Taix French Country Cuisine, Los Angeles, California

For a long time I’ve been wanting to dine at the venerable Taix French Country Cuisine (the official name, though everyone just calls it “Tex”) in Echo Park in Los Angeles. Recently I passed through town during Los Angeles Restaurant Week and they were offering a special 2-course lunch for $20 (weekends included) so I jumped at the chance and had Saturday lunch in the bar (the dining room isn’t open for lunch on Saturday).

 

original Taix - photo by L.A. Public Library Archives

original Taix – photo by L.A. Public Library Archives

 

The original Taix restaurant was opened in 1927 by Marius Taix, Jr. in the ground floor of his father’s hotel, the Hotel Champ D’Or, at 321 Commercial Street in the French district of downtown. I believe that the hotel was a Basque boarding house, because the original Taix served food in the style of the many Basque hotel restaurants which still exist in California and Nevada.

 

original Taix - photo by L.A. Public Library Archives

original Taix – photo by L.A. Public Library Archives

 

As could be seen on the above sign food was served table d’hôte – multiple courses with a choice of entree – “family-style” on long tables. Taix specialized in roasted chicken dinner (50 cents in 1928) served with salad, a large tureen of soup, potato, vegetable, and French bread. When the restaurant would fill up at dinner time food was served until everyone was satisfied. So a single seating like some Basque restaurants still do today, such as at Noriega in Bakersfield.

 

Taix on Sunset Blvd - photo by Dean Curtis, 2016

Taix on Sunset Blvd – photo by Dean Curtis, 2016

 

matches

In 1962 Julius Jr.’s sons Raymond and Pierre, who started washing dishes at Taix when they were children, opened Le Frere Taix (The Brothers Taix) with some family partners on Sunset Blvd. (U.S. 66) in Los Angeles. The original downtown restaurant closed in 1964 to make way for a parking structure for the federal building. Raymond eventually became sole owner of the new restaurant and the name reverted back to Taix.

 

Raymond’s son Michael Taix runs the restaurant today, though Raymond remained involved in running it until he passed away in 2010. Next year it will be 90 years in operation by the same family! Speaking of longevity, many of Taix’s staff have been working there for decades. Three men, Jose Fragoso (banquet waiter), Fernando Gomez (bartender), and Bernard Inchauspe (dining room waiter), have worked there over 50 years!

 

Inside the Restaurant

 

321 Lounge - photo by Dean Curtis, 2016

321 Lounge – photo by Dean Curtis, 2016

 

The bar and restaurant are suitably dark. There is a large TV at one end of the lounge and a small TV over the bar, but where I was sitting for lunch on one of the banquettes along the wall they weren’t obvious or annoying. The bar has entertainment on Wednesdays and Fridays so if you’re looking for some action those are the nights to go (or avoid if you’re looking for a quiet repast).

 

fireplace in waiting room - photo by Dean Curtis, 2016

fireplace in waiting room – photo by Dean Curtis, 2016

 

There is a nice waiting area with some leather couches and a great fireplace which made me wonder if it is ever used anymore in the cooler months.

 

dining room - photo by Ruth V. on Yelp

dining room – photo by Ruth V. on Yelp

 

The dining room was remodeled recently but it still has nice tin ceilings and chandeliers (though I don’t understand why they partly covered them up with shades – see photo below for before picture). There are booths upholstered in a floral fabric and fresh flowers in vases decorate the room. I think they have additional dining rooms but they may be for large parties and I didn’t get a good look when I was there because the lights were turned off.

 

2007 photo of chandelier and ceiling by Jessica Watkins on Flickr

2007 photo of chandelier and ceiling by Jessica Watkins on Flickr

 

The Menu

 

1962 menu - photo by Dean Curtis, 2016

1962 menu – photo by Dean Curtis, 2016

 

As you can see above in the original menu from 1962 they still served primarily table d’hôte, with a choice from 4 entrees (pot roast, roasted chicken, filet of sole, or steak) or the daily special, which came with hors d’oeuvres, soup, salad, vegetable, potato, cheese, coffee, and sorbet. A lot like classic Basque restaurants in the West.

