Please give me some suggestions for Old-Time diners w/great food. OC and LA areas? Thanks in advance for your tips!
They paved over everything old a long time ago... Bob's Big Boy in Burbank is the only one I can think of that has passable food...
Dont know how long its been there but I like the Harbor House Cafe in Sunset Beach. Its on Pacific Coast Highway and the front part of the place has a real cool feel to it.. plus the food is great and the menu is huge.. Also if your in SoCal dont miss IN n Out burger... they are a franchise and are all over Southern Cal but theyve been making the best burgers on the planet IMO since 1948 and it doesnt look like they changed the menu much since then.. I drive my 53 to my local one most every saturday...
also ricky and ronnie's in torrance (harbor city?) on tuesdays. donut derelicts in huntington beach -or- caffiene cruisers in redondo (corner of anza and 190th) on saturday mornings -EARLY-
Can you really say "good food" and "diner" in the same sentence? That Frisco's is actually in Downey on Woodruff between Imperial Hwy and Firestone. Ruby's in Redondo B is cool to go to, There's a new Ruby's in Long Beach but I don't know if it's "happening" or not. Tommys "Original" Hamburger's on Beverly Blvd. has the best chilliburgers in the world, but if you go there on Friday or Saturday, carry your own artillery...and if a group of "young men" should happen to ask you "Where you from?", tell them "Nowhere, I'm from nowhere!" IF you go to Disneyland, when you get hungry take the monorail over to the Hotels and eat in a "Real" restaurant for about the same money as you would pay for the "County Jail cafeteria food" they serve in the park.
If in downtown LA, Do not miss lunch at Phillippe, the Original. It really hasen't changed since my parents took me there in the late forties. It's the birthplace of the French Dip sandwich, ask them about it, it has sawdust on the floor and a mix of customers from the judges from the nearby court building to the old down and out winos from the nearby skid row, there for the nine cent of coffee and cheap bowl of stew. It's an LA landmark and I highly recommend it. It's on North Main St, right across from Olivera St, another LA landmark. The Petersen Musuem is worth a visit too. Find Crystal Cove on the googlesphere and go to one of the beaches the Orange County locals go to. I know I sound like the galloping HAMB gourmet, but the date shake place above the beach has been there for a long time and it Rocks! Live music? The Long Beach area is a hotbed of blues and there's something cooking most nights in any number of local dives. The locally owned Taco Nazo resturants have Ensenada style fish tacos better than Ensenada does. If you like Asian food, a trip to Valley Blvd in Monterey Park is a visit to an oriental united nations of eating. Memphis style BBQ from a guy who played in the Stax band behind Otis Redding and others in the soul ers, go to Burrells BBQ in Santa Ana. But what So Califas is most excellent for is Mexican food. The are restuarants that serve food from all different regions on Mexico and further south. I just drove across half the country and the things I NEEDED when I got home were and In N Out, Animal style and some fish tacos. I wish I had've asked this before my brother and I went to Arkansas. When we got there, out pals knew where to take us, but a lot of the eats on the highway suck a duck's butt. Happy dinning
Thanks one and all for the great suggestions. Anything going on Fri. June 10 thru Sunday the 12th.? Best regards, Jim