Henry's Tacos

I recently found out about this 1960's taco stand in North Hollywood. I was visiting the Yarn Garden on Tujunga and had to park a few blocks away. Henry's Tacos is on the corner of Moorpark and Tujunga. I love the retro signage and cool mid-century shape of the taco stand.

I just had to try one of the tacos. Yup. L.A. - Mexican-style food from 1961. That's what they serve at Henry's. There are only a few choices...tacos, burritos, tostados, beans, rice and hamburgers. All menu items used the seasoned ground meat as their base. It's delicious in a home-taco-night sorta' way. This place will take you back a few decades, when the taco was considered exotic. I had one crunchy taco and an orange drink. The perfect snack!

Next door to Henry's is another cool looking old place with killer retro signage called The Star Lite Room. Must check that place out when I have an escort!

Bloom Cafe

Bloom Cafe - Pico Blvd. @ Sierra Bonita, Mid-City

Last week we went to the Bloom Cafe right in our own neighborhood! No, the cafe is not named after my family. In fact, I haven't quizzed the owner yet about the name. I do love seeing my name in green neon lights on Pico Blvd. Bloom Cafe is open for breakfast and lunch only.

Soon, a take-out pizza shop, Bloom Take Out, will open next door to the cafe. I'm sure the take-out will have evening hours. Mr. Larry and I went for breakfast. He had the waffles. I had 2 eggs, 2 strips of bacon, turkey sausage and 2 pancakes. Both the waffles and pancakes were made from a very delicate batter, laced with an orange flavor....delish! The eggs were scrambled perfectly. Larry loved his latte'.

It was busy on a Saturday morning, but not too crowded. There are tables inside and in front of the Cafe on the sidewalk. The decor is minimalist, soothing colors, but with all hard surfaces. So, when there are only a few people inside the cafe, the sound of their voices, coupled with the sound of the kitchen can make for quite a clatter. Next time, weather permitting, we'll sit outside for a more soothing experience.

Mr. Larry zoomed over to the Bloom Cafe for lunch last week with a friend. He had a hamburger that he said was excellent. We are so happy to have a nice little cafe just a few blocks from our house. It's a great improvement upon the many car-repair and autobody shops in the area. Wilshire Vista is finally coming around. Yayyy!

ADDENDUM - December 10, 2006: We returned to Bloom Cafe today for breakfast and had lemon pancakes and the poached eggs on crostini with crumbled hickory smoked bacon, tomatoes, feta cheese, potatoes and greens. Everything was excellent!

Thanksgiving @ Punch Grill

Private Dining Area

We had such a nice time at our family Thanksgiving last Thursday. My Aunt Mae and Uncle Marvin hosted the party at Punch Grill in Santa Monica. Everything was delicious, the ambiance was lovely and the service was good. The menu for this specical dinner is here. I definitely want to try this restaurant for lunch.

Carrot Ginger Soup

Mixed Salad with Cranberries, Bleu Cheese

Roast Turkey


Short Ribs

Cousin Laurie with Grilled Salmon

Pumpkin Pie

Bread Pudding

obligatory See's Candy

Most of my family thought it was slightly strange that I was taking photos of our food and NOT taking pictures of the family. Oh well, this shows where my true interests lie. They're lucky I didn't bring my knitting or crocheting to dinner!

Pann's

My favorite coffee shop in Los Angeles is Pann's. Besides having delicious food, architecturally it's one of the few "Googie" style coffee shops left in Los Angeles. The architecture team of Armet and Davis designed this coffee shop, among others (Denny's, Ship's, Norm's, Bob's Big Boy, etc.). The second generation owner of Pann's, Jim Poulos, totally renovated Pann's a few years back to it's original 1958 glory, even replicating the landscaping from the 50's.

I've never been disappointed with a meal at Pann's. The breakfasts are legendary. I often have the salmon patties with spinach, topped with poached eggs and hollandaise sauce, accompanied by fluffy biscuits. Larry is a devotee of their waffles. Needless to say, this is NOT a dieter's delight. Pann's has good, old-fashioned coffee shop food. They use excellent quality ingredients, service is great and the atmosphere is classic.

We were there last Friday night for dinner and saw a few neighbors from our Wilshire Vista neighborhood. They were having burgers. Larry had the babyback ribs. I had the fried chicken. They were out of mac 'n cheese, so I had the baked yam with my chicken. Everything was perfectly divine.

Babybacks w/baked beans, corn & stringbeans, cornbread

Fried chicken w/ yam, spinach, cornbread

I know people talk about the fried chicken at Roscoe's and Dinah's, but for me, the fried chicken at Pann's is by far the best. Often on a Friday, we'll have the bouillabaise. This is not a tomato based soup, it's chicken based, filled with fresh salmon, shrimp and other fish and veggies. Yummmmm.....I want some right now!

