Thursday, May 10, 2007

Restaurant tag


Lu tagged me to write about my top five favorite places to eat in my "location." Then I am supposed to add myself to the bottom of this list and pass it on, preferably to people in other states and countries.

Participation is strictly voluntary, but for those who are inclined I am tagging my sister Marg, my cousin Beth, my blogger friend Beth, the Freelance Cynic, and Tenacious S.

Include the city/state and country you’re in.

Nicole (Sydney, Australia)
velverse
(Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia)
LB
(San Giovanni in Marignano, Italy)
Selba
(Jakarta, Indonesia)
Olivia
(London, England)
ML
(Utah, USA)
Lotus
(Toronto, Canada)
tanabata
(Saitama, Japan)
Andi
(Dallas [ish], Texas, United States)
Lulu
(Chicago, Illinois, United States)
CP (Brooklyn, New York, but formerly of West Hollyrock, California, USA)

I have written quite a bit about NYC restaurants such as here and here. I also have a lot of favorite eateries in my former home of Los Angeles, so I'm pretending I still live there for purposes of this blog post.

1. El Coyote

This place rocks. It is by no means high brow Mexican food, but it's just great in that quasi trashy Cal-Mex sort of way. Their green corn tamales are to die for - my mom even used to take them home frozen whenever she visited me in LA. And it's great for B and C list celebrity sightings. I once saw Ricardo Montalban, and always prayed I'd see Carol Burnett there as my friend MJCAT once did.

By the way, remind me to tell you about my Carol Burnett story some time.

2. In-N-Out Burger

For some retarded reason they only have this chain in the Southwestern states. But the locals are fiercely devoted to In-N-Out. It's your basic burger & fries, but the food seems somehow cleaner and fresher. (I'm saying this without doing any amount of research on the actual quality of their ingredients, but I have my hunches.) The menu is very simple, and apparently has not changed in the 50+ years they've been open.

3. Koo-Koo-Roo

Delightful flame broiled chicken place, with that LA gym-bunny "I'm eating clean & healthy!" flair. Rockin good times.

4. Roadside taco stands

You'll find these all over Southern California. Just some guy or gal with a cart and great tasting food. I especially love getting fish tacos down in San Diego.

5. The Abbey

A West Hollywood tradition. When I first moved to LA in 1992 this place was across the street from where it is now, and it was a simple coffee house, great for hanging out and reading. In 1993 they moved to their present location on Robertson Boulevard, and became the staple for my friends and me for general weekend hanging - and even weeknight hanging when we were in the mood. It was still a coffee house, but they had a lot of food at a carry out counter.

However, after I left LA in 1997 the place went on steroids and blossomed into a full service restaurant and bar, although (I think) you can still pretend it's a coffee house, where you can hang out and read. You just have to look prettier.

Although I don't really know the food there, I would still make it one of my top choices because I would have to go experience the new digs for myself.

9 comments:

Dino said...

cool - hey isn't the in n out burger joint the thing paris got got going to when they booked her with the DUI?

Splotchy said...

El Coyote sounds tantalizing.

How do you feel about Fatburger? I had me a couple of them when I was out west.

lulu said...

I've been to the Abbey with you, right? When I was visiting with Bruce?

I love El Coyote, I don't think I have ever been as drunk as that one night with you and Jane and Jerry.

Tenacious S said...

In and Out urge. We will be there in one month and that is on the list of things to eat. Best burgers, fries and milk shakes of any fast food joint in the country. I dare anyone to compare.

Anonymous said...

El Coyote sounds like fun. The name reminded me of this movie Coyote Ugly :)

Tacos.... hehehe awwww... I just gotta give it a try. I heard so much about them.

Thanks for playing along :) Lovely recommendations :)

Nicole said...

that is a very cute picture of a roadside taco stall..i've eaten tacos before but not fish taco...wonder what it taste like..

Ps thanks for doing the tag. If you know of anyone else doing it please feel free to send me a message and I’ll update them too on the updated list of tag doers

Coaster Punchman said...

Dino, I don't know about the Paris Hilton story, but if you're going to go down, In-N-Out would be a good way to go.

Splotchy, you know I passed by Fatburger thousands of times and never tried it. I heard they were good. I think someone got murdered at the one near my house which may be why I never decided to go.

Yes Lu, we were indeed at the Abbey (good memory!) I clearly remember Bruce calling into one of the phone sex lines he operated on his cell phone, and had me talk to this woman who thought I was a real customer.

Ooh Ten-S, I am jealous.

Velverse, I thought maybe you were joking about never having had a taco, but now that I see you link from Malaysia I suppose it's possible? They're great!

Hi Nicole, fish tacos are fun and usually not very fishy tasting. Thanks for visiting CPW!

lulu said...

I believe that I also had a conversation with the phone sex girl that night.

Katie Schwartz said...

OH, THE ABBY! oh, honey, I have a feeling we could swap some really hefty yarns. We'll have to do that over cocktails one night.

ps: have you ever been to LUCY EL ADOBE????