Annia's Kitchen -- El Monte

Remember when I said Dinerwood would change formats? We'll call this more of a new-format review. Enjoy the pictures.

I've tried several times to write a more thoughtful and expansive review of Annia's Kitchen. I even went here twice to try to absorb more of the feel of the place. It just never happened.









The dining room is small and not very well air-conditioned. It's uncomfortably warm inside. I recommend sitting on the patio, because not only is it cooler but on the patio you get to see these...



..Airplanes! Did I mention that Annia's Kitchen is at the El Monte Airport?



Annia's has a very extensive menu. Everything is a little bit more expensive than I'd like it to be.



I liked the biscuits and gravy, although the gravy was a little flour-y.



The pancakes were good, but really heavy. Pancakes like this usually are, but these felt even more so. The sausage was over cooked, but the bacon was done quite well.



The chorizo and eggs was decent.



The pot roast breakfast was really great at the time. It came back to haunt me in the afternoon. I'm not sure if it was the gravy or the eggs that did me in. I ordered both eggs over medium and one was cooked perfectly while the other was over hard.



I really wanted to like Annia's Kitchen, I gave it two chances after all. The most positive thing I can say is that I do really like their menu, I just haven't been wowed by their execution. If the idea of eating breakfast while watching small planes take off sounds awesome, then by all mean go for it.

Food: Decent
Price: $6-13
Service: Good
Pie: Yes

Annia's Kitchen
4233 Santa Anita Avenue # 18 (El Monte Airport)
El Monte, CA 91731

Black Cow Cafe -- Damn Yuppies

I was in an odd mood. I wanted a frou frou breakfast. No greasy spoon would do, my friends.
Thus, we traveled to Montrose, just off the 210, to a cute neighborhood with little shops and restaurants. Our destination, which already had a throng of people out front, was the Black Cow Cafe.

It being only 9am and already oppressively hot and muggy outside, we opted to sit in the dining room. This place did look pretty fancy, but was much more than that. Nearly one wall of the restaurant was a pastry case, followed by a coffee bar and then an ice cream parlor. Along with the tables, there were lounge areas where people were just quietly sipping coffee and working on their laptops.

We were both surprised that considering the very mature ambiance of the cafe, there were a lot of families with young kids eating breakfast. Upwardly mobile, yuppie parents--easy to hate them but I'd rather see them feeding their kids actual food instead of Carl's Jr. or In-N-Out. Even if the food proved to be much less than impressive.

.

We were seated not far from the open the kitchen. We started with the house coffee, which required a lot of help to be palatable. It's La Mill coffee, which always tastes bad to us.

Our waiter started off very attentive and then it just dwindled away over time. We understand the breakfast rush had him going all over, but the table next to ours had a waiter who was johnny on the spot with refills and check-ins.

We hadn't turned completely against Black Cow Cafe at that point. There was a lot on the menu that looked interesting. It also looked a little pricey for breakfast, which again shocked us due to the number of families around. Damn yuppies.



The Bavarian Cream Strudel. This is where the corner was turned. It was not good. They heated it--I'm going to go ahead and say they microwaved it which completely destroyed the texture of the pastry (soggy one bite, rock hard another, chewy on the third) and the cream filling.

Our hopes were buttressed when our breakfasts came to the table and looked delicious on the plate.

Looked.



I had the Cow Benedict. I love benedicts and the orange hollandaise sauce really sold me on it.
Orange hollandaise sauce is pretty damn frou frou, I have to say. Hollandaise sauce in-and-of-itself is pretty frou frou, really. It was good, but not great. I wanted a thicker cut of ham (this was not even back bacon thick, but more deli-cut) to counter the sweetness the orange added to the sauce. The eggs were nicely poached, I will give them that. I don't really care for croissants and in hindsight I wished I had asked to replace it with a biscuit or English muffin.



Let me go off on a tangent here for a moment and then I'm going to bring it back around. I don't usually order spaghetti when I go out to an Italian restaurant because I can make a pretty decent spaghetti at home. Straight spaghetti has pretty limited range of flavor to play with and I'd say a breakfast sandwich is pretty similar in that regard. Sometimes you just want spaghetti when you are out and sometimes Dinerwife Antoinette just wants a breakfast sandwich eventhough we can make a pretty decent one at home.

Black Cow Cafe's breakfast sandwich was all sorts of disappointment. The bread-- not actually toasted, was just touched briefly to the grill as to make the effort pointless--was very thin like the 99 cent loaf at the grocery store. The turkey was also too thin and the "melted cheese" was not melted at all. Looking at the menu online I see there is supposed to be some kind of "secret sauce" on it as well. "Disappointment" is not a sauce.

