Search Results for: Andre's

This will probably only be of interest to folks who live in Los Angeles and mainly to good friends of mine…

A few years ago on this blog, I wrote a lot about Andre's, a small Italian cafeteria here in L.A. that serves great pasta and pizza for modest prices. They were (and for the moment, still are) in a mall, half of which is being torn down to build a huge new retail and residential building. Alas, Andre's is located in the half being torn down.

Some of us were fighting to get the city not to approve the construction of this new building…and as I understand it, we did succeed in getting its size and scope to be seriously reduced. But it is now going forward. Every business in that part of the mall has closed except Andre's and Andre's will be closing July 30.

That, however, will not be the end of Andre's. No, sir or madam. It's slated to reopen this Fall at 5400 Wilshire Boulevard, an address that until recently belonged to a place called the Eleven City Deli. I just did a search and if Google is to be believed — and don't we all believe Google? — 5400 Wilshire is 1.3 miles from the old location of Andre's. I can live with that, especially if they deliver because parking ain't that great in that area.

Andre's was (and happily, still is for now) a little Italian cafeteria in Los Angeles that I love very much.  I have been to many famous restaurants where you could pay two to three times as much for a plate of pasta and get one that was one-half to one-third as good.  It's a friendly neighborhood joint situated in a shopping mall…no fancy decor but the food's good and they do such a brisk business that it's always fresh.  Saturday or Sunday evenings, there's a line out the door and once you eat there for the first time, you're quite willing to wait in it every time.

Around a year ago, it was announced that the proprietors of the mall had big expansion plans.  When the lease on a KMart there expired, as it would soon, they were going to tear down half the mall and replace it with a massive structure, variously described as between 19 and 26 floors and full of new retailers and housing units.  It looked unlikely that there would be room in the massive structure for a little Italian cafeteria that was much-loved by many.

Protests began, most of them at least in part about the possible loss of Andre's.  But neighbors also felt the proposed development was too big and too disruptive to the area, including a public school that was adjacent to the land in question.   Some of the protesters appeared before the Mid City West Community Council in August to argue that the development should not be permitted. I was one of them.

I felt that evening that we had made a strong case but that it probably would not make a difference. People who want to spend a lot of money usually get what they want. I figured what they wanted was to build 13-15 stories and so had proposed the bigger monstrosity so they could scale it back and get it approved.

The owners 'n' operators of Andre's did not seem to think their little shrine to red sauce would survive.  They pressed ahead with a plan to open a new restaurant — essentially Andre's under a new name — in the city of Canoga Park. Canoga Park is a great town but, alas, it's too far away for me to visit even a tenth as often as I visit Andre's. There, they would open that new place and in the meantime, they'd operate and we'd enjoy Andre's as long as it was there to enjoy.

That's still the plan but a few things have changed since I last reported on the situation there…

In September, it was announced the KMart was definitely closing, as so many KMarts (and their sister stores, Sears) have done. One interesting element of this whole matter is that some of us stare in stark amazement at how two once-mighty retail chains have merged, crashed and burned so thoroughly. If you and I had been put in charge of them and, knowing absolutely nothing about running department stores, had made every decision by flipping a coin, we could not have done a worse job. Hopefully though, we would have collected the huge salaries that corporate management has pocketed for doing essentially nothing right.

Just before Thanksgiving, the KMart was emptied and all its employees got the wonderful holiday gift of unemployment. The store remains empty to this day. Some of the other businesses in the mall, like a big Payless Shoe Store, are also now vacant. But Andre's is still serving up spaghetti and meatballs and ravioli and lasagna and other fine, sloppy meals…

Ah, but for how long? The last time I reported on all this was last October and Andre's seemed to be safe through the end of 2019, at which time the developers would probably start tearing down the east half of the mall and Andre's with it. We're hearing now that that will not happen until at least June of 2020.

Earlier this year, there was what seems to have been a final ruling on whether they could build their proposed 19-26 story tower of apartments and retail outlets…and as expected, the answer was no. But they didn't get 13-15 stories either.

Instead of a 26-story tower with 381 apartments and 81,000 square feet of commercial ventures, what was approved was an eight (8!) story structure, no more than 100 feet in height, containing 331 residential units and just under 84,000 square feet of business tenants. Don't ask me how you can lose eighteen stories from your proposed plans and still have that close to the same number of apartments and stores. But that's where we are right now.

Current plans call for it to be all completed by 2023 so that probably means 2025 or 2026. It may be quite some time before we know whether Andre's will be a part of it…and of course, plans may change again and again and again.

In the meantime after many delays, the Andre's clone in Canoga Park has finally opened! It's the Grandi Italiani, located out there at 21730 Sherman Way. I haven't been yet but since it has pretty much the exact same menu and cuisine and management as Andre's, it's already one of my favorite restaurants.

And hey, if you're anywhere near CBS Television City (which is undergoing a similar scenario) or Farmers Market, check out Andre's. It's in the shopping center at 3rd and Fairfax, just to the left of the Whole Foods Market there. The place just might wind up outliving all of us…except, of course, Al Jaffee.