Today’s menu is much longer and a la carte, with several choices of entrée, including a different special each day, that comes with soup du jour or salad. For my lunch I had the excellent Moules Maison (mussels with leaks, wine, butter, and cream) and the Ahi tuna tartare, which was the perfect dish for a summer lunch.

 

duck a l'orange - photo by Taix restaurant

duck a l’orange – photo by Taix restaurant

 

The dishes are tried-and-true classic French country cuisine (no haute cuisine here), such as duck a l’orange with wild rice (Saturdays), rabbit with mushrooms, pearl onions, and mustard (Thursdays), veal stew (Sundays), oven braised oxtail (Tuesdays), escargot, frogs legs Provencales, and steak frites. And the prices are reasonable.

 

 

 

 

Taix French Country Cuisine
1911 Sunset Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90026
(213) 484-1265
Open Mon-Thu 11:30am-10:00pm, Fri 11:30am-11pm, Sat 12:00pm-11pm, Sun 12:00pm-10:00pm, 321 Lounge menu is served Wed-Sat from 10:00pm-1:00am
Note: On Saturdays lunch is served in the 321 Lounge

 

 

Glendora Continental – Glendora, California

We’ve covered a lot of Basque restaurants here on Le Continental, being a big fan of the type of restaurant, the food, and the people. On good ol’ Route 66 east of Los Angeles I happened upon another one last summer when I spotted the sign “Glendora Continental Restaurant”, which of course caught my eye.

 

sign

 

The restaurant was opened in 1980 by Jean and Elisabeth Sabarots, who came from the Basque Country of Europe. Jean Saborots (1936-2012) came from the town of Osses. He emigrated to the U.S. at 19 years old to work as a sheepherder, later working in dairies, and eventually becoming a bartender. In 1964 he returned to the Basque Country and met Elisabeth Larralde (1937-2005) from the town of Lecumberri, who was working in a hotel. They returned to the U.S. together, got married in 1966, and managed The Little Inn Smorgasbord in Covina (later owning it) until they opened Glendora Continental.

 

Jean and Elisabeth Sabarots - image by Glendora Continental

Jean and Elisabeth Sabarots – image by Glendora Continental

 

The bar and lounge in Glendora Continental has entertainment most nights of the week – Bingo on Mondays, karaoke on Tuesdays, live piano on first Thursdays, and live music on Fridays and Saturdays.

 

bar entrance - photo by Dean Curtis, 2016

bar entrance – photo by Dean Curtis, 2016

 

the bar - image by Glendora Continental

the bar – image by Glendora Continental

 

But my visit was for dinner so I entered through the Continental entrance – of course!

 

main entrance - photo by Dean Curtis, 2016

main entrance – photo by Dean Curtis, 2016

 

The dining room has booths of tufted brown vinyl, classy chandeliers, and plaques of the Lauburu, the Basque Country symbol.

 

dining room - photo by Dean Curtis, 2016

dining room – photo by Dean Curtis, 2016

 

photo by Dean Curtis, 2016

photo by Dean Curtis, 2016

 

The Menu

 

menu - photo by Dean Curtis, 2016

menu – photo by Dean Curtis, 2016

 

The restaurant’s menu offers the complete Basque “set up” for $28 with your choice of the daily special entrees. This comes with pickled tongue, house made soup and salad, a stuffed puff pastry (optional), sliced ham, the main course with potato and vegetable, great homemade bread, cheese, fruit and dessert, plus wine! A feast! Of course I got the full set up and had a hard time eating it all. If you don’t want that much food you can get one of many available entrees of chicken, fish, lamb, beef or pasta, which come with soup and salad or pickled tongue, potato or rice, vegetable, and bread. Entrees range in price from $12 to $48 and they have early bird specials and daily specials at $14.