The fruit was under ripe and should not have been served. The pineapple was white and flavorless. Under ripe melons always taste like garbage to me.

The breakfast potatoes were fine. Just fine. Not really sure I'd even venture to call them breakfast potatoes. Halved small red potatoes tossed with some paprika and a minimal amount of red peppers and onions that were skitted across a griddle I guess counts, but I could easily see them served with a lunch or dinner.

We then waited far too long for our waiter to not only bring the check but to check in with us and ask us if we were ready for the check. The johnny on the spot waiter took pity on us a few times for refills. Eventually we tried to just go to the coffee bar counter to pay but that didn't work. It became a cluster.

I've read good reviews of Black Cow, Dinerfriend Amy K. even wrote a positive yelp about it. I cannot reconcile those reviews with our experience. The restaurant was packed and people seemed to be enjoying their meals. I'm told that Black Cow Cafe was for a long time the nicest restaurant in Montrose. If you wanted a nice dining experience, you had to go there; otherwise, it was fast food and take out. That probably accounts for it's continued popularity.

I just could not risk another trip there even though there's quite a bit on the menu that I'd like to try. It's not worth it.

Food: Not Good-Decent
Price: $9-$15
Service: Not good.
Pie: Tartlets

Black Cow Cafe
2219 Honolulu Ave.
Montrose, CA 91020

Dinerwood on the Road: Matt's Big Breakfast -- Phoenix Arizona

On a recent trip to Phoenix, I had the opportunity to try two local favorites. Both had been featured on Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives, although I have never seen those episodes. The first place my friends and I went was Matt’s Big Breakfast located near the ASU campus in--what I have to assume--was once someone’s garage. This place is tiny--teeny tiny.

We rolled up on a Friday morning at 8 am and we still had to wait for nearly 45 minutes. I hate waiting, but I really wanted to try Matt’s. Disappointingly, they don’t allow you to order drinks for outside or have water available to keep you from wilting in the Arizona heat. They do, however, give you menus and actually have you order your food once you get close to being seated. The moment your name gets called for seating your order goes to the kitchen.



The menu for Matt's is very small. I guess it fits the size of the restaurant. There are about nine breakfast items, seven lunches, and that's it.



You may notice that they serve RC Cola. RC has a pretty loyal following. It has over 5000 fans on Facebook! Sadly, FANS of RC Cola Fans are far fewer.



The 5-Spot appears to be their signature breakfast-three out of five of us got it. It's a sandwich with egg and bacon. Why is it called a 5-Spot? Maybe because involves 5 things: two pieces of bread, one egg, two slices of bacon? We never saw the waiter for more than a few seconds at a time, so I never got the chance to ask him or her--we had two. She kept forgetting our drinks and refills that were requested, and he was running around turning over tables.

One in our party is a vegetarian and asked if she could hold the bacon and get hash browns instead. They assured her it was no problem...when we got the check we learned that they basically charged her for a side of hash browns. Lame.



The toast was really good.



The hash browns were interesting. They reminded us a lot more of latkes or potato pancakes than of hash browns.



The waffle was pretty good. It was soft and warm and the real maple syrup was appreciated.

The bacon was the star all-around--on the sandwich or next to the waffle--it was thick cut and peppery.

Once we were done, we were rushed out the door. With only ten maybe twelve tables, they need a high turnover. I have no problem with that--my problem was that none of this seemed worth it. Long wait, only adequate service and good-but-not-THAT-good food. I don't see what all the fuss is about.

Food: Good
Price $5-8
Service: Rushed.
Pie: No.

Matt's Big Breakfast
801 N. First St.
Phoenix, Arizona 85004

Where I go to something called a "Bob Evans"

A few months ago, Dinerwife Antoinette and I went to Florida for a vacation with her family. I found one diner that was less than a 30 minute drive from our hotel. We arrived and discovered that they had just stopped serving breakfast. This was crushing since I had my mind set on something involving syrup.

We looked at the lunch menu and I honestly said "I don't want to eat here." It was a lot of pasta dishes--which made sense as the place had only recently gone from being an Italian restaurant to presumably a diner. We got up and left and drove to the place we saw right off the highway: Bob Evans.



I had never heard of it before but apparently it's a chain--like a BIG chain. It just does not have any locations on the west coast. I don't review big chains--a place with two or three other locations? Sure, but not CHAIN chains.

