Cafe Figaro?

[Kwintt]

We used to love to go to Cafe Figaro in West Hollywood, off of Doheny, and they closed several years ago. Did any of the restauranteurs from there go on to form other restaurants, with any of the same menu items? The bread, salad dressing, etc.? Has it emerged anywhere in a new incarnation? Viva le Chef's Salad and Stragiatella!

[tokyoastrogirl]

There is a Cafe Figaro on Vermont in Los Feliz....not sure if it is the same one, but they do make a mean salad and the french bread is some of the best around. Great cheeses and a fine place to spend a lazy Sunday afternoon sipping wine and getting bread crumbs all over your shirt. Right across the street from the much hounded Il Capriccio, which I highly suggest you check out for dinner- try the black (squid ink) pasta with rock shrimp in the tomato sauce...it is unbeatable....do not fear the color- it's amazing!!!

[kwintt]

Alas, we tried the one on Vermont thinking it was maybe a new incarnation of our old fave but it's not. Thanks for the tip on the other one, though

[Bob Brooks]

The bread served at Cafe Fig was Roman Meal. They bought it unsliced and cut it thick themselves.

I kid you not.

[carter]

Cafe Figaro in Los Feliz is owned by the Champagne Bakery folks out of San Marcos in north San Diego County, with units all over the LA area now.

[joe g]

i know that the guy who used to own the pace opened a chicken place in westwood. it was called chasin's chicken.i used to work for him at the figaro. also his original partner had a place in long beach called the mustard seed.

[vvvvv]

joe g are you there? any chance you know the recipe or any part of the recipe for their clam chower at cafe figaro from the l970s

vicki

[joe g]

i know that the guy who used to own the pace opened a chicken place in westwood. it was called chasin's chicken.i used to work for him at the figaro. also his original partner had a place in long beach called the mustard seed.

[zin1953]

I used to go to Café Figaro back in the early 1970s . . . I have no idea what happened to owners/staff, but I'm pretty sure it wasn't as good as the memories are..

[RachDminor]

Oh, I think the chocolate soufflé was as good as the memories - at least sitting across from someone I had a mad crush on. ;-) - early 80s for me …

[bobbeecher]

Cafe Figaro was a hangout of mine back in the 1970s. They were serving lattes and other coffee drinks WAY before it became a popular thing to do. Just before they closed, I took my girlfriend there and told her of all the great times my friends and I had. After dinner, I proposed to her! We will have been married 20 years next month. I sure wish the restaurant was still around . . . it would make a nice setting for our anniversary dinner.

[zin1953]

Bravo! Great story -- didn't we ALL go there with our girlfriends??? ;^)

[mc michael]

I believe there was a NYC branch and that at one point the LA outpost was owned by Bill Cosby.

[carter]

While in name only, the restaurant Figaro in Los Feliz generates a somewhat similar vibe, yet not quite, but does better than most.
But I too was hooked on the place back then.
Currently houses Artichoke's Heart, which opened in the last week or two

[mc michael]

For a time there was a restaurant in Venice called Brandywine which, I believe, was somehow related to the New York Cafe Figaro. Different vibe from the West Hollywood store.

[konehead49]

I was a waiter there for a few years in the mid seventies. It was one of the best times of my life. The people I worked with were the best; of course, they were all aspiring actors, dancers directors, etc. I remember the bartender, Mike Douglas, begged me to fill in for him one night so he could go to an audition for the Mary Tyler Moore Variety Show. It was the only time that I ever tended bar in my restaurant career. He got the part; at the time he was a comedian. He did have to change his name(SAG rules) and became Michael Keaton.

[wolf]

i worked at both....tom zigler was the owner of figaro...and was the LA version of the one in NYC..he owned that also...it had the walls covered with le figaro newspaper on the walls and was a template for "coffee house" style resturants in LA...very trendy and fed many music stars that appeared accross the street at the troubador..in the end tom ran it into the ground and chasens bought it...

some of the employees got together and opend brandywine cafe in santa monica..it was very figaro flavored...wallpaper..coffee drinks (they even used some of the same names) and similar menu items...it was very sucessful for several years and then it went to new owners and at the end financial woos closed the doors...it was a very sad ending

the times..memories and people i met at these places are still alive in parts of me...but next time around i would just have a cafe ordnair and leave the memories to someone else

[mitchbart]

Interesting this thread should resurface now. I've lived most of my 30+ years in CA in the Bay Area and have recently moved to LA. I lived in West Hollywood for under a year in the early 80's.

I was recently wandering around the WeHo area (of course we didn't use WeHo then - it was not even an incorporated city in those days) south of Santa Monica between Robertson/Doheny and trying to remember the name and location of this place, wondering what happened to it.

I remember it being very European in the days before espresso cafes were on every corner. Also it was open very late for a restaurant/cafe which was very unusual in those days in California outside of maybe the Sunset Strip and North Beach in SF.

[wolf]

figaro was very unique in many ways...it was open until 2AM...and on sundays it would have live classical music performed for brunch...and the homemade sangria...ahhh ...few(if any) resturants gave out chess sets to be enjoyed on late afternoons by the window seats...at times i wish i could go back..but just for an hour or so...

-----
Figaro Cafe Restaurant
1802 N Vermont Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90027

[vvvvv]

wolf

do you know the recipe for the clam chowder or bread or anyone that does?

[bobbeecher]

I've always heard that their bread was simply Roman Meal that they bought in whole loaves and then sliced thick.

Sorry...not a chowder person.

[konehead49]

Don't know if it was Roman Meal as it came in a plain clear wrapper, but I do remember slicing it, and slicing it. It was very popular, as was the restaurant with lines forming in the evening that went for a half a block. I used to go outside and pick favorite customers or big tippers to sit in my section as my customers would leave.

[zin1953]

We'd always end up at Café Figaro after working/hanging out at the Street . . .

[wolf]

(smile....) no to the clam chowder....the bread was a commercial unsliced bread..it could have been roman meal or orowheat..not sure...but was served with whipped butter..hmmm..is it lunch time yet...

[tommytowne]

I remember Cafe Figaro well, went there almost many a night for around 1974 -1975. I practically lived behind it, on Rangely Ave. Met my wife on Rangely and we went to Cafe Figaro for years afterwards for old times sake, until it closed. Everyone enjoyed the thickly sliced bread, is funny to think it was probably Roman Meal. The hearty soups and salads were favorites too. Gil Chasin was one of the owner's I thought. We were young and didn't have a care back then, what wonderful memories we created for ourselves in places like Cafe Figaro, the Brandywine, etc. I sometimes went to Figaro's just to sit around with some freinds and have a couple of beers and I remember once crossing Santa Monica Blvd. to check out what was happening at the Troubadour and before I knew it was being pushed through the door by the crowd and found myself standing at the foot of the stage in front of Neil Young. I sometimes think I must be dreaming when I think of all that was so easily accessible and all that we did in those days and with about as much fore thought as money.