In Search of... Breakfast in Silverlake.

[Fryboy]

I'm going to be in Silverlake for an early business meeting and am looking for a great place to get breakfast. Ideas?

[Blakekitty]

Blair's no longer serves breakfast during the week. I think it fell victim to the fact that they could never get their service in the am to get their act together..I'd call to see if they're doing a brunch on the weekends.

[al3xa]

Try Blair's on Rowena. A limited, but good breakfast menu, highlights are blueberry mascarpone pancakes and eggs benedict with arugula and bacon. Classy place, may still open at 7AM. Won't be loud, great place for a business meeting. I've brought meetings there with good results. Great coffee too. Agree that L.A. Mill can be really pretentious. Little Dom's is also a great choice. Good luck!

[JeMange]

Are they still doing breakfast? I thought they curtailed that, but kept lunch (during the week). Or is it the other way around? And yeah, the pancakes were ridiculously good - we'd always get an order for the table so everyone could have something sweet with their brunch.

[Jolly]

Square one is good, their pancake is a little dry and grainy for me.

[cpotenzone]

If you want a nice, quick breakfast to go or there are just 2 or 3 of you, my favorite place for a breakfast sandwich, solid coffee and OJ is Cafe Tropical on Sunset. They make breakfast sandwich that tastes like it should be from NYC. Awesome. Dusty's is also a solid place, but usually busy. I'd eat at the bar.

[JeMange]

I second Tropical. Great coffee and breakfast sandwiches. Their pastries, however - not so good. They lack any sort of finesse. The pastry cream in their Napoleon is plutonium dense.

[Hershey Bomar]

What about the warm guava cheese pie? Everyone I know loves those...

[silverlakebodhisattva]

Well, Square One opens at 8, and Dusty's opens at 9. Outside of Silverlake, this would disqualify both as sites for anything anyone would call EARLY breakfast. . . .

[silverlakebodhisattva]

BTW, any 'hounds out there had breakfast recently at "Good", the place that replaced "Crest" in the strip-mall on Sunset? How was it?

[Chowpatty]

I haven't personally eaten there but everyone I know who has says it's thoroughly "meh," as the young 'uns say.

[rednyellow]

good is anything but. reall disapointing. Its the kind of food you'd expect to find half way between here and vegas.

[HPLsauce]

"Good" is the worst restaurant in Silver Lake, which is saying something.

Casbah Cafe is okay. I like their weird boiled egg sandwiches. The coffee is drinkable although it doesn't hold a candle to Intelligentsia, which is a shame.

[silverlakebodhisattva]

That's a fairly seriously awful standard to meet. I remember Crest as having OK coffee-shop level breakfasts. Is Good now below, say, Astro?

BTW, anyone out there eaten at Astro in a decade? How is it?

[JeMange]

Astro is okay for post bar munchies, but not much else. When we're hungry at 3am, the choices are limited to Astro, Fred's and Brite Spot. Fred's usually wins out.

I do, however, like the throwback coffee shop vibe of Astro, right down to the surly old biddies who serve you. The only thing the waitresses are missing are Virginia Slims dangling from their lips.

[Hershey Bomar]

Brite is no longer a late night option. I mean this actually place offends me.

Fred really isn't in the neighborhood.

Call me crazy but Astro is great. The fried chicken is anyways. And the vibe reminds me of a CT diner... an un-ironic diner

[SilverlakeGirl]

I eat at Astro from time to time. Their burgers are good and they will cook it "rare" if you ask. My current fav is the "Londoner" with cheese and bacon.

Breakfast is good and I am mostly there for breakfast. But I'd be wary veering too far from the breakfast, burger, sandwich parts of the menu. Avoid the eggs benedict. I love that it is 24 hours.

Good has seriously declined over the years. The last incarnation [there have been several under the "Good" name] has been a disaster. I had Chicken Picatta which bore no resemblance to the original dish. The plates and plating were frou-frou and it was simply a total loss.

Haven't been back.

[SilverlakeGirl]

As long as we're talking lower end places ... chowish, I'll put in a word for Tacos Delta for breakfast. I usually order the Chiliquiles con Huevos [there are other other permutations like with steak, etc.]

The only caveat is that sometimes it is uneven ... and the parking a pain. But it is usually packed.

[yrpoison]

I second the nomination for Little Dom's. It's in Los Feliz on Hillhurst at Avocado, but again, not far from Silverlake.

I've been quite a bit and always had great breakfast experiences: fritattas, boar bacon, blueberry ricotta pancakes, breakfast pizza with egg and speck, oven roasted eggs have all been great. Love the individual coffee pots, too.

Vibe-wise, I think it'd be quite nice for a business meeting. It's classy and got good style, but not too much of a scene-- at least at breakfast. In fact, I'm always surprised it's not busier during breakfast.

[mandelabra]

If you don't care about the quality of the food but just want a nice vibe and trendy scene, then Little Dom's will be perfect. If you want good food, go to Square One or LA Mill!

[JeMange]

I love how Little Dom's is a "trendy scene" but LA MILL isn't. Have you been inside that ode to conspicuous consumption? The place is nauseatingly cutesy and filled with the sorts of people who wouldn't have set foot in Silver Lake two years ago.