Some of you have been fretting about the fate of Andre's, that little Italian cafeteria in Los Angeles that I like so much.  Let us review…

Last July, I told you that the owners of the shopping mall wherein Andre's resides have big expansion plans.  What they want to do is tear down a rather decrepit Kmart when its lease runs out and erect a massive structure, variously described as between 19 and 26 floors and full of new retailers and housing units. It didn't look like there was room in their plans for Andre's.

Last August, a whole bunch of us appeared before the Mid City West Community Council to argue that the development should not be permitted.  I think a pretty strong case was made that evening — only a tiny bit of it by me — but it doesn't seem to have stopped anything.

Last September, it was announced that the Kmart is indeed closing.  Something else is going to go there and it looks like it's going to be that huge retail/housing building.

So here it is October and the Kmart is having a massive going-outta-business sale.  Everything in it is marked down somewhere between 30% and 60% and a sales clerk told me that prices will be going lower as they near their closing date, which is the last week in November.  I went in and bought a whole lotta cheap things and there's no need for you to be jealous.  If there's a Sears or Kmart (they're owned by the same company) near you, it'll probably be having one of these sales in the next year or so. They just announced even more closures.

But here's what's up with Andre's and it's not terrible.  The owners of the shopping center are reportedly impressed with the place and its loyal clientele so they've given them a lease extension to the end of 2019.  During this time, they'll be drawing up plans for the big new complex and trying to work out a way to incorporate my favorite place for cheap pasta into the layout.  It will almost certainly be necessary for Andre's to close during construction but there seems to be a good chance it will return and live on indefinitely.  So that's good news…not as good news as if they just left it the way it is but good news, nonetheless.

In the meantime, the owners of Andre's will be opening a new restaurant, regardless of what becomes of Andre's.  It'll be called the Grandi Italiani and it will be located in Canoga Park near the intersection of Topanga Canyon Boulevard and Sherman Way.  It will have the same menu and cuisine as Andre's and, one hopes, close to the same prices.  I'll let you know here when they announce an opening date. It's too far from me but already a few of my friends who live out that way are happy and eager to get in line.

If you live or travel anywhere near The Grove, Farmers Market or CBS, you're close enough to Andre's that you oughta go get a meal there. Just in case.

Do you recognize that man? That's Stan Ross, a comic actor who appeared in an awful lot of TV shows and movies but you wouldn't know it from the Internet Movie Database which only lists a tiny bit of what he did. The frame grab above is from Beyond the Valley of the Dolls where he had about four lines…but four pretty memorable lines. They have him down for that appearance but look at this one…

That's Stan Ross pointing a gun at Jack Lemmon in How to Murder Your Wife and IMDB doesn't list him for that. They don't have him down for an awful lot of his on-screen appearances and in a few cases, I think they have him confused with several other people in the industry with the same name including Stanley Ralph Ross, a writer-actor who was a pretty good friend of mine. And yes, I also met the Stan Ross from the above pics.

It was in the early eighties at Farmers Market here in Los Angeles. He was with Chuck McCann who introduced us. I would not have recognized Mr. Ross on my own because he had a thick, black bushy beard.

But he was amazed and a little pleased that I knew who he was, particularly because I mentioned his longtime association with Jackie Gleason. Gleason was always hiring him for bit parts even after the whole Gleason operation moved from New York down to Miami Beach. There must have been a thousand guys in Florida that Jackie could have hired to announce his show and do the warm-up for the live audience but he insisted they fly Johnny Olson in each week to do those duties. And even for a tiny part, he'd insist they fly in Stan Ross.

Someone has uploaded to YouTube — alas, in a way that I can't embed it here — a truncated version of The Jackie Gleason Show that was produced in Miami. It aired on CBS on November 25, 1967 and the billable guest stars were Bing Crosby, Alan King and Liberace. You may enjoy what they do…

…but I'm calling your attention to this because beginning around two minutes and five seconds into this video, there's a three-minute bit with Stan Ross playing the kind of creepy character he often played. The entire video (minus a few numbers) can be viewed at this link or if you just want to watch Stan Ross, click this one. You'll hear the audience start laughing at him before he's even on-camera.

That day at Farmers Market, we talked a little but Ross didn't do much of the talking. I guess he lived in the area because thereafter when I went to Farmers Market or the shopping center across the street, I'd see him without Chuck. I'd always wave and say, "Hi, Stan" or sometimes, his catch phrase, "I'm with you!" He'd acknowledge the recognition but hurry on his way like he didn't want to talk. So we didn't talk.

One day though, I spotted him in Andre's, a wonderful little Italian cafeteria that used to be in that shopping mall across from Farmers Market. I wrote about Andre's many times here, most recently in this post. It has now relocated to another address a mile or two away and the food is still good and pretty darn cheap.

Anyway, I used to take another great character actor/second banana, Howard Morris, to Andre's. He was with me when I spotted and pointed out Stan Ross sitting alone at a table out on the patio. Howie said, "That's Stan Ross? I used to see him all the time back in New York at auditions. We were up for a lot of the same parts. I wound up on everything Sid Caesar did and Stan was always working with Jackie Gleason." Howie directed Gleason in the 1969 movie, Don't Drink the Water, and he said Gleason had asked him to cast Stan Ross in one of the roles. Stan was somehow unavailable to they got Richard Libertini, who played a lot of characters not unlike the ones Stan Ross played.

