Restaurants Nocturnes XII

The Alley Cat Chef has picked the lock of his kitchen cage with a car key and is cruising Los Angeles streets again -- for Restaurant Nocturnes XII. This Chef does not live for recipes alone, and when the moonlit street beckons, I set aside my whisk and pick up a camera. 

My newest video compilation lets you in on the menu specials and nightly comings and goings at a tasty dozen restaurants, from  the Brite Spot in Echo Park, to the 1950s Googie architecture treasure Pann's, to the neo-Latin cuisine at innovator John Sedar's Playa in West Hollywood, to the beloved but endangered Henry's, a classic old school Mex/American taco joint in the Valley.

It's a fascinating tour of LA's dining scene after dark, shot with a digital still camera and turned into a time-lapse video clip suitable for framing, and after the video, the Considerate Chef gives you links to read all about the featured restaurants.

Looking to hang with hipsters on Harleys? Check out the recently refurbished Brite Spot coffee shop on Sunset Boulevard in Echo Park. I liked it when it was cheap, with coffee-stained carpets. Now there are Brussels sprouts in the breakfast potato hash, and eggs scrambles go for 10+ bucks. But the food is good, and if you've just spilled out of the nearby  Echoplex alt.music club at 2 a.m., the revamped Brite Spot is a much more appealing place to to take a date to rather than a taco truck down the street.

Heading west toward Silverlake, you'll find the new Cortez restaurant just off Sunset at Allison Boulevard. Opened in October by Marta Teegan and Robert Stelzner, the owners of Cookbook, Echo Park's sustainable market , Cortez serves seasonal farmer's market-sourced cuisine. (Click here to read a recent review in L.A. Weekly.)  I dropped by on a weeknight at 6:30 p.m. to find three diners at the two communal tables, but customers began to arrive as I was shooting -- and by the time I folded up my tripod, half an hour later, the place was packed. Listen in as the honey-voiced hostess gives the Frugal Fotog a rundown of the enticing entrees, and you'll know why it's become a local favorite.

Another notable Nocturne is the L.A. classic Henry's Tacos, a Mex/American fast food joint on Moorpark Street in the Valley.  It may be over for them -- after 51 years, a landlord dispute led to this month's final closing announcement. But supporters have rallied for a brief stay of execution. Will Henry's survive -- maybe a new location down the street? The suspense is killing me, like their lauded and loaded Taco Burger!

The Googie-style coffee shop Pann's, on La Tijera Boulevard in South L.A, , with its glass walls and Space Age arrow roof, has been flipping pancakes for locals and architecture fanatics since 1958. It was recently named as one of the "10 Best Fried Chicken in Los Angeles" by the L.A. Weekly, and the food is as good as it ever was.

The San Francisco transplant Cafe Gratitude fits right in with the diet- and health-conscious crowd in thespian-centric Hollywood. The menu items at its Larchmont Boulevard location are all affirmations, as in: I AM DAZZLING, a Caesar Salad with romaine lettuce, avocado, Brazil nut parmesan and capers tossed with Caesar dressing; or I AM LIBERATED, a creamy hemp seed pesto pasta with kelp noodles, heirloom cherry tomatoes, green and Kalamata olives and  spinach topped with Brazil nut parmesan and fresh basil. Whew, I feel way better already, and all I did was photograph the place.

I finish up this 12th edition of Restaurant Nocturnes with the soothing wash of ocean waves at  Tony's, a classic  joint that has served seafood grilled, steamed or fried since the 1950s. Sure, it's located on the tourist-crowded Redondo Beach Pier, but it's not outrageously expensive, just in the $20 - $25 range for dinner, and you couldn't have a better seat to watch the sun go down while dining. For a cheaper time, belly up to the bar for nightly live music and a Happy Hour cocktail with an appetizer or one of  Tony's "Basket Items." I'll let the waitress fill you in on some tasty sounding aquatic entrees.

So, click on the play button below to take in the neon-lit eateries of Los Angeles with the Cruising Cuisiner as your guide. Best of all, you won't have to spend a cent for gas money.

Restaurant Nocturnes XII - VIDEO

Play it here. Video runs 7 minutes, 11 seconds.

To view or embed from YouTube, click here.

Restaurants in order of appearance - click on name to see website or review:

1.Brite Spot     2.Cortez     3.Henry's Tacos
4.Steingarten LA    5.Pann's     6.Papilles Bistro
7. Mexicali     8.Dae Bok Korean Restaurant
9. Cafe Gratitude     10.Master Burger
11. Playa     12.Tony's

To see more Restaurant Nocturnes, just click on any name:

Restaurant Nocturnes I, Restaurant Nocturnes II, Restaurant Nocturnes III, Restaurant Nocturnes IV, Restaurant Nocturnes V, Restaurant Nocturnes VI, Restaurant Nocturnes VII, Restaurant Nocturnes VIII, Restaurant Nocturnes IX, Restaurant Nocturnes X, Restaurant Nocturnes XI.

Restaurant Nocturnes IX - VIDEO

From hip to haute, and old school to ethnic, The 99 Cent Chef covers it all in his latest nighttime noshery survey, Restaurant Nocturnes IX. With more than 180 different restaurants photographed here during the last two years, this unique peek into L.A.'s evening victual ritual keeps getting better over time -- like fine (but inexpensive) California red wine.

Listen in as locals order their favorites; or to a Maitre d' listing menu highlights. And feast your eyes on a vibrant array of restaurant facades lit up in nocturnal neon as patrons busily come and go. Voyeurism has never been so appetizing!  Included here is a baker's dozen (13) L.A. restaurants captured on audio and video for you to peruse from the comfort of your computer chair.

Showcased is the coolest restaurant in West Los Angeles, ink., where tattooed owner/Chef du Cuisine Michael Voltaggio dabbles in molecular gastronomy. At ink, he serves an ever-evolving five-course tasting menu for $80  (the audio captured here is from early March). Grilled Monterey Squid,  Foie Gras, Skate Wing, Beef Cheek and Carrots on a bed of Coconut Ice with a Coffee/cardamon Soil, anyone?  Then again, sometimes all you want is something simple and satisfying and cheap, like a gooey bean and cheese burrito for $2.75 from Boyle Heights.  Check out the locals feasting at Al & Bea's, where they've been stuffing and folding burritos since 1966.

Koreatown offers the freakiest sashimi dishes in LA -- as in raw, alive, squirming tentacles of octopus! Don't worry, I won't test your gag reflex with footage of that, but you will hear the proprietor of Masan Agujjim boast about the superiority of Korean "live" sushi, over the Japanese use of frozen (then thawed) fish for their sashami. (Okay if you insist, here is a YouTube video of live sliced octopus being devoured, just click here -- obviously not for the squeamish.)

Masan Agujjim

After that, you''ll want to get back to familiar comfort food, and by that I mean soul food. I live in South LA, in Baldwin Hills, so I know the cuisine very well (be sure to watch one of my favorite local restaurant video reviews here.) Check out my 35- second video clip of the newest addition to our diverse neighborhood. A frequent guest on the Food Network, Chef Govind Armstrong (of Table 8 and 8 oz. Burger Bar) just opened Post & Beam - his updated spin on traditional African-American cooking. Listen in as the hostess describes lip-smacking entrees including: Braised Boneless Beef Short Ribs, Cast Iron Natural Chicken, and Black-eyed Peas with Sweet Potato.

Or, you can get the low-down as the window order-taker, from J & J's Burger and BBQ joint on West Adams Boulevard, name checks all their succulent smoked meat highlights.

So whether you're curious about dining destinations for Japanese noodles and curry rice in Downtown LA, or Persian shish kabobs on Westwood Boulevard, I have some tasty leads in the video below.

And as usual, I give you a list (in order of appearance) of the restaurants I shot, along with links to their websites -- if they don't have one, an online review link is provided. Just click on any restaurant name in my list below. And now, fasten your seat belt for the latest video by your midnight-rambling culinary local tour guide, The 99 Cent Chef.

