Poppy + Rose - Skid Row Biscuits + Gravy (and other stuff)

Man, this place is a weird shop. Nestled in the heart of skid row lies a giant dining room that looks like a clone of the Hart & the Hunter dining room, but about 2-3x the size. Counter service, and they bring the food to your table, they open from 6 AM until 3 PM. Since hardly anyone was there between 6 AM and 8 AM, I am assuming they survive off of a massive lunch rush of some sort.

Anywho, the food is amusing. Biscuits are pretty good, although not super flaky, they are some of the better country biscuits in LA.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BEL1hU3E0LP/?taken-by=compulsiveaesthete

The sausage gravy is the best thing I had though, incredibly peppery, and savory. Not not feel overly heavy/greasy somehow, and tasted absolutely glorious. The biscuits here are well suited to the gravy as well in terms of texture. You can order a single biscuit for $3, and a side of gravy for only $2 somehow. As a $5 breakfast, I would almost say that is one of the best deals in the entire city, and if you were not starving like I happened to be, a single biscuit + gravy side would definitely sustain you.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BEL1mFuE0Lc/?taken-by=compulsiveaesthete

However, I also wanted to try the rib tips breakfast burrito I have heard about forever from this place. This was a very odd plate of food… the concept is brilliant, but execution is weird. I have no idea what they are doing to the rib tips, they are good, but only a little smokey, and super salty; there is also not that much rib tip in the burrito really, also, not that much cheese. Overwhelming amount of hashbrown and egg, with the tortilla seemingly making up a bit too much of the burrito, especially at the ends. The BBQ sauce on the side is quite thin, but at least makes the experience interesting. I would say it’s like a high-end version of a Carl’s Jr. Western Bacon Cheeseburger in burrito form… that is either interesting, or horrific depending upon who you are, I’m sure.

The side salad seemed to be composed of old arugula and greens, for sure not remotely fresh, so quite disappointing, and the dressing was absurdly salty. I love salty food, but this was close to eating pure salt on your salad, and I am sure most people would die from taking a bite of it.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BEL1sdfk0Ll/?taken-by=compulsiveaesthete

They have a house hot sauce that has literally no heat to it somehow lol I mean tapatio is much, much spicier than this stuff, really weird.

I also had a very expensive ginger/mint/limeade, which was pleasant enough, but would be nice if they actually made something so simple fresh for $8.

All told this was a $31 breakfast (but $10 was the juice) after tax + tip.

It’s hard for me to say this place is a destination spot, unless you are intensely craving biscuits and gravy at 6 AM and/or enjoy the novelty of eating at a place in Skid Row. But that gravy was damn good, off the top of my head I can’t think of anywhere that does it better. I really wish they had a better hot sauce to go with it personally, but it’s good enough by itself.

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I have had the food of Poppy + Rose’s Chef Michael Reed at a Private Event.
He is an excellent chef and a wonderful person.
He deserves to be better known in LA.
Thanks for the report.