Cindy's Coffee Shop--Two Visits, Two Years Apart UPDATED - Third Visit now years later

(new bits at the end)

Back in the summer of 2008, #1DC Antoinette and I went to Cindy's in Eagle Rock and took this picture. Somehow it has odd grain to it, which makes the picture look far older than it is.



In July of 2010, I took this much crisper picture. On this visit, my friends Chip and Marc came with me.



I've talked about it before--sometimes I go to a lot of places in a short period of time and the log of reviews and pictures gets backed up. Some stuff just has to be put on the shelf. That's what happened to Cindy's.

I just never got around to writing the review, and I needed to go back and refresh my memory. I also have a much better camera now and the difference between when the pictures were taken will be obvious.







Cindy's is a surprisingly small place. From the outside, it looks like a decent sized restaurant, but once you step in you realize that you can see the whole restaurant through the store-front windows. There is no "back" of the restaurant--it's all right there.

Cindy's had to close for a time back in 2007 when a drunk driver plowed into the restaurant and did pretty significant damage. You can see pictures of the destroyed Cindy's at the Boulevard Sentinel. (scroll down)



They definitely had redone the menu since my last visit. I think I would have remembered something so out of place. This was a slick, generic menu that could be used by any family restaurant. Dinosaurs decorate the kids' section of the menu. Dinosaurs, man! That's straight-up Dennys!



On both visits the coffee was a bit of a problem. Chip is a big coffee drinker and bad coffee can totally ruin a place for him. This coffee needed A LOT of help, it was thick and burnt. I am a "two sweeteners and it's good" kind of guy. For this, I was hitting the flavored creamers. Refills either came in close succession or with wide gaps in between.



On our first visit, I ordered the chili omelet and home fries. My notes say "It's alright. Chili is good. Potatoes lack flavor."



Antoinette ordered the waffle and eggs and bacon breakfast. My notes read as thus; "Waffle - EGGO? Squiggly bacon!" Wow. I'm amazing at documenting these experiences.

I really should have consulted my notes before going back because I had completely forgotten what I ordered the first time. I asked about the "biscuit sandwich" on the menu, hoping it was an actual sandwich, but suspecting it was just like a pancake sandwich (which is NOT sandwich). My suspicions were correct. I had to quickly choose something else.

Yep, you guessed it!

I ordered the same damn thing that Antoinette ordered two years before. The bacon was less squiggly and there was less of it, but it was good. The eggs were rubbery. The waffle was less EGGO this time. It wasn't toaster soggy and I swear it must have been incredibly porous since it seemed to absorb all the syrup I poured over it. Needless to say, it was very sweet by the time I took a bite.

Chip ordered the pancake and eggs and sausage breakfast. Chip liked the pancakes; they were fluffy and sweet. He recognized the sausage as being Farmer John brand. He's a man who knows his sausage.

Marc ordered the eggs, hash browns and ham. The hash browns were undercooked and mushy. I'm pretty sure I saw an Ore-Ida bag in the kitchen. The ham was thin and fatty.

In fact, we all agreed that everything seemed "thin." Not just because of a thin pancake or waffle or ham steak, but portion-wise everything seemed thin and kind of skimpy.

We did sit and talk for a good hour after our meal was finished. It was only in the last twenty or so minutes that the wait staff stopped checking in with us or refilling our waters and coffees. We weren't taking up a table that they needed at the time but the lunch rush was presumably coming soon. I think they were using siege warfare to drive us out by thirst.

Cindy's is a place that I really wished was better. It has everything going for it in terms of location and aesthetic; it's just that the food isn't all that interesting or good. It took me two years to come back here and I could easily go two or more before coming back.

Food: Okay.
Service: Okay.
Price: $6-$8
Pie: Supermarket pie.

Someone at Cindy's loves turtles.

----------
UPDATE 9.10.14

New owners recently took over Cindy's and gave it a much needed revamp.

LA Eater.com article about it.

#1DinerWife Antoinette and I returned recently to try it out.

New retro interior suits Cindy's perfectly. 

I had the Brisket Hash and Antoinette had the BLT. Both were great. The side of fries was also good.

I tried the chocolate pecan pie and loved it. I think this was the first pecan pie I had had since judging in the pecan category at the America Pie Championships back in April. 

Antoinette had the chocolate cake. It was moist and rich without being off-putting. 

DEFINITELY give the new Cindy's a try. I think it will be well worth it.

