Tokyo 7-7 - Dining Japanese. I think I'm dining Japanese, I really think so.

You will have trouble finding it. Your GPS will insist, such as it does, that you have arrived at your destination and it will do so using that condescending British accent you've been meaning to change but you can't remember how and the manual has gone missing. Your eyes will scan the street and find nothing. You’ll decide to just park and find it on foot. You’ll park in the nearby parking garage and then through the iron bars of the garage you will see it:

Tokyo 7-7 Coffee Shop



....it's in the alley.

Tokyo 7-7 is an American Japanese Diner. Its alley location isn't so odd from the Japanese perspective of alleys being streets that cars don't drive down. Stores and restaurants are often found down alleyways. A few years ago, I went to Japan on vacation and most of my time was spent wandering down alleyways.

In America, where alleys are for hobos and murderers, it is an odd place for a restaurant.

Inside, it’s like going to eat in your weird uncle’s den: wood paneling on the walls,



really odd…things…sticking out at you,



and like every weird uncle has—an autographed cast photo of Full House.

#1DC Antoinette, along with Diner Pal Paul (remember him?), took the opportunity on President’s Day to try out Tokyo 7-7. We rolled in at about a quarter to twelve, disappointed that we missed the super cheap breakfast specials which ended at eleven.

Our waitress went from sweet ol’ lady to exasperated in no time as after three check-ins with us we still had no idea what we wanted. The menu isn't expansive, but everything was so cheap that we were looking for the catch somewhere on the menu. “Do they charge for water? How can they afford this? Is salt extra?”




Sorry if the picture doesn't sell it, but there are no items in the double digits, and nothing above seven dollars.

Even though we missed the special super-cheap price for it, Paul ordered the French Toast breakfast. He liked the bacon and the french toast was pretty good.



Antoinette got the Portuguese Sausage and Eggs. The sausage was spicy. The eggs were okay. The home fries were rather boring; they tasted like boiled potatoes that were just kissed by the griddle.



I went in a different direction. I went East...FAR EAST! (Get it?!) I got the Tokyo 7-7 Special. Basically a Japanese breakfast with tamagoyaki (thin layered omelette), cha-shu (pork), sunomono (pickled cucumber), rice and miso soup. Everything was enjoyable at least. There's something about the way the Japanese prepare eggs that kind of disgusts me with the texture (wet and slimy), but it tastes pretty good. Clearly the Japanese dish was the way to go. It was also the most expensive of the three, topping out at--OMG--6 dollars!



Now a word about the coffee at the Tokyo 7-7 Coffee Shop. It's bad. It might have been the worst coffee I've had at a non-Starbucks. It took a lot of sweetener to make it through. The waitress was pretty good about refills...which wasn't necessarily a good thing.

Diner Pal Paul, insists that, on price alone, he'd eat there everyday. For the three of us, our bill came in at about twenty dollars. I would definitely go back if I ever happened to be in Culver City wanting breakfast. It's a unique little hidey-hole of a place. I felt comfortable there, probably because it reminded me of Japan and... my weird uncle.

Food- Good
Service-Good. She did get visibly annoyed when we didn't know what we wanted right away.
Price- Dirt Cheap. Remember, cash only.
Pie- No pie.

3839 Main St.
Ste B: Alley behind the street
Culver City, CA 90232
(310) 204-5728

UPDATE- 12/21

I just learned that this place closed down last weekend. Special thanks to Diner Photog Charlie Chu for sending me the link. http://www.giantrobot.com/index.php/blogs/eric-post/tokyo_7-7/

Update to Dolores!

Dolores- Revisited.

Scroll down to the bottom for the new stuff.

Penny's Family Restaurant-- All Day Long, You'll Have Good Luck

You don't really expect to find a ol' fashioned American comfort food eating establishment in something called "Hong Kong Shopping Center," but that's exactly what you'll find in lovely West Covina (not to be confused with its rival, directionless Covina).



