LA Cafe - Los Angeles, CA (DTLA)

Work wife and I went to check out Corporation Food Hall and we were not impressed with the selections. We were hungry and started to walk around the street hoping to see something more appealing. That was when we stumbled in to LA Cafe.

It was counter service and seats were limited, but the service was great. Very friendly and very patient. They had baked goods and they also had dog treats sold at the counter.

The menu wasn't huge but still got plenty for me to go back and forth on some items. I had my eyes on the meatloaf but decided to try it the next time. I got a cup of chili and a king double burger. I also got a cup of water at the counter since it was not self serve.

According to the restaurant, their chili was based on the original 1930's brown derby chili recipe of 17 ingredients, but amped up with 8 new ingredients including wild honey, dried ancho, guajillo, and California chilies. Garnished with cheddar cheese, sour cream, diced red onions, and parsley. I am telling you all this because I freaking love their chilies!! It had amazing flavor with chunky meat, and the thickness of the chilies after mixing everything together was just perfect. It has been awhile since I had some good chilies and this was it! Definitely order this!! By the way, their cup was pretty much a bowl in other places, you have been warned.

One of the best chilies!

King double burger came with two big patties, two slices of cheddar cheese, grilled onion, tomato, lettuce, and dill pickles with a touch of BBQ relish sauce. Only if the patties were cooked right, my experience would have been 10 out of 10. On the menu it said they would cook all burgers to medium well unless specified, and that happened to be how I like my burger too! My burger came out way passed well done. Dry, chewy, and not enjoyable even though the flavor was good. There wasn't enough BBQ sauce on my burger so that didn't help the swallowing either. The plate also came with lots of fries. I just happened to have chilies so guess what I did...

Soooo dry... why~~~?

Overall experience was great. Friendly service, good chilies, huge portion, just a solid place for a quick bite. They also open 24 hours so you know where to go after you party hard in downtown over the weekend. Enjoy!