 

soup course - photo by Dean Curtis, 2016

soup course (cream of broccoli) – photo by Dean Curtis, 2016

 

pickled tongue - photo by Dean Curtis, 2016

pickled tongue – photo by Dean Curtis, 2016

 

puff pastry stuffed with mushrooms in a creamy sauce - photo by Dean Curtis, 2016

puff pastry stuffed with mushrooms in a creamy sauce – photo by Dean Curtis, 2016

 

I wasn’t sure how to eat the cured meat (which I believe was Jambon de Bayonne) served with hunks of butter. Spread the butter on the ham and eat it rolled up, perhaps?

 

ham with butter - photo by Dean Curtis, 2016

ham with butter – photo by Dean Curtis, 2016

 

main course of lamb chops - photo by Dean Curtis, 2016

main course of lamb chops (which are on end in this pic) – photo by Dean Curtis, 2016

 

cheese plate - photo by Dean Curtis, 2016

cheese plate – photo by Dean Curtis, 2016

 

It was a pleasant surprise finding this restaurant! The food was very good but next time I’ll bring some friends to share with because it was a lot of food for one (or I’ll just get a regular entree and not the set up)!

 

Glendora Continental
316 W Rte 66, Glendora, CA 91740
(626) 914-1834
Open M-Thu 11:00am-3:00pm, 5:00pm-9:00pm, Fri 11:00am-3:00pm, 5:00pm-10:00pm, Sat 11:00am–10:00pm, Sun 10:30pm-3:00pm with limited menu, bar open daily 11am-2am

 

 

Pacific Dining Car, Los Angeles, California – CLOSED

Friends have often heard me complain about the limited 24 hour eatery options in the Bay Area. New York City has a few, Chicago beats NYC by a mile, but Los Angeles is tops for 24-hour dining. There are scads of 24-hour coffee shops, hamburger and hot dog stands, taco shops, ethnic eateries, and most uniquely, even some fine dining restaurants. If you can sit down to eat a high quality meal at four o’clock in the morning on white linen with real silverware and fine china, served by professional waiters in dinner jackets and ties anywhere else in the U.S. I want to know about it!

photo by Dean Curtis, 2016

photo by Dean Curtis, 2016

Pacific Dining Car opened in 1921, when Los Angeles was booming during the Roaring Twenties. Fred and Grace “Lovey” Cook moved to LA from back east and decided to open a small restaurant that was like a railroad dining car. Many people think the original restaurant is in an actual railroad car but the Cooks had the car built to their specifications so it would be large enough to accommodate a lunch counter, some tables and chairs, and the kitchen. They outfitted it with wheels so it could be moved, which came in handy in 1923 because the land it was on at 7th & Westlake was sold, so the Cooks had to move the little café to 6th & Witmer at the western edge of downtown, where it still stands to this day, wheels and all.

timeline

Lovey’s pies became a quick hit in town and soon business was booming. In the 20s Fred Cook started serving high quality steaks from USDA prime aged beef, eventually installing his own curing box so he could age the beef on-site, a practice that continues today. The Cook’s survived the Depression and opened the successful Cook’s Steak House at 645 S Olive St. in 1935 (demolished). Lovey’s son-in-law Wes Idol ran the new venture. Both restaurants attracted many celebrities of the silver screen, writers, and even the notorious Mickey Cohen.

Cook's Steakhouse

Cook’s Steak House via Pinterest

Fred passed away in 1947 and Lovey continued to run PDC 7 days a week, except when the restaurant closed for three months per year during the summer, when a sign was put at the entrance reading “Too D. hot in L.A. Gone Fishing. Why the H. don’t you go, too?”. By 1960, Lovey was over 80, so her daughter Virginia, son-in-law Wes, and grandson Wes Idol II purchased the restaurant and remodeled it during the summer closure, reopening it as a “year ’round” restaurant, adding air conditioning so it could stay open during the summertime.

Pacific Dining Car 1968 menu

menu from 1968

Pacific Dining Car vintage matchbook

via Los Angeles Magazine

When Wes senior passed away in 1970, Wes II bought the restaurant from his mother Virginia, again remodeling it close to its present appearance. Wes II expanded the menu and wine list, while retaining the PDC standards of prime aged steaks. At one time there was also a Pacific Dining Car at 501 30th St in Newport Beach (as spotted on a vintage matchbook image; since demolished). I do not know when PDC started 24-hour service. This vintage matchbook shows limited dinner hours. But at some point it went 24-hours and in 1990 a PDC was opened in Santa Monica, also open 24-hours. These days, Wes Idol III runs PDC, amazingly owned by the same family for 95 years!