Penny's is a sweet little place surrounded by knock off 99cent stores, fast food Chinese restaurants, and video stores with signs in languages I cannot comprehend. On the Sunday morning that we went, Penny's was packed with what were clearly regulars. That, or the waitresses were Chatty Cathys with everyone. An elderly gentleman dressed like a cowboy with a penny stuck to his name tag and a belt-buckle made of nickels, coasted around the place filling up coffees. When we asked him a question regarding the food, he shrugged and said "Oh, sorry. I just pour the coffee."



For all that activity buzzing around the place, you'd think someone would have noticed that we were in the beginning of February and they still had fall and Christmas decorations up. Maybe they just didn't care, like your great aunt who leaves up the Christmas tree all year because "Eh, I like it like that way" and "Oh, the bother."

While watching television the night before, I turned to #1DC Antoinette and said "Man, I want some pancakes!" So guess what I ordered? No swerve, I ordered the pancake breakfast with sausage, found on the menu as the "3 by 3 Special."



I'm going to confess that I like things doughy. I eat raw dough. Not just cookie dough, but rather all dough--and I like my pancakes doughy. Penny's delivered moist and soft pancakes to my belly. They also delivered a ton of butter, although I managed to scrape those two mounds off the moment after I took the picture. I'm sure my arteries look like the river of slime in Ghost Busters 2. I would have loved something more exotic, but alas they only had the standard maple pancake syrup.

The sausage was unremarkable.

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

Silver Spoons: West Hollywood. - Closed

I don't do West Hollywood. It's a big 'ole hassle of a neighborhood full of parking permits, douchey stores, and crowded clubs where I don't like the music and nobody asks me to dance. I have no reason to ever go there.

While looking for a diner in Beverly Hills one Saturday morning, we found the google maps directions woefully unhelpful at navigating the ridiculousness of the area. We gave up and headed back to the east side via Santa Monica Blvd.

#1DC Antoinette's eagle-eye noticed the sign for "Silver Spoons." Because I was speeding by in order to get back into familiar territory, I had to flip the car around to get into the parking lot. Now, a dedicated parking lot in this area of town speaks to the length of time Silver Spoons must have been around.

Sorry about the lack of a photo of the sign for Silver Spoons. For some reason, the picture I took with the digital camera didn't turn out. The sign is pretty massive and cool and I must have driven past it dozens of times and missed it somehow. Instead, here's the title shot from the classic 80s sitcom:

Walking up to the building, I was full of trepidation. It was boxy and uninviting, almost built like a fortress. A canopy covered what I assumed was a patio that somehow served to make the building even more closed-off--like a turtle in a shell.

Once inside, the feeling immediately washed away as the first sound we heard was the hearty laughter of a man and background smatterings of lively conversation. Turning the corner to face the counter, we saw that the laughter belonged to one of the waiters who then approached us.

He had the look of a career waiter. Not passing time while waiting for pilot season and not broken down after twenty or so pilot seasons had passed. This man clearly loved being a waiter and he showed genuine care and friendliness.

Man, I look like crap in that picture. Anyway, the walls of Silver Spoons are adorned with movie posters and head shots. Head shots are fairly common in Los Angeles, but full on posters (most of them autographed) is unique. A lot the signatures are personalized to Silver Spoons, making me think this place is even more of a Hollywood landmark than I had imagined.
If you glance over my shoulder on the left, you'll see a poster for an Ice Cube movie. Remember Ice Cube from such powerful performances as "Boys in the Hood" and "Three Kings?" Also remember Ice Cube from such films as, "Are We There Yet" and "Barbershop 2: Back in Business?" He's all over the place in terms of quality, but that poster there represents a new low for anyone. That poster is for:

Now, too small to see on the poster is the name of the director. The director:

Fred Durst.

This was the snippet of conversation we overheard going on behind us when the patrons at the table located under that poster asked the waiter about it.

Patron: Like the Limp Bizkit guy?

Waiter: Yeah.

Patron: Did he do the soundtrack?

Waiter: No. He directed it.

Patron: He's a director?

Waiter: Yes. He just finished his second movie. He comes in all the time. He's a friend.

