Clementine: If Tomorrow Sun Doesn’t Shine…

Sometimes, days are just fan-effin’-tastic and you go through the space of 24hours with a huge grin on your face which you just can’t explain.

I woke up today to the smell of cold windy air. Bought a copy of New York magazine (special, “Best of NY” double issue), tucked it under my left arm and started my morning stroll to breakfast. Half an hour later, I stepped into Clementine (finally!) feeling as if everything really was in its right place.

Now, I had never tried to hide my contempt for the British but even with that, I know that that country has given us two good things: a) fantastic music (a la the Beatles and the Stones) and b) banoffi pie.

I’ve been having MASSIVE banoffi pie cravings lately. But that Godsent pie doesn’t seem to exist anywhere in Los Angeles (trust me – I’ve done some extensive searching about). So, I’ve had to settle with the slightly inferior banana cream pie – which is exactly what I got a slice of at Clementine ($4.50/slice). Yes – VERY fatty “breakfast.” I got myself a seat in the sun and flipped to NY magazine’s crossword puzzle. This month’s issue was definitely difficult – a slice of banoffi pie and a LARGE coffee ($3.00) later, I was still less than a quarter done with the puzzle.

(Coffee and Crossword Puzzles: One of the small joys of life)

But, to expound upon the pie – it was alright. Seriously, that was it – “alright.” The best thing was the crust (that is usually the best thing) – a concoction of crushed grahams, butter, and brown sugar. That was topped with a scanty layer of bananas, a vanilla custard filling and a blob of whipped cream. Standard stuff. But, four/five years ago, I had sold my soul to the banoffi pie so I’ve been spoilt and know that there’s a much more beautiful world beyond the mere banana cream.

But Clementine to me isn’t just about the food – it’s about the idea. It’s the sitting in the sun, listening to the conversation of the table next to me – the table of a group of twenty-somethings who are talking about their jobs and life over cups of coffee. It’s the sun that shines through the bright yellow canopy. It’s the feeling of being happy.

(The idea: a quiet morning of good people and good coffee)

And as if that weren’t enough of a great day, I treated myself to a bag of popcorn and Slumdog Millionaire at one of my favorite theaters - the Majestic Crest. There’s a reason that movie won “Best Picture.”

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I had the last class of my undergraduate career today. It’s done. Six more days and I’ll be an official graduate. Crazy innit? Thirty months I’ve spent here and it’s almost at an end. I feel so blessed – I’ve spent over two years doing what I love and I’ve met some of the best people.

Sometimes life is great JUST BECAUSE. You can never anticipate how fantastic everything can be. I never thought I’d fall in love with Yeats, that I’d be so excited to churn out a twenty page paper on Chinatown theaters, that I’d have learnt all that I did.

("Daisies are the friendliest flowers" - so I bought a bouquet today)

I know this has been an incoherent post but, I guess, all I’m trying to say is: If tomorrow sun doesn’t shine…at least I’ll have my Clementine. And I hope you will too.

FOOD: 3.75/5
SERVICE: 3.5/5
ATMOSPHERE: 4.5/5

CLEMENTINE ($/$$)
1751 Ensley Ave.
Los Angeles, CA 90024
(310) 552-1080
http://www.clementineonline.com

THE MAJESTIC CREST
1262 Westwood Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90024
(310) 474-7866
http://www.westwoodcrest.com/

Griddle Cafe: It’s cheesecake…no wait, it’s French toast…no wait…

There are only two things in the world that can make me wake up voluntarily at 7am on a holiday. One is to go on vacation (I prefer morning flights) and the other is...

Breakfast. I love breakfast food (and not only just during breakfast time. I love breakfast at any hour of the day). I will wake up at 7am and take a bus across the city if that’s what it takes to get good breakfast. No joke – Kenji and I used to always meet up for breakfast at the Flying Pan back home. And the Flying Pan was #1 on my list for breakfast. That is, until today where it’s dropped to #6 on the list. The first 5 spots are now taken by The Griddle Café.

(The magic begins with the Creme de la Creme French toast)

I. LOVE. THE. GRIDDLE. CAFÉ. Really. I love it more than I love daisies and little puppies. You know how there are some places which are really hyped up and you go with high expectations only to find that it’s really not as good as everyone says it is? Well, the Griddle Café was NOT one of those places. The Griddle Café was 100% genuine, down-to-earth, KICK-ASS food. It’s no wonder this place is such an institution.

