There's a certain kind of chain restaurant I tend to avoid except at Breakfast like Denny's and IHOP — and in Southern California and Vegas, there's DuPar's. They do eggs and French Toast well but come lunch hour, you might as well stay home and microwave a TV dinner. Back East, it's Bob Evans. Until recently, I lumped the local (to me) chain Norms in with the others.
But recently, I had occasion to have supper for reasons of convenience at the Norms over on La Cienega and it was surprisingly good, especially when the check came. It was about 75% as good as some so-called better restaurants that charge three times as much. The last time there, I ordered a steak and fried shrimp special that came with my choice of potato, soup and salad for around twenty bucks. The portions were not small and the food was not bad. The time before, I had a combo plate with chicken tenders, ribs and fried shrimp with the same extras for about the same price. Same opinion.
I also liked the classic decor and the mood…and the servers were awfully friendly 'n' funny, plus it's open 24/7. Definitely a place I now have on my "Places I Dine" list — and it looks like it'll be there indefinitely. A little less that two years ago (as reported here) it looked like it would be razed and replaced by some commercial enterprise of which L.A. probably already has more than enough. But there was an outcry, some sort of special Historical Status was bestowed on it, and it looks now like Norms on La Cienega is here to stay.
Alas, the same cannot be said for the Norms over on Pico, near where I grew up. That's it in the photo above and according to this report, it has only about two weeks to live. I hope that's not so and just not because of its history or architecture. In a time when a lot of poor people are really poor and the incoming regime in Washington seems concerned only with the income level of those making a grand or more per day, it's nice that there are places where someone can get a decent meal for twenty dollars.