The Red Lion Tavern in Silver Lake is a German Gasthaus and Beer Garden that was established in 1959 as an English pub. When the ownership changed in 1963, it took on its German theme. There’s food, lots of beer, and atmosphere at the Red Lion. Come out this Saturday, November 19th at 6:30pm to have a bite to eat, a drink, and hang out with writers and readers of Blogging.la. If you missed a chance to celebrate Oktoberfest, now you can!

Classic Eats #15
Saturday, November 19th at 6:30pm

Red Lion Tavern
2366 Glendale Blvd 
Los Angeles, CA 90039-3209

The Red Lion Tavern is about 5 miles north of downtown L.A. It’s located just south of Silver Lake Boulevard. Limited parking is available in lots on either side of the building. There is also plenty of street parking in the vicinity. Leave a comment or drop me a line if you plan to attend so I know how many seats to snag.

Waiter: Will there be anything else for you this evening? Moon: No thanks. I'm totally full.

Coming in a close second to my deathless obsession with measuring rainfall, is my never-ending crush on the moon, particularly when it hitsa your eye like a bigga pizza pie, such as last night’s full version. So after this morning’s pre-dawn dog walk I situated my 60x spotting scope on the porch (illustrated after the jump), got my point-and-shoot all up in its viewfinder and managed to hold everything steady long enough to land this big fella at 6:31 a.m., juuuust before it got tangled up in the frontyard tree branches and power lines (click to enormify).

As Will mentioned this weekend the meadow on the north eastern side of the Silver Lake Reservoir was finally opened to the public. Threats of it’s opening have been floating around for years, so when I confirmed this was legit I scooped up the family and ran over to check it out. The meadow itself is pretty fantastic actually. It’s a wide open and the grass is thick and lush – fun to roll around in and stuff.

For the moment anyway – while there are signs posted at every entrance stating that no dogs are allowed at any point (and the actual dag park is just a few steps away on the southern tip of the reservoir) people are either not noticing them or just outright ignoring them. We were there for about half hour, maybe 45 minutes and during that time there was an endless stream of people and their dogs walking through the meadow. Actually, just a few walking through – most of them were running around in the grass and pooping and peeing and generally dogging the place up. I give it a week or two until all the grass is dead and there are poop lamdmines every 5 feet.

This is why we can’t have nice things.

If there hadn’t been an election this past Tuesday and if my polling place had been in its usual Sunset Boulevard location east of Silver Lake Boulevard next door to the Happy Foot/Sad Foot sign (instead of at the free clinic at Micheltorena), I wouldn’t've walked past the long-awaited David Cafe — in the works since October 2009 — and seen that it had indeed finally opened.

UPDATED (3/13): Added photo of window-posted menu at end.

As such my wife Susan and I enthusiastically ventured in for breakfast this morning, excited to finally have an eatery option available to us on our south side of Sunset that would complement Tropical Cafe, and bring things a little less out of balance with  the exceptional array of restaurants established in the vicinity’s north side, including Local, Aroma, Pho, Rambutan, Gobi and Cowboys & Turbans, and to a lesser degree Tom’s.

David is situated in what was the existentially surreal and  long-standing mystery that was LA Chinese Food (site of a Dangerous Dining experiment between myself and Losanjealous’ inimitable Ryan back in The Year Of Our Pepto, 2006), and is the offshoot product of David Sutton who runs a catering service of the same name.

Sutton earned my respect in harkening back to the space’s past by incorporating a new neon sign onto the faded LA Chinese Food shingle. Rather than painting over the old thing or doing away with it entirely, beneath the glow of the “David” he installed you can still make out the weathered lettering of its predecessor, and from that I anticpated the new eatery’s arrival. And anticipated. And anticipated.

Eighteen months later, David is here, and Susan and I sat down within the bright and engaging space (panorama’d above) to huevos rancheros crepes and a chicken and waffle sandwich, pictured at right (with two coffees and a large fresh-squeezed OJ the total came to $29).

