Old School Eats
August 5, 2011
Old School Eats: Street Tacos at La Reyna (LA)
Photos by Thomas L. Young One dollar street tacos at a busy intersection in downtown Los Angeles is about as old school as you can get. On the corner of Mateo and 7th street, in front of the Mexican restaurant La Reyna (Est. 1974), is a taco stand run by one guy on the grill […]
July 22, 2011
Old School Eats: Umami Burger (LA)
While it’s no Musso & Frank or Mateo’s, Umami Burger is quickly becoming a fixture in the LA culinary world. Seriously. Six locations have popped up since the original La Brea location opened in 2009 and the popularity doesn’t appear to be losing steam. Though it embraces the similar rapid expansion model that made the […]
May 31, 2011
Old School Eats: Howard’s Famous Bacon & Avocado Burgers (LA)
This post goes out to all you haters out there on the internet (specifically, those living in the suburbs of Chowhound and Yelp), please stand corrected. Of the many, many times I’ve dined at Howard’s Famous Bacon & Avocado Burger, I’ve never been served anything that slightly resembled a “greasy guacamole burger” and never consumed […]
April 29, 2011
Old School Eats: Bob’s Big Boy (LA)
Around the corner from the dimly-lit, time machine-esque Smoke House is Bob’s Big Boy. This is where tourists and locals go to eat high-calorie meals under bright fluorescent lights, without caring who’s watching them–and no one is. The polite waitstaff is there to do the job they are paid to do: routinely and repeatedly check […]
April 8, 2011
Old School Eats: Smoke House (LA)
The Smoke House is the sort of place where old-timey execs sip their nightcaps as they wait for their retirement (“I gave the best years of my life to this placeâ€) and where awkward co-workers carry on as if they are passing through town for work, treating their affairs as fleeting, one night romances. The […]
March 4, 2011
Old School Eats: Henry’s Tacos (LA)
Located in Studio City or Toluca Lake (depending on who you’re talking to) since 1961, Henry’s Tacos has served ground beef tacos served in a hard corn shell. They’ve marginally expanded their menu since then, now offering soft tacos, burritos and the quasi-famous taco burger, but the ground beef remains as basically the only option […]
February 15, 2011
Old School Eats: Du-par’s (LA)
Diners provide a gastronomic touchstone for family weekend breakfasts, drunken all-nighters, road trip pit stops and business meetings. Du-par’s is no exception. This family owned diner chain has had a presence in Southern California for the past 73 years, and has always held a good reputation for its house-made baked goods, and accommodating 24-hour service. […]
January 11, 2011
Old School Eats: The Fountain Coffee Room (LA)
I drove up the well hidden path framed by carefully manicured greenery and pulled into valet (only to ask, “is there street parking close by?â€), and a rush of old Hollywood imagery washed over me. Frames from The Way We Were and Shampoo fluttered about as I fell into a movie star k-hole. After some […]
December 28, 2010
Old School Eats: Wet Lunch @ Pacific Dining Car (LA)
Why are old things, places, clothes, movies, books, more interesting than what’s available to us today? Is it because the grass is always greener? Or that you always want what you can’t have? I’m sure that’s part of it, but it has to be more than that. The authenticity, the history, the credibility? Whatever the […]