Howie walked over to Stan, introduced himself and sat down for a brief chat. I didn't join them nor could I hear what was said but I could see Stan was pleased to see an old acquaintance but was having trouble communicating. When they parted, Howie came back to our table and said, "He started crying a little. I don't think he gets recognized much." Howie was a little unnerved but still glad he'd table-hopped to say hello.

This would have been, I'm guessing, 1985. Shortly after, I stopped seeing Stan Ross in the neighborhood. I can't find anything online about his later days and since he was reportedly born in 1926, he's either ninety-nine now or gone. A few people over the years have written to ask me if I know what became of him. I'm afraid that's about all I've got.

Senator Robert F. Kennedy (D-N.Y.) was shot shortly after midnight on June 5 of 1968 in a ballroom at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles. You probably knew that already and may even have some theories as to how his murder changed history. I have no idea if he would have gone on to win the Democratic nomination for President of the United States and, if so, if he would have defeated Richard Nixon for the job.

But I can answer the question I just got from someone asking where I was when it happened and what it was like the next day. Not that I needed an alibi but I was sound asleep when Kennedy was shot. I had school that next day so I went to bed around 10:30 PM before anyone knew who'd won that night's California primary. I was sixteen years old and at that point, I wasn't particularly rooting for anyone. If you'd forced me to specify who I would have voted for if I could have voted then (which I couldn't), I probably would have picked Bobby Kennedy for a very bad reason…

He'd waved to me.

A few months earlier, my parents and I had dinner at Andre's, which was a rather swanky (by Evanier standards) celebrity-frequented restaurant on Wilshire Boulevard just inside the Beverly Hills city limits. Our good family friends The Zukors took us there and on the way out or the way in — I think the way in — we saw a group of men in dark suits coming out and in the middle of them was Senator Kennedy.

I waved to him and one of the men escorting him called me to his attention and he smiled my way and waved back. Then he got into a big black car and was driven away, end of story. I had no particular political reasons to vote for or against the man but I thought it might be nice to say, "Oh, yes — the next President of the United States once waved to me."

The morning of 6/5/68, I was up and getting dressed when my mother called to me through the door and I heard her say "Bobby Kennedy was shocked!" Still about one-third asleep, I thought, "The results of the election shocked him…but does that mean because he'd won or because he'd lost?" When I got to the table for breakfast a nearby TV was on and I understood: She said he'd been shot.

How bad was it? Obviously, pretty bad. I got the feeling that the newspeople were trying not to say "He's almost certainly going to die from those wounds" but that that was what they believed. At school that day, everyone seemed to have the same feeling. I remember one of my teachers — Mr. Kivel, who taught Government — had the TV on and tried to turn the period into an open discussion of what it all meant.

He and others kept saying, though the news had absolutely not used these words, "If Kennedy survives, he's going to be a vegetable," which I still think is a horrible, insensitive word to use about a human being. I said that then in the discussion and we wound up talking about that for a while. I recall that I got one of those forced laughter-in-the-face-of-tragedy laughs from the entire class when I said, "When a person gets shot, they don't turn into a radish."

But everybody could read between the lines of what the reporters were reporting: Even if he lived, Robert Kennedy was never going to be Robert Kennedy again and he certainly was not going to be the Democratic nominee. Regardless of how anyone felt about the man, it was a chilling event, especially coming not that long after his brother had been murdered…and then earlier that year, Martin Luther King.

We all awoke the next morning to the news that he had indeed died. I don't think anyone was surprised by that but we still all walked around like zombies for the next few days. In a way, the assassination of Bobby was more devastating than the shooting of his brother. You could kind of file away the killings of John F. Kennedy as Dr. King as outliers — one-time events. But then the killing of Robert F. Kennedy made a lot of us feel like political assassinations would become the new norm.

A few have been attempted since with varying degrees of success but I'm pleased to remind myself that they did not become as routine as a lot of us felt in the days after Bobby Kennedy was killed. Because it really felt like we'd have to put up with way more than have occurred since. I'd like it if we never have to have that feeling again.

Often on this blog, I've made mention of Andre's, a little Italian cafeteria here in Los Angeles that serves very, very good pasta and pizza and a few other dishes for very, very reasonable prices. I've been eating there since I was a tot and it's just a great place — not fancy but fun.

Sad to say, Chef Andre passed away Monday morning at the age of 99. He was an important L.A. restaurateur who for many years had a popular fancy place in Beverly Hills. My parents took me there too once or twice and one time around 1967, I saw and exchanged waves there with Robert Kennedy. Andre's of Beverly Hills was the kind of place where you saw important people.

Domenic Andreone was a native of Northern Italy and he studied his art/craft at the world-famous Le Cordon Bleu culinary school in Paris, France. Andre's of Beverly Hills, which he opened on Wilshire Boulevard in 1959 was an immediate hit and with the profits, he opened several smaller, family places around Southern California. The one I frequent — the only Andre's of his that remains — opened in 1963 and is nestled in a shopping center across the street from the famed Farmers Market.

A few years ago, the proprietors of that shopping center were planning major renovations that would have razed the building in which Andre's is located. There were protests and I even went in and spoke before something called the Mid City West Community Council, urging them to take action that might keep Andre's open and catering to the folks who flock to the place.

