We’re planning some meals for an upcoming visit – we’ll be staying in the La Brea area and are wondering about a couple of restaurants. Has anyone tried Wirtshaus? Looking at the menu, it looks like the real deal: http://www.wirtshausla.com/ Or should we drive over to Red Lion?
Also, I’m sure there’s better Indian if we drive to Pasadena or Lawndale, but we’d like to minimize our driving somewhat. Does anyone have experience with the nearby Crown of India? Crown of India Restaurant Menu | Tandoori Specialties
Wirsthaus is more new school German compared to super old school stuff at Red Lion.
I don’t know how often you visit LA…but neither place seems particularly worth going out of your way to eat at when in LA.
La Brea is a rather large street, so I’m not sure what the “LA Brea area” refers to exactly, but you can eat at Republique, Odys & Penelope, Inaka, and Bludo’s without even leaving the street. And there’s tons more incredible LA dining just off LA Brea in various areas.
If you want to eat good/interesting Indian food with semi-minizing driving, I’d say you should check out Badmaash in downtown.
La Brea & Beverly, roughly. We visit every few months or so. Poor options for German food here in Vegas, so we crave it once in a while. (We love Jagerhaus, but won’t be anywhere near Anaheim.) Badmaash looks great – I’d forgotten about that place, and downtown is close enough.
Thanks for the other suggestions, but we have numerous other visits lined up already – Fish Grill, Ta-Eem, Sycamore Kitchen, Monte Alban, L’Assiette, and of course the obligatory stop at Langer’s on the way out of town, among others. Howlin’ Ray’s if we get lucky on the lines. BBQ probably isn’t on the list for this visit, but we prefer Maple Block in any case.
Badmaash is great. If downtown isn’t too far, you might also consider Culver City. There are a bunch of great Indian places, including my current favorite, Abhiruchi Grill on Venice at Westwood.
Also, Anarbagh in Beverly Hills has really solid Indian food.
I live a few blocks from Abhiruchi Grill. I’ve eaten their twice. I enjoyed the food. However, the service was strange: Once the owner asked us at least five times if we liked the food, then offered a 5% discount if we would check in on Yelp. Both times we’ve eaten there, they’ve asked us to pay the tip in cash instead of on a credit card.
Tara’s Himalayan (a few blocks down the street) serves some of the same dishes as Abhiruchi Grill. I’ve liked the ones I’ve tried both better at Tara’s Himalayan (salt lassi, tikka masala). In fact, I like the tikka masala sauce at Tara’s better than any other rendition I’ve had. I once asked the waiter for the recipe. He said that it’s time consuming as they cook the onions separately from the tomatoes then mix them together.
Oh yeah, if you love Jagerhaus, you will be disappointed by both Wirsthaus and Red Lion imo. Neither compare favorably to Jagerhaus, though that is my personal palate as a German I suppose.
You’re not going to get lucky on Howlin’ Ray’s lines, they’re 3 hours every day.
When are you showing up though, I sometimes grab extras for people into food when in line who happen to be in town.
I used to prefer Maple Block as well, and mostly Maple Block is awesome, but Kevin Bludso closed his Compton place down and practically lives at his La Brea outpost. Now his brisket is outrageously good, and his hot links alone might warrant a trip to Bludso’s, not to mention Nicole Rucker’s prodigious pies that totally decimate any of the desserts at Maple Block.
Have you been to Odys & Penelope? Trying to understand the Sycamore Kitchen pick, maybe just need lunch/breakfast versus dinner? Same people, though.
L’Assiette is really on your list? And Fish Grill? I would think Spring and somewhere like Connie & Ted’s, Cal Mare or Il Pesce would work out better. Surprising to me, but I guess it just depends on what you’re looking for. Just never thought of those places as destinations when visiting this city, so strange haha
I’ve noticed the strange service at Abhiruchi Grill, too. I get the sense their hearts are in the right place, but they put a lot of money into the place and are a little too keen to see it succeed. Unfortunately, the desire to eke out every penny leads to some odd interactions like you’ve described.
I’ve only been to Tara’s once or twice but was not super impressed with either the Indian or Nepalese food. Perhaps I should give it another shot?
I tend to stick with the South Indian dishes at Abhiruchi Grill and have yet to be disappointed. Just tried the Andhran-style chicken curry (kodi kura) for lunch the other day – excellent.
Or, they don’t want it added to their credit card receipt because then they have to pay merchant fees on that amount, which means less money in the owner’s pocket.
Typically, credit card merchant fees are deducted from the tip amount. This means less money in the server’s pocket, not less money in the owner’s pocket. Credit card merchant fees are typically less than 3%. As people tend to leave a larger tip on a credit card than in cash, I don’t think that they are asking for the tip in cash to avoid credit card merchant fees.
Possibly but it’s not just the tipping. I usually order online and the first two times I arrived to pick up my food they gave me the third degree to make sure I’d actually paid online. Once, I actually had to show my confirmation to three different people lol.
The funny thing was I think they were aware on some level they were being a little extreme and tried to compensate by being extra friendly. Even so, it was comically awkward. Like a sitcom character fighting against their worse instincts to do the right thing lol.
The food is just so damn tasty, though, I keep coming back. One note: this is not a place for people turned off by whole spices in their food. It’s a little like Zam Zam Market in that respect.
To add to the matrix of confusing and quirky payment issues, we ordered take out last weekend. I offered to pay either cash or credit card. They offered me a 10% discount if I paid in cash.
