Strip Mall Haute

[adamhgraham]

I just moved to Los Angeles from NYC and enjoy exploring good grub in the strip malls. Last night I discovered Lou and fell in love with it. Though I like the low end ethnic divey places in strip malls, I'm looking for more mid-range to high-end places atmospheric places. But really I'm interested in any strip mall gems. Any suggestions?

[ipsedixit]

"But really I'm interested in any strip mall gems. Any suggestions?"

Well, if that's your criteria, then just about every single Chinese restaurant in the SGV, with a few notable exceptions for banquet type places.

[Emme]

mario's peruvian

m cafe de chaya, sort of

mogo's mongolian bbq

more than waffles

california vegan

divino, sort of

tere's mexican grill

carnival in sherman oaks

wa sushi

mishima

zankou

guelaguetza

sanamluang cafe

[marlane]

tajrish in marina del rey, tucked next to a subway is some seriously good persian food (500-600 block of washington blvd). The wine list sucks as do the pink table cloths but the food is excellent.

Upstairs in this strip mall is Killer Shrimp. It has a very loyal following but I am not one of them. Only three items on the menu, OK, but when I asked for some butter for my bread, I was told they do not have that. WTF?

[Diana]

The bread is for dipping in the broth, which has more than enough oil and butter in!

[Foodandwine]

A gem in my eyes is Alejos on Lincoln and Washington in MDR. Small Italian with solid pasta dishes and the likes. My favorite are the seafood pastas. Not the mid to high range in atmosphere but High in food taste in my opinion.. BYOB

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Alejo Presto Trattoria
4002 Lincoln Blvd, Marina Del Rey, CA 90292

[riceflour]

Hirozen on Beverly and Orlando, just east of the Beverly Center. Not necessarily the best for purely sushi (though the ocean trout and spanish makerel are delicious), but tasty small dishes and purple yam yokan for dessert--with coconut tapioca, my personal favorite. Enjoy! And welcome to Los Angeles : )

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Hirozen
8385 Beverly Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90048

[fdb]

another strip mall sushi place...irori in marina del rey

[Diana]

Alexis Greek Cafe in Northridge

Gorikee in Woodland Hills

Nats Early Bite in Sherman Oaks

Amir's Falafel in Studio City

Sushi 4 on 6 in Encino

Gochi in Encino

Gio Neopolitan in Encino

Vinh Loi tofu in Reseda

[kevin]

just passed by vinh loi tofu in reseda, how is it right now?

worth a try.????

[Diana]

yep! Also try the bahn mi place in the same center

[westsidegal]

antica pizza in marina del rey.
it is more of a full-service italien restaurant than a pizzeria.
good napolean-style pizza. (very thin crust)

[hpcat]

Asenebo is in a strip mall in Studio City. One of the best Japanese restaurants in L.A.

[kevin]

nozawa is in a strip mall, gorikee too, nook bistro,

in fact, ginza sushiko back when it started in koreatown was in a strip mall.

[Food Good]

Check out Nook Cafe in Santa Monica.

[wilafur]

it's actually nook bistro. =)

i'd also like to add terried sake house (may be too low end for you) and izakaya sasaya to the list.

[whatsfordinner]

Wilafur: Terried sake used to be one of my favorites but the quality seemed to decline and I stopped going about two years ago (I switched to Nanbankan). Have you been recently? Maybe it's time to give it another try. I do miss the sauteed baby squid.

[wilafur]

last time i was there was @ 5mo's ago. the skewers are still good and i was pleasantly surprised with their sushi as well.

oh, the tofu steak rocked.

[whatsfordinner]

Good to know, thanks.

[nosh]

Nook Bistro technically is not in a strip mall, which is a row of storefronts running parallel to the street. More accurately it is tucked in the back corner of a minimall, with two rows of storefronts meeting in an L shape, set on a corner with both rows perpendicular to the streets.

[hrhboo]

Sushi Zo and Echigo. There's a ton of strip mall sushi out there! Manpuku on Sawtelle is excellent, and I like Sakura House on Washington a lot too. A bit more upscale Japanese food can be enjoyed at Restaurant 2117, in the same strip mall as Manpuku. Nook Bistro and Vito's pizza are in strip malls, as is perennial CH favorite Monte Alban.

In SGV Mei Long Village, J&J and Dragon Mark are all in the same building and serve very good dumplings.

How could I forget my favorite strip mall restaurant of all - Hungry Cat!

[kevin]

hungry cat isn't in a strip mall.

unless there's a new location that just opened in LA.

[hrhboo]

It's an apartment block with bunch of stores and Hungry Cat tucked in the back corner. Not technically a strip mall, but close enough in the sense that it's a restaurant sharing a building with a selection of shops at street level.

[Chowpatty]

Marouch -- great Lebanese in a fairly nice atmosphere (nice for East Hollywood anyway)
Hirozen - excellent sushi and cooked specials (on Beverly)
Aroma on Sunset in Silver Lake - solid upscale Italian
Rambutan and Pho Cafe also on Sunset in Silver Lake -- upscale Thai and designy pho
Saito on Sunset in Silver Lake -- good low-key sushi, decent Indian and Thai in the same minimall

[rednyellow]

Sadly, the indian has gone way down hill.