Welcome to DiningInLA.com! We eat, write, think and take in the spectacular, sexy, occasionally seedy but never-stagnant qualities of our city.

We live in Silver Lake, over on the northeastern side of things, and slowly we're building our culinary experiences. We branch into adjoining areas as well as L.A. itself. Select a Category on the right to get started.

Got a place we need to try? Leave a comment or click the Contact link above to suggest new places to tickle and tantalize our taste buds (but don't use silly restaurant-review-style sentences like that last one).

Dave and Bianca

A Solid Pizza Place With Some Good Ideas
5211 Lankershim Blvd. (@ Magnolia)
Phone: 818-980-2949 | map | website

It's got one of those logos that makes Orange County breweries and Las Vegas restaurants gibber with glee, inspired by Russian propaganda flyers or "Made with American Know-How!" posters from the '50s. Normally this makes a restaurant into a terribly mainstream, corporate entity. But Pitfire's pretty good, and there are only three of them (the others are on 2nd Street & Main; and Westwood Blvd.). The interior is all brick and signage and corrugated steel and aluminum air conditioning tubing, if you're into the industrial thing.

They do pizza, and pasta, and salads, all that sort of thing, but make a point of fresh ingredients. Toppings like soprasetta, gorgonzola cheese and onion marmalade can share a crust along with the classics like pepperoni and roasted garlic. You order, they bring it to you.

I've tried the folded Fennel Sausage Pizza (sausage, pepperoni, mushrooms, tomato sauce cruda, mozzarella). I don't know why it's folded, but it is, and sliced into three pieces. A passable caesar salad peeks from underneath, but I'd just as soon have the salad on the side, to avoid warming up the lettuce and getting a bit of caesar dressing on the underside of my pizza.

Even the veggie pizza is not the sad collection of the usual "don't they have one without meat?" fare: they're roasted with arugula, charred tomatoes, feta, pesto and a blend of four cheeses.

They have green tea! In a tall metal dispenser! It's from Gold Peak, I think, which isn't ideal, but at least it's dark and cloudy and isn't sweetened with honey, thank Senju Kannon*.

There's a large patio area with umbrellas. The view isn't much--the corporate buildings along Lankershim and Magnolia--but you're eating gourmet pizza outside.

*The goddess of mercy with a thousand arms. You know.

A Bit of Mexico City at Fairfax & Third
Farmers Market L.A. - Stall #322
6333 West Third Street (@ Fairfax)
Phone: 323-930-2211 | map | website

It was another one of those close-on-the-heels-of-last-night Saturdays, where nothing but some Mexican taco stand style fare will do. Breakfast or lunch will stand on the edge of your bodily interior, say "tsk," and get to work revitalizing yourself.

So in search of something of Mexican descent, we threaded our way through the summery Farmers Market on 3rd and Fairfax, edging our way into the eternal line of people waiting under the ¡Loteria! awning. The walls and counter are painted with bright cards* in a tile pattern. The owner was born and grew up in Mexico, and brought back a lot of recipes, much to our pleasure. We ordered, shuffled into the other crowd of people waiting for their food, then wandered aimlessly until we found a table that wasn't too sun-baked.

It's quite worth it. ¡Loteria! Grill is flexible and creative with its menu, putting nearly anything you want into anything you want, and offering a bunch of sides to fill up the corners. The tacos are smallish but piled high on a white corn tortilla; the carne deshebrada (shredded beef) taco is almost billowy in texture, a comfortable thing to devour in two or three bites if you're careful with your fingers. The burritos are much bigger, requiring a fork, and the enchiladas are a nice in-between.

The carnitas en salsa morito is more smoky than spicy, but the cochinita pibil (pork slow-roasted in banana leaves) is velvet with an orange bite. Chicken is also done with flair at the grill, coming in a mole poblano sauce, stewed with chipotle peppers and chorizo, or in a spicy pumpkin seed and peanut sauce.

They have things to go with your taco- or burrito-centered meal, like plantains, black beans and white or green (mint) rice. The chips, if not overly warm, are fresh and come with a thick red-leather-colored salsa, reminiscent of the salsa wizardry available at Malo, and which makes you glad you have a cup of cold but mouth-squeezingly tart jamaica at hand.

They serve breakfast all day too, so the next time I work my way over to the Farmers Market I'm thinking I might have to eye the chilaquiles or the eggs scrambled with chorizo...

* ¡Loteria! is based on a Mexican game of chance that's a bit like bingo played on 54 Tarot-esque cards, hence the wall decorations. I always wanted my own deck of those cards; I think I'll go hunting on Olvera Street soon.

This Is Low-Carb, right?
1514 N. Gower Street (Hollywood location)
Phone: 323-466-7453 | map | website

God bless Herb Hudson.

