The Patio Cafe - Sportsmen's Lodge Hotel - Studio City

#1Dinerwife and I were married a few years ago at the Sportsmen's Lodge so it will always be a special place for us. The hotel recently went through a pretty substantial makeover and I was interested in checking it out. The lobby and grounds were a nice blend of 'old Hollywood' charm while the rooms were pretty standard. The remodel has kept a lot of the charm while also riffing on some mid-century colors and themes. A bit too many fake animal heads hung everywhere for my taste--sorry, no pictures of those.

But this isn't a review of the hotel....

The Patio Cafe coffee shop also received a complete makeover. Previously it had been almost "country quaint" with red gingham design motifs. Now we are treated to some vibrant oranges playing off the stark white of the floors and tables. Portraits of classic Hollywood stars, like a film reel, wind their way around the cafe.  

We walked in for lunch on a Sunday morning and were greeted and seated quickly. Our waiter, a nice older gentleman was by to take our drink orders within moments and then back again swiftly to take our order. Unfortunately, this would be the last time he'd be so prompt. Getting refills on our waters and my coffee proved to be difficult.

The menu for the Patio Cafe isn't large. It covers some basic breakfast fare, some sandwiches and burgers with the few requisite salads and wraps for good measure. Prices are a little higher than you'd expect, but food always is at a hotel. You're treated like a captive audience. They are counting on that you will be either too lazy or tired to travel for food. In the case of the Sportsmen's Lodge, there's probably a dozen restaurants of different type within walking distance. Our favorite is Twain's right across the street. 

One interesting thing is found on the dinner menu. They have their "TV Dinners" which are all dishes named after tv shows. For example, the "Gilligan's Island" is fish and chips. The interesting bit is that they are all served with peas and carrots and a tiny dessert--just like the foil-wrapped tv dinners of old. I don't know if they actually DO serve them in metal trays... but by god, I hope so. 

After a quick glance at the menu, I fixated on the the french toast--challah bread with sautéed apples and bourbon maple-pecan sauce. It was delicious. Probably one of the best french toasts I have had in a long time.

#1Dinerwife ordered The Lone Ranger-- basically a souped-up breakfast burrito. The menu promised scrambled eggs, chorizo, black beans, salsa fresca, and cotija cheese. It delivered eggs, chorizo and...potatoes. Basically a really disappointing breakfast burrito then. We would have said something to the waiter, but like I mentioned earlier... hard to get him back to us. The potatoes were also underdone, so no bueno. 

The Patio Cafe certainly looks fresher and more exciting than previously. The food was a mixed bag. I don't expect anyone to make a trip to the Sportsmen's Lodge FOR the Patio Cafe, but in a pinch it will work for you. Y'know.... if you're too lazy to walk across the street.

Food: Mixed bag, but probably edging over to good.
Service: Friendly but not that attentive.
Price: $12-15 for most dishes.
Pie: Only cupcakes and bundt cakes.

12825 Ventura Blvd, Studio City, CA 91604
(818) 769-4700

Stox - "That's the weirdest thing I've ever seen you order."

For the finale of the three year anniversary, I invited just about everyone who had ever appeared in a Dinerwood review to come out to breakfast with me. Five people showed up. Apparently, I am not that popular.



I choose Stox in Downey for this celebration because well--basically, the sign is amazing. What font is that? It's kind of classy, kind of sporty, kind of awesome.



The first paragraph of their history page has perhaps my favorite quote from one of these things "Stox quickly became a favorite restaurant stop because of the home-cooked food and pies fabulous." Typo or poetry? You be the judge.



The dining room is adorned with fake plastic plants, neutral colors and ceiling fans, giving it a late 70s/early 80s coffee shop feel. Gigantic booths make it perfect for large parties. They actually have a lounge off the main dining room, so if you want your ham and eggs with a side of Highball or Mojito, you can.

The wait staff was great. We rarely had to wait for refills on any of our drinks. They also asked right away if we wanted to split the check.



Paul ordered the cheese benedict. It did not come out in smiley face form, but pretty close to it. We had only to move the bacon around to form hair and it was set. Paul liked the bacon the best.


#1DC Antoinette ordered the soup and salad. The soup was beef and vegetable and packed pretty dense with carrots, zucchini and other veggies. It was also very peppery.




She also ordered the pumpkin muffin, which was amazing.



Tony and Brian both ordered the avocado omelet. They liked that it was fluffy and layered and well-made, but it could have used more fixin's inside. As it was, the avocado was basically only on top and hardly found inside the omelet. The hash browns were nicely crispy on the top and the bottom and then soft in the middle.



Brian also got a side of french toast. It was alright.



Lidia ordered the Stox Burrito and photo-bombed her own food picture. She thought it was a bit bland. The burrito was also lying in what we thought at first was "salsa-juice" but we concluded was a broth of some kind.



Cammie ordered the corn beef hash with poached eggs. The hash wasn't anything special but the eggs were good.

Now for me, I only had to take a few seconds with the menu. I saw immediately what I wanted: the corn meal mush. I asked the waiter what it was and he replied, "We mix corn meal and water and then freeze it so it holds shape and then we deep fry it. It comes with syrup."

Seriously.

How could I NOT get it!?!

