so crowds begin to form from 11 am onwards through the end of the lunch hour and expect a wait of ~30 minutes or longer at peak times and ~15 minutes early or late. They turn the tables quickly here, so this is not the place for a leisurely lunch to catch up with friends you haven't seen in a while. I was probably at my table for about 30 minutes and when I left the line to get in was longer than when I had arrived. The fast turnover accounts for both the fresh fish and the lickety-split arrival of the food.

Note that the sashimi lunch special (and all lunch specials) are only available at tables, not at the bar. The bar requires a minimum of four orders of sushi/sashimi.

Sushi Gen is located at 422 east 2nd St @ Central, in the Honda Plaza minimall. Parking is available for $1.50 with validation at lunch time ($2.50 at dinner time). Telephone: (213) 617-0552