Morning Meal Guide: L.A.'s Breakfast And Brunch Bests, Part 2
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“Pudgie Elvis” comes coated with peanut butter, chunks of bananas and powdered sugar (Kelli Shiroma / Neon Tommy).
SEE ALSO: Morning Meal Guide: L.A.'s Breakfast And Brunch Bests, Part 1
Jacks ‘N Joe
At this homey, “breakfast all day kinda place,” the flapJACKS and freshly brewed JOE are definitely noteworthy. Popular griddle entrees include “Pudgie Elvis”—three pancakes coated generously with peanut butter and bananas and sprinkled with powdered sugar—“DaKine French Toast,” featuring three thick slices of Hawaiian sweetbread dipped in egg batter, sprinkled with powdered sugar and topped generously with vanilla butter.
Specialty omelettes and omelette combos are available at this cozy eatery as well. Especially notable are the “Maui Wowie” omelette, featuring Portuguese sausage, Spam, and green onions, as well as “Adams ‘N Fig,” which comprises bacon, sausage, jack cheese and the eatery’s signature potatoes.
Café 50s
Café 50s, the self-proclaimed “neighborhood diner” located on Route 66, is famous for its cheese blintzes that are available for breakfast. The eatery’s “Best Blintzes in L.A.” entrée features the eatery’s signature dish served with a side of blueberry sauce and sour cream. Some of the other popular entrees at this retro diner include “Malted Waffles”—sprinkled with powdered sugar and only served until 3 p.m.—and “Cinnamon Banana French Toast,” which is topped with powdered sugar, cinnamon and fresh bananas.
Alcove Café
According to the eatery’s website, Alcove Café’s location sounds almost too good to be true — “housed in two historic bungalows, surrounded by garden patios …” The café seems to provide a safe, peaceful haven where diners can enjoy modern versions of classic American dishes. The good news (besides the quaint ambiance) about Alcove Café is its wide-ranging breakfast menu is available until 5 p.m. Thus, customers have a broad range of choices for breakfast, lunch or an early dinner. The eatery boasts many customer favorites, such as the “Crab Cake Benedict”—made with Maryland-style crab cakes, two poached eggs on focaccia, and fresh spinach topped with hollandaise and fresh chives—“Steak Benedict,” comprising grilled New York Strip steak; and the “Fruit + Nutella” crepes, which include nutella-stuffed crepes covered with mixed berries, oranges and bananas.
“Mom’s French Toast” is one of the best sellers at The Griddle Café (Kelli Shiroma / Neon Tommy).
Known for its larger than life pancakes at reasonable prices, Hollywood-based The Griddle Café (TGC) provides every customer with a unique breakfast experience. Items from both, the breakfast and lunch menus are served from opening to closing, according to Jodi, the restaurant’s owner.
“You can get the whole menu as long as we’re open,” she confirms. “You can have lunch at 7 a.m. or breakfast at 3:59 p.m.”
Speaking of breakfast, the “Banana Nana Pancakes” are one of the most popular items, as well as “Mom’s French Toast,” served with bacon. The former features brown sugar-baked bananas cooked inside buttermilk pancakes, while the latter includes an egg-dipped bread griddle cooked to perfection and topped with whipped butter and powdered sugar.
“It’s not just pieces of banana in buttermilk batter; it’s actual brown sugar-sautéed bananas mixed through the batter,” Jodi says of the pancake dish. “It’s like banana bread meets pancakes; they’re so good and moist.”
Another notable breakfast favorite is the “Poached y Papas” Benedict, a twist on the classic eggs benedict, featuring a slice of tender ham and two poached eggs atop seasoned potato skins coated generously in Hollandaise sauce.
“The benedict is on potato skins instead of English muffins and we serve Canadian bacon,” Jodi says. “I like English muffins, but I’m not a fan of them in the benedict.”