My stance on chains is not that the food is terrible or the experience lacking. It is that a chain is going to default to being "safe." That's the comfort of chains. You know regardless of where you are in the world, walking into a Dennys, a McDonalds or an Olive Garden (shudder), whatever you order is going to taste exactly the same as the last time you ordered that same dish at that same restaurant halfway across the world. I like surprises; I like taking that chance. I'm a food gambler at heart, baby. And by gambling, I'm helping in someones struggle to make their own way, not fill the coffers of a corporation. And with this blog I like to think I'm helping encourage others to take the same chance. That's why I don't like chains.

But here--in Florida--I was at a chain restaurant that I had no experience with.



A place with such great food pron pictures of pie can't be that bad right?

Something I noticed was that the menu and the offerings represented a very different sensibility than what I am used to. For instance, biscuits are their base bread. If you want regular toast, you'll have to be sure to say something.


They are very proud of their biscuits. They have them baking in a huge bread over at the front o the restaurant. They ever have biscuit bread bowl breakfast.

The appetizers read like a list of food you will find available at this Summer's state fair: apple fries, fried cheese bits, tater-tots!



The bed of lettuce is a nice touch.



They also bake their own bread. We ordered the Blueberry Poundcake for the table.

Did I mention that I gained like 5lbs on this vacation?

There were five of us there, so I can't really go into much detail about what each of us ordered, but below are the pictures.



Veggie Omelette with onion, spinach and diced tomatoes. It tasted very fresh.



Corn Meal Mash! You know when I saw that on the menu I had to get it. Ever since I first tried it at Stox, it is that weird thing I have to try at each place that has it. It was pretty good-- but not as good as Stox. I also got the hash browns, which were decent, and the sausage and cheese biscuits and gravy.

....what I said earlier--I take that back--it was more like 8lbs on this vacation.



The turkey bacon melt, could have been more "melty." Otherwise, it was decent.



Sausage Omelette with swiss cheese. The country sausage was good, while the swiss cheese did seem like Kraft singles swiss.



The real winner was Antoinette's Pot Roast Hash. A little salty, but pretty awesome. We were stuffed toward the end of our meal, but we kept eating as much of the pot roast as we could.

...It was 10lbs on this vacation. Definitely.

We left Bob Evans satisfied. I think this was a pretty typical experience from a chain restaurant. We had good service. Our food was overall good. I certainly appreciated their bottomless refills on just about all drinks (even the Caramel Mocha). I'm just not the person who is going to get excited about a place like this, but it was a interesting change of pace.


Food: Good.
Price: $5-$9
Service: Good.
Pie: Yes.

Bob Evans
Visit their website to find a location near you.

On the Road: Danica's Diner--Michigan

As someone who loves old, decrepit crap, I loved the hell out of the Detroit area. The city itself does look like a hell-hole (from the freeway--we did not venture into the city) but I did enjoy the suburbs we visited. I'd have a field day just going to all the old run-down restaurants alone. And don't get me started about how awe-inspiring the ancient Big Lots down the street from Aunt Paula's house is.

Also down the street from Aunt Paula's house is Danica's Diner, proudly serving Eastpointe Michigan since 1991. I look at that and think "Oh, that's nothing" then I realize that's twenty years ago. I. am. old.

Something that I didn't really know anything about before coming here was that Coney Dogs are a HUGE deal. If you don't serve a Coney Dog at your restaurant, you might as well not even bother opening your door. Read the wiki if you don't know what a Coney Dog is.

Danica's is pretty non-descript. It's a big square with some booths, some tables, and a small counter. It's blue?

The coffee was decent. I actually used real sugar in my coffee for the first time in a long time. There was no artificial sweetener on the table.

The food was incredibly cheap. Nothing on that menu was over ten dollars.

My breakfast of two eggs, two sausage and biscuits and gravy was $3.80.

The sausages were standard. I did ask for eggs over medium and they were perfect. The biscuit itself was only decent but the gravy was surprisingly good. It reminded me of a really creamy soup base.

Danica's Diner was convenient and decent. I think it serves a purpose in the neighborhood, but it's not a place I'd go back to.

Food: Decent.
Price: $2.95-$9.95
Service: Good.
Pie: Yes. Fruit, Cream and Pecan on the menu.

Danica's Diner

14984 East 10 Mile Road
Eastpointe, MI 48021

Cafe 50's Vermont --Where I realize I don't like Egg Creams.

