The Best Breakfast in West Hollywood in My Humble Opinion
By Michael Albanese
Every time I visited Los Angeles, I came up with a million reasons why I would never move here. Well, once I finally defied myself and moved to the West Coast, specifically to West Hollywood (a reasonable counterpart to Manhattan’s West Village), one of the first redemptive qualities I discovered was that Los Angeles does breakfast. I know some people are enchanted with the sun, weather and diverse topography. But, I care about food. Deeply. You see, I hate to admit, I called myself a “foodie” from New York City, which is just as bad as a friend of mine who calls coffee “java”. I hate that term. It makes my skin crawl. She would say, “have you been to the new place on the corner and tried their java? It’s the best java I’ve ever had”. Things like that. It makes me crazy.
Speaking of – when/if you go to Starbucks, do you ask for your beverage (that’s another borderline annoying word) the way they expect you too? Tall. Grande. Venti. I am somewhat of an anti-conformist, so I radically say “medium, please”. Sorry, I’m digressing.
When I first moved to West Hollywood almost a year ago now… within the first few days of being a full-time resident… I was up extra early because of the time difference. And, because I enjoy eating breakfast for lunch, dinner or, well, for breakfast, I ventured out into this brave new world in search of strong coffee and good breakfast. I found both. First of all, Kings Road Café on Beverly and Kings has the strongest coffee I’ve found out here. It will put hair on your chest. I don’t know how that will bode for female coffee drinkers, but stranger things have happened. Especially in West Hollywood.
I love the breakfast at Kings Road. The service? Well, I’m not writing about service right now.
Another exceptional place for breakfast and brunch is Hugo’s. Incredibly fresh, healthful and inventive food. It’s the place where my wife I discovered strawberry chai spice pancakes and the fact that everyone out here talks about “the business”. I had heard that about Los Angeles, but it wasn’t until I began frequenting the restaurants and cafés that I really heard, literally, everyone talking about the business. (I am talking about the motion picture and television business, in case you had confused it for some other funny business).
If you want good breakfast and want it while talking about the business, head to Toast. That seems to be the place where West Hollywooders like to go for brunch. My personal favorite? The breakfast pasta. Go. Try it. You’ll love it. My wife loves the eggs Florentine. The bathrooms are dirty there, but I’ll save “The Dirtiest Bathrooms in West Hollywood” for another blog. I may need to co-write that one with George Michael.
Of course, it’s seems so obvious to include The Griddle on this list where you can get eggs benedict served over potato skins and enjoy fantastically strong coffee, served a la French-press and a rather attractive wait staff. The first time my wife and I went, it seemed that every girl there was smokin’ hot. We went the very next day. What? I loved the coffee. But, to my dismay, and my wife’s delight, there were mostly guys working. Oh, and we sat next to Gene Simmons that day. Welcome to Hollywood.
Before I run out and get breakfast, I will have to close this one out with Ed’s Coffee Shop on Robertson Boulevard – a tiny eatery that harkens back to quaint, local canteens in New York City (specifically, Bella’s on Prince Street, for those transplanted New Yorkers that remember that glorious bygone era in NoLiTa). Ed’s is the perfect spot for no-nonsense, no frills, no pretense breakfast/brunch in West Hollywood. I recommend the breakfast burritos and omelets.
The coffee, I have to say, is on the weak side, so maybe smuggle in a cup of “java” from Kings Road.