Eggs, bacon and toast served at Brite Spot in Echo Park.
(Mariah Tauger / Los Angeles Times)
The 25 best classic diners in Los Angeles
“Comfort†is an overused word when discussing the role of restaurants in our lives. But what better descriptor exists to convey the feeling of sinking into a booth or hopping onto a swiveling counter stool at one of L.A.’s evergreen diners?
The sturdy white mugs, ever full. The fast-moving staff, at once cheerful and no-nonsense. The haze of griddle smoke in the air. The canonical menu: eggs every which way, pancakes and waffles, ingredient-packed salads, club sandwiches, burgers and melts. And likely meatloaf for dinner. We frequent diners — or coffee shops, if you prefer, and not the kind that serve single-origin pour-overs — for their beautiful predictability.
In Southern California, diners come in all shapes, though the design of L.A.’s most fabled diners was codified in the mid 20th century with Googie architecture. Angled bursts of neon signage pointed the way inside to dining rooms outfitted in chrome, Naugahyde and Formica. These vintage buildings have been disappearing for decades. It’s a reminder to treasure the space-age shrines that do remain — including Foxy’s in Glendale, Bob’s Big Boy Broiler in Downey, Norms in West Hollywood and Pann’s in Westchester.
Because this is Los Angeles, some of our beloved institutions serve chilaquiles alongside eggs benedict, and the option of char siu or machaca in addition to sausage and bacon. We drove the lengths of the L.A. Metro area, savoring chile relleno omelets, country-fried steak and billowing banana cream pie — and so much more — in timeless, crowded rooms. These made the cut as our 25 favorite diners.
Showing Places
(Stephanie Breijo / Los Angeles Times)
Astro Family Restaurant
Silver Lake American
Before Astro Family Restaurant became Silver Lake’s last bastion of 24-hour pies, breakfasts and strong cups of coffee, it was built in 1958 as Donly’s, a Googie-style restaurant and coffee shop designed by famed architecture firm Armet & Davis (also behind Westchester’s iconic Pann’s Restaurant) — sloping, angular roof and all. A few decades and remodels later, and some of those stylish original flourishes are still visible at Astro, especially in the airy, retro-fab dining room, where coral-and-peach booths and swivel chairs line the walls and the counter while orange brick and a groovy tile mosaic draw eyes toward the kitchen. All-day breakfasts, house-made soups and blue-plate classics such as fried chicken, meatloaf and country fried steak hit the Americana spot, but owner Harry Siafaris, who purchased the restaurant in 1971, offers Greek and broader Mediterranean specialties that are definitively the move. Our pick? Opt for veal Parmesan or specials like pastitsio, best enjoyed in the roomy booths. For more privacy, opt for the smaller dining room, decorated with paintings of Greece.
— Stephanie Breijo
— Stephanie Breijo
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(Jenn Harris / Los Angeles Times)
Bob’s Big Boy Broiler
Downey American
If you sit on the east side of the diner, where the booths are an emerald green, you can watch the servers building the milkshakes. Two scoops of strawberry ice cream, fresh sliced banana and a ladleful of strawberry syrup in one cup. Chocolate ice cream in another. Plates of waffles being topped with whipped cream and strawberries. During a busy lunch rush, the dessert show is constant. But before dessert, there are bowls of spaghetti covered in chili — the kind you’d find on a really good chili cheese dog, with shredded cheddar and diced onion. And the best corned beef hash I’ve tried at a diner. The meat, chopped fresh every morning, tastes of coriander, mustard and peppercorns. You can order the plate with eggs, hash browns and pancakes (instead of toast).
— Jenn Harris
— Jenn Harris
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(Mariah Tauger / Los Angeles Times)
Brite Spot
Echo Park American
This diner has been around since 1949, but the menu is a valiant attempt at keeping up with current culinary trends. At happy hour, there are Buffalo cauliflower florets and fried pickles. In early 2020, the diner received a full liquor license, making it possible to serve boozy milkshakes. The vegan portion of the menu is extensive, with plant-based versions of most diner classics, including a breakfast sandwich, a burger and carrot lox on a bagel. But this is still the place to go if you’re nursing the kind of hangover that requires good old grease. The Southern Decadence is a formidable opponent to last night’s liquor. It arrives sturdy and stacked, with a breast of fried chicken, crisscrossed strips of crispy bacon, a drippy fried egg and braised greens on a biscuit with honey butter and sausage-laden gravy. There are hash browns on the side too.