Does this seem like an odd mix of foods to you? It shouldn't. It's an old combination, maybe from the late 1700s. And anyway, the concept of letting typically breakfast vs. dinner foods slide together in a hazy late-night ritual is perfectly appropriate for nocturnally oriented urban residents.

You can find better fried chicken. You can find better waffles. You cannot find a better combination than what they do here. Sweet + Fried == Synthesis of Homeric greatness. The chicken brings memories, fried chicken that rings true. Bianca even eats the skin, and Bianca never eats fried chicken skin. The waffles are large, flat and dense, not the cookie-cutter fluffy round affairs every other breakfast restaurant offers. Cut a bite of chicken, cut a bite of waffle, impale them both, dip in syrup, and begin your gentle self-torment.

I like the Sunrise (orange juice and lemonade), bright and eye-opening. The Sunset (fruit punch and lemonade) throws Bianca back to seven years old, sipping from a cup held in with both hands on a hot South Central L.A. or Detroit porch.

There are sides, if you're careful enough to keep your poultry and batter intake down. The greens are dripping and robust, made for generous shakes of the hot sauce and drinking down the juice afterward. The mac & cheese is baked, slightly puckery and crumbly. Proper. There is also hot water corn bread for simplicity.

After you've pushed yourself away from the table, the rest of your day is like starting from a dead stop in fourth gear. With the air conditioning on.

The Roscoe's on Gower is, I believe, the original 1976 location. Parking is not comfortable, nor easy. There's also another spot on Pico, in Inglewood (on Manchester), in Pasadena (on Lake), and in Long Beach (on Broadway), which has a jazz bar connected with it.

Hmm... their website is totally one of those bought-online Flash templates, or I'm no Web designer.

Note from Bianca: Church.

An Old Standby
2300 Fletcher Drive (where Glendale swoops into Rowena)
Phone: 323-663-9241 | map | website

So there's Astro Diner on Fletcher, and a sister restaurant named Jan's. Both are named after the owners' daughters Jan and Maria, except that Maria was nicknamed Astro, so there you go. And don't confuse Astro Diner with either of the two Astro Burgers on Melrose and Santa Monica. Stay with me.

During the morning Astro is like any other diner: waitresses in tight skirts, hurrying about with plates heavy with pancakes and other breakfast sundries. The seats are a comfortable green like the chlorophyll gum one used to get from machines in Howard Johnson's restaurants.

At night, which is when we usually go ("it's after eleven, I'm dressed like crap. Astro? Astro."), and that's when they have an unusual waitstaff. I'm not talking punk haircuts and tats; that's just L.A. I mean there's an older gentleman with heroically Grecian-formulaed hair and an impossible-to-place accent; a vivacious cha cha girl with pigtails who still looks like she's down to party; a shy older Asian lady who you have to be a little patient with. There is always a frail man perched cross-legged at the bar, whose relationship with Astro is uncertain. A little basket of Melba Toast (!) packets and crackers will be placed on your table for mysterious reasons.

What cements Astro as one of our late-night spots is the music. While Brite Spot plays Dylan, Hendrix and Doors, Astro plays those '70s Caucasian soft-rock love songs that are so embarrassing yet so slick*. Many's the time that I heard something and ran home to write it down so I could buy it and complete my yacht-rock lifestyle.

Ahem. Proceeding: the food is very solidly coffee shop, and nothing far beyond what should be expected. Brilliant? No. Reliable? Yes. There's a bit of Mediterranean, a hint of Mexican, a shrug of Italian, some vegetarian, a few healthy options (meaning chicken breast and cottage cheese, I'm afraid) and you should probably concentrate on their salads, burgers and sandwiches. Your salad will somehow always have fresh lettuce (I ask for it without beets, and dressing on the side).

The turker burger passes, but may need a couple shakes of Tapatio (there's always condiment bottles on your table). There's also a Gourmet Sandwich: ham, swiss, tomatoes and onions grilled on sourdough, and Astro does the slightly-buttered-and-toasted thing properly. The Riviera is turkey and bacon with avocado and tomatoes, also grilled on sourdough. The Monte Cristo is what you'd expect: ham, turkey, jack cheese dipped in egg batter and grilled. The milkshakes don't come with that wonderful cold metal tin from which you try to spoon out ice creamy goodness without spattering yourself, but they're good enough.

* Examples? I don't mean ABBA, Starland Vocal Band or Air Supply. That's too easy. I'm talking about Paul Davis' "I Go Crazy" and Jay Ferguson's "Thunder Island." I mean Walter Egan's "Magnet & Steel." Starbuck's "Moonlight Feels Right." Marty Balin's "Hearts." I know my AM Gold.