While the breakfast menu includes a numerous variety of tantalizing entrees, the “Red Velvet Pancake” is definitely a must-try, as the eatery was a pioneer in the dish’s history, according to Jodi.
“I created the first red velvet pancake,” recalls Jodi, who created everything on the restaurant’s menu. “I was offering it via Twitter almost four years ago, then everyone started copying. That’s when I added it to my menu and created the first mix.”
Regardless of what time of day customers come to The Griddle Café, Jodi hopes they have a memorable experience in the cozy, friendly environment.
“It’s like Willy Wonka and Michael Jackson went to Disneyland together and made food,” Jodi says. “It’s a different experience — it’s not just the food, it’s not just the atmosphere … it’s the combination.”
Pann’s
An L.A. diner boasting a variety of breakfast entrees, Pann’s is a winner when it comes to classic morning fare at reasonable prices. Besides the “Good Morning Special” served Monday thru Friday until 11 a.m.—comprising two large farm eggs, the diner’s choice of bacon strips or pork sausage patties, and buttered toast/French toast halves/buttermilk pancakes—a variety of combos are also available on the breakfast menu. Other Pann’s specialties include the “Belgian Waffle & Wings”—the eatery’s house specialty—and “Uncle Bud’s Mississippi Cheese Eggs,” which includes three scrambled eggs, green onions, Cheddar Jack cheese, and buttered toast or a freshly baked buttermilk biscuit.
The Waffle Hollywood
At The Waffle Hollywood, a vast variety of both sweet and savory waffles are available for griddle lovers. The “Red Velvet Waffle” is served with cream cheese frosting, while the “Sticky Bun Waffle” features a brown sugar waffle with raisins, walnuts, cinnamon and a Maple brown sugar cinnamon glaze and the “Baked-In Applewood Smoked Bacon Waffle” includes the eatery’s classic waffle infused with bits of smoked bacon.” For those looking for other options, pancakes, breakfast burritos and scrambles are available.
Maximiliano
There’s no such thing as a wrong time when it comes to pizza. On Maximiliano’s weekend brunch menu, a variety of pizzas—including “Breakfast,” “Smoked Salmon,” “Bianca-Verde” and “Deluxe”—are available, as are other more traditional brunch fare like “Bacon & Eggs,” “Brioche French Toast” and “Eggs Benedict.”
“Red and Blue Velvet Pancakes” feature a twist on the griddle favorite at Larchmont Bungalow (Photo Courtesy of Larchmont Bungalow).
Cooked to and plated with perfection, each of the breakfast entrees at Larchmont Bungalow look aesthetically pleasing and are appealing to the taste buds as well. The menu is composed of many unique ensembles, such as “Red and Blue Velvet Pancakes”—topped with a cream cheese spread and homemade whipped cream—“Crepes A La Anne,” which are the eatery’s homemade crepes stuffed with seasonal fresh berries and topped with fresh crème anglaise, a maple drizzle and garnished with a chocolate-covered strawberry; and “Mini Omelet Sliders” for those who can’t just choose one omelet.
Toast Bakery Café
Waffles, burritos, pancakes, stuffed French toast … these are just some of the delicious breakfast items you’ll find at Toast Bakery Café. “Torrijas French Toast” features a caramelized apple sauce served with yogurt, while the “Shaksuka” includes an exotic slow-roasted stew of peppers, garlic and tomatoes topped with two over-medium eggs and served with the diner’s choice of toast.
Panini Café
Panini Café, specializing in Italian and Mediterranean cuisine, sports a wide-variety of items on its breakfast menu, which is served until 11:30 a.m. and until 3 p.m. on the weekends. The café sports a delicious and fresh Mediterranean take on breakfast staples, including scrambles, omelettes, and breakfast sandwiches. Some of the entrees you’ll find include: a “Bacon and Egg Panini,” “Artichoke Prosciutto Omelette,” and “Black Forest Ham Scramble.”