The classic Cindy's sign is in disrepair and they are running a kickstarter to raise the funds to bring it back to its former glory. 

Kickstarter Campaign - Ends on September 16th! 

Dinerwood on the Road: Another Tommy's Restaurant? San Clemente, CA

I go down to San Diego a couple of times a year. Along the 5 freeway, driving through San Clemente, I always see a large roadside sign for Tommy's Family Restaurant. I make a note to remember to make time for it on the next trip--I never do. A few weekends ago, as Dinerwood friend Greg and I were returning from Comic-Con, I was finally able to do it--and that's only because my GPS cocked-up the directions to the place that I was actually looking for.








Tommy's has a lot going on in the concept department: "Family Restaurant," "50's Diner," and "Hollywood at Tommy's" signage is located all over the building. It had to have started out as a regular roadside restaurant and then slowly over the years shifted into a hodge-podge 50's diner.

Do note that the sign by the door says "authentic." It's a pet peeve of mine--see, words have meanings. After experiencing, just a few days earlier, a coffee shop that really did seem authentic, Tommy's had a lot to live up to.



When Greg and I pulled into a parking spot facing the building, and I saw this staring back at me--I knew something was seriously wrong.

I would like to believe that the intention there was to do an "authentic" 50's diner. It seems that at some point the owner of Tommy's said "oh, what the hell" and it became a den for pop culture hoarding.



An explosion of Hollywood and mid-century history seems to have left its debris all over everything at Tommy's. It was all too much. Every inch was covered with a photo, movie poster or checker pattern. Every surface large enough had some knick-knack or statuary reflecting an area of pop culture that existed between 1950 and 1985.

I actually did like the embroidered names on the booth seats. They all seemed to be on theme for the 50's.



For example, we sat in the Clark Gable booth. He was past his prime by then, but it still worked.

Then I looked over to my left, toward the counter, and saw something kind of horrific.



No, it wasn't the pictures on the back of the counter stools that seemed cut out of magazines and then glued on, or the Elvis bust with the real leather jacket and life-like hair and SKIN!



It was Spiderman.

Give it a moment.

If you are a real comic nerd, give it an extra moment.

Then realize that it uses the new jagged Spiderman font they created in the 90s, and not the classic original curved font. If it had been the classic, I could have been on board. He did debut in the 60s, which is almost like the 50s but...you know...later.

They had a standard diner menu with additional Mexican (of course) and Greek sections. Greek is a type of food that I always like, but am never in the mood for. Although, I was curious to try it since, like I talked about in the other Tommy's Restaurant review, if a place puts a lot of effort into a whole different genre of food, that usually means that's what they really want to be serving. That, however, burned me last time and the Mexican breakfast there sucked.

We decided to order sandwiches and then split them.



Greg, inspired by a very gorgeous photo in the menu, ordered the pastrami sandwich with an order of chili cheese fries. I would not have expected to find good pastrami at Tommy's, maybe decent at best, but this ended up being really good. Not the quality of a deli or a place like The Hat, but definitely one of the best at a regular restaurant. It wasn't too dry and it wasn't greasy wet. I actually think they mixed little bits of actual bacon into it. The chili cheese fries were very good. They had an appropriate amount of chili smothering the steak fries, so you could still pick them up with your fingers, but could use a fork if you were inclined. I would have liked more chunks of meat in the chili, though.



I ordered the pork tenderloin sandwich, which I expected to be more of a Cuban-style sandwich. And I was wrong. Nowhere on the menu did it mention that the tenderloin was breaded and fried. I'm pretty sure it was not in the "Hot" sandwich section either. This really threw me off.

To assemble my sandwich, I had to cut the tenderloin, since as you can see from the picture, it wasn't the right shape for a french roll. I took a bite and tasted...Filet o' Fish? By god, the pork sandwich did taste like the fish sandwich from McDonalds. I like Filet o' Fish, but I like it when I order one...and it isn't made with pork. Just to make sure I wasn't walking around with some crazy taste buds, I gave Greg his half and encouraged him to try it.

He took a bite and thought for a moment. "Tastes, I don't know. Not bad...but-"

"Like a Fillet o' Fish?"

"What?...well... okay, I can see that."

It must have been the batter they used. It wasn't awful, but I wouldn't recommend it. The french fries, even not covered in chili, were good.

I'm glad I was finally able to sate my curiosity with this place. Unless someone I was with really needed to main-line some aging pop-culture, I don't think I'd go back anytime soon.