[Jolly]

I was surprised with LA Mill when I first went there to get coffee. I only get coffee from Intelligentsia but heard LA Mill has great roasts too. It's a cute space but seemed out of place in Silverlake. It looks like it should be in Weho.

[mandelabra]

Sure, LA MILL is totally trendy! But at least the food is delicious! I'm not saying that I approve of the 'nauseating cutesyness' as you call it (& I do agree that it is somewhat out of place), but at least they're not serving shite and trying to pass it off as something great like Little Dom's is!

[Diana]

"twee" is a good work for something that is so cute one wants to hurl.

Is LA Mill really Twee?

[mollyomormon]

No.

[Chowpatty]

Lamill doesn't make me want to hurl. It makes me impressed that they hired a very cool interior designer and that there is a lot of attention to detail in the food and drinks. There was a point where the service was a bit overbearing, but they seem to have toned it down. It's not an everyday indulgence, but I'd much rather go to Lamill once a week than go to Starbucks three times a week.

[JeMange]

This place makes me want to hurl, but I wouldn't call it twee. I prefer the modifier "obnoxious."

Again, it's a sign of the "new" Westside-ified Silver Lake that simply gets under my skin. Why do I always end up living in "neighborhoods in transition?" It's like people with more money than they know what to do with read about Silver Lake on Daily Candy and are now doing the lemming thing in our neighborhood.

[LuluBleu]

I have to concur on Square One. Hands down the best breakfast in that part of town. Highly recommend their french toast and pancakes - but their egg sandwich is a slam dunk too.

[revets2]

if it's a business meeting, i would go with LA MILL COFFEE BOUTIQUE.

[schrutefarms]

I don't know, Dusty's is pretty lame. Overpriced, inconsistent, and the owner is nuts. Millie's is good, but VERY casual. If Cliff's Edge does a brunch, I'd go there.

[JeMange]

I've always liked Dusty's. It'd probably be a good suggestion if your meeting is during the week as weekend brunch gets pretty crowded. They've got a nice menu with quite a bit of variety. As mentioned above, Square One, although not in Silver Lake, is a good call. During the week you'll practically have the entire restaurant to yourself.

The Alcove (and the Coffee Table) does the whole "order at the counter and get a number" thing, which always seemed awkward to me. It's a great place to take out of town guests because the setting is so cutesy SoCal but it's not exactly right for a business meeting. There's no real "service" there as far as getting coffee refills and the like goes.

BTW - how is the owner of Dusty's "nuts?"

[schrutefarms]

It's not a very large restaurant, so it's not hard to notice that the owners attitude toward her staff and clientele is, like their food, inconsistant and all over the place.

[rednyellow]

I"ve had a few incosistancies at Dusties, but the breakfasts have always been good, especially the egg dishes. The owner has always been a sweetheart to me and my friends.

[rednyellow]

Dustys on sunset in silverlake has good breakfasts and some comfortable booths which would be good for a meeting. I'd avoid Alcove, it's not that good, service is poor and the outside seating is tiny wobbly chairs and tables, no place for anyone over 4' tall or business.

[TailbackU]

Not Silverlake, but close enough is Little Dom's in Los Feliz. While their breakfast menu is limited, their blueberry pancakes seriously to die for. Best pancakes i've ever had.

Alcove down the street is also pretty good w/ good patio/people watching.

[maxzook]

Definitely second the Alcove, if your group is hip to an outdoor meeting.

If Los Feliz is close enough to Silverlake for you, there's Fred 62, which gets flak but is very good and surprisingly uncrowded for breakfast, and Figaro which is wonderful if a bit pricey (and it doesn't open until 8:30 am).

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

Alcove Cafe & Bakery
1929 Hillhurst Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90027

Fred 62
1854 N Vermont Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90027

[burbankfoodie]

I second the Square One Dining suggestion if it is close enough to Silver Lake for you. EXCELLENT French Toast.

[katkoupai]

I recently went to the Coffee Table. The blueberry pie was delicious, with big blueberries inside, and the coffee was okay. It seems like a good place to meet people, talk, get coffee, etc. They also have bagels and cream cheese. Call or look online to check their hours. I don't know what time they open and close.

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Coffee Table
2930 Rowena Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90039

[JeMange]

La Mill represents all that is newly bougie and annoying in Silver Lake and is completely overpriced. Even so, their coffee is routinely excellent and the food is good although portions can be microscopic. I'd suggest Millie's, which serves cafe style food that's taken up a notch or two - really good quality and huge portions. Plus, the coffee ain't bad.

[Hershey Bomar]

You eating alone or is the meeting during breakfast?

Millie's on Sunset is a curbside diner fare like experience.

[Chowpatty]

Square One Dining, not technically in Silver Lake but close, is your best best bet. I assume it's on a weekday since it's a business meeting? In that case places that only weekend and late brunch like Malo and Cliff's Edge are out.
Other possibilities:
Lamill Coffee -- nice spot for a meeting, food a bit pricey but worth it.
Millie's and Madame Matisse -- food is decent but seating is mostly on the sidewalk, not great for a meeting.

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Square One Dining
4854 Fountain Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90029

Lamill Coffee Boutique
1636 Silver Lake Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90026