Pacific Dining Car original dining room

original dining room – photo by Dean Curtis, 2016

Pacific Dining Car has many dining rooms, but my favorite is the original dining car, which has been remodeled over the years to its present Victorian dining car look of varnished wood, plush high-back booths, tables with green crushed velvet chairs, windows with tasselled valances, brass luggage racks holding vintage suitcases, and classic lamps.

Past the wine room you enter the bar (with TV) and the adjacent Club Car dining room, which is decorated with many historic photos; worth a peek if you aren’t dining there.

Pacific Dining Car dining room

Club Car next to the bar – photo by Dean Curtis, 2016

At the other side of the original dining car, just past the kitchen, is the Northern Pacific Room, in a Craftsman style with green walls and ceiling, lots of wood, blue crushed velvet chairs, and chandeliers made from antlers. A very interesting room that was used as a film set. Also, there is the Astor Room, the Huntington Room, and the Wine Room. Wow! More photos of the the various dining rooms.

antler chandelier in Northern Pacific Room, Pacific Dining Car

antler chandelier in Northern Pacific Room – photo by Dean Curtis, 2016

Since this is primarily a steakhouse all the menus feature steaks from prime aged corn-fed beef , but there are many other meat, seafood, and vegetable options. Breakfast is served 24 hours a day. I love their blueberry pancakes, top sirloin steak ‘n eggs, and lyonnaise potatoes. Or you could go New Orleans style and get eggs Sardou, artichoke bottoms over creamed spinach, topped with poached eggs and hollandaise sauce.

Pacific Dining Car steak 'n eggs

top sirloin steak ‘n eggs with lyonnaise potatoes -photo by Dean Curtis, 2016

Lunch is served from 11am to 4pm and features salads, steaks, seafood, sandwiches, and other entrees. Afternoon tea is offered daily from 3pm to 5:30pm. The dinner menu is served 24-hours a day and offers an extensive array of steak and seafood entrees and combinations. Make no mistake, PDC is an expensive restaurant. Their famous cowboy steak, a bone-in ribeye, will set you back almost $80 à la carte and their famous baseball steak, a thick top sirloin will cost you almost $50 on the dinner menu. However you can go after 11:00pm and save a lot. Their late night menu served from 11pm to 6am offers many of their popular selections at reduced prices and some include sides while their regular dinner menu counterparts may not.

Pacific Dining Car rib steak

Cowboy Steak – via beefaficionado.blogspot.com

Note on their steaks: the steaks are well seasoned and cooked over charcoal with a good dark crust (as you can see above). If you don’t like your steak that well seared you should ask if they can cook it with less of a dark crust. Also, after reading a lot of online reviews complaining about the Pacific Dining Car’s baseball cut being “dry”, I have this to say: top sirloin is a beefy but relatively lean cut with a somewhat chewy texture. I love a good top sirloin for a steak-on-a-budget. But it’s not as well marbled as say a ribeye or strip steak so it’s not as juicy and it doesn’t have the melt-in-your-mouth feel of more fatty cuts. So don’t order the baseball steak if a chewy, beefy steak doesn’t appeal to you. I found my aged top sirloin served with eggs to be very flavorful!

Pacific Dining Car

photo by Dean Curtis, 2016

The service is excellent: genteel, old fashioned, refined. Which makes the entire experience from a simpler, less hectic time. The crisp white linens, the real polished silverware and the fine china remind me of dining in a railroad dining car during the streamlined train era before Amtrak (luckily I was able to experience it in the 1970s on board the Denver and Rio Grande Western’s Zephyr, a remnant of the California Zephyr that held on until 1983). There is no music playing at the restaurant; just the sound of low conversation and polite dining. If you go late at night please don’t arrive drunk and make a lot of noise.

Sure, Pacific Dining Car is pricey, but it’s also priceless.

