Original Pantry Cafe, a Downtown Los Angeles Institution

The Original Pantry Café is an eighty year old downtown Los Angeles institution. Since I’m well into middle age, breakfast at the Pantry is only an occasional Sunday morning cholesterol extravaganza. The Original Pantry is more than meat and potatoes American food at its zenith.

From the moment I approach the old squat brick building on the corner of Figueroa and Ninth, it’s a trip back in time to the days when writers Raymond Chandler and John Fante walked the streets of downtown L.A. My Sunday morning experience begins when I pick up the weekend edition of the Los Angeles Times at the ramshackle old wooden newsstand next to the restaurant. I walk to the front and open one of the always unlocked front doors (The Pantry’s doors have never closed since the day it opened in 1924). When I enter, the first thing that hits me is the aroma of bacon, unfortunately one of my major food groups. It sizzles in parallel lines next to mounds of hash browns on the ancient grill behind the counter. There are two waiting lines of hungry customers. One line is for counter customers and that line moves quickly. For an up close and personal view of the grill and the brother-can-you-spare a dime-experience, a seat at the counter is the way to go. Unfortunately, on any given morning, I can barely function in a civilized conversation, so I choose the longer wait in the table line. There are only a few small one person tables available. Other patrons are a cross-section of Los Angeles from slumming Valley suburbanites to downtown business types to down-at-the-heels Hollywood has-beens.

While lunch or dinner at the Original Pantry has signature examples of Mom’s comfort food: football-shaped meatloaf, mac and cheese, hamsteaks, etc, my favorite meal here has always been breakfast. When I’m finally seated at a tiny table in the back of the restaurant, I know that my order will be taken very soon. The speed of service here is legendary as are the waiters themselves. They’re mostly rough and tumble guys wearing 1929 white aprons with the sole goal of taking your order, getting the food to your table, and getting you out the door as quickly as possible without being overtly rude. Since the food is so good, I don’t mind the brusque behavior. Urban legend has it that all the waiters are ex-cons in a work release program to the Original Pantry Café. Many have worked here for decades.

The menu itself is posted on signs throughout the restaurant, but I know exactly what I want because I’m a creature of habit. My Sunday breakfast order is American cheese omelet with sides of hash brown potatoes, bacon, and sourdough toast with black coffee and lots of it.

While my waiter tries hard to appear like he isn’t rushing, he takes my order and the food arrives much quicker than any breakfast restaurant on the planet, And breakfast is perfection; a heart attack special, but I know that I’d die with a smile on my face.

The sourdough bread is homemade, thick cut and grilled golden brown in butter. The hash browns come in a crunchy haystack, but none of it is burned. The omelet is extra cheesy without being rubbery. And the bacon – oh, the bacon – is thick, meaty and smoky. I dig in, washing it all down with the strong black coffee served in a brown ceramic Original Pantry Café mug. Before I know it, my huge breakfast is gone, my table is cleared, I pay (cash only), and I’m out the door staring at downtown traffic on Figueroa.

MORE ABOUT THE ORIGINAL PANTRY

In the nineties, the Original Pantry Café was bought by former Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan, who expanded the building. Even during this renovation, the Pantry never closed.

The address: 877 South Figueroa Street, Los Angeles, CA 90017

The phone number: 213-972-9279

SOURCES:

http://www.pantrycafe.com/faq.html

http://travel.nytimes.com/travel/guides/north-america/united-states/california/los-angeles/restaurant-detail.html?vid=1154654627135

http://www.frommers.com/destinations/losangeles/D40949.html