Many of you have been asking for more thoughts on eating out. First, nothing beats a home-cooked meal, nothing! My pal Marks mom makes everything from scratch and Octavios mom, oh, Mexican food to die for, and that would be just about as good as it gets (except for when I cook), those are some of my best memories of good food. There are times I guess a fancy joint with arrogant wait staff is appropriate for a special occasion. But even when you have money to burn, I have to say some of the prices at the very $$$$$ restaurants are bullshit, plain and simple. And I for one have had about as much as I am going to with high-priced eats! We can all use a bargain these days, so here I have one hit and a couple to avoid at all costs.
One early evening my son and I decided to go up to Curry-Land at 4327 Lankershim Boulevard for Indian food. We had our dog Charlee with us and sat outside on the sidewalk (not Beverly Hills). The service was slow, and the food? AWFUL! Appetizer sampler was ordered and it was not bad, not great. We both ordered a main course of lamb and one of chicken. The lamb was so tough that not even Charlee could eat it, well that is not true he could have eaten it…my concern was that it would plug him up. And the service was the pits — this is one place I assure you, you will feel like a “slum dog.”
Ah, the neighborhood pizzeria, just like back in Boston…that was what I was hoping for when we went to Angelina Pizzeria Express. I could walk Charlee and go have a nice pizza with the boys…this too was a thought that went very wrong. This little piece of Italian hell sits on Lankershim Boulevard also, 4384 Lankershim to be exact. We ordered a vegetarian and we waited, and we waited, and we waited and finally some nitwit in the kitchen realizes that we have not had our pizza. SO what do these assholes of Italian cuisine do? They take a pizza that was waiting to go be delivered, pile all kinds of peppers, onions, mushrooms on top and serve this to me! It was total bullshit and they tried to pass it off on us (remember, if not a cop I would have been a chef). You know, pick up a slice and all the vegetables fall off….not slide off like a nice hot gooey pizza, no FALL OFF! Any place who serves food like this should have their ovens repod. There is no consistency to this place, sometimes it was OK (barely) and other times it was the shits! This last time sealed it for us…nothing worse than getting conned by a pizza joint. I predict this will be a “Thai massage” joint one day soon…hmmm, that just put a smile on my face! My recommendation if you want pizza in the area: try Caioti instead.
On to Teddys Cafe, 12043 W. Pico Boulevard, W. Los Angeles, California 310-444-9996. No checks and no credit cards and that is fine with me! This is one of the best breakfast spots for me…the food is great and the service the best. These people act like they want you to eat here. Open for Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner (I just had a flashback to Stephen Kolodny), it is more of a diner but again, good food and you can almost pay the bill with what is in your center console of the car! Say Hi to Teddy, he is almost always there…could that be the secret?