The Fake Angeleno

A Sesame Street Moment at The Rumor Mill on Washington Blvd.

In my weekly rotation of coffee shops I use for offices, The Rumor Mill is one of the best.  Located on Washington Blvd. in Culver City, "The Mill" has the best bagels I've yet tasted in L.A.  The coffee is consistently excellent, the light streams in nicely, and there's an upscale laundromat next door in case I need change for the L.A. Times or my parking meter fund. 

What's more, the staff is a total rarity for any coffee shop: They're all smart-interesting-people, yet they manage to provide a level of customer service corporate America could only drool at.  These folks know my name, bat back my banter, and never fail to bring me the correct order minutes after I place it.  I'm not naming names, but a lot of independent coffee shops I frequent employ staff that seem to be too stoned to remember what happened five seconds ago, much less my request for capers on my bagel -- which they always neglect to toast.

That sort of tragedy never happens at the Rumor Mill... Which suffuses my yuppie, Bobo heart with a warm sense of identification and well-being. 

At any rate, I just had a funny discussion with two of the guys behind the counter about the beloved Sesame St. 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10...11-12 music video.  All praise is due to YouTube: They have a full clip.  Embedding is disabled, but you can check it out here for a real trip down memory lane:

LINK: Pinball Number Count [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h-YcBVEnLT8]

Gridskipper Breakfast Map

I was looking around for some good breakfast options this weekend, when, low and behold, this Gridskipper post popped up with a *interactive* map of some surefire breakfast bets around town.  Of course, being that it's Gridskipper, the whole thing is framed around where to head after a one night stand, but we'll forgive them that.  The choices at first glance look pretty solid. 

Failing Restaurant Grades: Now With Blog Commentary

I just ran across the Meat is Myrtle blog on one of my feeds, and they have a post up about all the restaurants in the county that received a health inspection grade of "C" or below.  You might want to check out the list in its entirety to see which restaurants to avoid.  The blog's commentary about the restaurants is pretty funny too.  Some examples:

LONG LIFE, INC (Not if you eat here….)

MORE MORE TEA HOUSE (How do you like it? How do you like it?)

Eating L.A.

Scrolling through L.A. Cityfeeds this morning, I came across the excellent food and restaurant blog Eating L.A. 

They'd written a post this morning about some popular restaurant (LaMill I believe it was) being declared overrated -- perhaps unjustly by the L.A. Times in its new underrated/overrated feature.

Evidently the Times also declared Nic Harcourt overrated last week.  Maybe it's just my newbie status, but I really like that Australian fellow -- plays the new music and all.  I mean, he's not enough to make me forget Brian Lehrer, but still...

So what I'm trying to say is if you don't know Eating L.A., they're certainly worth bookmarking.  They've got a helpful index of restaurants and bars they've reviewed, and the blog looks to be updated quite frequently. 

So Larry King and Snoop Dogg Walk Into Roscoe's Chicken and Waffles ... Stop Me If You've Heard This One

On her last trip to Los Angeles, a good friend of mine from Chicago said she had two goals: See the Hollywood sign and visit Roscoe's Chicken and Waffles, neither of which she was able to do.  I'm proud to say we were able to do both on what was an unusually smog-free Saturday.

This was my first visit to Roscoe's, and I think my arteries are still recovering from my #13 combo.  (The #13 being a giant fried chicken breast smothered in gravy and onions, with two gigantic waffles on the side.)  We went to the Pico and La Brea restaurant, although there seem to be three or four other locations.  I'm not sure which is the original.  (I also hear Roscoe's hosts jazz jam sessions ... if anyone knows about these, please drop me a line in the comments box.)

I wasn't planning to post about my Roscoe's-induced gluttony, but then I stumbled across this video clip of Snoop Dogg and Larry King dining a deux at Roscoe's.  What can I say?  It's pretty fantastic.

I tend to agree with YouTube commenter   YoUrShAdOwW, who says "haha gotta love snoop, he is like the coolest man on the planet!"  I also second  videopirate, who points out "Roscoe's is great! Especially if you have the munchies. They give you a lot food for the money. Hmmm, Snoop eats there a lot, interesting."

Video link found on Gawker, via All the Music News.

More Taco Blogging

A few weeks ago, I pointed out The Great Taco Hunt blog, which, sadly, has not been updating since last summer.  Today, I've found another taco-themed blog -- the appropriately titled L.A. Taco.

They do news and events blogging and quite a bit more, in addition to covering the taco beat.  If food is all you're after, you can take a look at their collection of taco-tagged posts.

Not Quite a "Slice," But Not Bad Either

Last Wednesday Jessica and I were both craving pizza after a long workday, so she called in an order to Lamonica's in Westwood.   Here, I feel obliged to insert a snobbish comment about the superiority of NYC pizza.  So I will.  While Lamonica's dough may be made in New York, it certainly can't touch any number of spots in the five boroughs, including my beloved Carmine's Original in Greenpoint, Brooklyn.  That said, Lamonica's wasn't half bad, and I'd recommend it to any New York transplant searching for something resembling a "slice."

Hot Dogging

Two days ago, I posted about taco stands.  Now, I direct your attention to today's L.A. Times article about an upscale hotdog cart parked at the Helms Building in Culver City.  (Not that I know where that is.)

Evidently, the cart is purveying grass-fed and nitrate-free beef dog goodness as the first L.A. location for San Francisco's Let's Be Frank, the brainchild of Alice Waters disciple Sue Moore.

Cart hours are Tuesday to Sunday, starting around 11 am., if you're in the market for a low brow lunch prepared in highbrow fashion.

Great Taco Hunt

This is no doubt old news to the Angeleno blogosphere, but I just discovered a website billing itself as "The Great Taco Hunt."  The blogger there has two years worth of reviews and ratings on taco joints, broken down by neighborhood -- probably 150 reviews in all.  Sadly, he hasn't updated since August. 

As the taco hunt proprietor says: "There are tacos and then there are tacos for which you will violate all social etiquette by scooping up salsa drenched meat and onion droppings with your fingers to get every last morsel of flavor off of your plate."

Thanks, taco hunt, for pointing me in the right direction for lunch today.