The Great Western Steak and Hoagie Co....my way right away and Mike Tyson's too

1720 Lincoln Blvd
Venice, CA 90291
(310) 450-4545
Open everyday 10AM-midnightish

The cheesesteak. It is a deadly food sin that I personally love to commit. Sadly there aren't too many Philly style cheese steak places over here (at least any worth noting) . I look at this as one of the prime big-eater meals, not for weight or mass, but from the sheer way it weighs you down when you eat one. These sandwiches are designed for people with big arteries...so that there's more to fill. Great Western Steak and Hoagie Co. possibly has the cheesesteak in town to beat (don't worry...I'll keep looking) . Last time we went, the guy at the counter told me Mike Tyson had popped in that Monday for a big order. I think of Mike Tyson as man who eats a lot...sometimes he chews off more than he should, but that's another story.

This is a crown jewel of cheese steaks in LA. Oooey and gooey to the core and at the same time brimming with succulent meatstrips. The bread is a flaky roll that compliments this sandwich by soaking up the juices but not becoming soggy. A transcendent sandwich (if you've had this you know I'm not lying) , the stuff addictions are born from (and conveniently open late enough to be a just-before-midnight snack) . This specific specimen had grilled mushrooms and onions, american white, I added mayo and had them leave out the pizza sauce. There's many fixings you can request on it to completely customize your bad boy. Is it juicy? You bet. Is it big? Oh yeah. In fact, dare I say, it's so good you could make this a text book example.

Here's Celeste's cheeseburger...it's not pretty but tastes pretty good. The patty had a very steaky quality to it (maybe cause of all the steaks that have gone over that grill...but who knows) , the thin layer of cheese didn't puddle anywhere (thank you!) , the lettuce was crispy, the tomato was perky and the mayo/onions/pickles infused through the whole thing in a very juicy fashion. My only gripe, they used the same breadtype as they used on the cheesesteaks for the hamburger...and let's just face it, it would have been better on a traditional bun. So, it doesn't go down in the hall of fame of LA's complete package burgers, but if you're there and you find the size of the cheesesteaks intimidating it's an excellent option.

Great Western has been around for somewhere between 40 to 50 years (they quoted me this) . Though the place looks pretty beat up (couple of busted tables on the south side to eat at) you can tell that they put their money into the ingredients they get. They have a parking lot and like I said before, the hours are perfect for those night time cravings. I only suggest one thing, if you find yourself waiting in line with Mike Tyson...let him cut in front of you.

Free drink refills: No
Entree Price Ranges: Cheese Steaks are $6 ish and burgers are $2.50 to $3 ish.

Danny's Venice Deli...agreeing with LA Times

23 Windward Ave.
Venice, CA 90291
(310)566-5610
Mon-Fri 10:30AM-10PM:
Breakfast available until 3pm / lunch until 5pm
Happy hour from 4pm-6pm / Dinner starts at 5pm

Saturday, Sunday 10am-10pm:
Brunch available until 3pm / Lunch until 5pm
Dinner starts at 5pm

Hearing about the hype and seeing the beautiful pics online of Danny's Venice Deli(via LA Times), which I now deem the gastronomical savior of the Venice walk, I was slightly intrigued. What with it's summery look inside and the kind of timeless quality shop-front, I felt like I needed to at least pop by cause I also hear the food is pretty killer. I thought to myself... a deli on the beach? Thoughts of spoiled mayonnaise and huge floppy pickles while walking on the boardwalk crept into my brain. This was not the case at all.

Housed in what looks like building that is left from the Coney Island era you're instantly taken back to old school charm. Lots of seating for the rush crowd anytime of day, and lots to see on the walls to keep you preoccupied while you wait (shortly) for the food to arrive.


Love the artwork on the walls depicting icons from stage and screen heroes of the past. It's definitely a defining memorable thing about their overall vibe.

As with any deli you have sandwiches as a feature and various assorted sides that compose about 90% of the menu. What you may not know about them is that all their beef (including their pastrami and corned beef) is certified Angus Beef and all their fowl is hormone free(but if it's available they use organic). Knowing these factors I saw something on the menu that said "You'd be a fool not to eat me". That monster was their famous "Original Plunge" named after the the world's largest indoor saltwater pool(once right by Danny's of course). It's a 9oz. dip sandwich with their pastrami inside (you have an option to do turkey pastrami, corned beef, or roast beef). Let me ask you... have you ever had something which exceeded your expectations so drastically that you were beside more and more with each bite? That's was this sandwich. After each bite I was like, "Man...this is really good"..."How did they do this?"..."I have to come back and get this again!". The meat was elegantly tender, the au jus not too salty or too heavy, and the french roll was crunchy but didn't rip the roof of your mouth either. For my side, I got their potato salad which would be a welcome addition at any picnic I'd ever go on. As an oath to my readers, I will be going back and getting this exact order again.