— Jenn Harris
— Jenn Harris
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(Stephanie Breijo / Los Angeles Times)
Chili John’s
Burbank American
The story goes like this: Even before that U-shaped counter was installed in Burbank in 1946, and before founder “Chili†John Isaac began serving bowls of meaty, long-simmered stew in his Illinois bar, he served it to cowboys out of a chuck wagon in the late 1800s. The chili legend went on to open the first Chili John’s in Wisconsin, and in the 1940s, his son, Ernie, moved west and opened an outpost in Burbank that’s still using Isaac’s recipe. Take a seat in those cracked and worn swiveling orange chairs with a view of the steam table down the center of the restaurant: This is where that thick liquid gold is ladled, in all its varieties. At Chili John’s, you can get breakfast and a fresh mug of coffee, a burger, some onion rings or other straightforward staples, but the signature item is crucial to a Chili John’s experience. Opt for cheese fries, burgers, hot dogs and even bowls of spaghetti — Isaac’s usage allegedly predates Cincinnati’s claim to chili-pasta fame — all smothered in the stuff. Chef-owner Steve Hager simmers the classic beef chili for roughly 20 hours and offers it medium or scorchingly hot; in recent years, the offerings expanded to include chili made with chicken or turkey, plus a craveable veggie version that’s flush with lentils and quinoa. At the holidays, look out for turducken chili, made with turkey, chicken and duck, but year-round, don’t skip the house-made pies: lemon ice box or pineapple, both topped with whipped cream so fluffy it’s like biting into a cloud.
— Stephanie Breijo
— Stephanie Breijo
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(Stephanie Breijo / Los Angeles Times)
Cindy’s
Eagle Rock American
The mood in Eagle Rock’s nostalgic, iconic Cindy’s is just as chipper as its setting: Sunshine streams in through the windows and lands on the original retro wallpaper, plus the cheerful orange booths and counter seats where families, friends, lovers and newspaper-toting solo diners settle in for daily house-made veggie burger specials, tarragon-tinged shrimp and grits, and hearty short-rib pot roasts. In 2014, owners Monique King and Paul Rosenbluh bought and lovingly renovated the 1948 charmer, including its iconic Googie-style sign along Colorado Boulevard, and in the process gave the menu a revamp. Now Cindy’s serves seasonal and gourmet spins on diner classics — not to mention serious pies, which can be found in the case on the counter and listed on the chalkboard above the window to the kitchen. If you’re hungry for more nostalgic Cindy’s charm, order one of the freshly made milkshakes served old-school in glass milk bottles.
— Stephanie Breijo
— Stephanie Breijo
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(Mariah Tauger / Los Angeles Times)
Clark Street Diner
Hollywood Hills American $$
Grief flooded social media in January 2021 when word spread that the 101 Coffee Shop had closed. Housed in a hotel across from Hollywood Tower in a building that has stood since the 1920s, the 101 was a steady, low-key hang for actors, screenwriters, tourists and locals for 20 years. New owner Zack Hall, who operates Clark Street Bread, brought the space back to life and has navigated the community’s collective nostalgia with extreme care. He’s given the menu the most delicate of personality transplants; the cooking under chef Juan Pablo Garcia is arguably the best the place has ever seen. Honestly, there’s nowhere in Los Angeles I’d rather eat a three-high stack of blueberry pancakes right now. Omelets will come out as pale or as browned as you request them. The yolks on the eggs Florentine burst onto the English muffin, spinach and (optional but recommended) kerchiefs of smoked salmon. Corned beef hash delivers satisfying proportions of crisp-soft spuds and salty wisps of meat. The diner closes at 3 p.m. for now, though a recently obtained liquor license means you can have mimosas with your eggs and a Miller High Life with your tuna melt.
— Bill Addison
— Bill Addison
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(Damon Winter / For The Times)
Du-par’s at the Original Farmers Market
Fairfax American
The buttermilk hotcakes at Du-par’s are the gold standard. The restaurant has been serving an extensive slate of diner classics since opening in 1938, but for me, its single purpose is to present stacks of pancakes. The texture is every shade of fluffy: pillowy soft and luxurious in the center, firming into almost springy as you approach the edge. If you’re lucky, some orders will come with a delicate, lacy border. Copious amounts of maple syrup and melted butter are provided, but avoid the temptation. Overdress these beauties and the fluff is lost.
