Despite many of my previous protestations, I finally decided to make a trip out to sunny Southern California and check out Los Angeles.  I have some friends that live here that I haven’t seen in a while, and I found a really cheap JetBlue flight, so I thought I would take the plunge and visit LA before it fell into the Pacific Ocean (I seriously believe this is going to happen in my lifetime).  When I asked people in Boston who have been to LA for food recommendations, one of the most trusted people I know suggested I go to Griddle Cafe in Hollywood.  When I saw on the website that they had red velvet pancakes, I knew this had to be the first place I went to in LA. 

As I walked down Sunset Boulevard, I felt eerily pleased to be amongst the bastions of entertainment, such as the Directors Guild, the Laugh Factory, Trader Joe’s.  For some reason I was under the impression that Griddle Cafe was not a very popular place, however, upon my arrival at 10 AM (on a Tuesday morning!) there was a line of about 15 people waiting to get in.  Fortunately, the service is very speedy and they make a big effort to rush you in and out.  Unfortunately, because of this I didn’t really have time to get a good photo of my meal. 

I ordered the “Kicking and Screaming” breakfast tacos, as there are two things I expected out of a diner in LA: good eggs and great mexican food.  The tacos were scrambled eggs, pico de gallo, avocado, monterey jack cheese, with a chipotle cream sauce and served with refried beans.  The refried beans did not have lard in them (according to the waiter).  I really liked these tacos, though the refried beans didn’t really seem to fit in the dish.  I think it would work without it, but it was nice to get some beans to complement the tacos.

I ordered the tacos because I was not really feeling like eating something sweet this morning, but I did want to try their french toast.  Their pancakes were five slabs of 8” diameter pancakes and they were far more food than I was ready to eat.  So, I ordered a half order of french toast to go with the tacos.  The french toast was really tasty, and while the tacos were just faintly spicy (perked up with some Cholula sauce I added), the toast’s sweetness really felt good after the tacos.

Griddle Cafe is a really cool place, though they constantly rush you and the model/actor waiters definitely had a some attitude.  The food portions are suitable for even the most ravenous Midwesterner, and after eating this meal, I really didn’t feel like eating for several hours.  On the down side, while there are few vegetarian options, there are no obvious vegan options.  If I were to judge everything altogether, I’d have to give Griddle Cafe four and a half cheese sandwiches.  It’s definitely one of the best diners I’ve ever been to, despite the fact that everybody else has jumped on this bandwagon.

Griddle Cafe
7916 West Sunset Boulevard
Los Angeles, CA 90046-3304 
(323) 874-0377

While I am a blogger, I really cannot stand the concept of “social media”, and it infuriates me that there are people whose job it is to maintain Facebook pages and twitter feeds.  I consider these jobs more non-jobs as they really don’t provide any useful good or service to better humanity (the inventors of the SlapChop have contributed more than these people).  I was invited to brunch by Hakeem for his friend for a surprise birthday brunch.  Hakeem’s friend works in “social media”, and all of the guests were social mediums*, and were instructed to not check in on Foursquare upon arrival.  This was going to be a long brunch.

The brunch was at Tavern on Jane, a place Hakeem took me once because they “have great burgers”.  Unfortunately, they don’t have anything for vegetarians, a couple of pasta dishes (where the pasta is vastly overcooked).  Nevertheless, we were dragged to Tavern on Jane for brunch, something that none of us were looking forward to.

I had a pretty good idea that this was going to be a painful brunch, when I noticed that everyone at the table had a smartphone.  More importantly, everyone had put their smartphone on the table, as if it were some sort of public competition.  I kept mine in my pocket (where it belonged), ashamed of the fact that I was even documenting this event for my blog.  If you want to play a fun game, see if you can spot all the cell phones on the table in this picture (some are hidden).  HINT: There are 6!  And that doesn’t include the other 5 cell phones of people who I couldn’t get into the shot.

I first took a picture of my 3-egg omelet (you have the option of filling it with any 3 of green peppers, onions, mushrooms or cheese), and the girl next to me says “Oh, are you on Foodspotting? What’s your screenname? I’ll follow you.”  I don’t know if she was trying to flirt with me, but if she was, it was not working.  The onion, mushroom, cheddar omelet came with homefries, and a fruit bowl.  I’m not a fruit fan, so I asked for no fruit, they didn’t decide to restructure the plate to compensate for the lack of fruit.  The omelet was pretty average, and the homefries were nothing spectacular.

The prix fixe (which the omelet was a part of) came with a bread basket of breads (mostly croissants and muffins).  I took a croissant, which didn’t appear to be fresh, and appeared to be brought in from some industrial croissant factory.