I don't know if the Council did it or the business plans fell through or if COVID had anything to do with it but Andre's, which once looked like it had but months to live, is still open and thriving. If you're ever near the corner of Fairfax Avenue and 3rd Street and crave great spaghetti or pizza or chicken parm, stop in. The menu, hours and address can be found here.

You can also honor the memory of Chef Andre and enjoy his recipes if you're out in Canoga Park. Another fun, inexpensive restaurant called Grandi Italiani was opened a few years ago by a gent named Aron Celnik, who was Chef Andre's protégé and the manager of Andre's near me for many years. With the Chef's blessing, he offers the same menu there. Here's the info on it. We may have lost Chef Andre himself but his cuisine lives on.

Probably fewer than a dozen of you are interested in this but I'm interested in it, it's my blog and it's going up here. You don't like it? Go check and see if Abe Vigoda is still dead.

Not all that far from where I live, there's this wonderful little Italian cafeteria called Andre's. It ain't much in looks or luxury but it serves up great spaghetti, ravioli, chicken parm, lasagna and other goodies at low, low prices. I've written about this place before…here, for example.

It's in a shopping mall at the corner of Third Street and Fairfax here in Los Angeles. On the far right is a CVS Pharmacy which remodels their interior right after each time I stop in for something. I'm quite sure the manager gets on the P.A. system and announces, "Okay, Evanier's gone! Move everything around so the next time he comes in, he won't be able to find a damned thing!"

To the left of the CVS is a Whole Foods Market which is apparently run to disprove the rumors that when Jeff Bezos bought out the company, he lowered prices. You want to know how bad it is? Even Jeff Bezos can't afford to shop there.

To the left of Whole Foods is a little patio and Andre's is in that patio. If you're in the area, its exact address is 6332 W 3rd St. and its website with the menu, the hours and everything is here.

Andre's is built into the west side of a very big building. There were a few other shops there but they've either all closed or are about to. Most of the building was occupied for the last few decades by a very shabby KMart. As we've discussed here, outlets of KMart (and its sister chain, Sears) have been closing faster than businesses with "Trump" in their names. The KMart of which we speak closed its doors last Thanksgiving but way before it went bye-bye, the owners of the shopping center had announced a plan to tear down the entire building and erect a 26-story tower with 381 apartments and 81,000 square feet of commercial ventures.

Many folks in the vicinity protested the erection of something that large in that location. I even spoke against it at a meeting of of the Mid City West Community Council, which has some sort of supervisory role on development in the area. I was mainly interested in saving — or at least, delaying — the demise of Andre's, which would have disappeared along with the building it's in. I claim zero credit for the veto of the 26-story Goliath but they were soon talking about a much smaller project.

At the moment, Andre's is still open and serving dee-lish pasta and they have a lease through the end of June of 2020. And what of that big, ugly, empty building that once housed the KMart?

Well, yesterday, they painted it pink. Or purple. Here — you can decide for yourself…

Personally, I think it's the color of Pepto Bismol, which is ironic since just looking at it could cause nausea, heartburn, indigestion, upset stomach and diarrhea. Why, you may ask, did they do this to what already was a pretty unsightly piece of real estate?

I did some sleuthing and found out that the building has been leased for one year for a "pop-up" store. Apart from the identity of the lessee, I know nothing about it. I don't know, as one might assume, if this means that since they won't be tearing down the building within that year, Andre's can get that lease extended for at least an additional six months. And I'm not clear on just what kind of pop-up business will be popping-up there, though some have suggested a clothing line.

It's a pretty big building for just that and it'll probably cost a couple of bundles to renovate the insides to make it serviceable…all for one year? Well, maybe. I suppose. I guess. Really? So that's everything I know about it except, of course, that I've got you all curious as to who it is who rented this monster of a building and had it painted to look like a 99-Cent-Only Store with psoriasis. It's this person. And I hope she's real successful because the longer she's there, the longer Andre's may be there…assuming the color of her building doesn't kill too many appetites.

I have written here before — here, for instance — about Andre's, a little Italian cafeteria that I frequent in the Beverly Grove area of Los Angeles, across the street from the world-famous Farmers Market. Andre's isn't much on decor but there's a reason locals love it so much. It sells great, fresh Italian food for very low prices. It's a friendly place with great service and the only complaint I have is that at dinner time on weekends, there's a long, long line out the door.

A lot of what I've written here about Andre's has been about the current threat to its very existence. It's in a shopping center that is soon to undergo major renovation. When this will happen and what will be done have both changed several times but most of the announced plans would have meant that Andre's would close for many months and perhaps never reopen. This may all change but at the moment, Andre's only seems safe through about June of next year.

So in the meantime, the manager of Andre's opened a clone of it out in the Valley. It's called Grandi Italiani and it's located in Canoga Park on Sherman Way, a few blocks east of Topanga Canyon Boulevard. It's the exact same food at the exact same prices and the exact same management. Unfortunately, it is not getting the exact same crowds coming in to eat spaghetti and ravioli and lasagna and pizza and other tasty items.