— Jenn Harris
— Jenn Harris
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(Stephanie Breijo / Los Angeles Times)
Foxy’s
Glendale American
Architecture die-hards might flock to Foxy’s for the Midcentury Modern brass-and-stone fireplaces and the dining room housed beneath the angular, wooden A-frame roof, but regulars know the biggest draw of this 1964-built mainstay is the food: not just the American diner classics or the kitsch and convenience of having a toaster at your table but the range of Mexican specialties, especially at brunch. Finding a parking space in the main lot is always a Thunderdome-style competition on weekends, but to the victors go the generously portioned prizes: chile relleno omelets, huevos machaca, chilaquiles, omelets surrounding an entire quesadilla and, perhaps the gem of them all, the saucy and long-simmered tri-tip barbacoa with eggs. Foxy’s, initially built as part of a local chain, has outlived its sibling locations and established its own lengthy menu of regionally inspired dishes — and gone on to become one of Glendale’s top brunch spots as a result.
— Stephanie Breijo
— Stephanie Breijo
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(Jenn Harris / Los Angeles Times)
Gardena Bowl Coffee Shop
Gardena Hawaiian
My grandma used to bowl at Gardena Bowl. So did my dad. As a kid, I liked to visit for the occasional game and the arcade, but mostly for the attached coffee shop. Not much has changed over the years. There might be a cheese pizza on the specials menu. There’s a good chance a sashimi dinner will be on offer. There will definitely be bags of pralines hanging by the cash register. The menu leans Hawaiian, with spam musubi and loco moco. There are two items I order during every visit: the Hawaiian Royal and the garlic chicken. The first is what feels like a 10-pound plate of fried rice, chopped Portuguese sausage, chashu, eggs and diced green onion, drizzled with sweet teriyaki sauce. It can feed a family of four. The garlic chicken is boneless and fried, served with a sweet soy sauce punctuated with just a hint of garlic.
— Jenn Harris
— Jenn Harris
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(Christina House / Los Angeles Times)
Jongewaard’s Bake n Broil
Long Beach American
Roger and Carol Jongewaard opened their diner in 1965 on a corner perch of Atlantic Avenue in Long Beach’s Bixby Knolls neighborhood; the area has since flourished as a shopping and dining strip. Amid pancake and egg breakfasts and burgers or soothing pot roast for lunch and dinner, note the displays of cakes and pies that line the shelves behind the counter. Carol was renowned for her baking skills, and the restaurants, still run by members of the family, continue to use her recipes. Yes to the statuesque carrot cake, yes to the billowing banana cream pie and a big yes to anything baked with seasonal fruit.
— Bill Addison
— Bill Addison
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(Taylor Arthur / Los Angeles Times)
Joyce’s Coffee Shop and Restaurant
Northridge American
Northridge stalwart Joyce’s Coffee Shop and Restaurant offers perhaps the most important quality in a diner: The place feels trapped in time. Burgundy leather swivel chairs line the squat wraparound counter, retro ads for Carnation ice cream and other old-timey treats dot the wall (“Take some homeâ€), and the cash-only screed transports you back decades, if not all the way to its founding year of 1955. New owners Walter and Michelle Blake Castro bought the historic diner in 2018 and have kept it relatively untouched, but when it comes to the menu, they’ve added their own stamp: Walter mans the flat-top and cooks up weekend specials such as chorizo and eggs, which disappear almost immediately, while Michelle bakes the rotating selection of pies kept at one end of the counter and served under a mountain of fresh whipped cream. Even the lemonade features hand-squeezed lemons from the couple’s own tree. Our advice? Visit for the weekend-only specials, grab a seat at the counter — and get there early.
— Stephanie Breijo
— Stephanie Breijo
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(Bill Addison / Los Angles Times)
Nick’s Cafe
Chinatown American
The original location of Nick’s has operated on the quiet corner of North Spring Street and West Elmyra Street in Chinatown since 1948. Pictures of the downtown skyline in former, less-congested geometries line the walls. Servers whiz around the horseshoe-shaped counter, refilling your coffee cup when it’s still three-quarters full — though they’re also racing outside, since plenty of customers now prefer to eat on the tented patio constructed during the pandemic. The menu is enormous, with the usual diner gamut of eggs in so many permutations, waffles, pancakes, hot melts of all sorts and chili cheese fries with the option of adding pastrami. But ham has been a specialty at Nick’s for decades, lacquered with a brown-sugar glaze and griddled to caramelize and bronze along the edges. Mild house-made salsa arrives in a squeeze bottle with every dish, though the counter and tables are lined with caddies holding many brands of hot sauces. Between generous squirts of salsa and jots of TapatÃo and chipotle Tabasco, you achieve a customized spicy-smoky-sweet flavor balance for your serving of ham; a slice covers most of a plate, flopping over hash browns and half of the eggs in whichever style you request them.