The new Cafe 50's on Vermont has been open for a close to a year now. It actually showed up on my GPS long before that. I drove by and just saw the abandoned Louisiana Fried Chicken restaurant that used to be there. "Stupid GPS!" I said while throwing it disappointedly out the window. A few weeks later when it actually appeared, painted exterior and ready to open, I was thrilled. My previous experiences with Cafe 50s had been decent and unspectacular, but this new location provided an option other than House of Pies for late night diner dining in the Hollywood area.



The interior is what you expect. Like the other locations, the walls provide you with ample eye-candy for 50's nostalgia.







I like that they definitely put a lot of thought into the placement of old ads and posters. Near the men's room there is a whole section dedicated to Rock Hudson and his "bachelor life."



There's also a calendar that covers history and their daily specials.
Sometimes the history and the specials result in some amusing juxtaposition.
"Buddy Holly, Big Bopper and Richie Valens die in plane crash. Strawberry shakes $2.98!"

I've actually eaten there quite a bit, but sadly my pictures are from the one disappointing meal I had.



This is the Big Bopper scramble with a side of hash browns. The hash browns were not very good. I thought they were too greasy. The scramble was decent, if a little salty.



This is the 7 Grain Granola Almond Pancakes. They let me get these as my choice of bread which was very cool. These were really delicious. I recommend them.



I also decided to get a New York Egg Cream...which I need to stop doing. I don't like them. Some reason I think "Maybe, there's just something wrong with THIS particular one." I need to realize that although my brain likes the idea of chocolate syrup in soda water with milk, my taste buds think it is gross. Gross.

The service there is more often than not friendly and attentive. The one time I got lackluster service I was with a large group and our waitress (who I've had wait on me several times) was clearly having a rough day. If this had been my one and only time there I would have had a negative impression of the place. Multiple experiences allow me to give some leeway.

They have a great home made lemon-lime pie. Although, it does look odd when you get it. They don't add any coloring to the pie so it just comes out looking grayish brown--slightly unappetizing. Trust me, it is very good.



Food: Good.
Price: $7.95-$13.95
Service: Good.
Pie: Yes.

Cafe 50's
850 N. Vermont Ave
Los Angeles CA 90029
http://www.cafe50s.org

On the Road: San Diego's Waffle Spot

Dinerwife Antoinette and I were planning a weekend trip to San Diego. While searching for a hotel option Antoinette stumbled upon a place that had a diner IN the hotel. The Kings Inn, located in (or is it on?) Hotel Circle is home to the Waffle Spot. It's also the home to the Amigo Spot taco stand--that for some reason gets top billing.



Inside, the Wafflespot is pretty typical; pastel colors, a long counter and a few booths. Typical--save for the fanciful mural that covers one of the walls depicting a medieval landscape populated by the Wafflespot cast of characters.



Yes, the Wafflespot has Disney--or really McDonald's--style characters.



Sir Wafflelot rules this land. He's wearing a crown but still called "Sir." I think he must be more like a "Regent" than a king. He's also a hard-ass. "No substitutions" he decrees.



There's Squire Browns--he looks kind of nervous. "Ehhhh, I'm just takin' the little spuds for a walk. Yeaaah. That's the ticket."

Then there's this also nervous looking roller skating egg guy. I think he's called J-egg-ster? I dunno. I made that up. He wears roller skates so I can relate to this guy.

Sir Reginald Muffintop... I also made that up.



I ordered the Apple Cinnamon waffles. When it arrived it looked quite different. It had bananas. I was about to point it out when the waitress caught it. "You ordered the apple!" She then ran back to the kitchen. The waffle was okay--not as good as I had hoped. It was a little undercooked. The kitchen had clearly rushed it to get it to the table. The menu said there was supposed to be diced apples in the waffle; I didn't really notice any. The eggs were okay. The bacon was actually pretty good, while the sausage was too greasy for my taste.

Antoinette got the Country Casserole. Two scrambled eggs on top of biscuits and gravy over a bed of home fries. It was good, but a little salty

Some of the breakfasts come with an option of toast. That's pretty standard, no big whoop. But at the Waffle Spot, one of your options is actually mini-waffles! That's pretty awesome. Like REALLY pretty awesome. The mini-waffles were better than my big waffle.

Overall, Waffle Spot wasn't nearly as good as we had hoped. Even thought it was conveniently located AT our hotel, we only ate there the one time. If you like cartoon food mascots--THIS--is the place for you.

For more information you can visit their website.

http://kingsinnsandiego.com/

It has this on the website:

Contact us...using your cellphone.... from 1999.

Food: Okay.
Price: $7-10
Service: Friendly.
Pie: No, pie.

The Waffle Spot
1333 Hotel Circle South
San Diego, California 92108