It's tough to establish a new restaurant…even one operated by experienced management offering a tested-and-proved menu. It can take a long time to build up a following and sometimes the investment becomes too great. That's what's happened with Grand Italiani. The folks in and around that area just haven't discovered its wonderfulness yet. It's in serious jeopardy of closing in the next week or three.

If you live in Canoga Park, Chatsworth, Woodland Hills, Reseda, West Hills or anywhere around it, go there immediately and take all your hungry friends. You will all think, "Hey, we've got to keep this place open." Grand Italiani is open every day except Mondays, 11:30 AM to 8 PM. The address is 21730 Sherman Way in Canoga Park and you can preview its menu right here. Buon Appetito!

Let's update some recent stories here…

Some of us are still fighting to save Andre's, a wonderful little Italian cafeteria I've been going to since I was about the size of one serving of their lasagna. The owners of the shopping center where Andre's is located are trying to get the city to let them turn it from a small shopping center into a huge one, and Andre's would probably disappear in the conversion. If you live in Los Angeles and have never been there, here's the scoop on Andre's while it lasts. It ain't fancy and it gets real crowded weekend evenings around suppertime. But you will never find a better plate of pasta or certain other Italian entrees at those prices.

The latest news on the possible stoppage of its extinction is that there is no latest news. But the Kmart that makes up a third of the mall on Third Street is closing, probably in November. You can just imagine how poorly a department store has to be doing that they don't even expect decent sales at Christmas. Anyway, that closure makes what the owners of the shopping center wish to do feasible since they couldn't tear down the Kmart building while it was still under lease.

As we mentioned here, the Kmart/Sears chain is in trouble. Its stores have been collapsing at about the same rate as Rudy Giuliani explanations. Here's the latest list which closes 33 Sears and 13 Kmart stores. The one on Third Street is on it.

In the meantime, the owners of Andre's are opening a new version of it under another name out in Canoga Park, near the intersection of Sherman Way and Topanga Canyon Boulevard. I'll tell you about it when it opens. It is, alas, about an hour's drive from me so if we do lose Andre's, it won't be much of a substitute.

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I said that with the passing of the lovely Russ Heath and the lovelier Marie Severin, the only person living "who worked on the classic EC comics" is Angelo Torres. Des Devlin wrote in to remind me that when Wally Wood was drawing stories for those books, he is said to have received occasional uncredited assistance from his then-wife, Tatjana. She is still with us so if you want to count her, it's fine with me.

Bill Mullins calls to my attention that Frank Bolle, who is also happily still with us, did one story in 1948 for War Against Crime, an early comic from the same publisher. I wouldn't count that book as one of the "classic EC comics" but again, if you want to, don't let me stop you. Bill also notes that it's rumored that Jules Feiffer worked on a few of those early books but that's unverified and I wouldn't call those "classic EC comics" either.

Lastly on this topic, a number of you wrote in to suggest I'd forgotten Al Jaffee, who is 97 and, amazingly, still drawing for MAD. I didn't forget him. He didn't work on the "classic EC comics." He worked on MAD. If I was going to count guys who worked on MAD as a magazine, there are quite a few of them like Mort Drucker and Arnie Kogen and Frank Jacobs and I don't know where the cut-off point would be.

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Finally: A few folks have written in to ask why I haven't written anything about the sad news that comedian Tim Conway is largely incapacitated due to some condition in the Dementia family. I haven't written anything because it's sad news and everyone knows it's sad news and I have nothing to add to that. Very funny man. Very funny. But you already knew that.

Andre's Restaurant, which I wrote about here, is a small Italian cafeteria in the Town and County Shopping Center, located at the corner of 3rd Street and Fairfax.  That puts it directly opposite the world-famous Farmers Market.

Andre's has been there since around 1963 and I have memories of my parents taking me there not long after it opened. I still go there often (or send my assistant over for take-out) and the reason I haven't mentioned it here until recently is that it usually has a line out the door and nothing personal but I don't need to have you ahead of me in that line.

They offer inexpensive Italian fare that is always fresh because they sell so much of it during the day. The plate you see above is the large spaghetti which comes with your choice of sauce (meat, marinara or mushroom) and a hunk of garlic bread, all for $10.50.  The meatball is another buck.  I usually get it "to go" with three meatballs then carve it up into three portions so I get three meals for four and half bucks each.  They're each plenty large and very good.  The small spaghetti, which is about half that size and fine for one person is $7.00.

The place is friendly and busy and most of the staff's been there long enough that they can recognize us regulars and start prepping our meals before we order them.  I love it and so do the folks who come from miles around to dine there. When Andre's first opened, it was in a courtyard full of other cheap eateries.  My sense was that the only reason anyone ever went to the other ones was because the line for Andre's was just too long.  Still, one by one they all closed — and in some cases, walls were then removed and Andre's expanded into their spaces.

But recently, we heard that Andre's might be going away. As I wrote in the earlier piece, the folks who run that shopping center have big expansion plans.  They involve erecting a massive building, variously described as between 19 and 26 floors, to create space for new retailers and for 380 housing units.  For a long time, the obstacle to their dreams has been the long-term lease of a pretty pathetic Kmart which has anchored the eastern side of the shopping center for years.