Food: Decent
Service: Attentive
Price: $9-$14. (Too much.)
Pie: None.

Tommy's Family Restaurant
1409 S El Camino Real
San Clemente, CA 92672



She has no hand!

Twain's: The Price and the Pie-per

Deciding it was time to take Dinerwood away from eastern Los Angeles and western San Bernardino counties, I hit the mental filing cabinet for “places to review.”

"To the beach or to the north?" I pondered. On that late, lazy Sunday night, I settled on the north. Number One Diner Companion Antoinette and I ventured to the valley to eat at Twain’s.

Nestled just south of the 101, Twain’s is a spectacular piece of retro dining. Its bright yellow sign is like a beacon above the palm trees and sushi bars and storefront boutiques, Twain's is classic 70s diner in every way. Oh yes, the sign rotates.


We stepped inside the mostly empty restaurant and were greeted by a friendly waiter who told us to sit anywhere. We chose a booth near the back, since it is much easier to take pictures while not in the center of it all.

After a moment, an even friendlier waiter came by and took our drink orders. Faithful readers will understand my joy that table was already stocked with coffee mugs and as soon as I turned the waiting coffee cup over, my cup was filled with fragrant hot coffee: strong enough to feel but weak enough to drink straight.

Looking at the menu, I experienced some sticker shock. A grilled cheese was $7.50 while most of the items hovered around $10.00. I thought it was a little pricey, but kept perusing. I always love a place that has surprises on the menu and Twain's has several. I was debating between the Ukraine Omelet or the Warsaw Pact Omelet. The Ukraine had sour cream, mushrooms and olives, while the Warsaw had polish sausage and cheese. The Ukraine was tempting, but the Warsaw won out.


Antoinette ordered a cup of chili and a grilled cheese sandwich. The bread had perfect crispness and the cheese was melted, but not to the point of seeping out. It crunched when bit into and had none of the greasy or soggy qualities that a sandwich overdone can exhibit. Even though I am predisposed to loving crinkle fries, because they remind me of elementary school, these were rather dry and flavorless: not that great.

The chili came with a slice of American cheese draped over the top and, as you can tell from the picture, we had dug in pretty deep before I remembered to take a picture. This wasn't chili that would blow your mind; it was restaurant chili--safe and good enough.


My Warsaw Pact omelet also came with a slice of American cheese over it. This was odd, since Swiss cheese was inside. I was really pleased with the omelet. I didn't expect much, but my expectations were surpassed. The cheese flowed out like lava when I cut into it, carrying the slices of polish sausage out like the ill-fated residents of Pompeii. The hash browns were soggy, and I had the feeling that they had been frozen but not really thawed before hitting the griddle.
So it seems that Twain's can't do potatoes.

While sitting there, two regulars sauntered in and sat at the counter. The gentleman of the pair commented that he couldn't NOT get a slice of pie, and that he, in fact, had come in this evening specifically to get the pie. So although I was full of egg and sausage, I had to get a slice. The ringing endorsement of this stranger sold me.

I ordered a slice of apple to go. It lasted until the next morning when I devoured it for breakfast. By then the crust was a bit soggy, but the filling was decent. The apples still had a bit of "apple" to them that hadn't completely been taken over by the cinnamon.



Twain's was a fun experience. It has a good neighborhood vibe with a strong sense of history, where often the valley seems to have none.

It's not great food, but it's good comforting food, and in that aim, it succeeds.

Food: Good.
Service: Friendly and attentive.
Price: A smidge much: $7-$12 for most dishes
Pie: Several.

Twain's Restaurant
12905 Ventura Blvd
Studio City, CA

Joe's Diner- Dirty sounding dessert!

Having to take an unexpected trip out to Santa Monica on this past Monday led me to quickly search out a diner to review. Why squander a trip outside my usual neighborhood when there are diners aplenty to seek out? A quick google search later, I found Joe’s Diner. How about that! It actually has ‘diner’ in the name. That might be a first for the diner blog.

On this trip, I took along my friend Greg who is visiting from Washington state. He's a clown who does birthday parties and burlesque shows... I hate his life because I covet it. Anyway...

