Roadfood_ Revised Edition - Jane Stern [251]
Tacos cost between two and five dollars each and the roster includes basic beef, beef with green chile and cheese, and a “chorizo especial” of spicy sausage, melted cheese, and tomato. We are especially fond of the taco adobado (grilled pork) and the frijol Super-Rica (chorizo and pinto beans with bacon and chile). In addition to tacos, La Super-Rica makes some sensational tamales, and beverages of choice include horchata (sweet rice milk), hibiscus tea, and Mexican beer. Each of the three kinds of salsa is excellent: chunky tomato, spicy red chile, and even spicier green chile.
Expect to wait in line at mealtime. The line is actually a good thing. La Super-Rica has no signs outside, so the crowd of people you see on N. Milpas Street will let you know you have arrived.
Musso and Frank’s
6667 Hollywood Blvd.
213–467–7788
Hollywood, CA
LD | $$
When Musso and Frank opened for business in 1919, Hollywood was young and fresh and Hollywood Boulevard was a magic address. The boulevard went to honkytonk hell in a handbasket and is now trying to rebirth itself with entertainment complexes and shopping malls competing for attention with cheap souvenirs and hookers’ wig shops, but the moment you step inside Hollywood’s oldest restaurant, the battle of the lifestyles is left behind.
In fact, now that meat and potatoes have enjoyed a well-deserved renaissance, this vintage eatery almost seems trendy. The menu is printed every day, but Musso’s is known for dowdy kinds of meals: thin flannel cakes (for lunch), Welsh rarebit, chicken potpie on Thursday, classic corned beef and cabbage every Tuesday, lamb shanks, baked ham, chiffonade salads.
There are so many things we love to eat from the extensive repertoire, but pay special attention, please, to the potatoes. Ten different kinds occupy the menu, from mashed and boiled to lyonnaise and candied sweet. Steaks and chops—cooked on an open broiler where those sitting at the counter can watch—are grand. From the dessert list, note bread-and-butter pudding, and its deluxe variant, diplomat pudding, topped with strawberries.
Many adventurous gourmets of our acquaintance do not understand the appeal of Musso and Frank’s. They compliment its antique Tudor decor and comfortable red leather booths but complain that the food is ordinary. Yes, indeed! It is some of the tastiest ordinary food anywhere.
Original Pantry
877 S. Figueroa St.
213–972–9279
Los Angeles, CA
Always open | $
Not far from the Staples Center, the Original Pantry is a choice stop for fans after Lakers’ games. Never having closed its doors since opening in 1924, this round-the-clock temple of honest eats is renowned for buckwheat hotcakes and full-bore egg breakfasts accompanied by sourdough toast, thick slabs of bacon, and piles of really excellent hash brown potatoes. OJ is fresh-squeezed and the coffee keeps coming. At supper, you can’t go wrong with a steak platter or such stalwarts as roast beef or liver and onions; and the great dessert is hot apple pie with rum sauce. Sourdough bread and coleslaw are served with every meal.
When the Original Pantry was threatened by developers in 1980, former Mayor Richard Riordan bought it, and His Honor’s aura helped make it a destination for city politicians, bigwigs, and wannabes, especially at breakfast, when people-watching is a sport. A relatively small place, it is always bustling and service, by hash-house pros, is nearly instantaneous.
Philippe’s the Original
1001 N. Alameda St.
213–628–3781
Los Angeles, CA
BLD | $
Genesis, according to Philippe’s: One day in 1918 Philippe Mathieu was preparing a beef sandwich at his proletarian eat-place when the roll fell into gravy. Fetched out with tongs, the drippings-sopped bread looked good enough that an impatient customer said, “I’ll take it just like that.” And so the French dip sandwich was created.
Los Angelenos considered the “French dip