Auntie Em's Kitchen and being the 'regular'.

What is it to be a regular? You want to feel at home--no, that's not quite right, is it? You want to feel like you are visiting home when you decide to become a regular at a place.
You want to be like the dazzling first born son coming back to visit your widowed mother and younger siblings after your first month at a university (the first person in your family to go!). You haven't been gone long enough to really be missed, just long enough for the routine of home to be broken and for you to be treated with an extra measure of kindness and deference. There's no way anyone is going to ask you to do the dishes.

I've sought out that 'regular' status before. I was oh-so-close to being one at House of Pies. A combination of the House of Pies staff change(Britney, the waitress from Texas, we were almost friends!) and my moving out of the neighborhood robbed me of my burgeoning status. Now I am but a "I might have known you once" ex-lover of the House of Pies.

The closest place I now have is the Eagle Rock standard, Auntie Em's Kitchen.

Auntie Em's is a fine place. Dishes are made from scratch daily with farmer's market produce. You know the drill for this sort of neighborhood breakfast joint. Mismatched coffee mugs and table cloths and brightly painted walls are a bit old hat nowadays. Ten will get you twenty that one wall will be canary yellow, another a sea foam green and the other an inoffensive orange. There's a formula to these places, but that doesn't mean the food isn't good.



Auntie Em's is almost always crowded. If you go there on a weekend expect to wait for a table. The staff is always friendly and personable. These are just some cool kids making their way baking their ciabatta bread and looking for the freshest berries, man. Their positive attitude and friendliness are two of the greatest components of becoming a regular. After all, you don't decide when you're a regular, they do. One of the waitresses yelled at me to "sit down!" when she thought I was rushed into leaving to free up a table. I assured her that I did really have to go.

The first time I ate at Auntie Em's, I ordered the Mabel's shortstack with berries and coconut, which was so beautifully presented and tasty. The fresh fruit and the subtle syrup (poured from an old school Coke bottle) put this head and shoulders above your average pancakes.



And then a cupcake, one of their specialties. I found the cupcake to be too thick, too solid. It was good, but in one bite I felt like I had eaten a brick of Swiss chocolate.




The next time I went, I had the Honey Orange French Toast. also crazy good. Ciabatta bread french toast! Your mind has been blown. The bread was heavy, but easily cut with a fork.



Then I tried the apple pie. Good apple pie; ain't gonna kick Grandma Nellie's to the curb or anything, but it was good.



I rolled in one afternoon not too long ago and got the French Toast Special that day. The ciabatta (all the bread is ciabatta) french toast served with a cherry, blueberry and rhubarb compote. I was sold with that combination. Normally, I can pass on cherry nine times out of ten, but the addition of blueberry and rhubarb (which I love) sounded too good to pass up.



The dishes are just beautiful here. The colors trap your eyes. It would be a disservice to just describe them with 'red' or 'yellow' or 'green.' These dishes are deep crimson, harvest yellow, and emerald; A Crayola box of color.

With each bite I got every flavor present. "ah, there's the cherry, and now the blueberry and here comes the rhubarb!" I was like Violet Beauregard stealing the experimental chewing gum from Wonka.

The perfect portioning filled me up without giving me 'the bloat.'


My friend Professor Nefarious just moved into the neighborhood, and Ulrich Von Hurtem and I decided to take him out to breakfast. We took him to Auntie Em's. For the first time, walking in during prime breakfast time, I didn't need to wait. They sent us out to the patio, my first time out there as well.

Surprisingly, we all went with savory over sweet.





I got the meatloaf open faced breakfast sandwich. Since I can't seem to find it on the online menu, I think it must have been a special. Meatloaf and eggs sounded good at the time. It only sounded good though. It was decent, but certainly not something I would get again.

Ulrich originally wanted the Cajun turkey sausage, but as can be the case when you go to a place that gets everything local and fresh, they had just run out of that...at 10 am on a Sunday. He had to get the Applewood smoked bacon. It was good, but it just wasn't what he really wanted. Breakfast is how you start the day, and you don't want to start the day disappointed. That's what the rest of your day is for.

The Professor got a simple toasted bagel with scrambled eggs and tomato. He said it smelled "fishy," but otherwise it was fine.

This was my one disappointing experience at Auntie Em's. I will keep going, though. Their numbers are up after all. The staff always seems the same. Eventually I may even get a name and remember it. Maybe someday one of them will remember my name. Maybe they'll say things like "Oh go ahead and take a table out back, Mike. You'll love the french toast today. We're trying something new: caramel and bacon pancakes." I'd say "Sounds great," and then smile to myself knowing that my friends at Square One already do that. Oh, I'll get there one day.