Actually, most Kmarts these days are pretty pathetic, as are the lingering vestiges of their sister chain, Sears. In 2008, Sears/Kmart CEO Eddie Lampert announced he was restructuring the company to apply the principles of his idol, Ayn Rand, and that the wild success that would result.  This, he said, would prove to the world that her philosophy should not only rule the business world but the real one, as well.

It is probably unfair to Ms. Rand to blame her for what has happened.  After all, she never provided detailed instructions on how to run budget department stores in the era of Amazon — though she doubtlessly would have gotten much of the credit had Mr. Lampert's plans succeeded.  They did not and his Randian approach has been an utter disaster.  It's hard to imagine how you could do more damage to the American institution that is Sears unless maybe you went around and set them all on fire.

Every month now, a few dozen more Sears and Kmart outlets go outta business. (Here's the list of the ones going bye-bye in September.) The Kmart in the mall that also houses Andre's has probably only lasted this long because it's been on a lease…but that lease expires this December and we're now hearing it will not be renewed.  The building would then be razed and the shopping center expansion could commence.

Unfortunately, Andre's lease expires at the same time, the difference of course being that Andre's is a successful, thriving business that many would miss. In the earlier posting, I was pessimistic about its future. I'm a fraction more optimistic after last night…but only a fraction.

Last night, I attended a meeting of the Mid City West Community Council, which has some sort of supervisory role on development in the area.  Interested parties are invited to address the board for three-minute speeches on matters that matter to them.  I decided to go in and speak against allowing the redevelopment and for finding some way to keep Andre's open for business there.  I was one of many speakers and most were better-prepared than I was…which was not a shock since having never done anything like this before, I wasn't prepared at all.

The principal of an elementary school that's adjacent to the real estate in question delivered a long PowerPoint presentation on the problems that the expansion would create for her and the students.  Her argument alone seemed like a slam-dunk reason not to allow the developers to proceed.  Another gent spoke with far more facts than I possess about what the increase in traffic will do to the area.  But I, speaking about how Andre's is unique and beloved, got a few laughs and some applause and back-pats.

The biggest laugh came when I stated that I have no financial interest in Andre's but that given how much money I've spent there in the last 40+ years, I should be co-owner by now.  And I think I scored some points when I talked about how sad it is that privately-owned, non-franchise restaurants keep being displaced by Burger Kings and Wendy's.  My time ran out before I got to use my line about how one Andre's is worth a thousand Sbarro's and added, "I prefer my pizza be fresh, made with care and, most of all, edible."

Will the new development be stopped?  The consensus I got from those who attended the meeting to argue against it was that it will almost certainly be scaled back.  They all assumed what I've assumed; that the full proposal, which is a monstrosity, is not what the developers even want.  It's a deliberate overreach: You say you're doing 26 stories so the commission can scale it back and you can settle for the 12 or 15 stories you really plan.  But no one seemed confident that a downsized blueprint would still not create massive problems or have a place for Andre's.

I started my little speech by saying, "I read online that I could come here and state what I'd like the new Town and Country Shopping Center to be like.  I'd like it to be exactly like the old Town and Country Shopping Center but with better parking and regardless of what happens, someone's got to do something about the dreadful traffic that we already have at that intersection."  I doubt that there won't be a new Town and Country Shopping Center there.  I just pray it won't be anywhere near the size of the proposed Godzilla, stepping on and crushing a lot of things that deserve to remain.  Maybe it could be more like Godzilla's little, harmless friend Godzooky.  And maybe we can take Godzooky down and feed him the great lasagna they serve at Andre's.

If that doesn't happen…hey, it was worth a shot.  I'm glad I took the time.

One of my favorite places to eat in Los Angeles seems to be going away. For as long as I can remember, Andre's has been the best spot to get a quick, just-made plate of the best 'n' cheapest spaghetti and meat sauce a person could want. The decor isn't much and there's often a line out the door but those of us who love it really love and treasure it.

Just when it will close is a bit fuzzy and there seems to be a slim chance it won't…but some of us are already mourning Andre's and wondering how many more meals there we have left. Probably Answer: Not nearly enough. This is going to be like losing a treasured part of our lives if and when it happens and it's feeling a lot like a "when." Our friends at Eater LA have the whole sad story.

And they can also tell you about the troubles plaguing another local eatery where I've been known to eat pasta. In this case, the complaints of past employees make me not want to eat again at Caffe Roma in Beverly Hills even if it does survive. What is it with Italian restaurants these days?

Back in this post, I mentioned Johnie's Coffee Shop, an L.A. landmark that is no longer really a restaurant. It was a restaurant but now it just plays one on television. TV and film companies rent it out as a filming location and it's been in more movies than Michael Caine. Our friends over at Eater LA recently got a tour inside the place.

