Gus's Lunch Box Truck

Gus's Lunch Box
Glendale Blvd. and Silver Lake Blvd.

One of my favorite food blogs is The Great Taco Hunt.  I was disappointed to learn that The Great Taco Hunt has thrown in the tortilla.  While not exactly the taco truck I wanted to review, Gus's Lunch Box was in front of Silver Lake Wine, where I was meeting a friend to share a bottle of wine.  I believe Gus's is always in front of Silver Lake Wine, but you'll have to google to make sure.

Chicken taco and carnitas taco, $1.50 each, onions cilantro, and chile verde.

The child verde was great!!  Very fresh, full of flavor and balanced-not one overpowering flavor.  But, the chicken was bland and lacked flavor.

The carnitas were much better.  A good, not great example of carnitas-tender, could have used a little more seasoning but good flavor.

Service was good.  The tacos came out quickly and the guy taking my order was nice.

I'm not really a food truck person, I've only reviewed four other trucks.  But, I really wanted to review a taco truck because I'm sadden to hear that The Great Taco Hunt blog will no longer be reviewing taco trucks!

Maximiliano

Maximiliano
5930 York Blvd
Los Angeles
323-739-6125

Maximiliano has been on my list of places to try for about a year now.  Maximiliano is owned by the same owner of The Oinkster, which I went to back in 2009.  Located in Highland Park, on the very busy York Blvd, Maximiliano is in a triangular building.  The dining room has a good size bar, along the walls are tables, that are for reservations, and in the middle of the room is a community table.  We didn't make reservations so we sat at the community table.  Luckily the community table wasn't too crowded.

Caesar salad, $7, grated reggiano.  Ok, really?  I know Maximiliano is catering to the hipsters and all, but $7 for a caesar salad that had not outstanding quality?  The lettuce was very fresh, the small amount of croutons were good, and caesar dressing was home made, but so what?  A complete rip off at $7.

Deluxe pizza, $15, tomato sauce, fennel sausage, pepperoni, peppers, crimini mushrooms, red onions and mozzarella.  The quality of the toppings is very good.  The fennel sausage and pepperoni were really good., not your run of the mill meats.  The sauce, which there was plenty of, was sweet and balanced.  But the crust was terrible.  I mean a soda cracker like crust?  This isn't what I expected for a 9 in pizza that cost $15.  The crust ruin this pizza for me.

Service was good.  Our server was nice, friendly, and helpful.  But, the noise level is unbearable here.  It was hard to talk to the person across the table from me!

I'm glad I waited so long to try Maximiliano, and now that I've tried it, I wonder why it even got on my list.  I've been underwhelmed with the pizza choices in Highland Park, after eating at Maximiliano and Folliero's Pizza & Italian Food.  Hell, at least at Folliero's the price for the pizza is reasonable.  I would not go back to either restaurant.

Arthur's Restaurant

Arthur's Restaurant
240 N Tustin St
Orange
714-997-1850

Arthur's Restaurant is an old school coffee shop.  But, I found out they served broasted chicken, so I stopped in.  Arthur's is located on very busy Tustin St., which has more thrift shops per mile than almost any street in California.    The unique exterior, 3 different colors and styles, welcomes visitors inside a large dining area.

2 pieces chicken with waffles, $13.15.  The regular price is $10.69 with a $1.49 extra for two breasts. The first piece I bit into was a bit dry and the skin was bland and flavorless.  The skin wasn't crispy or crunchy either.  I'm not sure if it was really broasted chicken, where they use a special broaster.  But, the second piece of chicken was everything the first piece wasn't.  Moist, juicy, crispy skin and full of flavor.

The waffle was very good.  Lightly dusted with powdered sugar, there waffle was sweet and tasty.  Thicker than I'm used to, but still good.  

Service is very good.  The hostess greeted me when I walked in.  The server who took my order was nice and friendly.  I walked outside and came back in and another hostess or server asked if I had been helped.   There are times when I go to a restaurant and not be greeted but I'm greeted twice in the 10-15 minutes I'm there. 

I learned that you can order chicken ala carte, so the next time I'm just ordering the broasted chicken.

Hamburger Habit

Hamburger Habit
11223 National Blvd
Los Angeles
310-478-5000

Back in 2004 or 2005, I read that Hamburger Habit was rated one of the best burgers in LA by a radio food show.  Now, this is right before the gourmet burger craze hit LA.  Hamburger Habit has been on my list of places to try but I rarely go to the Palms area of LA.  But, over the Memorial Day weekend, I was in the area and finally dropped by.

Located at the very busy intersection of National Blvd and Sepulveda, is in a L-shape strip mall and backs up against the very busy 405.  The signage reminds me of gaudy Las Vegas hotels.  There is a sign that says Hamburger Habit was established in 1968.  The interior has a lot of chrome and white subway title. 

Sassy Cheese-Cheddar cheese instead of swiss, dressing, lettuce, tomatoes on a sesame egg bun, $5.78.  The meat they use is fresh, not frozen, chuck steak.  The meat is good quality but one side of my burger sat on the grill for too long and there was chard pieces on one side.  The toppings were fresh, the bun nicely toasted.  But, there is nothing outstanding about this burger.  It certainly wasn't worth the $5.78 price tag.

