Ok, so you all know about the Grilled Cheese Invitational this Saturday at Los Angeles Center Studios in the warehouse district of downtown. (Right?) You should probably get your tickets now, because they’ll be more expensive at the door.

Of course there’s also LA Metblogs’ Classic Eats, Saturday evening, visiting Johnny’s Pastrami and the Apple Pan;

[edit--just remembered this one!] There’s also the US Air Guitar Championships at the Troubadour on Saturday;

But there’s also the LA Times Festival Of Books on both Saturday & Sunday at UCLA;

Unique LA’s amazing extravaganza of creativity (read our own Queequeg’s post on it here for more info–both Sat & Sun);

The Vintage Clothing Expo (Sat & Sun) allows ample opportunity for clotheshounds to geek out over vintage hats and 50s sundresses;

The TCM Classic Film Festival actually started yesterday and runs through Sunday at many of Hollywood’s most historic theatres, from the Chinese to the Egyptian, showing everything from A Star Is Born to Casablanca to 2001 and The Day Of the Triffids;

The Nuestra Tierra Conference happens Saturday at Olvera Street, commemorating Olvera St’s 80th anniversary, with environmental workshops, bands, mariachi, Aztec dancing and environmental speakers plus a tasty dessert fundraiser;

If you want lots of free junk, visit Fiesta Broadway downtown on Sunday; there will be lots of performers, but as LA Eastside has discovered, it’s mostly an opportunity for sponsors to give away lots of free samples of their products.

Then on Monday The Foundry On Melrose is hosting a “Happy Hour For Hunger,” a home-run if I ever heard one: from 6-10pm you can get one of Chef Greenspan’s epic gorditas and a handcrafted Latin-inspired cocktail.

Have fun campers!

The voter turnout was not very high, but a decision, with 51% of the vote, has been made! We will hit the Westside this Saturday, April 24. Here’s the plan:

5:00pm at Johnnie’s Pastrami for some outdoor lounging near their firepit, some meaty meat sandwiches and apparently chili cheese fries to melt for. (I’ll be saving up my weight watchers points for the rest of the week!) If you recently tried the pastrami at Langer’s, then you can make an official comparison.

6:30 or 7 we will mosey over to the Apple Pan for dessert. The Apple Pan will be a tad tricky as it is not a small place and seating will be hard to come by. We may need to order “to-go” and eat our pie on the sidewalk outside. No matter what, it will be a great time!

Important Fact for both establishments: they take CASH ONLY!

Johnnie’s Pastrami
4017 Sepulveda Blvd
Culver City, CA 90230

Apple Pan
10801 West Pico Boulevard
Los Angeles, CA 90064

See you on Saturday!

Saturday April 24 is Classic Eats #10 and you can keep voting! Polls will close on Monday.

Westside Counter Intelligence is pulling away from the pack!

Click here to vote for Classic Eats #10.

The options are:

1) Classic Eats #2 REPLAY – Downtown Delights: Traxx at Union Station and Phillipe’s.

2) Hot Dogs and Hamburgers: Papoo’s Hot Dog Show and Bob’s Big Boy.

3) Westside Counter Intelligence (with a respectful nod to Jonathan Gold for that title): Johnnie’s Pastrami and The Apple Pan.

Click past the jump for more info on all of our choices.

Read the rest of this entry →

Saturday April 24 is Classic Eats #10 and the polls are still open.

Downtown Delights-Replay and Westside Counter Intelligence are neck and neck!

Click here to vote for Classic Eats #10!

The options are:

1) Classic Eats #2 REPLAY – Downtown Delights: Traxx at Union Station and Phillipe’s.

2) Hot Dogs and Hamburgers: Papoo’s Hot Dog Show and Bob’s Big Boy.

3) Westside Counter Intelligence (with a respectful nod to Jonathan Gold for that title): Johnnie’s Pastrami and The Apple Pan.

Click past the jump for more info on all of our choices.

Read the rest of this entry →

Saturday April 24 is Classic Eats #10 and no matter who you vote for, it’s going to be a doozy! You may have noticed by now that Classic Eats is not for the faint of heart of weak of stomach. These are not evenings with many (if any) veggie options — this is food made old school. Be prepared!

