Small Town Eatin'

Green Leaves is the cheap, humble, crunchy, veggie-friendly alternative to… pretty much anything else in walking distance. The service? Preternaturally friendly. The level of pretension? I've seen bus-station grills with less thought-out interior design. The prices? Hovering around diner-level. A menu that's not branded, but rather expanded--everything from "Rock and Roll Noodles" (they're wide as a freeway) to previously undiscovered pancakes and other unique breakfast-for-whichever-time-you-come-through options. (I'm into the tropical pancakes.) If you have to spend over seven bones on lunch, you're bad at math. Green Leaves is young, and still finding its way. If you're a strict vegan, tell the waiter (and also the cook, if you can) before you order--as long as you're not an unapologetic assache, they'll keep the cheese off you. Whatever else it's got, it's got the drop on anyone else in Los Feliz who wants to play "recession-friendly." If you're from a small town, it's like a trip home without the stomach ache.

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Restaurants • Los Feliz

Back to the Future

Downtown Torrance, otherwise known as Old Torrance, is something of an enigma. At one point in the previous century it was the classic "American Graffiti" place for the youngsters to hang out. It's chock full of vintage signage and Eisenhower-era relics like Foster's Freeze, Fox's Drugs, and the Torrance Bakery. Now, despite revitalization attempts and a few well respected restaurants, its mostly diurnal population is anything but the hip crowd one would see strolling along Melrose. But many of the necessary raw ingredients for impending hipster takeover are present, and The Red Car Brewery deserves to be counted as one of them. It's independently owned; has old, atmospheric "reclaimed" architecture; serves its own satisfactory microbrews; and isn't located at the Del Amo Fashion Center. It's what would happen if you drained all of the PF Chang's out of BJ's. The food is fresh, flavorful, and simple--but certainly not braindead. Become a regular now, and in twenty years you'll be able to say "I was hanging out there before Old Torrance became cool."

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Restaurants • Torrance South

Treasure This Place

Spicy BBQ features great food in a low-key LA mini-mall setting. The northern-Thai dishes here are really off the hook. I can not recommend the Northern Thai Egg Noodles (Khao soi) enough! The other dishes I have tried so far from the northern-Thai section of the menu include the spicy jackfruit, the pork dip and the pork salad and they are all really good too. Jonathan Gold mentions the pork patties in his review and I will have to try those next time I eat there. There is no keeping me away from this place which I honestly consider a neighborhood treasure. The dining area is small; a lot of people come by to pick up their to-go orders too.

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Restaurants • Los Feliz

Not Just For Students

Any food court is good news to me so I am don't mind venturing into this USC world to enjoy eclectic international food. There really is a wide variety of cuisine here including Thai, Korean, Mexican, Italian, Indian, Middle-Eastern, and more. Many of the stalls open around 9 or 10 in the morning and close around 8 pm, so its not just a lunch place. If you are looking for a sandwich (for lunch or dinner) I recommend a trip to Sandwich Island!. The things I like about this food court are the bustle (its always crowded when I've been here), the spacious high ceilings, and the affordable prices at some of the vendors. Not many people outside of USC know about this place; if you are in the area its a great location for a quick bite.

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Restaurants • South Central East

Why Elliot Why?

Stephen Paul "Elliot" Smith wrote some painful, painful music. Nothing in his catalogue can be heard passively--to listen to Smith's records is to behold and absorb the hopeless agony that, uh, his characters felt. Smith grew up in the South and made his name in the Pacific Northwest, but he died in LA. Supposedly from self-inflicted a stab wound to his chest. Which is a tad suspicious. Aren't there martial artists that spend their whole lives learning to do something like that? No one is quite sure what really happened, and Silverlake has not gotten over Smith's death--he's still the Smokey Robinson of the protracted breakup. This swirly mural, which was featured on the cover of his 2000 LP Figure 8, has become a living shrine, with flowers and graffiti. Figure 8 includes the song "Easy Way Out," which is, going-on nine years after Smith's early exit, still confusing as all hell.

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Landmarks • Los Feliz