The OP Cafe

3117 Ocean Park Blvd
Santa Monica, CA
Phone: 310.452.5720

Love this place! It’s now our favorite breakfast spot! Not only is there usually minimal wait, but the staff is friendly and efficient, there’s always room for my baby and the food is great! I typically get the chiliquiles (sp?) and my wife usually gets the french toast with carmelized bananas. Good stuff! I ate my first chiliquiles here and I got hooked! I’ve also tried the diablo burrito and love that as well. I gotta try new stuff, but I can’t help myself, I have to get my favorites!

Haven’t tried this place for lunch yet.

Oh, if you used to try the Ocean Park Cafe that was at the same location previously, you have to try this place. I don’t know if it’s new management/owner/chef, but whatever, it’s working! Good work! Oh, and say hello to Ally, who makes some of the baked goods. She’s going to be a star, selling her baked goods and soon to be in a large retailer near you!

Father’s Office

1018 Montana Ave
Santa Monica, CA 90403
(310) 393-2337

3229 Helms Ave.,
Los Angeles, CA 90034
310-815-9820

Ok, had this review been written about a month ago, it would have been entirely different. I’ll explain later.

I love Father’s Office burger. Like many many people, they have discovered the “secret” of the burger. Previously you had to wait it out or wade through people to yell to a bar back to get you a burger, but now you can saunder over to the larger Culver City location and get yourself a good burger, a shopping cart basket of garlic fries and a starter of beet salad. Oh, and don’t forget one of the many many beers they have on tap (their FORMER claim to fame before the burger). The burger has gruyere and blue cheeses, an carmelized onion compote, arugula and a nice bun and it is really good. I mean REALLY good.

HOWEVER, recently I decided to follow an L.A. Times recipe that claimed to have “cracked” the Father’s Office code to the burger. I followed the instructions, and voila. EVEN BETTER than the original, no kidding. Ok, my bun could’ve been better, but other than that, how could you argue with MORE cheese and MORE onion compote? Makes it MORE betta, right? YUUUUM! Well, that ruined it for me. I went after I had made my burger and although the beet salad and the fries kicked mine easily, I was no longer enthralled with the mystique of the FO Burger. I still think it’s the best (or at least one of the best) burgers in town, but if you want something even MORE special, come on over to my house. 🙂

Uncle Moki’s Original Hawaiian Shrimp Scampi

Uncle Moki’s Original Hawaiian Shrimp Scampi
3560 S. La Cienega Blvd.
(323) 954-7051

This place is great. My wife is from Oahu so I’ve been to Giovanni’s shrimp truck on the “other side” of the island many times and always enjoyed it. However, the sparse seating, the blazing sun, the outrageous wait, the lonnnnnnnnnng drive and the bees on every soda can were always a deterrent. Now I can have the same thing whenever I want and it’s practically in my neighborhood!

Uncle Bob, the owner of Uncle Moki’s, is a former NFL player who lived in Hawaii for some time and used to work with the original Giovanni’s crew. He claims to have recreated the original recipe (i.e. not even the one they currently serve at Giovanni’s), supposedly even better tasting and somewhat healthier (because he uses olive oil vs. some other oil). Who cares. It tastes good. Isn’t that all that matters? It’s fantastic. And i don’t miss the bees, or the crowds or the drive. They also have some other variations, like a hot “volcano” sauce, which I tasted and wasn’t bad. But I’ll be sticking with the original version. The REAL original version. 🙂

You’ll love it. Ask for Uncle Bob. He’ll talk your ear off, but he’s actually pretty interesting (if you have the time). 🙂

Pann’s

6710 LaTijera Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90045
323-776-3770

We just went to Pann’s on a recommendation from Chow Hound that the Patty Melt was spectacular. It was unfortunately just ok. Not bad, but along the lines of a Denny’s patty melt. Nothing to write home about. It came with fries that, again, were ok, and a pickle. My wife had the fried chicken which, with the super deep fried style coating reminded me of the ol’ Pioneer Chicken, except with less flavor. It needed a little sumpin’ sumpin’ to take it to another level. I tried dousing it with the Red Rooster hot sauce available, but that overpowered it rather than complimenting it. Onion rings that accompanied my wife’s chicken was just ok as well.

Overall a very mediocre experience. I wouldn’t go back not only for the mediocre food, but because the neighborhood is a little iffy. Not worth it, sorry.

Daphne’s Greek Cafe

9516 Culver Blvd
Culver City, CA 90232

3102801650

Zankou Chicken

1716 S Sepulveda Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90025

310-444-0550

LOVE this place.  The Chicken Tarna is fantastic.  The meat is good, but when you put it in the pita that is provided, slather on some of the garlic paste (looks like Crisco, but tastes oh-so-good), drizzle a little hummus and yogurt sauce on there, then top it with the fresh tomatoes and pickled veg, then take a bite followed by a bite of the little yellow pepper, WOOOOO-EEEEE!  REALLY good, I kid you not.

I love all that stuff on it and I eat every bite like that, but my wife doesn’t like hot stuff and doesn’t care for the pickled veggies and she still loves it.

The beef shwarma is good, but not as good as the chickin, in my opinion.  Try it, but you’ll probably make a mental note to only get the chicken.

Try this place, it’s really good.

By the way, there’s a location in Pasadena as well.

Pink’s Hot Dogs

709 N La Brea Ave
Los Angeles, CA 90038

(323) 931-4223

Claim Jumper

24301 Crenshaw Blvd.
Torrance, CA 90505

(310) 517-1874

For some unknown reason, my mother-in-law once mistakenly called this place “Clam Digger” so that’s what I always call it, just for fun.  I haven’t eaten here in a while and usually don’t since it’s kind of a haul from West L.A., but my memories of the food are quite fond.

As a disclaimer, my fond memories were from when I was freshly graduated from college and enjoyed good hearty portions at semi-affordable prices.  And when I say hearty portions, I mean it.  HUGE steaks, all you can eat well stocked salad bar, good bread, huge fixin’s, all the stuff a hungry boy would want.  It was pretty tasty as I remember as well.

One thing I do hate, however, is the ever-present long line.  It really used to suck when I was just single or when I just had a wife, but now, with a small child, there’s no way I’d brave that 25min-1hour wait without a whole line of well-rested babysitters in tow.  Hell, I want to relax, not chase my baby to avoid the fireplace or to stop her from grabbing a moose’s antler.

Anyway, good food if you have time and if you’re hungry.

Joe’s

1023 Abbot Kinney Blvd
Venice, CA 90291-3386

(310) 399-5811

Rae’s Restaurant

2901 Pico Blvd
Santa Monica, CA 90405-2001

(310) 828-7937

I remember this place from way back in the day when I was a poor college student, when I was just starting to eat out on a regular basis, but still had to watch my funds.  This was one of those “gems” that even if you had to wait 30 minutes for a table it would be all worth it.  Good food, good value.

I haven’t been back there for a while because I try to avoid lines at all cost (since I have a baby), but it was good greasy diner breakfast (I wouldn’t recommend it for anything but breakfast because I had a burger for lunch there once — and as Johnny Dangerously said, “ONCE”).  I used to get three eggs, bacon, hash browns, sourdough toast and it was fantastic.  Hash browns were nicely brown, thinly sliced potatoes, heavily butter-oiled and went well with all the above slathered in tabasco.  Mmmmmm…  Oh, and I think I used to go with a companion for less than $10.  It was heaven.  Oh, the good ol’ days.