Pann's Classic 50's Interior

Hmmm? Wonder if they'll have turkey, stuffing and cranberry sauce this weekend?

Pann's, 6710 La Tijera Blvd. @ the intersection of La Cienega & Centinela, Ladera Hts.

Canter's Deli

The Brooklyn Ave. with Corned Beef

After our excursion to the L.A. Eyeworks sale on Friday, we were exhausted and hungry. We zoomed over to Canter's Deli on Fairfax Avenue for dinner. Larry ordered a cup of barley bean soup. I ordered a bowl of chicken soup with kreplach and we split the Brooklyn Avenue Sandwich with corned beef.

Chicken Soup with Kreplach

The Brooklyn Avenue sandwich comes with coleslaw inside the sandwich...delicious. I call this a "sky-high," which is the name that another local deli gives this creation. I'm sure the name of the Brooklyn Avenue sandwich comes from the old Canter's location in Boyle Heights. Brooklyn Avenue is now called Cesar Chavez Avenue. When I was a kid, my Dad used to take me to Canter's in Boyle Heights....his childhood neighborhood. For awhile, both Canter's (Brooklyn Ave. and Fairfax Ave.) eo-existed. I think the Boyle Hts. place was closed in the late 1960's.

I've been eating at Canter's all of my life. It's open 24 hours, so the restaurant became a rock and roll meeting place at the end of the evening, when all the clubs had closed down for the night. You always see characters there.

The food is basically good. Sometimes, I'll get a fatty pastrami or a dried out brisket, but that's only once-in-awhile. I just wish they would take out that false ceiling of leaves in the big room and replace it with better fixtures that doesn't make everything look a greenish-yellow.

Canter's has a good take-out deli counter and an excellent bakery too. The rye bread is heavenly and their mandelbroit has a special crunch to it that's addicting. The Kibitz Room is the bar and lounge at Canter's. They often have live music.

I was surprised to see a delivery truck from Label's Table outside Canter's as we were leaving. Label's is from my childhood neighborhood and advertises as a cut-rate deli. Hmm? Maybe Label was stealing some secret Canter's recipes!

Gramma's Country Kitchen - Banning

On our way to the high desert on Friday night we stopped for dinner at Gramma's Country Kitchen in Banning. I've never eaten dinner there, just breakfast. At breakfast, I'm fond of the fresh trout and eggs. I decided to try the dinner version of the trout.

It was delicious and came with tons of sides: Vegies, baked potato, cornbread, salad or soup and a beverage.

Larry had the chicken pot pie which was also chock full of moist chicken and vegies. The lemonade was just OK, not fresh-squeezed.

Gramma's specializes in pies and desserts, but we were way too stuffed to sample anything!

Gramma's is one of those folksy places with pine paneling and lots of 'country-cute' stuff hanging on the walls and from the rafters. It's rather large, so there's rarely a wait for a table. All in all, it's a pleasant place to stop while you're on the road.

I'll be updating about our visit to the Morongo Basin Open Studio Art Tours tomorrow.

Gramma's Country Kitchen

2868 West Ramsey Street, Banning

Take the Sunset Ave. turnoff from the 10 Fwy. and go east to Ramsey St., turn right

Tacos Chabelita

I first read about Tacos Chabelita in the L.A. Weekly. Jonathan Gold is an excellent restaurant reviewer and I usually agree with him. His review from 1999 made me want to drive directly to 2001 Western Avenue, just north of the SM Freeway.

Chabelita has a taco stand, a seafood restaurant and a taco truck on what I fondly call "Chabelita Corners." There used to be a juice and ice cream shop associated with Chabalita too, but that closed awhile back. Many people have written about the tacos, burritos, mariscos, etc. here. Some like the food, some do not. I REALLLLLLY like the food at Chabelita. My favorite is the fish taco plate, served with rice and beans ($5.95). The fish is crispy, not oily, the rice has a chicken-stock flavor and the beans are creamy, dreamy. Last week I tried a carne asada (steak) taco and a carnitas (pork) taco ($1.80 each). I prefered the carnitas taco, but both were yummy.

Fish Taco Plate

Tacos de Carne Asada (left), Carnitas (right)

For me, one of the major attraction of going to Chabelita's are the colorful paintings on the side of the building. I always like paintings of food, including flying burgers and floating, dancing shrimp.

This place is next to a fire station, so be prepared to cover your ears during lunch.

Across the street from Chabelita is a beautiful mid-century modern A-frame church...nice building....great tacos.