When we walked in though, there was a mildly attractive but horribly rude waitress to greet us. She cleaned the table for us and when I smiled and said ‘thank you’, (note: though I am usually an unpleasant person, I am strangely really nice to strangers) she just looked at us, and in an impatient and pretty demanding tone, told us to “sit”. She was probably an aspiring actress who was working at the Griddle to pay the rent. I guess she was being bitchy because she didn’t get a callback…probably because she gave the audition panel attitude as well.

Bernard and I were pretty put off…that is, until our serving waitress came up to our table. Hmmm…how should I describe her? She was like the love-child of a rainbow and a beam of sunshine…not to mention, she looked like a (pretty version of) Cameron Diaz. She flitted to our table and sprinkled her magical good-service fairy dust over our heads and we were all happy again. I was soooo glad bitchy-girl wasn’t our waitress! So if you ever go to the Griddle Café and get shitty service, don’t write it off just yet – you were probably just unlucky and got the bad-egg server.

After looking through the menu (which has a huge selection…with everything – seriously, EVERYTHING – sounding really good), I decided to go with the Crème de la Crème French toast ($10.95) and Bernard got the Golden Ticket pancakes ($10.95). My French toast was amazing…like cry-worthy amazing. I’m not even being over-dramatic – I definitely felt some small tears welling up at the back of my eyes. I mean, I’m no stranger to French toast – I’ve had a fair share in my time – but this was definitely something special. Two slices of thick French toast covered with graham cracker crumbs and then topped off with powdered sugar and the magic ingredient – the Griddle Café’s cheesecake topping. It’s a cheesecake disguised as a French toast! And what I’m about to say next is completely honest – not only was this French toast better than all other French toasts I’ve had, it was also better than most cheesecakes I’ve had! Bernard’s Golden Ticket pancakes were light and fluffy, yet every bite was packed with brown-sugared bananas, caramel, streusel, and walnuts. I would’ve taken more of Bernard’s pancakes but I was just too enamored with my own French toast. I also ordered a pot of their dark roast French-pressed coffee ($3.35) which came in a French-press to keep at the table. The coffee was so friggin’ awesome and was especially good for washing down all that sweet sweet sugar. If you like coffee – DEFINITELY try their French-pressed coffee. Yes, it’s a little pricey but you get a whole pot to yourself (with complimentary refills).

(The MONSTER-sized Golden Ticket pancakes could hardly fit on the plate!)

Word of warning: portions are big large huge FUCKING GARGANTUAN. There should be a law against the sizes they serve up. Just one slice of my toast was bigger than two slices of what they serve at most other places. Even with that, the size of the French toast didn’t seem that ridiculous anymore when compared to the pancakes. The pancakes must have been at least 10” across…and there were THREE to a plate. The food here is dirt cheap when you consider the portion sizes (seriously, we could live off the leftovers for the next 3 days). You can tell that the restaurant EXPECTS people to box up their food because there was a giant shelf of white take-away boxes near the kitchen. A couple sitting near us grinned when they saw Bernard admit defeat to his pancakes and told us, “we’ve been here a few times so we’ve learnt to only order one to split”. Smart people. One of their pancake servings could probably feed a family of 5.

The atmosphere was great. Some reviews said the place can seem a bit pretentious, since it’s a popular hangout for scenesters but we were there at around 9am on a weekday morning so the scenesters were still probably in bed, passed out from last night’s partAy. Instead, the place was filled with people who genuinely like good food (my favorite kind of people) and if you enjoy the blues (think Robert Johnson), you’ll extra-love the Griddle Café. There was no wait when we got there but by the time we left the place (around 9.45am), a line was already beginning to form outside. I also heard crazy stories about the lines at weekends. So, take a tip from me – go before 9.30 on a weekday and you’ll have a ball.

Our final bill came out to $30 for two people (plus a big tip for Cameron Diaz-waitress, NOT bitchy-waitress). Again, dirt cheap for the amount and quality of food we got. Bernard and I could have ordered something to share and that would’ve probably cost less than $15 between us. Oh well, at least we’re educated for when we visit again (and you can be sure as hell we’ll visit again!)

FOOD: 5/5
SERVICE: hit-or-miss
ATMOSPHERE: 4.5/5

The Griddle Cafe ($$)
7916 W Sunset Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90046


*Random note: I bought some yellow roses today and they are B-E-A-UTIFUL!! They should be in full bloom in a day or two...I'm so excited :)

(All you need is love...and a bunch of yellow roses to brighten up a room)