Celeste ordered the falafel burger out of mere curiosity and was pleasantly surprised. Falafels can be a tricky thing... in fact anything deep fried can be very tricky for that matter. The beauty of this sandwich was how hearty it was for a meatless burger(whether you consider that a real burger of not is your deal). The falafel, was just that... falafel, and good falafel at that. That, together with the jack cheese, grilled onions, zippy tomato, avocado and sprouts made an excellently well balanced sandwich. Not too much or too little of anything... and on that note very low grease factor, it was ALMOST dry actually, but not. Depending on how you like your food, it's great the way it was, but for someone like Celeste a little extra mayo made it just right. And that side of seasonal fruit she got cause she felt guilty for the fried food just happened to be in season(and sweet at that).

To finish up we grabbed a slice of their (signature) very creamy, lush cheese cake. Wow. Best way to describe it was imagine a pound cakes consistency but cheese cake. It intensely moist to the point of wondering how the heck did they do that. I loved it cause it really wasn't trying too hard to be this amazing thing. It was a smooth and creamy piece of top notch cheese cake. Though I felt it was pricey at $7 a slice when I ordered it, I'd say it's a dessert made for a date night before you stroll on the boardwalk... and worth every penny.

While I admit that I have rarely been particularly impressed with delis(cause a good deli's a good deli right?), this one for me has an edge on all the others. Quality of food and charm go miles in my book. Not to mention the location scores mega points due to the fact that on the boardwalk there just isn't that much good food... let alone food that's GOOD for you. And as always with the boardwalk, you have the bummer issue of parking. Not so with this place. Literally next door is a reduced rate parking lot (validation required) if you don't feel like circling the area for those pesky spots.

I love this spot...it reminds me to be romantic when I'm near the water.

Free Drink Refills: No but let me explain. They only have specialty sodas. Oh yeah...try their root beer float...it's epic!
Entree Price Range:$6.50 to $19

3 Square Cafe...dang those burgers look good

1121 Abbot Kinney Rd.
Venice, CA 90291
(310)399-6504
Breakfast and Lunch: Mon-Fri 8AM-3PM
Sat-Sun 9AM-4PM
Dinner: Tues-Sat 5PM-10PM
Brunch: Sat-Sun 9AM-4PM
Cafe hours: Everyday 7AM-6PM


After seeing Bree over at Triple Creme's post about 3 Square Cafe I put it down immediately on my places to eat at. Soooo glad we went. I guess the best way to put is that it's a treat for your eyes as well as your mouth. It's basically a little bakery cafe that serves up hearty/tasty bits of German inspired goodness.
We started our dinner experience with the avocado fries:

Okay now here's where I'll take personal license and tell you to also order the corn crepe stuffed with Black Forest Ham, roasted bell peppers and fontina cheese.

First off the avocado fries were an interesting idea and awesome if you love avocado. The breading on the body of them really brings out the flavor. But the amazing thing is that if you order the second dish mentioned you will have the most amazing dipping sauce for the avocado fries. The crepes in and of themselves were stellar. I would go back and have these alone cause they were that good. Kind of smooth dairy based in flavoring and just melted in your mouth... dang soooo incredibly good. The ham played wonderfully against the cream and corn.

The next course consisted of meat mostly. It's a German inspired place so we figured you can't go wrong with the meat not to mention the pics of the Rockenwagner classic pretzel burger that we've seen... it was kind of a no brainer. We ordered one pretzel burger with fries and the 3 mini burgers with pickles (pickled veggies was a pleasant surprise for us when we looked underneath our burger cups!) and fries. The mini burgers consisted of a small pretzel burger, a mushroom burger on brioche and a salmon burger on brioche.


Okay so just like going to a hoffbrau or other meat restaurant you get the full flavor of beef in your mouth. We got ours medium rare and it came out just a tad juicier than medium rare but it was all good. The bread was great on all the burgers and and a fun surprise was the mushroom burger with the ketchup they provided. Something new for me and gave me something else to also dip in that amazing sauce from the crepes as well (that stuff works with almost everything!). Might I recommend the Sam Smith Organic ale they have by the bottle. Went great with all the meat despite it being an English beer.