While you're over at that fine site, they have a list up of 26 Classic Restaurants Every Angeleno Must Try. Here's a rundown on them from my Lifetime Angeleno perspective…

• Philippe the Original — Terrific (and cheap) dip sandwiches in a very old building with very old prices and very old clientele. Fortunately, the food is fresh so any time I'm in the area…
• Cole's — Great old quasi-cafeteria but in a bad neighborhood with (sometimes) very bad parking. You can get much the same chow easier at Philippe but try Cole's some time just for the feeling of history that comes with the food.
• Musso & Frank Grill — Billed as the oldest surviving restaurant in Hollywood, this is a superior place to eat steaks, chops, seafood, chicken pot pie when they have it…almost anything except the Italian dishes, which I find substandard. Any item on the daily menu with the word "braised" in it will be delicious and your waiter, who is not an unemployed actor, will be super-efficient.
• Dan Tana's — Never been here. Keep meaning to. Haven't gotten around to it.
• Polo Lounge — Every time I've been there, it's because someone important insisted on having a breakfast or lunch meeting there. That's a good reason to go and as far as I can tell, the only one.
• Tam O'Shanter — Another oldie, this one run by the folks who own Lawry's. I used to love the place, then I had several bad meals in a row there and dealt with Management that responded to my polite complaints with the attitude of "We're a legendary restaurant and no one else is complaining so you're wrong." So I now love the place from afar.
• Pacific Dining Car — Not unlike Tam O'Shanter. Loved it. Had an ugly time with a Manager who insisted I was wrong about an inedible steak — and who scolded our server who sided with me. I always thought the Pacific Dining Car was overpriced for what you get and that visit ended my love affair with it.
• Formosa Cafe — This used to be a fun, folksy place to get traditional Chinese Food. Then one day, apparently under new management, it went all trendy and "Asian Fusion" on me and stopped offering anything I wanted to eat. So off my list it went. I don't think people go there to eat, anyway. They go to drink and if they're hungry, eat.
• Taix French Restaurant — Never been there. I'm indifferent to French restaurants so I've never been motivated to try this one.
• El Cholo — Never been there. I rarely see anything I want to eat (or given my food allergies, can eat) at Mexican restaurants. I've only been to a few, always under protest, and this is not one of them.
• The Galley — Decent, friendly seafood served in an environment that's usually so crowded and cramped, you want to take your entree out to the parking lot and eat it there.
• Tom Bergin's — This Irish Pub was wonderful once but it went so far down in quality, I stopped going there. So many others did as well that it closed. It's reopened under new management and I haven't been back yet.
• Pink's Hot Dogs — This world-famous hot dog stand is proof that world-famous (and a much-promoted celebrity clientele) does not equal good. It just ain't worth the long lines or cramped seating. Skooby's and Carney's (among others) have better dogs.
• Lawry's the Prime Rib — A class act all the way, and they really do serve the best Prime Rib in the business. Did I ever tell the Jack Nicholson story on this blog? I must have. Anyway, make sure you get the creamed corn and that you help yourself to the free homemade potato chips in the waiting area.
• The Apple Pan — Once, and I'd like to think forever, one of the greatest burger stands in the state. My last two visits were disappointing but I'm not ready yet to give up on the place.
• Langer's Delicatessen — Hailed by many for the best pastrami in the country. The location and limited hours make this deli less than desirable and I'm sorry…I don't think the pastrami's worth the effort. But then I prefer corned beef to pastrami anyway so maybe you don't want to listen to me on this vital topic.
• Canter's Delicatessen — My favorite deli…and it's open 24 hours. If you ever have a cold, go there, eat the Chicken-in-the-Pot and you'll be cured in 20 minutes.
• Taylor's Prime Steak House — Good, folksy place to get a decent steak without having to take out a Reverse Mortgage on your home. Not a good location, though and you may have to climb many stairs to your table.
• The Fountain Coffee Room — Never been there. Never heard of it before this.
• Yamashiro — High up (too high for me) on a mountain top, it serves eclectic Japanese cuisine that looks to be too eclectic for my tastes and allergies. So I've never been.
• Dominick's — Like Dan Tana's, I hear good things about it and keep meaning to try it.
• Dresden — Never been there. Dresden is right across the street from Il Capriccio, which is one of my favorite restaurants in the world…so when I'm dining in the area, that's where I'm dining.
• Du-Par's — This is a historic chain of coffee shops that's terrific for Breakfast, so-so for other meals. They're open 24 hours but at 3 AM, I prefer Canter's.
• The Original Pantry — If you're Downtown and you want a decent economy steak, it's fine…and fun. They're also open 24 hours but beware: When you sit down, they try to serve you cole slaw without even asking. The best thing I can say for the Pantry is that even that doesn't keep me away.
• Casa Vega — Another Mexican restaurant I've never been to.
• Tito's Tacos — Need I explain?

If I'd made up this list, it would have had most of these places plus the original Tommy's, Carney's, The Palm, The Grill on the Alley, Andre's, a couple of stands in Farmers Market, maybe Zankou Chicken, Nate 'n Al's, The Smoke House…I'm not sure where to stop because I'm not sure of the geographic restraints of the list. But it ain't a bad list even if some of those places do serve cole slaw.

The Wall Street Journal says that Ellen DeGeneres' use of a Samsung Galaxy during the Oscar telecast was product placement, paid for by Samsung.

On the question I asked earlier about the audio when Ellen was in the audience: I should have just asked my longtime pal Marc Wielage, who knows more about audio and video than anyone on this planet and maybe a few others. He wrote to me to say…

I believe Ellen had a Sanken COS-11 lav microphone in the same color as her outfit, coupled to a 250mW Lectrosonics transmitter, and they were using special processing to minimize any feedback in the audience speakers. The Dolby Theater has great acoustics, which help a lot. Ellen's mic picked up well enough that you can still hear somebody talking about 3 feet away, but not much further than that. No extra microphones were used.