I so want to report that the food blew us away, but the truth is it was just good.  Susan found her’s to be a little bland, and while I found the chicken flavorful (if a bit overfried), this waffle nut felt there was just too much waffle going on in large part because it was rather dry augmented only with a tasty homemade jam/syrup when it should’ve also been supplemented with some butter and good ol’ maple syrup. Roscoe’s will not be losing any customers over this option.

In both dishes it seemed to be a case of trying to simultaneously be a little too fancy and a little too safe, but I don’t chalk that up as a negative so much as to a new restaurant that’s still testing and seeing what works — and I’m more than willing to return again and again and  find out if they’re working things out.

David Cafe
2852 Sunset Boulevard, LA 90026 (nearest cross street: Parkman Avenue)
Open for breakfast, lunch
Cash only (temporarily)

Menu (readably biggable when clickified):

Honest to goodness celebrities: Kevin O'Connor and Norm Abram

When you hear Reality Show you might first think of Survivor or American Idol, Top Chef or Project Runway. If you are a fan of PBS you probably think of the first and finest reality show of them all: This Old House. And after nearly 30 years on the air, TOH has come to Los Angeles for its first ever LA remodel. (Watch the video sneak peak here.)

You might find it hard to believe that there is actually anything “old” in LA to renovate, right? Since we are famous for our facelifts and all. This sweet Spanish Revival house in Silver Lake is getting more of a “gentle spa treatment” than an “ass-fat injection to the cheekbones” operation. The original two bedroom, one bath floorplan was fine for the married couple when they moved in 12 years ago, but now with two small kids, it was time for more space and more bathrooms.

This Old House is about education and part of every house redo series includes stories of the local craftspeople who work on various details of the house. Look for visits to the tile company that recreates 30′s style tile for the bathrooms and kitchen, the iron workers making new wrought iron and the roofers who reuse the old roof tiles and tell you the history of how these 70 year old tiles were originally made. TOH will also visit Frank Lloyd Wright houses and Richard Neutra sites so we can all see that LA actually has some awesome architectural street cred.

The homeowners Kurt and Mary were not looking for the limelight (far from it), but were very pleased to have their general contractor approach them to be part of the show. What better record of your home remodel than a full documentation on This Old House? Plus you get to meet master carpenter Norm Abram!! (Seriously that guy rocks the woodwork.)

This Old House: The Los Angeles Project begins airing on KOCE this Thursday (1/27) at 7:00pm. (Check your local listings as different cable/dish providers may have a different schedule.)

Kevin, Norm, Mary and Kurt (Homeowners), Steve Pallrand (General Contractor)

(All Photos by Image Group LA and used with permission by This Old House.)

(Full disclosure: I am friends with the homeowners, but sadly I have not met Norm.)

One of the things I love about living in Los Angeles is the constant discovery of new-to-me things. I recently visited a friend in Silver Lake. I parked on St. George Street near Rowena, as I almost always had, but saw something I’d never seen before. (I think it was always dark). What caught my eye was the Rowena Reservoir, referred to as “Fantasy Island” by locals. It’s beautiful! I drove around it to see where to enter and found the gate. It was locked as the public is not allowed into this oasis.

While I failed miserably and absolutely in my intentions to pitch in, thankfully there were enough of my neighbors who got involved and stayed involved and enlisted others that gave of themselves.  And it all culminated yesterday with an official ribbon-cutting ceremony attended by City Councilman Eric Garcetti, who spoke eloquently about the importance of projects such as this.

Pictured above in the front row flanking the giant-scissor-bearing councilman are Julie Hansen and Ara Babian to Garcetti’s right, with Leon Kaye and John Southern to his left. Southern is holding a certificate of appreciation presented by the city’s Office of Community Beautification.

To make up for my lack of volunteer participation in the park’s creation, I’ll be helping maintain it with monthly visits to remove the inevitable trash that will accumulate. In addition, I plan to utilize it as a new gathering point for any future group bike rides I may host since it’s one that’s a lot pleasant than the parking lot at Silversun Plaza, what with its liquor store’s cranky bike-hating proprietor.

More info on the nonprofit Parkman Triangle Group is here, and below is  a pic of the space: