PappaRich! I didn’t know they still existed out here! The K-Town one shuttered unceremoniously in the last year, as did one in Pasadena. Figures I was unaware, haven’t ventured to Atlantic Times Square in a good 9 months.
PappaRich is okay, not amazing. I wouldn’t go out of my way to go there, and at Atlantic Times Square, there are better dining options to be had IMO.
That is a great point!! And a reminder that we CERTAINLY do not have lox in Los Angeles. We have smoked salmon (Nova), but that salty belly lox from back east is sorely missing. Russ and Daughters, a Zabar’s. We have a lot of lonely bagels out here.
In L.A., I’d like to find:
Great Nordic/Scandanavian fare. (Ikea köttbullars are pretty good, but we need surströmming dammit…)
A “get out the tux and put on the fancy jewelry” haute French fine dining restaurant (with food that’s worthy).
Singaporean-style hawker centres.
Hong Kong-style (traveling) private chef catered home meals.
London-level Indian cuisine (a common lament amongst my Indian friends).
White Castle.
all of the guilty pleasures with the same portion sizes that one can obtain at the SATURN CAFE in santa cruz.
Chicken 65. Maybe I’m not looking hard enough, but I’ve never seen it at any Indian restaurant over here.
Conch fritter
Leonard’s malasadas
Jibarito
Patacon pisao
Tripleta
Pernil
I miss Zam Zam in Culver City. Used to go there with an Indian friend for the biryani. His family called it the “al qaeda cafe” and likely they were not far wrong.
Here’s something I miss from back home in Miami.
Stone crabs from Joe’s!
photo credit: insidefortlauderdale.com
Also miss fresh fried grouper sandwiches.
photo src: freshfromflorida.com
Strangely enough, second on Bojangles, a memory from summers spent on the North Carolina Coast – Southern fast food chicken and biscuits, sometimes it just hits the spot. Also, East Carolina BBQ --whole hog, cider vinegar based sauce, just some pepper flakes and not a hint of tomato in sight. And for that matter, how about some South Carolina BBQ – that mustard based sauce is amazing with any kind of pork.
Also, Second on Scandinavian food. I am old. I miss Scandia (and even Gustav Anders in OC). I love Aquavit in NYC in its various incarnations, always surprising to me that LA does not have anything close to some place doing this style of food.
High end Creole, okay maybe sometimes Cajun. We have some some small places – Harold & Belles (to re-open soon, I hope…) and no question that Little Jewel and Orleans & York have scratched that Po Boy and Muffuletta itch, and even gumbo and jambalaya are good – but we don’t have any kind of elegant Creole/Cajun place, like a Commander’s Palace, Arnaud’s, Galatoires, or Antoines. The Las Vegas incarnation of CP did a pretty good job of bringing the original experience west, and one wonders if they could do the same here. Having experienced the 80’s Cajun invasion of Los Angeles, it has always surprised me that it left nothing in its wake.
Grill on alley has stone crabs seasonally. Rip the buggy whip
It is availanle on the menu at Anarbagh in Woodland Hills, Mandovi in El Segundo and Pickles in Artesia, to name a few.
Can someone explain to me the difference between London-style Indian food and what we have here? I went to a highly-rated place in London 2 yrs ago (although the posters in the then-London CH board commented that it was likely highly-rated among tourists) and couldn’t taste much of a difference. The prep had cleaner flavors, but it was kind of bland. What am I missing?
Wow, thank you for the tip!!!
And the hash brown potatoes like joes too. The key lime pie so so which means still tasty if U want to close the deal
Good Cuban food. None of the LA spots can hold a candle to the type of Cuban food found in South Florida.
Great BBQ would be a close second. It’s getting better, but we still lack the revelatory smoked meats found in Texas, Kansas City or even Chicago.
Gr8pimpin, I’ll add more cheap/fast food cravings…
Honest-to-god Midwestern Kronos-style gyros sandwiches, done on a vertical spit. I know Mr. Gold frowns on them, but Papa Cristo’s (as sweet a guy as Chris is) just isn’t the same thing…they’re a little more greasy, something the spit takes care of nicely.
If anyone had the luck to go to the Parthenon in Ann Arbor before they closed, THAT. Exactly THAT. (Though Chicago’s got many similar gyros joints.)
Oh, and really fresh, locally-made cheese curds. Easy to find in the Midwest, but completely unavailable here.