Restaurant Nocturnes IX

Play it here. Video runs 8 minutes, 33 seconds.

To view or embed from YouTube, click here.

Restaurants in order of appearance - click on name to see link:

1. Al & Bea's     2. Baco Mercat      3. Diakokuya Ramen 

4. Flame Persian Cuisine    5. Tar & Roses    6. Fat Spoon    

7. Guisados    8. ink.    9. J & J Burger BBQ    10. Jerry's Famous Deli    

11. Masan Agujjim    12. Post & Beam    13. Mariscos Chente

To see more Restaurant Nocturnes, just click on a name:
Restaurant Nocturnes I, Restaurant Nocturnes II, Restaurant Nocturnes III, Restaurant Nocturnes IV, Restaurant Nocturnes V, Restaurant Nocturnes VI, Restaurant Nocturnes VII, Restaurant Nocturnes VIII.

Restaurant Nocturnes VII - VIDEO

Be a fly on the restaurant wall for Restaurant Nocturnes VII, by The 99 Cent Chef. Buzz around Los Angeles to see and hear, from the maitre d's, waiters and customers themselves, what's on the menu during nighttime grazing hours.

This moveable feast takes you from the latest hip downtown spot, Spice Table, for Grilled Lamb Belly Satay, and to South L.A. for the best down-home BBQ ribs, found at Phillips -- were you are served, literally, through a hole in the wall (okay, it's a sliding glass window). No cafe is too high-class or declasse for this culinary camera-sleuth. I like nothing better than turning a city block corner to discover a cool unheralded eatery like the neon-lit Mr. Ramen -- the name says it all.

Your ears will delight to waiters' descriptions of cutting-edge cuisine, as well as classic comfort food. You'll even eavesdrop on The 99 Cent Chef taking language lessons from a fraulein at Berlin Currywurst -- you just try pronouncing Scharfe Kasewurst sometime!

If you're a raw foodie, just listen to the gourmet goodies served at vegan restaurant Cru (where it's BYOB, with no corkage), in vegetarian friendly Silverlake. Or if it's a stacked, juicy, Roast Beef sandwich you crave, then rub the ghostly elbows of  F. Scott Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday or Lenny Bruce at the oldest deli on Sunset Boulevard, Greenblatt's, serving swells since 1926.

To have your sweet tooth satiated, make sure to stop for a Lemon Meringue slice at the House of Pies in Los Feliz -- and hear the waitress give a rundown of a dozen luscious confections.

So clear the table and let The 99 Cent Chef serve a 16 course video selection of the sights and sounds of Los Angeles nighttime gastronomy.

Restaurant Nocturnes VII - Video

Play it here. The video runs 4 minutes, 20 seconds.

Restaurants in order of appearance - click on a name to see their website (or review), along with my original Twitpic link.

1. The Spice Table - twitpic,  2. Phillips BBQ - twitpic
3. Liliana's Tamales - twitpic  4. Greenblatt's Deli - twitpic
5. Berlin Currywurst - twitpic  6. Cru Vegan - twitpic 
7. Damiano Mr. Pizza - twitpic  8. Mr. Ramen - twitpic
9. El 7 Mares - twitpic  10. Farfalla - twitpic 
11. Sun Ja Jang - twitpic  12. The Tasting Kitchen - twitpic
13. Harold & Belle's - twitpic  14. The House of Pies - twitpic
15. Little Dom's - twitpic  16. Lindy & Grundy - twitpic

To see more Restaurant Nocturnes, just click on a name:
Restaurant Nocturnes I, Restaurant Nocturnes II, Restaurant Nocturnes III, Restaurant Nocturnes IV, Restaurant Nocturnes V, Restaurant Nocturnes VI.

To view or embed from youtube, click here.
99 thanks to the restaurant owners, managers, hosts, chefs, waiters, bartenders, busboys (or girls) and patrons.