This being our 10th anniversary, I wanted to bring back one of the earliest evenings we had as a choice on our ballot. The other two choices are new and will be oh so awesome.

The options are:

1) Classic Eats #2 REPRISE – Downtown Delights: Traxx at Union Station and Phillipe’s. This was one of the funnest nights we had! Great group of people, we could walk to Phillipe’s from Union Station, great company, great food, great architecture, great signage.

2) Hot Dogs and Hamburgers: Papoo’s Hot Dog Show and Bob’s Big Boy. We can start at Papoo’s and then have dessert at Bob’s. Or not. You do it however you like.

3) Westside Counter Intelligence (with a respectful nod to Jonathan Gold for that title): Johnnie’s Pastrami and The Apple Pan. Seating being oh so very limited at the Apple Pan that I figured, eat at Johnnie’s, then pie at the Apple Pan. Or not. You can eat whatever, wherever you want. I’m not the boss of you!

As ever,we’ll start early, around 5pm the first location, then about an hour or two later we’ll mosey to the 2nd location. More details when the votes are in. The polls are open now and will stay open until Monday, April 19th.

Click here to vote for Classic Eats #10!

Click past the jump for more info on all of our choices.

Read the rest of this entry →

Classic Eats #10 is upon us and that date is Saturday April 24.

Mark your calendars for a very special evening and look for a post in the not to distant future about what our very special options will be. I want to celebrate our 10th Classic Outing in style.

Thanks to the great gang of folks who came out to Classic Eats Number 9! We started the adventure at Roscoe’s House of Chicken and Waffles. We squeezed 13 of us around a table for 10 and proceeded to plow into some monochromatic waffly goodness. Mmmm, waffles and fried chicken!

Much fun and laughter was had by all and after we rolled ourselves down the street to our cars, most of us joined up again at Boardner’s to look at their appetizer menu and laugh.

Alas, I forgot to grab my good camera so I only have a few iphone snaps, but clicky on past the jump to see more. And if you were there and took a few pics, post a link in the comments if you can!

Thanks again for the great turn out. Soon it will be Classic Eats #10 — a milestone!

Read the rest of this entry →

Just a gentle reminder to prepare yourselves for the awesomesauceness that will be Roscoe’s House of Chicken and Waffles and Boardner’s!

The details again:

5:00pm meet up at Roscoe’s on Gower. Eat some tasty chicken and waffle goodness, try not to spill maple syrup on yourself.

6:30 (or so) head over to Boardner’s for a post chicken COCKtail (get it?!?), some great Hollywood history and look for the ghost of the Black Dahlia in this classic Hollywood bar.

Roscoe’s House of Chicken and Waffles
1514 N. Gower (at Sunset)
323-466-7453

Boardner’s
1652 N. Cherokee (at Hollywood)
323-462-9621

I’ll be there with the Classic Eats signage, looking forward to seeing you all!

This Saturday, February 27 will be a Hot Hollywood Night! Your votes have been counted and the winner is Roscoe’s Chicken and Waffles with a follow up trip to Boardner’s! Roscoe’s won with 48% of the vote, the other two contenders splitting the rest evenly at about 25% each. Clearly you all are jonesing for some fried, maple goodness and I can’t say I blame you as I voted for Roscoe’s as well.

Here’s the plan for Saturday:

5:00pm meet up at Roscoe’s on Gower. Eat some tasty chicken and waffle goodness, try not to spill maple syrup on yourself.

6:30 (or so) head over to Boardner’s for a post chicken COCKtail (get it?!?), some great Hollywood history and look for the ghost of the Black Dahlia in this classic Hollywood bar.

Roscoe’s House of Chicken and Waffles
1514 N. Gower (at Sunset)
323-466-7453

Boardner’s
1652 N. Cherokee (at Hollywood)
323-462-9621

Did you know Roscoe’s has a Facebook Fan Page?  You do now!

Thanks for voting and see you all there!