— Bill Addison
— Bill Addison
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(Stephanie Breijo / Los Angeles Times)
Nickel Diner
Downtown L.A. American
That hand-painted sign above the door reads like a poem: “This is the place / there is no place / quite like this place / anywhere near this place / so this must be the place.†Owners Kristen Trattner and Monica May discovered it while renovating their restaurant, which opened in 2008, and they agree with the sentiment: Nickel Diner is special. The Historic Core spot, done up in pre-WWII-era splendor, feels homey with its linoleum flooring, gently worn wooden chairs, studded-leather booths, the original 1940s cafe signage and old-timey wooden speakers perched over the dining room — but even more special than the coziness is the food. Nickel Diner serves cheffy updates on the staples: a meaty, thick patty melt oozing fontina and Dijon; herbaceous blue cheese dressing for salads or dunking hand-breaded onion rings; weekend-only specials such as duck sausage; and some of the best pastries in the neighborhood. (Don’t even think about leaving without a seasonal pop tart.) Trattner and May also serve comfort to neighbors in need: The establishment regularly provides food to community organizations, and charitable diners can even make donations while placing orders for their own meals.
Update: As of May 18, 2023, Nickel Diner has permanently closed.
— Stephanie Breijo
Update: As of May 18, 2023, Nickel Diner has permanently closed.
— Stephanie Breijo
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(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)
Norms
Beverly Grove American
The waitstaff at the West Hollywood Norms have tentacles for arms. During the breakfast, lunch and dinner rush (these are daily occurrences), platters of pancakes are hurriedly topped with scoops of butter, carafes of coffee are emptied and filled, counters are wiped and checks are dropped, seemingly all at once. The SoCal restaurant chain, now with more than 20 locations, has grown into a diner empire since Norm Roybark opened the first Norms in Hollywood in 1949. But during peak breakfast hours, the restaurant on La Cienega Boulevard often feels like the center of the city. There’s a Bigger Better Breakfast (eggs, all the breakfast proteins, hash browns and hotcakes or toast) on most tables. Norms also serves my ideal meatloaf dinner, with thick meaty slabs buried under glossy gravy.
— Jenn Harris
— Jenn Harris
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(Jose A. Sandoval)
Ocean Diner
Hermosa Beach American
Bright lemony walls reflect the Hermosa Beach sunshine in this neighborhood institution, a local favorite in a low-slung corner building for more than 35 years. The menu lists over 100 dishes, name-checking most any diner classic you could wish for: omelets and scrambles served in skillets; ornately topped waffles and French toast; entree-size salads; burgers and melts and eight takes on grilled cheese; and blue-plate specials like grilled salmon and pork chops. Follow the more-is-more line of thinking with the “Hot Mess†skillet, a hill of biscuits and gravy crowned with scrambled eggs, bacon, green onions, jalapeños and a molten blanket of Jack and cheddar cheeses. The one-mile walk to Hermosa Beach Pier afterward is recommended.
— Bill Addison
— Bill Addison
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(Stephanie Breijo / Los Angeles Times)
The Original Pantry Cafe
Downtown L.A. American
Los Angeles is home to many a diner icon, but few are as boisterous and bustling as the Pantry. This is not the diner you seek out for a quiet, solitary morning over a cup of coffee: A line to enter the 98-year-old institution stretches from the front door down the side of the building at all hours of service, and once inside, there’s that signature, welcome cacophony of clanging plates and heavy mugs as they hit the Formica tabletops. Seating stretches from the back of the historic landmark’s long dining room all the way to the caged, cash-only checkout register, but the prime seating is at the counter, overlooking the grill where cooks shuffle mounds of potatoes, plate-sized pancakes and the flattened, buttery planks of sourdough toast, which are, without exaggeration, requisite. The Original Pantry reportedly has seated Martin Luther King Jr., Marilyn Monroe and countless other famous figures, and is decorated with black-and-white photos of a bygone downtown — the neighborhood that the diner has seen change around it for nearly a century. Though the famous 24-hours-a-day operations are currently limited to 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. Wednesday to Friday and 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday to Sunday) the Pantry otherwise remains the same.
