Cheap eats in the LA area
 

DH, DS and a friend leave Thursday morning for the Rose Bowl. They'll be in the area for 5 days staying in Santa Clarita. But they're hoping to roam around and take in as much as they can. DS is quite psyched to try In 'n' Out Burger. Any suggestions for similar "local cuisine" that would appeal to college age guys?

DS is planning to use Yelp to find places wherever they happen to be when they're ready to eat. But suggestions/advice from locals would be much appreciated. Especially regarding cheap ethnic restaurants.

Thanks!

Cheap & ethnic = Titos Tacos
http://www.titostacos.com

A local institution. You either love it or hate it. Personally, I love their beef & bean burritos.


11222 Washington Place
Culver City, CA 90230
(310) 391-5780


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Vic's travels: http://my.flightmemory.com/vogilvie

Thanks, Vic! That's exactly the sort of thing I'm looking for!

Vienna Cafe is a joint we like for breakfast or lunch when we're in LA: http://www.viennacafe.com/contact.htm

HTTY

Thanks, HTTY! Will definitely pass that along.

My friend who lives near the Rose Bowl took me to "The Oinkster." http://theoinkster.com/

It's called "slow fast food" and it's kind of fun.

Yelp is a good resource. The food trucks are something else they should try. They can track them via one of the websites like this one
http://www.findlafoodtrucks.com/

Personally I can't stand Titos Tacos. Just warn them that it is grey mystery meat in a greasy fried shell. I'd take any random taco truck anywhere any day.

To each their own.

Fast food chains that are cheap and pretty good:
Wahoo's Fish Tacos www.wahoos.com/locations.php
Rubio's Baja Grill www.rubios.com/
I'm sure there are locations in the Santa Clarita area, and on the way to Pasadena

LA Institutions (but not close to Santa Clarita or Pasadena:
Pink's Hot Dogs www.pinkshollywood.com/
Phillipe's the French Dip www.philippes.com/
Tommy's Burgers (the Original) http://originaltommys.com/

Great info, Kailani, mlgb and Ivk! Thank you so much!

L.A. is so wide and spread out that it's not really a great place to plan ahead or make reservations if you're not sure just where you'll be...the yelp idea when you're in the neighborhood is an excellent one.
Make sure they get over to the Griffith Observatory around sunset and into the evening, lots of great dining in the Los Feliz/Silverlake neighborhood just south of the Observatory. The observatory is closed on Mon this week.

Note that Santa Clarita into LA will be a terrible post-holiday mess of traffic on Monday morning until 10am , and returning between 4:30 and 8pm at night.

Tito's was my first thought, though I haven't been there in years. :-)

Lee Ann

Thanks, Tracy and Lee Ann!

Believe me, Tracy, they're not planning to dine at many places that take reservations! :-D

Two more places we like are Nate 'n Al in Beverly Hills (http://www.natenal.com) and Bossa Nova in West Hollywood (http://www.bossanovafood.com/site/index.cfm)

HTTY

Thanks again, HTTY!

I think overall the prices in restaurants in S CA aren't too bad - even some of the better ones. Some others that are pretty inexpensive are Marie Callendar's, Polly's Pies, Coco's and all the others listed by other posters. Hope they have a great time. What got them to Santa Clarita? Not impossibly far from Pasadena but still quite a ride in traffic.

Hi, Cali. Thanks for the birthday wishes on FB! I'm guessing you got your white Christmas?!

Thanks too for the info here. They wound up in Santa Clarita for a number of reasons, certainly not the least of which was cost. The place they're staying had very good ratings and is very reasonable. They wanted to be out of the thick of things and in an area where they could get to Pasadena without driving through LA.

While I'm on the subject, they've read that there are places you can park and take a shuttle to the Rose Bowl. Do you (or anyone else reading this) know anything about this? Their understanding is that parking at the Rose Bowl is a bit of a nightmare.

Have fun, CAPH52. HTTY

Thanks, HTTY!

If they can access the Metro Gold Line there will be plenty of extra shuttle busses. Apparently the rain has done a number on the Rose Bowl parking it will be a real mess.

http://thesource.metro.net/2010/12/2...ment-of-roses/

The above list parking lots. I don't know if they would be able to also take the train from Santa Clarita.

Thanks, mlgb! I'll pass along that link.