The Polls are still open for Classic Eats #9. Click here to vote! The voting will remain open until Monday, February 22 when all will be decided. Classic Eats is scheduled for Saturday, February 27.

The current leader is: Hot Hollywood Night with 48% of the vote.

The options are:

Hot Hollywood Night: Roscoe’s Chicken and Waffles and Boardner’s
Burbank Bonanza: The Smokehouse
Westside Alka-Seltzer Fest: Tito’s Tacos and Johnnie’s Pastrami

As ever, we’ll start around 5pm so you can stop in then move on to the rest of your Saturday evening events. Or stay all night!

Clicky past the jump to read more about each.

Read the rest of this entry →

Classic Eats #9 is Saturday, February 27 and the polls are still open. Click here to vote!

The options are:

Hot Hollywood Night: Roscoe’s Chicken and Waffles and Boardner’s
Burbank Bonanza: The Smokehouse
Westside Alka-Seltzer Fest: Tito’s Tacos and Johnnie’s Pastrami

Currently Hot Hollywood Night is in the lead with 40% of the vote. Clearly people want their Roscoe’s!

As ever, we’ll start around 5pm so you can stop in then move on to the rest of your Saturday evening events. Or stay all night!

Clicky past the jump to read more about each.

Read the rest of this entry →

Classic Eats #9 is scheduled for Saturday, February 27. Where shall it be?

Our three options:

Hot Hollywood Night: Roscoe’s Chicken and Waffles and Boardner’s

Burbank Bonanza: The Smokehouse

Westside Alka-Seltzer Fest: Tito’s Tacos and Johnnie’s Pastrami

As ever, we’ll start around 5pm so you can stop in then move on to the rest of your Saturday evening events. Or stay all night!

Click here to vote!

Looking forward to seeing you all soon!

Read the rest of this entry →

Thanks to everyone who made Classic Eats #8 a smashing success! What a great way to start the Classic Eats New Year!

We started at Langers at 2:30, Metblogs signage in hand. We waited for a few minutes until Mr. Langer himself came out to greet us, then we were bumped ahead of the line (sorry!) to a table that expanded to hold 16 of us!  We gorged on delicious sandwiches then some of us moved on to Cole’s at 6th and Main.

It was a great time, great stories, lots of history and delicious food!

Save the date for Classic Eats #9: February  27.

Click past the jump to see more photos and hear more about the afternoon/evening.

Read the rest of this entry →

Quick reminder that we’ll (hopefully) see a lot of you tomorrow, Saturday, January 23rd at 2:30pm at Langer’s. They know we are coming and are very excited about it. LA Metblogs Classic Eats is at the top of their news page!

When close down Langer’s at 4pm (when they close), we’ll proceed to Cole’s around 4:30 – 5pm where you can either eat more deli meats or have an early cocktail or two. We’re not fussy.

What then: Some people may be off to the Derby Dolls, some people may stick around. It’s entirely up to you!

Can’t wait!

Langer’s
Cole’s

The voting is now closed and the winner, showing a clear mandate for pastrami, is the Downtown Deli Smack Down! 67% of the 61 votes went to the Langer’s and Cole’s event. Let’s go to the details:

What day: (this) Saturday, January 23rd

What time: 2:30pm start at Langer’s for what Jonathan Gold calls the best pastrami in the country and Langer’s themselves call best in the world.  When we get kicked out of Langer’s at 4pm (when they close), we’ll proceed to Cole’s around 5pm where you can either eat more deli meats or have an early cocktail or two. We’re not fussy.

What then: Some people may be off to the Derby Dolls, some people may stick around. It’s entirely up to you!

Langer’s has been family owned since 1947 and serves what many people say is the best pastrami in the country. Let’s find out! (Langer’s is old school and closes at 4pm so we’d need to get there early.) Cole’s has been around since 1908 and recently went through a refurbish and kind of rebirth. Some of you think it’s a great thing, some of you don’t. Put your vote where you opinion is and let’s see how well that $1.6million was spent.

Langer’s
Cole’s

Looking forward to the first Classic Eats of 2010!