—Dennis Romero
BEST CAFÉ WITH NATURE HIKE ATTACHED
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El Pollo Inka
15400 Hawthorne Blvd.
Lawndale, CA 90260
Category: Restaurant > Fast Food
Region: South Bay
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If Julia Child and John Muir were to meet for lunch, and Julia wanted good, simple, butter-confident food made from scratch, and John asked only that they eat outside, in the shade of a few sequoia with dirt beneath their feet and the company of birds, they would agree on Trails Café in Griffith Park. Set a few blocks north of Los Feliz Boulevard adjacent to the well-worn hiking paths and grassy picnic plots where readers settle down with their books, and lovers practice tangling their bodies on blankets in the sun, the walk-up café is a water mirage in the desert for hungry hikers. It is also a destination for those eager to sit down with a good book, a homemade sandwich and a cup of iced tea, as though they were breaking for lunch at a campsite in the country, where time slows, appetites peak, and the food tastes better because the elements have a tendency to intensify flavor. A quaint kitchen in a cabin at the base of the park, with recipes orchestrated by aptly named pastry chef Jenny Park, Trails serves coffee and homemade tomato goat cheese tarts, vegan mushroom cashew pie, avocado sandwiches on dark bread, and egg salad so perfect you might stop to wonder which came first, the park or Trails. You can’t have a forest without forage, the gastronomer might argue. The naturalist would likely disagree. One thing’s for sure: They both will concur that lavender belongs with sugar, butter, flour, and salt in Park’s coveted lavender shortbread. It’s natural selection. 5375 Red Oak Drive, L.A. (323) 871-2102, thetrailslosfeliz.com.
—Erica Zora Wrightson
BEST PLACE TO EAT WHILE HAVING A HEART ATTACK
In Westwood, expensive dining options abound. So since you’re in walking distance to a world-class medical center, why not take advantage of what the Dining Commons at UCLA Ronald Reagan Medical Center has to offer? Situated on the first floor, it’s a simple cafeteria — and therein lies its charm — a place where med students, top docs, hospital staff and visitors alike congregate for cheaper than usual Starbucks coffee, and reasonable yet diverse food choices. To wit: $4.57 breakfast specials of French toast, eggs and bacon, or chorizo and eggs with potatoes; $6.70 complete lunch and dinner entrees such as marinated Korean flank steak, barbecue brisket, and Hainan chicken with plum sauce — all with sides. More than 40 salad bar items are offered at $6.99 a pound. Homemade soups are $2.54; deli sandwiches, $6. Posted above many menu items are nutritional analyses — including calories, carbs, protein, fat, sodium and sugars, many marked with a green apple symbol for healthy choices. Best perk: If you need a cardiologist, excellent assistance is close by. Think what you’d save in ambulance services. 757 Westwood Plaza, Wstwd. (310) 825-9659.
—Heidi Dvorak
BEST POST-HANGOVER, CRUELTY-FREE VEGAN BRUNCH
On Sundays, Flore Vegan Cuisine offers an all-you-can-eat vegan brunch for $10, tax included. The brunch is served buffet style and makes for the perfect post-hangover meal. The menu varies, but mainstays are tofu scramble, “sausage,” “bacon,” French toast, waf es, potatoes, fruit, coffee and orange juice. The sausage and bacon are freshly homemade (no frozen fakin’ bacon, here!) every Sunday. Other items might include biscuits and gravy or tofu benediction. The café typically attracts locals, but for brunch expect a diverse crowd of bike kids, couples and vegan bloggers. Enjoy outdoor seating or a quaint space inside. Servers maintain a laidback attitude, so you get the feeling you can stay awhile. For only $10, why wouldn’t you? 3818 W. Sunset Blvd., Silver Lake. (323) 953-0611, florevegan.com.
BEST SAN GABRIEL VALLEY SZECHUAN
You know you’re in for an adventure from the moment you set foot in Yunchuan Garden, a Monterey Park stronghold of Szechuan cuisine. Right in front of you is the cold dish counter, where, for $3.95, you can pick three items from about a dozen trays overflowing with chicken feet, thinly sliced pork chin and beef with beef stomach and seasoned tripe, among other Western Chinese delicacies. The specialty here, though, is the heat. The kitchen churns out plate after plate of steaming pork, beef and lamb blanketed with awe-inspiring quantities of diced red peppers. If you want to feel the brunt of what Yunchuan has to offer, skip the one and two-chili options on the menu and go straight for the full, three-chili glory of the chopped, hot pepper beef, a stir-fry seemingly designed to leave you in tears. The restaurant has a boisterous feel, and just about every oversized dish — that could easily serve two — is less than $10. Waiters mainly speak Chinese but seem happy to walk you through the menu to the best of their abilities. That’s a good thing, because it’s a dangerous one. 301 N. Garfield Ave., Unit D, Monterey Park. (626) 571-8387.
—Nicolas Taborek
BEST FLOWERY, FLOWING SALAD BAR IN AN ISRAELI RESTAURANT
People frequent Itzik Hagadol (Isaac, the Great in Hebrew) for the famed meat skewers, but the real appeal is the incredible, beautiful, delicious, fresh, in your face, never-ending flow of salads. Purchase one skewer (get the veal-lamb kebabs, everything else is bland) and, for an additional $8.99, you’re entitled you to 20 different kinds of Mediterranean salads, which will be arranged on your table in small dishes, creating a colorful shape of a flower. Try them all, but the stars are the Morrocan carrots; the thinly diced Israeli salad; Turkish salad; anything eggplant; and the Matbucha — a Morrocan creation made of ground, fresh tomatoes. The waitresses will keep piling the salads on until you beg for mercy, but don’t stop until just before you ask for the check. Anything left on the table is yours to take home! Peace in the Middle East. Itzik Hagadol Grill, 17201 Ventura Blvd., Encino, (818) 784-4080, itzikhagadol.com.
—Nimrod Erez
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