James Ellroy at Pacific Dining Car

James Ellroy in the Astor Room at Pacific Dining Car – via the Hollywood Reporter

James Ellroy, author of L.A. Confidential and other books, is a huge fan of Pacific Dining Car!

Pacific Dining Car
1310 W 6th St, Los Angeles, CA 90017
(213) 483-6000
2700 Wilshire Blvd, Santa Monica, CA 90403
(310) 453-4000
Open 24 hours with breakfast and dinner menus; lunch 11am-4pm; tea 3pm-5:30pm; late night menu 11pm-6am – at both locations

Billingsley’s, Los Angeles, California – REMODELED

Do you remember the TV show Leave it to Beaver (1957-1963)? The character June Cleaver was the mom everyone wished they had (after their own mom, of course). She was played by Barbara Billingsley, whose first husband was Glenn Billingsley Sr. Glenn’s uncle was Sherman Billingsley, founder of New York City’s famous Stork Club, and Glenn followed in his footsteps, running several Los Angeles restaurants including seven locations of Billingsley’s Golden Bull, three Outrigger Polynesian restaurants, the Billingsley’s Bocage nightclub in Hollywood, along with a Stork Club in Key West, Florida.

 

Billingsley's restaurant

photo by Dean Curtis, 2016

 

Billingsley’s on W. Pico Boulevard opened in 1946 as a Billingsley’s Golden Bull and it’s the last survivor of the Billingsley family’s restaurants. Glenn Sr. and Barbara had two sons, Glenn Jr. and Drew. They started working in their dad’s restaurants as teenagers, working their way up to management, eventually opening their own restaurant, Billingsley’s of Van Nuys In 1969 (closed in 2004). In 1974 they bought Billingsley’s on Pico from Glenn Sr., at which time I’m guessing it was partly remodeled into its present look. They operated the popular restaurant for decades. Last November the restaurant closed with little explanation. Thankfully, it reopened in January 2016 under new ownership but with everything unchanged, including the menu, decor, and the staff.

 

Billingsley's restaurant

the bar – photo by Dean Curtis, 2016

 

Billingsley's restaurant

dining room – photo by Dean Curtis, 2016

 

Billingsley's restaurant

dining room – photo by Dean Curtis, 2016

 

Billingsley's restaurant

dining room – photo by Dean Curtis, 2016

 

Billingsley's restaurant

dining room – photo by Dean Curtis, 2016

 

Last month I was in Los Angeles on a windy, stormy day and I drove out west to get some Mexican Food at Don Antonio’s. Unfortunately, they were closed due to a power outage so I never got to dine in the “cave room”. The adjacent Mexican restaurant The Talpa was also closed.

 

Don Antonio's restaurant, Los Angeles

photo by Dean Curtis, 2016

The Talpa restaurant, Los Angeles

photo by Dean Curtis, 2016

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I thought to myself “wasn’t Billingsley’s also on Pico near here?” so decided to see if they were open. I was in luck – it wasn’t that late but they were already dead, probably due to the weather, however still open! I was seated in the bar area in a nice big booth under two nude paintings and a Pabst Blue Ribbon sign that read “Next Time Bring Your Wife”. HA! It was nice to be warmly welcomed despite the staff being probably ready to close up for the night.

 

Billingsley's restaurant

my booth – photo by Dean Curtis, 2016

 

The menu is classic 1950s steakhouse fare – steaks, prime rib and bar-be-que. I don’t want to rely on an online menu for details as the menu may have changed with the new owners (though it sounds like it hasn’t). What I ate was great! A small cut of prime rib, rare, with fries (shoestring – my favorite kind) and a salad. They are famous for their cheese toast – kind of like the popular cheese bread in the San Gabriel valley, but crisper.

 

prime rib at Billingsley's restaurant

prime rib dinner – photo by Dean Curtis, 2016

 

I gathered from the staff that recent light rail construction badly hurt business due to a lack of parking after some of the parking lot was closed during construction. Hopefully the restaurant under the new owners can bounce back! Please go and tell them how glad you are that they didn’t change! I think perhaps restauranteurs in Los Angeles get this more than they do most other places: don’t mess with the classics!

