Missives From Obscurity

The Dining Hour

Living in Los Angeles hasn’t always been the star studded Entertainment Tonight segment I’d hoped for. But L.A. does have at least one feature to recommend it: great restaurants. NO matter where we’ve lived or visited, my husband Jim and I have a knack for finding great independent restaurants. Denver, Seattle, Portland, Oregon, Berlin, Urbania, Italy, Reno, even Cheyenne, Wyoming all have gems that became favorites. Los Angeles has proven to be no exception.

Within only a few blocks of our Studio City apartment are two of our most often visited places: Lazlo’s Hortobagy and Vitello’s. Lazlo’s offers Hungarian cuisine in an unpretentious, cozy European style atmosphere. Their menu includes such delectibles as their simple, but savory, cucumber salad topped with paprika, clear broth soups of lentils, vegetables or, my favorite, a liver pâté dumpling. The main courses are hearty affairs such as sausages, meat and cheese platters, sauerkraut and spaetzle, fish, rice, duck, mushroom pasta dishes and potato dumplings. Jim and I have always been delighted to find a restaurant in which the wait staff can readily recommend complimentary wines that are native to the region from which their cuisine originates, and our regular waitress at Lazlo’s (sad to say I don’t know her name) has never disappointed in this regard. Every wine she has recommended has been a tart, fruity delight. Dinner at Lazlo’s can be rounded off with simple, flavorful desserts such as baklava, cheesecake, ice cream and the unique hazelnut purée. The only drawback to Lazlo’s Hortobagy is that they have quite possibly the smallest parking lot in the state of California.

Vitello’s parking lot, while larger, remains difficult to navigate because they are nearly always full, and with good reason! Jim and I discovered Vitello’s in a search one night for pizza. Vitello’s is now our number one choice for pizza nights at the Lopez-Myers household. However, their menu extends well beyond their excellent pizza. Each meal begins with hot, fresh bread with butter delivered to your table. Their minestrone and garbanzo-topped salads are equally delightful and savory. I particularly enjoy their blue cheese dressing, which is made on the premises. I’ve never had a meal at Vitello’s that I didn’t thoroughly enjoy. All the Italian mainstays are represented: lasagna, eggplant parmigiana, spaghetti along with various other pastas smothered in meat or cream sauces; as well as some unique dishes named for celebrities. Here at Vitello’s, the wait staff not only provide some of my favorite eye candy, but are equally knowledgeable about the wines which line the walls of the restaurant’s foyer. You can always count on your waiter to recommend an excellent Italian wine to accompany your meal. I’m sorry to say that I cannot speak to the variety of desserts available at Vitello’s because the first dessert I tried hooked me and hasn’t let go: their amaretto truffle is one to be savored. It’s amaretto ice cream rolled in small white and milk chocolate chips and peanuts. Simply to die for!

A few miles away, down Ventura Boulevard, in the next city over, Sherman Oaks, is our favorite Los Angeles restaurant, The Great Greek. On a recent visit I told Jim we always had to make sure to save up for the Great Greek because we never leave having spent less than $100. The prices aren’t outrageous at all, but to go to the Great Greek is to celebrate Greek cuisine, and the more people you can take along, the better! You do not go to the Great Greek with the intention of eating sensibly. The Great Greek is for reveling in food. One must begin with an appetizer or three. Because I’m not a real food critic and don’t take extensive notes, I don’t know what it’s called, but our favorite appetizer is the Greek cheese served in brandy and set on fire by your waiter with the exclamation of “Opa!” Since it is always difficult to decide which dish to order for your main meal, I recommend the sample platter which includes the signatures of the restaurant: lamb, dolmathes, moussaka, rice, and spanokopita. Even their simplest dish, a potato on the side of most of the meals, is delicious and flavorful. You want wine? The staff here, too, knows their wines and has never failed to recommend excellent Greek reds. The older the waitperson, the better the wine recommendation, as well! I highly recommend eating only half of your meal (the portions are large) so that you can fit in one of the excellent, simple desserts: rice pudding, crème brulèe, cheesecake or the decadent strawberry Romanoff. And go to the Great Greek prepared to enjoy a raucous environment: they feature live Greek music and dancing waiters who often entice patrons to join them in a Greek dance around the dining room. It’s a lively, delicious, thoroughly satisfying affair.

