A Britican Breakfast
For the first 3.5 years living in the States, I essentially immersed myself in the So-Cal, American lifestyle. Hungry after work but no time to stop at home before going on to the next thing? Jack in the Box curly fries it is! July 4th? No longer just another rainy summer’s day, now it means baseball and hot dogs. I even tried that whole driving on the right side of the road thing, despite my best efforts to stay left during my one driving lesson before taking the test. (The instructor just waited for me to figure it out and move right. It didn’t happen.)
But more recently, I’ve been missing all things British in a way I simply didn’t for the first couple of years. And one thing that Facebook has taught me, is that the Brits have quite a presence in Los Angeles and that with a little digging I can easily experience the best of both my worlds. Which is a long way of introducing a new mini series on this blog, in which I explore British offerings around my adopted city.
My first offering features a British pub that sits in the heart of my own American dream – The Village Idiot on Melrose Avenue in Hollywood. I was in the area one Saturday morning getting my annual eye examination,* since apparently I decided that my optician should be in the most inconvenient place to reach either before or after work. After my handsome eye doctor (shout out to Dr. Ryan!) dilated my pupils I had an hour or two to kill before I could safely operate my car (safe being a relative idea, considering the above story) so I stumbled a few blocks to the apartment building in which my friends A and D both have apartments. Have you ever tried walking in Hollywood?! The pavement is so uneven I’m amazed I didn’t faceplant and require a new Hollywood nose. Anyway, brunch was decided upon and we walked (slowly, for the temporarily blind among us) to a bright, British-style establishment I’d not before heard of.
Going in, my first thought was that it doesn’t look terribly British, being a sparsely decorated restaurant with a lot of space; a pleasing ambience but not Old World-y. And of course, there was way too much sun filtering through the windows to be believably British, but I digress. Once we sat down, a quick glance at the brunch menu allayed my skepticism somewhat, as my eyes fell upon the two most glorious words in the English food language: Heinz beans. I know the company is American but for some reason their baked beans are a staple of the British diet, whereas in America you’re hard-pressed to find a tin that doesn’t contain bacon. (I’m one of the few people who’s not, like, in love with bacon. Especially the American kind; it’s all crunch, no chew…)
With the comforting presence of tomato-infused beans on the menu, I went ahead and completely forgot my mission here and ordered something so completely un-British that I’m ashamed to type it: cornmeal biscuits and sausage gravy, with two eggs. A and D were just as bad, ordering items called “The Yank” and “Rancher’s Breakfast:”
Yeah, we were just drinking water all brunch and certainly not delicious mimosas
Thank goodness D got the memo that napkin-face is huge in Britain right now
Here’s a little brunch trivia for y’all: What we call a Mimosa in the States is called Bucks Fizz in the UK, after the Buck’s Club in London where the orange-champagne cocktail was invented in 1921 as an excuse to drink earlier in the day. Reading that on Wikipedia just confirmed all my stereotypes about gentlemen of the ’20s.
Other very British offerings on their menu, that I hope to return and try sometime, include fish and chips (of course), crispy pork belly (I don’t even know what this is), a soft boiled egg with toast soldiers (hello childhood!), brussel sprouts wrapped in bacon, steak and potato pie, and sticky toffee pudding, which they’ve called sticky toffee cake so as not to confuse the Americanos.
In short, I didn’t get a super-British vibe from The Village Idiot, but all of us thoroughly enjoyed our US-style breakfasts. Additionally, here are some of our stray compliments to the place – feel free to quote Nugget of Truth on your website, Village Idiot, I know you’ll want to!:
- “Dust levels are medium to low” (midday sunlight is a terrific highlighter of airborne particles)
- “This place is the bomb”
- “The tables move easily” (after following the shade for an hour and a half)
- “We definitely need to come back soon”
Not the most comprehensive of reviews this time, I know, but there was my first documented journey into the heart of Britain-in-LA. I’m excited to try other places and report back!
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* Here are my new Paul Frank glasses, in case you’re interested. Not that they’ll improve my driving very much; I’m long sighted. (And British.)