The muffin looked and tasted like the crappy muffins that you’d get in the bread section at your local grocery store.  I felt privileged that I got to spend $14 for the honor to eat a really mediocre, sub par meal.**

Overall, the food at Tavern on Jane is pretty terrible, and very unfriendly towards vegetarians (and vegans).  I couldn’t find anything to recommend about the place, unless you like dining in a dark pit (which could appear charming during the winter, but not as spring is approaching).  I am aware that the awful social network brunch may have tainted my experience, especially the argument that Hakeem and I got with one of the guys who worked for AOL where we asked “Why is there money to do what you do?”  He got very stuffy, and had some canned response which said “We’re really smart, because we have an answer to everything you asked.”  Actually no, you’re smart because you convinced people to pay you for a non-job.  I’ll give Tavern on Jane one cheese sandwich until they deem it necessary to cater to vegetarians or vegans, or even serve good food.

*I don’t know what you call someone who works in social media?  “Loser” seems a bit harsh.

**That sarcasm was brought to you by Irontweet (the Twitter service that only publishes ironic or sarcastic tweets).

Tavern on Jane
31 8th Avenue
New York, NY 10014-5156 
(212) 675-2526

I always am amazed at the ridiculous ethnic cuisine in New York.  For instance, La Petite Abeille is a chain of Belgian restaurants (because we all know how great Belgian cuisine is, right?), and I was recently introduced to a Swiss restaurant in SoHo, Cafe Select.

What meal are the Swiss best known for? Brunch.  Just kidding, but I went with Hakeem and Chamique to Cafe Select for brunch, as is their obsession.  We started off with a baked goods platter ($10), which included slices of brioche, banana walnut bread, and blueberry muffins.  The breads were all great, but the highlight was the banana walnut bread, which was amazing.

I ordered the mushroom and Swiss omelet, a standard for Swiss cuisine.  The omelet was served with a rosti, a Swiss hash-brown, where the outer layer of potato is fried to a crisp, with the inside being soft and potato-y.  I have had rostis at other pretentious brunch venues, and this was by far the best I’ve ever had.  However, I don’t understand why they can’t put some cheese in the middle of the rosti, making it that much more amazing.  But I guess from this standpoint it is vegan-friendly.  The eggs were pretty tasty, though the filling was quite meagre.  At this point, I am very unimpressed by most omelets unless they really stuff it with fillings.

Cafe Select is not very vegetarian friendly, as I would expect from my experience in Switzerland.  There are one or two entrees or dishes that are vegetarian friendly, though it doesn’t appear that these vegetarian dishes are signature quality.  What is the most impressive aspect of Cafe Select (at least for that afternoon) was the music selection.  Dropping 70’s Italian disco, and old school house, the atmosphere created was somewhere between chic and nostalgic (nostalgic only if you’re Italian or really into house music).  As a former DJ, I respect that music selection, which biases this review more favorably than perhaps Cafe Select deserves.  So, I’ll give them three and a half cheese sandwiches.

Cafe Select
212 Lafayette St # A
New York, NY 10012-4025 
(212) 925-9322

Brunch in New York is a curious phenomenon, as it appears that city denizens (citizens?) cannot operate over the weekend without having brunch and discussing the stupid drunken tomfoolery they performed the previous night. Because I’m always staying with Hakeem and Chamique as a married couple, the tomfoolery discussions are quite mundane. Although there was one time… Nope… I don’t want to get Hakeem in trouble. We recently decided to try out a place called La Bonne Soupe, because I needed to go to the Indian embassy (no, not because I’m getting deported!), which was nearby.

Unfortunately, there are not a lot of good places for brunch near the embassy, and La Bonne Soupe was the closest we could find that would please both Hakeem, Chamique, and myself. Anytime you go to a French restaurant, it is fair to expect the most delicious bread you’ve ever had. And, if the bread is very stale and inedible, it would also be fair to say that it is an abomination to serve such terrible food. I was shocked and appalled at just how terrible the bread was at La Bonne Soupe, especially considering the name of the restaurant. You can’t serve soup without bread, and the fact that the bread is so bad would indicate the soup is not so “bonne”. But, fortunately I didn’t have the soup.

Instead, I had a ratatouille omelet, an intriguing concept, as I have always wondered, “Is it possible to have something as delicious as ratatouille, but with more animal protein?” And after many years of failed experiments on my part, La Bonne Soupe has accomplished this herculean feat. Unfortunately, whenever I make ratatouille (I’ve never actually eaten ratatouille anywhere other than home), I always like dumping some cheese on top. And, anytime I eat eggs, I always like dumping some cheese on top. However, this ratatouille omelet excludes the possibility of cheese! So, while I must commend La Bonne Soupe for combining ratatouille and eggs, I must ask, “At what cost?”

The omelet came with a salad, which incidentally was the highlight of the meal (that and the ratatouille within the omelet was pretty tasty also). The salad greens were pretty fresh, as were the tomatoes. Unfortunately there were drowned in dressing, which was slightly off-putting.

Overall, there is a very limited selection of food for vegetarians at La Bonne Soupe, as you would expect for any French restaurant. Unfortunately, they are unable to succeed in matching the quality of food you would expect to get at a French restaurant, which begs the question, “Why bother coming here?” In all honesty, I can’t provide a good reason, so, I’ll give La Bonne Soupe two cheese sandwiches.

La Bonne Soupe
48 W 55th St
New York, 10019 
(212) 586-7650