That's pretty standard for award show stuff. Most likely, it would've sounded better if she had used a handheld directional mic, but they probably did whatever they could to make her comfortable.

BTW, there was a ton of missed mic-cues, mics accidentally left on, mics left up too early, and all kinds of crap. Heck, you could hear Ellen talking to the pizza guy before they came out on stage, which kinda ruined the bit.

There were a lot of audio mistakes but I kinda liked that we heard her talking to the pizza delivery fellow off-stage. I thought it added to the sense that the bit was legit.

The pizza she ordered came from Big Mama's & Papa's Pizzeria, a relatively-new chain in Southern California that has about twenty outlets. Their specialty item is a 36" pizza that's a great conversation topic for parties. I was at a party once where they brought one in — chopped into about fifty rectangular pieces — and I thought it was pretty bad pizza. But that was some time ago and since the chain is growing, I'll bet their pizza isn't always like the one we got that night.

It's interesting that she ordered from them, from a store just far enough away that the delivery person had to drive and brave the traffic around there. The Dolby Theater where the Academy Awards are done is part of the Hollywood and Highland shopping complex. There's a California Pizza Kitchen restaurant there and in the food court, a place called the Hollywood Pizzeria Express…but they were both closed, as was the whole mall, for the day of the Oscars. However, within two blocks, there's Greco's New York Pizza (which is pretty good), Andre's Pizza, Combo's Pizza and Deli, and Stefano's Two Guys From Italy.

The delivery person was a gent named Edgar Martirosyan who owns the shop, and they say he didn't know until Ellen dragged him onstage that the pizzas weren't for the writers or backstage crew and that he'd be going out there. I was suspicious because he was, in manner and dress, exactly what what you'd want in a delivery person if you set up this moment. You wouldn't want him to not be dressed like a pizza delivery person, as most I imagine are not. You'd want him to look kinda dazed and not be someone who'd try to be funny. But I'm willing to buy that they didn't pre-select him and that all was as it appeared.

The building on Wilshire that once housed Andre's of Beverly Hills got a new tenant ten or twelve years ago — a great place to eat steak called the Porterhouse Bistro. They had other tempting things on their menu besides Porterhouse Bistro and I suppose they were quite good but somehow, I never got around to sampling them in all my visits. Usually, I'd take one or more friends and then one of them and I would share the steak for two on the prix fixe menu.

There are a number of upscale steakhouses in Beverly Hills, all serving quality meat. With some though, the pricing and atmosphere make you feel they expect all diners to either be very wealthy or (more likely) on someone's expense account. F'rinstance, the beef at Mastro's is quite fine but I find the dining room cramped and loud, the service aggressively-attentive and the check a bit high for what you get. It isn't so much the money as that feeling that someone played you for a bit of a sucker. I might not feel that way if the mood was conducive to sitting around and chatting with your companions after the meal but the room doesn't lend itself to that.  It's kind of an "eat and get out" place.

Porterhouse Bistro closed about a year ago…a great loss as it was the perfect place for steak. It was rarely crowded, which I suppose is the main reason it's on this site now. They lowered prices by not having eleven busboys hovering to scrape the crumbs off your table. The room was quiet. About all you could hear from the next table was the sound of someone really, really enjoying their steak.

Their prix fixe menu gave you the following. There was a baguette from the La Brea Bakery accompanied by a house tapenade, tomato bruschetta, a whole roasted garlic flower and butter. Then for the next course, you could choose from an array of salads and soups. I usually went for a large onion soup that always arrived at the table at volcanic temperature. It came in a bowl with a puff pastry baked onto the top and you'd use your spoon to poke a hole in it and let massive quantities of steam escape.  It was pretty good soup.

Next came the entree.  You could have a T-Bone, a Rib Eye, a Filet Mignon, a Flat Iron, a Rack of Lamb, Whitefish, chicken a couple different ways or one of several other possibilities.  I always participated in the 24 ounce Porterhouse Steak for two which came sizzling hot on its plate and pre-carved into smaller chunks to transfer to your dish for further carving. It was as good as any steak I've ever had anywhere. The side dishes were small in size but pretty good, especially the fries. If you were sharing with someone else, each of you got to pick one. Dessert followed and your choices included a great chocolate lava cake or apple tart…oh, and with your meal, you got two beverages and could pick from the house wine, a list of cocktails, soft drinks, coffee, tea or milk.

Price for all this? $44.00 a person, more on holidays. If you figure what this would run you elsewhere in Beverly Hills, it was a steal.  Last time I was at Mastro's, the 24 ounce Porterhouse was $39.95 a la carte and a like number of not-quite-as-good fries were $7.50.

A gent named Bobby Burton ran the place and I'm sorry he couldn't keep the doors open. I think its location — away from the main action of the city — is what did it in. Since it went away, I have shifted my steak allegiance to Wolfgang's Steakhouse on Canon Drive, where the cuisine is a near-clone of the great Peter Luger's in Brooklyn but with a plusher atmosphere and a wider menu. I hope it will never join the other restaurants on this site.