Saturday I decided to ride my bike down to Santa Monica and eat at Pancho's Tacos.
Just look at that place, how can you not go in there? mmmm, nothing like good ol' Mexican food on a Saturday afternoon.
Later that night, Umar, aka Hi Fidel, aka Frohawk TwoFeathers, aka Link80, had a going away BBQ for Chinatown legend Joe Mak.
They started at 2pm, I got there at 10pm and there was food everywhere. I left somewhere around 3am and they were still going strong on the BBQ pit Umar hastily dug in the ground. I was still full well into the next day. Good luck, Joe Mak, wherever you may end up...
Sunday, the Avengers were at STAPLES, so I decided to bike to work to 1) enjoy the beautiful Sunday afternoon and 2) see if I could survive riding down Pico without getting hit. Never realized how many El Salvadorean restaurants were packed on this street. Also never realized that there is a giant Ethiopian Church sitting right there on Pico, not far from St. Sophia, the giant Greek Orthadox Church.
The Avengers won, and instead of biking home, I ended up at Hank's again. Don't really remember what happened after that, but I woke up the next morning in bed with my bike laying in the middle of the living room floor. Thanks mysterious stranger who drove me and my bike home...
Today, I wound up in Atwater Village around lunch time, so I drove around, knowing I was bound to run into some greasy jem. And that's when I saw it, the Gold Star Drive-In restaurant.
I was sold immediately. Gold Star! And the Star is actually Black!!! Done.
I swing in by the huge tree that shades the restaurant and pull in back. It has a Drive-Thru!!! And this place is perfect, I wouldn't really call it a restaurant, more like a food shack that has a nice dining area. And that dining area is packed. The menu was half Mexican food, half American. What do I go with? Although I know the Mexican food here has got to be good, this place has that All-American feel to it, so I decide it has to be a Pastrami sandwich or something along those lines. Wait, Steak Sandwich? Done.
Everything was perfect. The awesome styrofoam cup from the early 80's with the fake sunset on it, the perfectly fried and golden steak fries, and the steak itself, nice and tender. Sure $10, but totally worth it. And looking around to what everyone else ordered, it felt like I could come here everyday, order something completely different, and never be disappointed.
Gold Star, you get 5 Gold Stars from me... and 3 exclamation points.
On the way home through Silverlake, I happened upon this Pizza place...
Is it really called Hard Times Pizza Co.???
I had this great rant I was going rattle off here about the unbelievably poor choice yet amazing title to name your business. But then I did a little research and found out that this place has been around forever and has a few locations (who knew?). And in doing said research, I came upon some really funny reviews that might be able to say it better then I can. Here are two from Yelp:
"What an appropriate name. At times, it's hard to love this pizza place."
and
"Oh Hard Times...
Hard Times and I used to date 2 to 3 years ago. I've since moved on. While I was attracted to her greasy thin NY style pizza, change of management has caused overall pizza quality to go down. Being once a heavy hitter in the LA pizza scene, hard times is more of a memory these days. We still talk, but its awkward."
mike
2 comments:
I just realized you eat at some of the pound for pound dirtiest restuarants that have ever existed. It's almost like you only eat at Grade C's and below.
you couldn't be more right. A's and B's are for pussies. Oki Dog, originator of the F, used to be my home. Just thinking about all the bacteria I have given life to in my stomach gives me a warm feeling inside.
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