 

Billingsley’s
11326 W Pico Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90064
(310) 477-1426
Open Sun-Thu 11:30am – 9:00pm, Fri-Sat 11:30am – 10:00pm

Clearman’s Steak ‘n Stein – Pico Rivera, California

What is the best metropolitan area for classic restaurants?

Le Continental claims it’s Los Angeles, hands down! My list of classic and historic restaurants (that are at least 30 years old) in the greater L.A. area (including Orange County), which I have compiled from various sources over the years including the defunct LA Time Machines web site and more recently Nikki Kruezer’s excellent Offbeat LA list, comes to a total of 276 classic restaurants!

NOTE: With a few exceptions I have left out restaurants that have been relocated recently (one exception is Lawry’s Prime Rib, which relocated a few years ago into a new building and is still definitely a classic) but counted restaurants that relocated in the classic era (pre-1985). Bars (that aren’t also restaurants) were not counted and some multiple location chains (like Tommy’s and The Hat, which still have some original locations left) were counted only once. Included are hot dog and hamburger stands, delis, coffee shops, and casual and fine dining restaurants.

Los Angeles has not been covered very extensively on Le Continental to date. One reason for this is that it seems to me that most of the classics in LA remain very popular and are pretty well known already. But lately with skyrocketing rents and rising property values in California many popular classic restaurants are closing, either because they can’t stay in business facing increased rents or they sell their business while they can get big money from developers. Now I feel a stronger sense of urgency to let people know about my favorite old restaurants so they can visit them before they’re gone and to hopefully increase the restaurants’ business.

 

Clearman's Steak 'n Stein frontage

photo by Clearman’s Steak ‘n Stein facebook page

 

In the San Gabriel Valley there is a chain of restaurants called Clearman’s, which includes the following restaurants:

My experience with Clearman’s started about 15 years ago, when I ate at the original Galley and the Northwoods Inn in San Gabriel, and strolled though the vintage 1950s shopping center behind the Galley (which was later demolished for a new shopping center). Later I visited the Steak ‘n Stein and Northwoods Inn in Covina. Last weekend I returned to the Steak ‘n Stein with friends.

 

Clearman’s Steak ‘n Stein – classic Los Angeles steakhouse

 

Clearman's Steak 'n Stein, 1946

c. 1946 photo by Clearman’s Steak ‘n Stein facebook page

 

John Clearman opened his first restaurant, the Steak ‘n Stein, in 1946 in a California-Mediterranean style. Originally the interior was a little plainer than it is now, as can be seen in the following historic photos. The fireplace lounge called the Circle Room was the most elaborate room with its round rock fire pit with copper hood, rustic furniture, brass lamps and wallpaper.

 

Clearman's Steak 'n Stein cocktail lounge and bar, 1946

cocktail lounge and bar, 1946 – photo by Clearman’s Steak ‘n Stein facebook page

Clearman's Steak 'n Stein bar, 1946

bar, 1946 – photo by Clearman’s Steak ‘n Stein facebook page

Clearman's Steak 'n Stein fireplace lounge, 1946

fireplace lounge, 1946 – photo by Clearman’s Steak ‘n Stein facebook page

Grill Room 1946 (from fb)

Grill Room, 1946 – photo by Clearman’s Steak ‘n Stein facebook page

Clearman's Steak 'n Stein chefs, 1946

chefs at charcoal grill, 1946, with tableside metal grills, all still in use today – photo by Clearman’s Steak ‘n Stein facebook page

Clearman's Steak 'n Stein staff, 1946

John Clearman (seated in center) with staff – photo by Clearman’s Steak ‘n Stein facebook page

 

Sometime later many Victorian style decorations were added, such as Tiffany lamps and oil paintings, and the bar was rebuilt with a thick wood top with wooden branches holding up a shingled roof.

 

Clearman's Steak 'n Stein bar before redo

bar before recent redo – photo by Clearman’s web site

 

Recently the bar was changed to a granite top and the wonderful wood roof supports were removed. Just why I can’t understand. Le Continental is not a fan of granite bar and counter tops. They don’t fit with vintage decor and they feel cold. But I’m glad they kept the bar stools and roof the same.