Patron:...Oh.

As we looked over the menu, nothing really jumped out at us. No moment of "Hmmm, that sounds interesting." Silver Spoons offers very standard fare--nothing you couldn't get at Astro Family Restaurant or a Spires or any number of other similar restaurants. The prices aren't going to kill you nor are they going to save your soul.

Antoinette ordered the patty melt with fries and coleslaw. The rye bread was really good, as were the fries, which even retained a hint of real potato flavor. Antoinette thought the onions could have been grilled a bit longer. I thought the patty melt didn't have enough cheese, while Antoinette thought it had too much...That probably means it had a perfect amount of cheese.



I ordered the "old fashioned sandwich," which is turkey, ham, and thousand island dressing. It was pretty good. The dressing was slathered on, but wasn't overwhelming to the point of not being able to pick up the sandwich.

Now the coleslaw; I first found it bland, but Antoinette noticed an odd flavor to it. It took me several tastes and some time, but I eventually realized that the coleslaw had the distinct flavor of old cantaloupe. It wasn't gross by any means; it was just weird.

The meal at Silver Spoons was decent. It's a nice, comfortable place with big booths, dark wood interior that makes you feel you're in a nicer place than you are, and a good staff to bolster that feeling. I'd recommend it if you are nearby and looking for American comfort food, or if you want to see some cool movie posters and maybe a celebrity. Here's a link to the "Seeing Stars" website page about the restaurant. Stalk away creepos!



Food: Decent.
Service: Hearty Laughter!
Price: A little high.
Pie: Check out the revolving dessert case by the front counter.

8171 Santa Monica Blvd.

West Hollywood, CA 90046

(323) 650-4890

UPDATE- Silver Spoons closed back in 2011 and is now a seafood restaurant.

Du-Pars: Sub-par?

I get a lot of recommendations for places to go, especially for places that are considered standards of the Los Angeles diner "scene." Usually these come in the form of emails or a grab of the elbow at a get together or party. Delores' came from an elbow grab at a party and Jouni's Cafe came from an email. I really appreciate these tips; they let me know people are reading Dinerwood, and that's a good thing to know.

I've gotten a lot of double or triple recommendations from folks. I know I need to go to the Apple Pan on Pico, and I've been trying to plan a trip to Chip's Restaurant in Hawthorne since forever. These are places that a lot of people tell me to try out. (Occasionally, I get recommendations for places I've already reviewed and I lament Blogger's lack of an index function.) However, one place that no one has ever recommended to me, but is pretty much as old school as you can get in L.A., is Du-Par's.

Du-Par's has three locations; the newly restored original is located at 3rd and Fairfax, part of the Grove/Farmer's Market complex. I really dislike that area because of the sheer awfulness of the general population of the Grove, and I also had a really bad date there once and it's just too painful to return. So because of these feelings and to further serve my Valley readership, I decided to hit up the one in Studio City.



This Du-Par's is located not too far from the 101 off of Laurel Canyon and Ventura Blvd. #1DC Antoinette and I strolled in for a late breakfast two weeks ago. I was impressed by the size of the place--it was much larger than it looked from the outside. A giant counter and close to two dozen booths make for a spacious dining experience. I imagine only at peak times would you have to wait for a spot.

Du-Par's feels old without looking it. It seems more well-maintained than comfy, and it appears that this location was probably the object of renovation as well. The chandeliers and stained wood seem faux-classic, not authentic.



The waitresses wear some truly wonderful old fashioned outfits, complete with hats! I wasn't going to ask one to pose for me because that would have been creepy.



Loving pie as much as I do, I appreciated that the walls were decorated by pie-themed posters. This, the display case at the front, and the on-site bakery, clued me in that this place takes pie very seriously, which I completely respect.



Then, when we sat down and looked at the menu and I saw that there were roughly twenty pies on the menu, including a "pie of the month," I knew I might be in heaven.