For desert, we had an amazing chocolate souffle that was recommended by our waitress. Before we get to that let me say that their coffee IS something write home about...wow a very full flavored light roast. Like Kenyan minus the berry qualities. The souflee came with a dab of sweet cream, a pretzel (that I do believe had some lime on it as well as drizzled with chocolate), and a small dark chocolate that had smooth peanut butter in it. What can I say more than dang. It was a perfect desert. The chocolate was what you imagine when you crave chocolate except the craving is satisfied after each bite. I need this stuff on tap somewhere. Just one of those well crafted pieces of "chefsmanship".

The place itself is not too big but has a patio and considering it's Abbot Kinney you can always hang outside and enjoy the view!

Free Drink Refills: Yes
Entree Price Range: Breakfast about $11 Lunch about $12 and Dinner was about $15 to $18ish (a step above the rest for what you get)

As a reminder and speaking of burgers...good ones tonight at The Mint where you can meet me after my set (I'll be playing at 9PM). Come on down and maybe I'll buy you there burger sampler plate which is darn good and a drink. You say I wouldn't but actually I'm sweet like that and would love to see your darling faces...

PS.I'll be the one with the upright bass ;)

Groundworks Coffee

1501 N. Cahuenga Blvd.
Hollywood, CA 90028 (amongst 6 locations total)
(323) 871-0107
Mon-Fri 7AM-8PM
Sat-Sun 8AM-8PM

I hope all of you had a wonderful Easter. I myself did and had a wonderful weekend all around. Played at some different places and just had a great weekend. Oh and I popped into Groundworks coffee for a debatable (but many agree) iced chai latte after I went to the 101 cafe and headed over to Amoeba Records (which is conveniently located diagonally across the street from Groundworks). They somehow nailed the right proportions and have got it down to a science everytime. I've tried other places and it's too sweet or not sweet enough or the spice is actually bitey, but not here. It's just right...everytime.

They have great coffee as well and very tasty paninis which make for a great snack after walking for hours through Amoeba. A word of mention that also goes for this coffee shop and their coffee. They are fair trade coffee distribtuor which means the coffee you'll be drinking will be coming from people who didn't get worked to the bone for horrible and often illegal wages. Check out Black Gold for more on that. Also, the selection of beans that they have is amazing and can be complex in flavor. If you're a coffee nut, as many today are, know that you WILL reliably find an amazing cup of coffee here. They have multiple locations which can be seen on their site if you aren't close to this one, and the prices are pretty good to boot.

On a side note about seeing movies, I saw Grindhouse this weekend and it was so much fun. Just a fun return to entertainment. Some say that the pacing can be slow, just ignore them. Go expecting to watch everything you want in 2 over the top "B" slash "slasher" slash "car-chaser" slash "exploitation" movies our generation has had the joy to watch in a sticky floored cinema. Here's a tip though, don't drink too much or your bladder will explode by the final scene.

Free Drink Refills: coffee shop...duh
Entree Price Range: blanking right now but it's about $4 for a panini if I remember right...it's cheap enough either way.

Empanada's Place

3811 Sawtelle Blvd.
Culver City, CA 90066
(310) 391-0888
Tues. - Sun. 11AM-8PM
Mondays Closed

For those of you who don't know what empanadas are...it's basically a stuffed pastry plain and simple but it's oh so much more than that. How can it be more than just that? It's what you put in the thing that can blow your mind. Many different countries from around the world have their versions of empanadas but most of them generally look like this.

This little shack that is just steps away from Venice Blvd. on Sepulveda is a welcome addition to my list of places you should hit for sure at least once so that you can become addicted to these tasty little delicasies. You walk in and it reminds you of an old coffee shop that sells pastries on the side. Quaint and with tiny tables. I wouldn't say bring a huge group of people but 3 or 4 could grab a great plate of food. They have a plentiful list of fillings for their empanadas such as chicken, beef, both spicy beef and spicy chicken, potato and cheese, corn, spinach, ricotta, tucumana (chopped beef w/ hard boiled eggs...so stinking good!), and the classic criolla style which is beef, raisins, green onions, eggs and assorted spices just to name a few from there menu. Now for the blow you away part...only $2.75 a piece and they are of substantial size (about the size of my hand in length and pretty well filled). The place is real deal with actual Argentinian owners and actual Argentinean customers (sometime...I'm not Argentinean and most of you aren't either, but I swear they came in and talked for days about everything and then left with a dozen empanadas). And speaking of a dozen, you can get a dozen for $27.50 and let's not forget that they reheat wonderfully if you have leftovers, but I doubt you will.

The 2 small things you need to remember about coming here is that's it a cash only place and that parking is only the surrounding streets. Don't let that stop you...this place rocks and is worth it even just to swing by and grab some takeout from them. I want to say more about this place but my mouth is watering so I'll stop.

Free Drink Refills: Yes
Entree Price Range: $2.75...man it feels good writing that!