— Stephanie Breijo
— Stephanie Breijo
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(Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times)
The Original Saugus Cafe
Santa Clarita American
History is the biggest draw for Saugus Cafe: It stands as the longest-operating restaurant in Los Angeles County. It originally opened as part of the Saugus railroad depot in 1886; it was moved across the tracks in 1905 to accommodate the station’s growth, and it has remained there for 117 years. Actors like John Wayne and Marlene Dietrich ate there while filming during the peak age of western films. Today it serves the community as a small-town all-purpose meeting place, with a long counter ideal for solo dining; a handsome dining area in shades of green; and wide floorboards and a bar in the backroom. Stop by during weekend breakfast, when the place feels bustling and alive, for pecan waffles and huevos con chorizo.
— Bill Addison
— Bill Addison
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(Calvin B. Alagot / Los Angeles Times)
Pacific Diner
San Pedro American
Dennis and Paula Juett’s locals’ haunt, which they’ve run since 1976, is true to its name. It sits five blocks from Point Fermin Park at the southern tip of San Pedro, and the clean ocean breeze drifts over in waves when you sit on the restaurant’s canopy-covered side patio. The diner specializes in lavish omelets, many of them rich in Mexican-inspired flavors. Machaca, a staple of Sonora and southwestern U.S. border towns, is always a welcome sight; the Juetts simmer its concentrated beefiness in tomato sauce and stir it into a sauté of peppers, onions and cheeses, with plenty of cheddar and Jack cheese melted over the top. A chile verde omelet sits in a jade pool of nicely sharp tomatillo sauce, surrounded by hunks of pork and righteously crisp hash browns. The strong coffee is fortifying — a necessary counteractive to the filling breakfast if you’re driving back to L.A.
— Bill Addison
— Bill Addison
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(Damon Casarez / For The Times)
Pann’s Restaurant
Westchester American
When you want to indulge visitors in the mid 20th century version of Los Angeles that persists in American mythology, drive them the three miles from LAX to Westchester. So many examples of futuristic Googie-style architecture have disappeared from the Southern California landscape. Pann’s, completed in 1958 by iconic L.A. design firm Armet & Davis, remains standing as an ageless tableau of angular neon signage, terrazzo floors, curving booths, swivel chairs and soaring, sharply slanted rooflines. One particularly wonderful interior detail: the mural rendered as an illustrated map showing the journey that the original owners, George and Rena Panagopoulos, took from Greece to Los Angeles. And to eat? Beyond breakfast classics and the Dreamburger slicked with mayo tinted pink from ketchup, look to the fried chicken. Gently crackling and nicely seasoned, it appears morning to afternoon alongside grits and eggs, over waffles and on lunch plates with mashed potatoes and collard greens. Similarly, the country fried steak with sausage gravy is nap-inducing but glorious while dining in a space-age time capsule.
— Bill Addison
— Bill Addison
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(Jenn Harris / Los Angeles Times)
Rae’s Restaurant
Santa Monica American
All diners feel like a time warp, but Rae’s is a special sort of trip. The cramped dining room, with its turquoise walls and royal blue stools, feels as if you’re eating breakfast inside an Easter egg, in the 1950s. It’s cash-only, and the old metal register looks like it was borrowed from a movie set. This is no-frills diner food, with no attempt made to modernize with plant-based or gluten-free options. It’s all breakfast, served until it closes in the afternoon. The chicken-fried steak breakfast is a sea of beige. The smooth, peppery gravy covers most of the plate and all of the steak, spilling onto the three eggs and the almost-burnt-but-in-a-good-way potatoes. Order it with the biscuit: the perfect gravy-sopping vessel.
— Jenn Harris
— Jenn Harris
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(Damon Casarez / For The Times)
The Serving Spoon
Inglewood Southern
It would be wise to memorize your favorite daily specials at Angela and JC Johnson’s Southern food restaurant in Inglewood. On Tuesdays, there are smothered turkey wings. Wednesday means smothered oxtails, and on Fridays and Saturdays, there are shrimp and grits. But regardless of the day, you can always find a piping hot plate brimming with a fried catfish filet, creamy grits and eggs, just the way you like them. You can order this essential breakfast trio at one of the red leather booths that line the windows of the restaurant, but it tastes even better seated on one of the wooden stools, grazing elbows with your neighbor at the always-bustling counter.