You may also want to note that Auntie Em's does brisk take out business and has a tremendous selection of gourmet cupcakes, cookies and other baked goods, as well as various salads and cold noodle dishes available.

Food: Great--Stick to the french toast and pancakes, which seem to be a sure bet.
Service: Friendly
Price: 7-14
Pie: Yes, as well as other delicious pastries.

http://www.auntieemskitchen.com/press.html

Four 'n 20 - like the nursery rhyme not like the drug code.

I have a very sordid story involving Four ‘n 20 Pies. It’s a story I like to tell, so I will tell it here.




Years ago, I had a Craigslist date. If it weren't for Craigslist, I wouldn't have found my apartment, my first job or...well, let's just leave it at that. The CL has been good to me. However, I knew this particular date would not go well. It was a “Safety Date.” First of all, it was during the day and was for coffee. Secondly, it was at a Starbucks where the girl’s roommate worked and would be working at the time of the date. Can’t you just feel the romance in the air?

The date itself was mediocre at best. She kept interrupting me and not in a “I wanna get in on this hilarious story you are telling me” way, but in an “I'm not listening and am going to interject something, just 'cuz” kind of way. I suffered through the coffee and then it was time to go. She lived nearby and had taken the bus, so, at first, I offered to drive her home, momentarily forgetting that this was a “Safety Date;" I then offered to walk her to the bus stop.

On our way to the bus stop, I saw the sign for Four ‘n 20 Pies. My dour mood immediately brightened and I said, “Let’s go there!” She agreed. Now, once inside and eating pie, the date seemed to be going much smoother. This was solely due to the pie I am sure.




I never went out with that girl again, but I did see her one more time...on the Internet...on a porno site.

Now isn't that a great story about how I found this place? Way better than my usual “I googled it” explanation, I believe.

I go to Four ‘n 20 once every couple of months. Its valley location is just nowhere near anywhere else I frequent. Often on lazy weekend afternoons, especially if I’m feeling blue, I’ll head out that way for some fruit pie or maybe even a full meal.

The regular food at Four ‘n 20 can be a bit pricey; most entrees are about ten dollars. It’s not rare that when ordering an entree, coffee and a slice of pie, with tip, I’m spending close to twenty dollars.

The staff here is always friendly and quick to serve. This comes in especially helpful because of the tiny cups they use for coffee service.




Part of the fun of coming here is the crowd it attracts. It seems squarely split between Valley hipsters and middle-aged housewives. I was wearing my Captain America for President T-shirt here once, and a Valley Hipster walked in wearing the same shirt. He looked like he was about to shit a Von Dutch brick. (You got the shirt at Target dude. Don't front.)

On my most recent trip to Four 'n 20, I was seated next to a lovely pair of moms. One of whom spent most of the time on her cell phone complaining to someone about her daughter who just can't handle living on her own and had to call her daddy to deal with a spider. Oh, and also that daughter was lazy. Then the women got off her phone and talked to the other mom about how that mom's son was just getting into too much trouble at school. Oh, and also she loves her new Land Rover.

On this day I decided to get a breakfast. I ordered the sauteed onions and eggs with home fries and a piece of cornbread.




My eggs were a little wet and the onions didn't seem all that sauteed to me. The home fries were tasty though. The cornbread was excellently moist, but not fully cake. They serve the corn bread with a dish of cinnamon butter that makes it just fantastic.

My motto is usually this when it comes to pie in Los Angeles: House of Pies for cream, Four 'n 20 for fruit. (Four 'n 20 has the best rhubarb pie ever. Rhubarb!...wait.. rhubarb isn't a fruit is it?) This day something new caught my eye on the menu--"Banana Fudge Cream Pie"--I had to try it.



This was a beautiful pie. It was also incredibly rich and thick. I loved the first few bites, but then it seemed as though the whole world (or perhaps just my stomach) was getting heavy. I struggled to finish. Unfortunately, it became a chore, albeit a tasty chore, but a chore nonetheless.

Four 'n 20 is probably one of my favorite out of my way places to go in LA. I recommend giving it a shot. Try the rhubarb pie. ....seriously...is it a fruit? Can't be... it's red celery...anyway....

Food: Good.
Service: Spectacular.
Price: A bit high.
Pie: Yes. Great fruit pies.


4723 Laurel Canyon Blvd,
North Hollywood 91607
Between Riverside Ave & Ventura Fwy
Phone: 818-761-5128