Service is good.  The guy who took my order greeted me when I walked up to the counter and was nice and friendly.

I'm sure if I went to Hamburger Habit when I first found out about them, I would have said I liked the burger.  But, the burger isn't better than In N Out and it's almost double the price.  I understand the cost of doing business on the snotty Westside is high, the quality of the burger doesn't justify the high price tag.  I won't go back to Hamburger Habit anytime soon.

Malibu Seafood

Malibu Seafood
25653 Pacific Coast Hwy
Malibu
310-456-3430

After I went to Reel Inn about five years ago, people told me I should try Malibu Seafood-which is about six miles north on PCH.  Well I finally made it to Malibu Seafood!  A very informal restaurant where you order and pick up your food at the counter, and sit at picnic tables which offers a great view of the Pacific Ocean.

Ahi tuna with rice pilaf and green salad, $22.95.  The ahi tuna was a little over cooked.  Ahi tuna should be at medium rare but this was medium.  But, the tuna was very and had good flavor.  They allowed the taste of the ahi tuna to come through, and they didn't over season it.    The green salad was fine, maybe out of a bag but still good.  The rice pilaf was flavorful, though it could have been served hotter.

Fried fish, $3.75.  I wanted to try their fish and chips, but I don't get the chips.  But, Malibu Seafood sells a piece of fried fish al carte.  The fish is Alaskan Cod and is very fresh, and tasty.  The batter is outstanding-light crispy and not greasy at all.  A very good, if pricey, example of fried fish.

Service is good.  The guy who took my order was very nice and helpful.  The order came out quickly and, other than the rice pilaf, served very good.

I won't go back to Malibu Seafood for the ahi tuna dinner- for that price they need to cook it perfectly.  But their fried fish is great.

Son of a Gun

Son of a Gun
8370 W 3rd St
Los Angeles
323-782-9033

Son of a Gun is an interesting name for a restaurant.  It is owned by the owners of Animal restaurant. 
Across busy 3rd St. from  D'Amore's Pizza Son of a Gun is a small plates seafood restaurant, though one of it's most popular dishes is a fried chicken sandwich.  The interesting thing for me is the only sign for Son of a Gun is the sign you see on the door, in the above picture.  There is no sign on the face of the building.  I understand they have been opened for about two years, so why isn't there a sign?

Son of a Gun is very small restaurant with a big community picnic table as it's centerpiece.  It's a popular restaurant that is very busy.  Our wait time was 30 minutes and they said we could go to the bar called The Churchill a few doors down, while waiting for our table.  It is a good suggestion because the bar inside Son of a Gun is very small and all the chairs were taken.

Curly kale, caesar dressing, walnut, parmesan $11.  This is really a kale caesar salad.  Normally I hate kale, but when the kale is covered with caesar dressing and parmesan cheese, it hides the bitter flavor of kale.  In fact, there was too much dressing and parmesan, they drowned out the kale. 

Shrimp toast sandwich, herbs, sriracha mayo $12.  This is one of their most popular items.  It was good, a perfectly toasted crust and a good shrimp flavor.  But, this was a small dish and not worth the $12 price tag.  Yeah, I know it's about location, location, location.  But, I wouldn't order this again.

Fried chicken sandwich, spicy b&b pickle slaw, rooster aioli $14.  A perfect fried chicken breast-juicy, moist, tender, and all those fresh toppings made this a great sandwich!!  The bun was perfectly toasted and held up to all the toppings.  This is well worth the price tag!

Service is very good.  Our server was very nice, helpful, and friendly.  As a matter of policy they recommend two people splitting five dishes, which I thought is a bit much.  If we didn't order the fried chicken sandwich or the sandwich was smaller, I would agree with the five dish recommendation.

I was impressed with Son of a Gun and would return but it would be for a special occasion instead of a regular dinner. 

Updates

May 29, 2013

Sadly, The Great Taco Hunt blog has thrown in the tortilla and will not longer be taco blogging about all the great taco trucks in LA.  While I haven't reviewed any of the taco trucks he went to, I always read his blog.  As a tribute to him I will do a review of one of his top five favorites.
 
May 15, 2013

Closed Restaurants:

Over the weekend I searched almost all the restaurants that I reviewed on The New Diner.  I added about 40, yes 40, restaurants to the Closed Restaurants section of The New Diner!  The total number of closed restaurants is currently at 235!!

Included in those closed restaurants were;

Some long time restaurants like Cassell's Hamburgers.

The first Korean BBQ restaurant I went to, Feedable BBQ.

Some restaurants because of bad food or service, like Crossroads BBQ,  Porky's BBQ, and Holy Smokes Bar-B-Que, I was not surprised they had closed.

While others like, Willy's Smokehouse BBQ & Grill and Otis Jackon Soul Dogs I was very surprised.

Some restaurants have been closed for more than 2 or 3 years, like BBQ Co, and I just found out about it.

While I try to keep the closed restaurant list as current as possible, if The New Diner or The New Diner 2 readers find out about closed restaurants, please let me know.

June 23, 2012:

I went back to Moscow Deli and tried the Odessa sandwich and included better pictures of the Kiev sandwich.