Kitchen 24
Breakfast is served 24/7 at Kitchen 24, which “offers a unique approach to the classic American comfort food restaurant,” according to the eatery’s website. Each of the dishes on the restaurant’s breakfast menu has a unique name, ranging from “Bartender’s Banquet”—a whole-wheat quesadilla with a scramble of onions, eggs, scallions, pepper jack cheese and bacon, topped with salsa and sour cream and served with fresh strawberries, half a waffle and whipped cream—to the “K24 French Toast,” featuring coconut- and Frosted Flake-crusted French toast stuffed with caramel and bananas.
EAT
At EAT, located in North Hollywood, French toast, benedicts, scrambles and a variety of other breakfast fare abound. Especially notable are the eatery’s unique breakfast pastas—“Chicken Breakfast Pasta” comes with chopped, grilled chicken breasts, garlic, cilantro, green onions, tomatoes, linguini pasta, parmesan cheese and eggs, while “Italian Breakfast Pasta” comprises chopped Italian sausage, tomatoes, garlic, basil, roasted red peppers, linguini pasta, Parmesan cheese and scrambled eggs—and French Toast, which includes many varieties like the “Double Trouble”—three soft layers of brioche bread served with home-made vanilla cream sauce and garnished with coconut flakes, chopped grilled pineapples and drizzled with vanilla caramel.
Lazy Dog Café
Lazy Dog Café, known for its comfort food in a cozy environment, features a variety of delicious brunch fare. The unique cuisine includes favorites like the “Sunny Side Up Pizza,” composed of a white pizza with sundried tomatoes, bacon, spinach and assorted cheeses topped with three fresh eggs; “Hawaiian Fried Rice,” featuring stir-fried steamed rice with pork sausage, cabbage, veggies, eggs, and hickory-smoked bacon; and “Wild Blueberry Pancakes & Maple Bacon Butter,” featuring three large buttermilk blueberry pancakes smothered with house-made maple bacon butter, syrup and a bluberry compote.
Grub
Enjoying the weekend brunch offered at Grub is meant to be a full-blown customer experience, according to co-owner Denise DeCarlo. And it’s not just because of the eatery’s delicious and unique cuisine.
“The atmosphere is very relaxed,” DeCarlo says. “It’s like you’ve gone into somebody’s home. It’s very homey, welcoming and relaxed. I think that’s one of the reasons—between our food and the atmosphere—why we’ve been so successful.”
“We’re low maintenance; we’re not a hoity-toity place,” she adds. “From personal experience, I know in L.A. there’s a lot of places that are cold and sterile. But at Grub, we know our customers; if they come on a regular basis, we know their names. [Our restaurant’s] a 1923 duplex that was converted into a restaurant. It’s really homey and I’m so in love with it.”
The most popular item on the brunch menu, according to DeCarlo, is the “Friggin Amazing French Toast,” which is a “vanilla croissant French toast with raspberry butter, powdered sugar and pecans that comes with maple syrup.” Another best seller is “Mamacita’s Breakfast Burrito,” featuring scrambled eggs with melted Cheddar, garlic and herb roasted potatoes, and chorizo topped with sour cream and salsa in a soft, flour tortilla. The “OOH LA LA! Egg Sandwich”—fluffy scrambled eggs, two slices of “Sweet & Sassy Bacon” and melted Cheddar cheese sandwiched between two slices of croissant French Toast served with maple syrup—is also a popular customer request.
Grub prides itself on its fresh, high quality ingredients — its cheese in particular, according to DeCarlo.
“We use sharp Cheddar in our food and we have really great cheeses,” she says. “Our cheeses aren’t cheap. We use high quality food; almost everything [we cook] comes from scratch.”
If she had to recommend any dish on the brunch menu, DeCarlo advises customers to order anything with the eatery’s famous bacon.
“We have won so many awards for our bacon,” she says. “We’ve been on national TV for our bacon, and it’s a secret recipe but it’s really well known.”