#1DC Antoinette, however, may have been developing a different feeling. The first crack in the golden facade appeared in the menu as we looked at the prices. It seemed a bit much. A second crack appeared with the coffee. I did find it bitter, but not overly so. Antoinette thought it was awful.

Antoinette started with a cup of pea soup, made from yellow peas. I can see why they wouldn't have it listed as "Yellow Pea Soup" on the menu because the giggles of everyone inside would be deafening.



Antoinette noted that yellow peas have more of a garden, earthy flavor, whereas green peas taste more salty.



I ordered the short stack of pancakes. I thought it was pretty damn cool that they supplied melted butter--yes, real butter--for the pancakes. I had never seen that before. The pancakes themselves were pretty good: fluffy with a hint of batter taste, which I liked. These hadn't been stirred too long or cooked to a tough consistency.



For her entree, Antoinette ordered the chicken salad sandwich on raisin bread with a side of fries. The chicken salad was sorely lacking in chicken and was way too liquidy. The raisin bread was a nice touch but was toasted a tad too long and had started to burn. Looking around at the other tables, we discovered that all the bread seemed this way. The fries were greasy and had a strong oily aftertaste.

So far, I was still really enjoying my Du-Par's experience. Antoinette, not so much.

But I thought that perhaps the pie would win her over.

I asked our waitress for a slice of the pie of the month ("french pear with walnut crumb topping" according to the Du-Par's website) but was informed that it was sold out. You must have to get there pretty early in the morning to get the pie of the month. I ordered their regular pear pie instead.



I thought it was delicious. It had sliced pears with a cinnamon glaze served over a custard type filling. Antoinette was, in fact, not impressed.

In the end, our breakfast cost $37.81, which I'll admit was steep. Still, I was enamored with Du-Par's. Was I just blinded by the waitress uniforms and number of pies? Or was Antoinette right, her meal, with the exception of the soup, was not very good, especially for the price. Plus, she said the bathroom was pretty gross.

I needed to give Du-Par's another shot. Antoinette would not go again, so who could I take with me?

Enter: The Parents.

Mom and Dad, who last appeared in the Pancake Circus review, came to town last weekend and I brought them with me.

We got there early, right at breakfast time, and there was still no wait. This place should be more popular at the time, unless more people are on Antoinette's side than mine, which wouldn't be the first time.

Getting there so early meant we could order from the Blue Plate Special menu, which lightened the dollar load a bit. The blue plate specials include coffee, which is a nice touch.



My mom got a pancake, egg and bacon special. She ordered the bacon crisp, and by God she got it. She agreed that the pancakes were better than at most places.



My dad got the same thing, but with turkey sausage instead of bacon. It's interesting to note that turkey sausage is the only option; they do not have regular sausage at Du-Par's.



I ordered the french toast and turkey sausage. The french toast was pretty basic. The turkey sausage was just okay.

I do really love that the blue plate specials are not served on blue plates but rather regular plates that say Blue Plate. That's some subversive stuff right there.

I once again tried to order the pie of the month and was denied; our waitress wasn't even sure if they had had any that morning. I think that whole enterprise might be a myth. I took a gamble and went with the gooseberry pie.



Gooseberry pie is tart--more tart than rhubarb. There's an interesting touch of grape to the taste as well, although that could be psychological because gooseberries look like tiny green grapes. The crust was flaky, but dense, so it didn't turn to dust in my mouth. The waitress recommended ice cream with it which I imagine would be very good.

The total for the three of us was only $33.56.

The conclusion my parents and I came to is that Du-Par's is good, but over-priced. You will probably want to go there for breakfast and get the blue plate specials so you aren't dropping a tank of gas worth on one meal. They also have a neat gimmick of the Beat the Clock menu. From 4 to 6pm, selected menu items are whatever price the time is when you order them.

The criticisms Antoinette had are totally justified, but a place that has twenty something pies cannot be all bad. It just can't be.

Food: Overall, decent. Breakfast seems safe.
Service: Friendly...and wearing hats!
Price: High for the portions and quality.
Pie: A LOT.

12036 Ventura Blvd.
Studio City
(818) 766-4437

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