2 meals

[Indirect Heat]

Thanks in advance for your help. I've already picked two meals in LA, but need two more. Lunch near the Getty Center, and breakfast downtown. Suggestions? My focus is on delicious food, not style or celebrity-spotting.

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Getty Center
1200 Getty Center Drive, Los Angeles, CA 90049

[lil mikey]

Homegirl Cafe is run by a non-profit (Homeboy Industries), and helps gang members assimilate into normal jobs. It's staffed by female gang and ex-gang members, and serves decent food for breakfast. If you're afraid of tatoos and piercings, don't go; but if you're okay with that, they serve a decent breakfast and it's for a good cause.

Four blocks north of Homegirl is Nick's Cafe. It's very small, consisting of a counter and a few tables. It's a place for cops and other workers to go before (or during) their shift. For diner food, I think it's one of the best in LA, especially the ham steak and eggs. They also sometimes have leftover meatloaf and eggs, which is awesome. It's basic diner food.

Pacific Dining Car, as monku pointed out, is pricey; think $20 per person for breakfast. I've had good breakfasts there, and I've also had a not-so-good breakfast there. But for the price, I would expect every meal to be good. So I would avoid this unless you have extra money. As an aside, surprisingly, I've had better luck at the Santa Monica location. I think in both of these locations, you're paying for the fact that they're open 24 hours. So you really don't get your money's worth.

In my view the best expensive breakfast downtown is at the Checkers hotel. It's white tablecloth and white napkin, with lots of silver. The service is extraordinary, and the food is good. If you've got extra money, this is the place to go.

But back to my world, I would go with Nick's or Homegirl, or somewhere in Chinatown that serves a nice congee.

[Phurstluv]

I thought I heard Homegirl was clos(ed)ing due to budget cuts?? Hopefully I am wrong with that recollection.

[goodhealthgourmet]

still open, but judging from the info posted on their website, they're in dire financial straits...

http://www.homeboy-industries.org/ind...

[ipsedixit]

I know this will sound callous of me, but the food at Homegirl Cafe is very mediocre, bordering on unappetizing.

Go because you want to support a good cause, not for good eating. Don't let the good cause color your judgment of what the food is like.

Sorry, but go ahead and slam me as an ogre ... been called worse.

[goodhealthgourmet]

i don't think that makes you an "ogre" at all! it's not like you're slamming the place or its mission and telling people to boycott...you just shared an observation based on your experience.

not all good causes put out good product...look at Girl Scout cookies ;)

[J.L.]

True Hounds should possess a "damn the torpedoes" mindset...

[goodhealthgourmet]

latest news on Homegirl - thought of this thread when i saw it:
http://www.takepart.com/news/2010/09/...

[Phurstluv]

Good for them and good to know there is a better alternative at LAX than Mickey D's!!! Thanks GHG!

[New Trial]

The breakfast at Pacific Dining Car is terrific.

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

[monku]

And most expensive.

[ipsedixit]

How about lunch at the Getty Center? http://www.getty.edu/visit/see_do/eat_shop.html

As for breakfast downtown, Nick's Cafe and Nickel Diner (as suggested above) are both good suggestions, but you might also want to consider Bottega Louie. www.bottegalouie.com Very good french toast and egg scrambles.

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Getty Center
1200 Getty Center Drive, Los Angeles, CA 90049

Nickel Diner
524 S Main St, Los Angeles, CA 90013

Bottega Louie
700 S Grand Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90017

[westsidegal]

respectfully disagree with the recommendation of bottega louis.

[bulavinaka]

I'd agree with ipsedixit. Lunch at The Restaurant at the Getty (the actual restaurant there) is very good. It may seem a bit more expensive than it should be, but when you take the two-for-one value (museum and restaurant with views), the excellent food, and the convenience of it all, it's worth considering. Without knowing what the OP's likes and dislikes, it's a very safe choice that would satisfy most.

[Phurstluv]

3rd for lunch at the Getty Center.

But if you change plans, and want to do lunch downtown, I highly recommend Lazy Ox Canteen.

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Getty Center
1200 Getty Center Drive, Los Angeles, CA 90049

Lazy Ox Canteen
241 S San Pedro St, Los Angeles, CA 90012

[Servorg]

Downtown breakfast at the Nickel Diner would be a good choice. Lunch after the Getty might be a good time to check out the great Persian food in and around the Westwood area. The Shamshiri Grill http://shamshiri.com/ is one such spot that certainly would be a fine place for lunch.

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Nickel Diner
524 S Main St, Los Angeles, CA 90013

[mdpilam]

I second the Nickel Diner. Granted, I rarely get out for breakfast, and hardly ever in DTLA, but the food there was really good when I went. Especially the maple bacon donut!

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Nickel Diner
524 S Main St, Los Angeles, CA 90013

[monku]

Off the beaten path and hole-in-the-wall place for breakfast called Nick's Cafe. Famous for their ham and eggs and weekends three kinds of eggs Benedict.

[Indirect Heat]

Thanks everyone. We hit Nick's Cafe for the breakfast. It was incredible.

We also had the lunch at the Getty. While the ingredients they used were top notch, I confess, I found everything they served us to be disappointing. That said, it was convenient and the surroundings were beautiful. The lunch wasn't bad, it just wasn't all that good.

And we had a dinner planned at The Lazy Ox. Wow, do I love that place. The brick-roasted mussels with house sriracha were amazing. More pics and descriptions here: http://indirectheat.blogspot.com/2010...

Really, we'll be back to The Lazy Ox.

[Phurstluv]

Yes, aren't those mussels to die for?? I swear I could eat a whole loaf of bread and drink that whole bowl, it was so freakin' darn good.

Glad you liked them as well. I can't wait to go back either.

[Indirect Heat]

Yeah, we ordered two plates of bread to clean up the sauce. Amazing stuff.

[Phurstluv]

So did I!!! It is, isn't it??