When it came out, #1Diner Companion Antoinette said "That's the weirdest thing I've ever seen you order."

Another waiter came by specifically to watch me eat it. "It doesn't taste like anything. It's GOOD!" he insisted.

And of course my camera ate the picture. This is why this review is not posting until after the 3 year anniversary is over. I had to go back the next week and order it to go.



When I ordered it the week before it actually looked like golden bricks. These were kind of like...slightly rounded at the top golden bricks. The mush bricks aren't crispy. There is a fried "skin" and then they are soft and mushy on the inside. On their own, they were just okay. They tasted like plain polenta...which is what they are.



But dip them in warm syrup--OMG! Sooo good.



Stox gets top marks from me for having an impressive pie menu. A Pie Fabulous menu, even.



I ordered the pineapple cream cheese pie and it was pretty good. I didn't care for the crust though, I found it a bit "dusty." The cream cheese (think the filling in a Danish) and the pineapple were very good. I think I actually felt my gums shrink away from my teeth on account of all the sugar.



Paul ordered a slice of coconut cream pie to go. He compared it favorably to the coconut cream pie at House of Pies.



Cammie ordered the strawberry tart. Lidia photo-bombed.

I really liked Stox. The food was a little weird in both bad (burrito broth) and good (corn meal mush) ways. The service was great. I'd go back there and, in fact, I already have.

Food: Good overall, but a little uneven.
Price: $8-$12
Service: Great.
Pie: "Fabulous"..well it was good.

Stox Restaurant

9518 E. Imperial Highway

Downey, CA

Not a review, but an experience I should share.

Took a month off from updating...but not from eating.

If I were the kind of blogger who gave ratings with cute icons...well, I'd be a different kind of blogger and this a different kind of blog. If either of those were the case, however, I would have had to come up with a whole new icon to relate my feelings about what happened to #1DC Antoinette and me two weeks ago.

Out for breakfast one Saturday morning, we cruised the neighborhood looking for something that might jump out at us. I suggested the Nickel Diner, but we decided it was a little expensive for our tastes that morning. I then suggested the Brite Spot. I hadn't been in a few months and never for breakfast. After that fateful morning, though, I may never, ever go again...

You will not see a lot of pictures in this post since it is not a review. I didn't go to the Brite Spot to review it. I went to get some breakfast, to strap on a feed bag and go to work. I was off the clock.

We walked inside, racing another couple to get a spot since we could see people piling up at the door. The Brite Spot is divided into two sections. On the right hand side I saw the waitress that I had had there a couple of times. She was clearing a table for us when I noticed my friend Dan (author of Banana) and his fiance sitting at a table on the left. We went over to say hello and they invited us to join them. They had just ordered so there shouldn't have been that much of a discrepancy between when their food and ours arrived.

The waitress in this section was a anemic blonde running at half speed--no--make that quarter speed. After a little under ten minutes, we got our menus and in a little under an additional ten minutes, we ordered. Our order was simple: oatmeal with banana for #1 DC and a breakfast burrito for me. We both got coffee as well and proceeded drink a lot of it. The refills came at a decent pace since another person entirely was handling that function. After about fifteen minutes, our friends got their food--at least most of it. Halfway through they realized they had never gotten their toast. After flagging down our waitress and reminding her of the toast, she paused for a few seconds and replied, "Oh, right." Then she moved on.

After about five minutes of our watching people who had been seated at the counter after us getting their food, our waitress brought the toast. "Umm, sorry.. it got all messed up. Better late than never."

Your waitress saying that about your food is just...wrong. It goes beyond terrible service.

We then reminded her about our food. " Oh, yeah.... it's coming." #1DC Antoinette suggested that we leave, but I don't walk out of places. I just don't. It's not something I am comfortable doing. I see it through.

At this point our friends were done eating. We talked for another ten or so minutes, waiting for the check to arrive. They finally had to flag her down again to get the check. She avoided eye contact with our side of the table. [Remember waiters: give the gift of eye contact.] Now, remember what our order was? Oatmeal with banana and a breakfast burrito. These take twenty minutes at home. We have now spent close to an hour at our table.

Our friends went up to pay and we said our goodbyes. After a moment, our food arrived. I took a bite of my burrito. Antoinette took a bite of her oatmeal. "It's cold," she replied. I jammed my finger into the wet mound of cereal and felt that it was, indeed, cold.

That was it. I had taken all I could take and I couldn't take any more. We got up and walked to the door. Our friends were still at the counter waiting to pay. As we walked past they asked what happened. "It's cold!" we announced and finished our walk out the door.

Dan said he watched the slow realization dawn on the face of the waitress when she looked over and saw an empty table.

This was such a bad experience that I did something I never do. I had done it only once before and that was at a Guatemalan restaurant that had stale chips and a wait staff who blatantly ignored us. I might go back to Brite Spot again someday; it's near where I live; it's near where I hang out; if I do decide to return, I will certainly refuse to sit in this waitress' section again.

All's well that ends well, however. We ended up having a delicious German brunch at the Red Lion Tavern on Glendale Blvd.

Avoid:
Brite Spot
1918 W Sunset Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90026
(213) 484-9800

Try:
Red Lion Tavern (only open for breakfast Saturdays and Sundays at 11am)

2366 Glendale Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90039

(323) 662-5337