Joe’s Diner is located in the middle of an old storefront block in Santa Monica that has been thoroughly gentrified. It is nestled between a sushi restaurant and trendy clothing boutique. We entered Joe’s through a rickety screen door and took a booth right inside. I noticed something immediately that makes me have to disagree with Joe’s website- "A Clean, Well-Lighted Place". The lighting was down low to near-romantic levels, this, as well as the soft music playing, gave the diner an out of place “date” atmosphere. The dining area itself reminded me of an old apartment I once had. A fresh coat of white paint and a mopped floor but it still looked dirty. Please don’t think that this is a place with cockroaches on the floor or rats using butter pats to skate on the griddle, that’s not it at all. Sometimes old buildings are just always old. And old equals dirty.

Our waitress hit us up quickly for drinks. We both got the coffee. She apologized for being a bit frazzled, apparently that soft music we were listening to had been the same soft music playing in the restaurant for some time. The cd player had been stuck on repeat and “High Life” was starting to drive her bonkers. She left us menus and retreated to the back to try to fix the problem. After a moment she returned with our coffees and the new Amy Winehouse started to play. The coffee had a smoky flavor, it reminded me of a bonfire at the beach for some reason. I’m ashamed to say that it wasn’t until later that I realized that that meant the coffee was probably burnt.

Gazing over the menu we noticed a vegetarian section which should please a lot of folks. This and the fact that they had an item called “Zone Diet Salad”, lead me to conclude that this place was a nouveau diner with way too much avocado and healthy alternatives. This conclusion was blasted away when I saw the “John Wayne’s Eggs”. This was a MEAL, a man’s meal, a “don’t call during Ninja Master on G4” meal. Chilli on top of two eggs, on top of home fries, on top of a flour tortilla with sausage-Like I said, “a man’s meal.” I imagined this would be similar to the Devil’s Mess I got at Millie’s. Greg was willing to take one for the team and let me order for him. That way I could get a closer look at another item. The Santa Fe Melt sounded like a good choice- Jack cheese, turkey, green peppers, tomato and avocado served on sourdough bread.

My confidence in our food was bolstered when I noticed it would be an aged man in a paper hat preparing our meals. C'mon, a paper hat!

We inquired about desserts. I saw that they had apple pie as the sole representative from the Pie food group. Greg asked about a massive ice cream dish that was described as having 10 scoops of ice cream. Our waitress admitted she was completely unfamiliar with the desserts. I asked if she knew if the pie was made in house. She said it was made somewhere else but baked at the diner. Greg then ordered the second most pornographic sounding dessert I have heard of-the first being the fudgeanna at Frankie Doodle’s in Spokane Washington- Greg ordered a Frosty Brown Cow with a Vanilla Sidecar. Our waitress also admitted she had no idea what that was. We broke it down and figured it was a blended root beer float served with a glass of vanilla syrup and soda water. We adjourned our dessert conference and she went off.

After only a short wait, she brought out our meals.
Greg commented that it was refreshing that the turkey had been heated all the way through. Normally a hot sandwich (one not served open face of course) suffers from the fact that most places heat the sandwich all at once on the grill or toaster or (heaven help us) the microwave. This usually means the core of the sandwich doesn’t get as hot as the rest of the sandwich. Joe’s had clearly heated the meat separately guaranteeing a even temperature throughout. The fries, which were surprisingly curly, were good. Not crunchy but not soggy either. The pickle still retained some semblance of a cucumber flavor.

The John Wayne’s Eggs did not disappoint. The chilli, worked great with the eggs and the eggs worked great with the home fries. Originally I dismissed the inclusion of the tortilla at the bottom, but found that it helped mop up the leftovers from the top layers. The sausages were basic breakfast links, more crispy than you usually get but really plain. This was such a man’s meal I, a man, couldn’t even finish it all.

We did have to remind our waitress of the desserts after we were done with our meals. She quickly brought out the pie and left to get retrieve Greg's ensemble. The pie was straight-up good apple pie. A nice flaky top and a strong cinnamon taste to the apples that I enjoyed. She returned with the three glasses that made up Greg’s dessert. One for the frosted brown cow, one metal cup from the milkshake machine, and one glass with the vanilla sidecar. After some deliberation we decided that sipping through two straws, both the brown cow and the sidecar, was the most reasonable and delicious way to drink it.



We left Joe’s with full tummies and some leftovers. Definitely check it out.

Price: $10-14 for most entrees
Food: Tasty.
Service: Personable but not necessarily on-the-ball.
Atmosphere: Old.
Pie: Apple and definitely good.
2917 Main St, Santa Monica - (310) 392-5804

UPDATE: Joe's has changed. It has become more trendy and added a wine menu. I drove past it and didn't even recognize it. It has a totally different feel now.