Whether it’s God or fated magnetism toward la dolce vita, Jim and I unearth restaurant gold and are currently, frankly, blessed with a multitude of offers right in our immediate vicinity in addition to these three I’ve just described: Ernie’s Mexican Restaurant, Le Petit Chateau French restaurant, Matsuda for some of the best sushi I’ve ever had, the Magnolia Café has an excellent breakfast, Kung Pao China bistro offers excellent Chinese fare which includes my favorite dish there, the mango shrimp. For 1950’s style diner food and atmosphere, the Original Bob’s Big Boy is nearby in Burbank, just down the street from Patty’s, another tasty diner. And now I can add to this pantheon my newest discovery: the Down Home Country Town Yeehaw Buffet.

The Down Home Country Town Yeehaw Buffet (not it’s real name, obviously, but trust me… you’ve been in such a place at least once in your life, even if your therapist successfully worked you through the shame and safely sealed the memory in a dark, deep cavern of denial) is decorated in 1970’s calico. The carpet adds the right touch of countrified sophistication just because it’s dark green. Quaint curtains patterned with ducks ruffle along the top of the dividers which create a sense of open coziness between the three sections of the large dining room. All the light fixtures are elegantly shaded in green plastic. One might expect dulcet country twang over the sound system, but as I remain country appreciation challenged, thankfully, instead, it’s Phil Collins singing Cyndi Lauper covers. The clientele is retirees and those whom George W. Bush both rallies to his Christian, God fearin’ causes and legislates right out of their already meager health care and education. Still, they will always implore God to bless America, and in case you doubt that they will, just listen closely as they unabashedly say grace over their fried okra. These folks are the salt of the earth, folks for whom dining attire consists of sweat pants, tasseled loafers with white socks and jerseys blazoned with pro football team logos. When they really want to get gussied up, they tuck their jerseys in. These are the solidly lower-middle class, God love ‘em, not poor enough to be considered ghetto, exactly, but not rich enough to dine at places with real cloth napkins, either. So what, you may be asking yourself, is the appeal of the Down Home Country Town Yeehaw Buffet to someone like me, someone who knows not only the difference between pinot noir and merlot, but can also spell “pinot noir” and “merlot”?

Well, it’s the homage to my humble, trailer park roots… on my mother’s side of the family… distantly… Plus, you just can’t beat the under $8 price for all-you-can-eat. And the food, in spite of its Americana vulgarity, is decent, stick-to-your-ribs fare.

The classiest item on the menu is the seafood pasta salad made with Krab. While I usually partake of the green salad bar (which includes the exotic “spring mix greens”) I would definitely recommend you not pass on the carrot salad with raisins, a plains state Thanksgiving tradition. From the brightly lit, steaming buffet one has several choices of food colors, consistencies and textures: carrots, corn, green beans, mashed potatoes and my favorite: neon orange-yellow macaroni and cheese. If you choose to include a meat with your side dishes, you can partake of fried chicken, country style barbecue chicken, chicken fried steak, chicken nuggets, fish patties and the surprisingly delightful meatloaf accented with an amusing tomato base sauce. The desserts come in as colorful a variety as everything else: carrot cake, chocolate cake, various hot fruit crisps such as peach, cherry and apple, cookies and soft serve ice cream that never fails to delight the kiddies. While you won’t soon find wine on the menu at the Down Home Country Town Yeehaw Buffet, the mostly Spanish speaking staff is happy to show you where you can select from a variety of soft drinks, including Coke, Dr. Pepper and Mountain Dew. If you leave the Down Home Country Town Yeehaw Buffet without your gut spilling out from under your stained t-shirt, you haven’t taken full advantage of what they have to offer! With the variety of restaurants I have to choose from, it is gratifying to know of one where they take the time to learn their customers by name, where I can, with each and every visit, count on being greeted by the 18 year old assistant manager with a hale and hearty “Good afternoon, Mr. Orfenowsky!”

(Well, you didn’t think I dined there and used my own credit card, did you?)

posted by Joe Lopez @ 11:04 AM