Diners?

[nblank53]

Are there any really good historical diners in this area? I will be visiting for a wedding this summer and am always looking for good food. I love to visit small no frills diners. Also, I have heard of a art deco hot dog stand somewhere. I don't really know anything about it so a little help on that would be great also. Thanks.

[monku]

"no frills diner"...Nicks Cafe in downtown LA.
Kind of a divey shack joint that been there about 50+ years started by an LAPD detective and now owned by another LAPD detective. Great breakfasts, their special being the baked ham and eggs and the best homemade salsa...2nd best breakfast would be their Denver Omelette. Diner kind of feel with about 20 counter seats. Frequented by city/county workers and police. One waitress, one cook and one busboy operate the place.

Open M-F 5am-2pm Sat. 5am-11am Closed Sunday
WARNING: If you drive by when they're closed it looked like a condemed boarded up building.

-----
Nick's Cafe
1300 N Spring St, Los Angeles, CA 90012

[nosh]

Nick's is really a hidden gem. Very good food, fair prices, some of the best ham in town. Are they still offering a BBQ special midweek?

[Burger Boy]

I want to say yes

[Vaya Con Carne]

We never had many "diners" out this way - instead, we had "coffee shops" but many of them have been torn down or repurposed. Pann's and Rae's are two good examples; architecturally Astro in Silver Lake is another good one (but the food is pretty mediocre).

We also had a bit of what's sometimes called "programmatic" architecture - buildings shaped like the things the sell. Popular during the 1920s-1930s. Again, mostly long gone. You might be thinking of the Tail o' the Pup hot dog stand (I think this is now gone too?), shaped like a hot dog. There were also Chili Bowl shaped restaurants (one still stands on Pico in West LA, now a BBQ place) and tamale-shaped restaurants (one still stands in east LA, last I saw it was painted bring pink and now a beauty salon!). All of these places were small and had counters like the Pullman-car diners of the east coast.

-----
Astro Family Restaurant
2300 Fletcher Dr, Los Angeles, CA 90039

[Burger Boy]

Via con Carne, what is the place for the chicken fried steaks near DT? Is that a diner?

[Servorg]

http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/598252

[Burger Boy]

Thanks for the quick search/reply, I guess I was asking if it would be considered a diner type place, for nblank53?

[Vaya Con Carne]

I think the consensus would be that the prices might exclude the Blue Star from truly being a diner/truck stop :) Pretty much everything on the menu is $10+, so that might affect the authenticity factor.

That said - it does have some of the other classic diner/truck stop/coffee shop elements in place: daily specials, a juke box, decent coffee generously poured.

[Burger Boy]

Call it what you will, it may be a little more pricey than a diner, but it sure sounds like some good grub, I plan on going soon. Ciao

[kevin]

was the chef/proprietor at blue star formerly cooking at 410 boyd st, near san pedro st.

[Vaya Con Carne]

I think so - Kash Brouillet is the owner. I remember him cooking at Millie's waaaaaay back in the late 80s-early 90s.

[Burger Boy]

Millie's on Sunset in Silver Laike?

[Vaya Con Carne]

Yeah - there's a sort of Millie's connection to Blue Star. The owner used to cook at Millie's. And the Saturday cook used to own Millie's. But neither at the same time.

[Burger Boy]

No wonder the chicken fried steak and gravy is so good. Millie's is still very good but back then it was F)*^))((**in GREAT!

[Vaya Con Carne]

There's been several changes of ownership at Millie's over the years, and countless changes of cooks. I haven't been since the mid-1990s (I waitressed there 1994-1995) - once the atmosphere changed to the "no cell phones, be mean to the customers" rock-star shtick, I lost interest. Anyway, the Millie's cooks that IMO made the best CFS can now be found at Blue Star, where the service is super friendly and there isn't a two-hour wait for a table, so, it's win-win!

[kevin]

sweet i'm definitely off to blue star,is there a website and do you guys have direcxtions on how to get there, i remember it being on 14th st, off of alameda?/// but i could be wrong since i couldn't seem to find it.

[Vaya Con Carne]

Website and directions: http://bluestarrocks.com/directions.htm

If going south on Alameda, turn left on 15th, pass a bunch of scrapyards and it will be on the right.

Do report back - thanks :)

[kevin]

thanks for the direction, i don't know why i got lost on my last attempt. now i know where it's at, 15th not 14th, thanks.

[Burger Boy]

I was going there in the late 80's with Magenta and then the first wave of new owners. It is still good but back then it RoCKED!

[Servorg]

Not really. Places like Rae's in Santa Monica have a diner like feeling. But if you are thinking about the places you see in the North Eastern part of the US, then no.

We do have great example of googie architecture in Pann's near the LA Airport and near downtown there is Philippe's, one of the (if not the) oldest restauants in LA or the original Pacific Dining Car, also near downtown.

Finally - there was this prior thread that asked about this subject with a lot of replies about places that I haven't been to - so you may get some other ideas: http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/493086

-----
Philippe the Original
1001 N Alameda St, Los Angeles, CA 90012

Pann's Restaurant & Coffee Shop
6710 La Tijera Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90045

Pacific Dining Car
1310 W 6th St, Los Angeles, CA 90017

Rae's Restaurant
2901 Pico Blvd, Santa Monica, CA 90405