 

Clearman's Steak 'n Stein bar now

recent bar photo by Dean Curtis, 2016

 

After entering the front door you pass through the small lobby into the Circle Room to check in at the hostess desk.

 

Clearman's Steak 'n Stein entrance sign

photo by Dean Curtis, 2016

 

While waiting for your table enjoy a drink and some complementary peanuts served in a small carafe in the fireplace lounge (unlike the peanuts served at the Northwoods Inn here they’re serve pre-shelled). In the winter a fire is lit while in the warmer months the pit becomes a fountain! Much of the Steak ‘n Stein reminds me of the Magic Lamp, also a John Clearman restaurant at one time, especially the fire pit (the Magic Lamp has a similar one).

 

Clearman's Steak 'n Stein fireplace lounge

fireplace lounge – photo by Clearman’s web site

 

There are multiple dining rooms at the Steak ‘n Stein. Here is my favorite one, complete with nude oil painting and fantastic Victorian chandelier!

 

Clearman's Steak 'n Stein dining room

photo by Clearman’s web site

 

Clearman's Steak 'n Stein chandelier

photo by Dean Curtis, 2016

 

Clearman's Steak 'n Stein painting

photo by Dean Curtis, 2016

 

Below is the small dining room closest to the front door, which to my disappointment had a large TV mounted on the wall (turned off when I was there). I love the stained glass windows in this room! A TV turned on would ruin the atmosphere. (TVs don’t belong in dining rooms, ever. I don’t even like them in bars, but I really don’t see the point of having a TV on in a place where people are dining. The atmosphere in the main front dining room at the Northwoods Inn in San Gabriel has been ruined with some huge TVs.)

 

Clearman's Steak 'n Stein dining room

front dining room – photo by Clearman’s Steak ‘n Stein facebook page

 

The menus are mounted on large wood hinged boards that are placed in the center of each table. How about the food? They specialize in steaks of course, which come in six cuts, from the 9 ounce “special steak” (top sirloin?) up to a 34 ounce bone-in tomahawk rib eye. The steaks tasted like they may have been from aged beef, but they don’t state that on the menu, and are broiled over an open charcoal fire.

 

Clearman's Steak 'n Stein charcoal pit

charcoal pit – photo by Clearman’s web site

 

They also have prime rib on weekends, many seafood entrees, surf & turf combinations, and chicken, all broiled over charcoal. Entrees come with a lot of food so the prices are pretty reasonable for a white tablecloth, fine dining experience (the Steak ‘n Stein is fancier than the casual Clearman’s Northwoods Inns). Dinners come with an iceberg lettuce salad with a side of red cabbage and a trio of unique homemade dressings, their famous (and delicious) cheese bread (ubiquitous in restaurants in the San Gabriel Valley), a giant baked potato with a tray of toppings including cheese sauce, and onion rings. If you want vegetables you will have to order a side. This is a meat & potatoes place.

 

Clearman's Steak 'n Stein waiter

tableside plating – photo by Dean Curtis, 2016

 

A wonderful feature at the Steak ‘n Stein is the tableside plating. The waiter comes to your table with the steaks on a metal grill a la flambé. He or she loads each plate with a huge baked potato and opens it up, piles on the onion rings and plates the steak to serve to the diners. The service was excellent on a busy Saturday night.

 

Clearman's Steak 'n Stein sign

photo by Dean Curtis, 2016

 

For more information on John Clearman check out Nikki Kruezer’s article on the LA Weekly web site. Thanks to Mr. Clearman’s vision and the popularity of the Clearman’s chain we still have several classic dining experiences in the San Gabriel Valley to choose from. But Clearman’s, please stop putting in TV’s in your dining rooms!

Clearman’s Steak ‘n Stein
9545 E Whittier Boulevard, Pico Rivera, CA 90660
(562) 699-4716
Open Mon-Thu 11:30am – 9:00pm, Fri-Sat 11:30am – 10:00pm, Sun 10:00am – 9:00pm