— Jenn Harris
— Jenn Harris
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(Mariah Tauger / Los Angeles Times)
Swingers Diner
Beverly Grove American
People of all ages and backgrounds pass through the doors of Swingers and its Streamline Moderne façade, but I will make the Gen X argument that the place had its heyday in the 1990s. Jon Favreau’s 1996 film “Swingers†made it a late-night sensation in its era (even though what was then the 101 Coffee Shop stood in for it on film); I urged local friends to take me there after a night at the West Hollywood bars during my first visit to Los Angeles that same year. The booths and chairs covered in tartan patterns, the servers that moved in a blur, the all-walks-of-life people-watching: It was a big mood then, and its vitality endures. After loud public laments when Swingers closed early in the pandemic, longtime manager Stephanie Wilson gathered the funds to buy the place from its previous owners. Our Gen X haven is safe. Even longtime devotees will tell you that Swingers was always more about the vibe than the food, but a guac-stuffed grilled cheese or a plate of fries smothered in turkey chili and melted Jack and cheddar at 1 a.m. still feels like a vintage Los Angeles moment.
— Bill Addison
— Bill Addison
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(Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times)
Tal’s Cafe
Hyde Park American
Spot the 1940s building with its stylishly curved entrance, its front door flanked by a painting of a comically large spoon and fork, and you’ve found one of L.A.’s diner gems. You’ll pass under the words “Delightful Food†as you enter Tal’s Cafe, and the advertisement is accurate — the soul food and classic breakfasts are always decent — but even more enticing than the salmon croquettes, the crisp, thickly sliced home fries and the perfectly crunchy fried chicken is the vintage charm of the place. Pastel yellow walls, the wraparound counter with a view of the kitchen, and the original silver panels and old-timey refrigerator make it feel as though you’re sidling up for coffee and a short stack in 1962. People-watch and lean in for conversation at the counter, or snag one of the yellow wooden booths toward the back for more privacy as you dig into those waffles. Whichever you pick, just be sure to hit an ATM on the way there; this spot is cash-only.
— Stephanie Breijo
— Stephanie Breijo
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(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
Tallyrand Restaurant
Burbank American
The Tallyrand is two parts diner, one part sports bar. There’s the expected counter seating and a main dining room lined with booths that offer a satisfying squeak when you move. But down a short flight of stairs is a dark bar with TVs playing whatever sports game is happening that day. A friendly server let us know that, during football season, Huell Howser used to sit at the end of the bar and eat his favorite, a hot turkey sandwich. The menu also alerts you to his other favorite, the turkey dinner. It’s as if your grandmother made you a plate at Thanksgiving, piled with sliced roasted turkey barely visible under gloppy gravy, with a heap of mashed potatoes and a scoop of dressing. There’s a reason it was Howser’s favorite. It will be yours too. Ask for an extra cup of cranberry sauce.
— Jenn Harris
— Jenn Harris
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(Mariah Tauger / Los Angeles Times)
Twohey’s
South Pasadena American
This is a 1940s diner reborn, with a sleek white interior (glossy white tile walls and painted wood), a full bar and bathrooms that could be models for a Crate & Barrel catalog. The original Twohey’s, which opened in 1943 in Pasadena, moved to Alhambra in 1955, where it sat at the corner of Atlantic Boulevard and Huntington Drive until moving to its current location in South Pasadena in October 2020. The restaurant is home to the Original Stink-o burger, made especially for purists with a penchant for onion. The bun is void of any sauce. The burger patty is dressed simply with dill pickle chips and a full slice of onion, with its many stinky rings. For an extra $4.95, you can have an order of onion rings — fat, golden halos encased in a crisp buttermilk batter — with your onion burger. But the real star at Twohey’s is the bittersweet chocolate fudge sauce. Imagine a liquefied brownie, similar to the gooey center of a molten lava cake. It’s as bitter as it is sweet. The fudge comes warm, drizzled down the glass of an ice cream sundae, on a banana split or blended into a milkshake. You can buy jars of it to take home too.
— Jenn Harris
— Jenn Harris
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