DINING: NOVEL CAFE

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NOVEL CAFÉ

 

I’ve always known of the cozy-ish Novel Café in Westwood, and recently learned of the other branches. On the recommendation of a new very handsome acquaintance, three friends and I had lunch at the latest one, (their ninth!), in the Wilshire business district, and now consider it a find!

I’ll tell you everything in a sec because, even though it’s hard to veer from my strict linear thinking, I have to jump ahead to tell you that the salsa and ranch dressing are addicting!!! No fooling. We ate there three weeks ago, and now I’ve been so disappointed with every other salsa and ranch dressing I’ve had since then–no others are cutting it anymore! Two of us took some of the ranch to to-go and put it on every food item in our houses.

Now, back to the beginning. The whole area around the café is hustling and bustling–I guess that’s what business districts are like. But when you walk into the café, it’s peaceful. It has a library feel to it, with oversize chairs and couches, and no other diners on top of you. It’s so comfortable that I don’t know how anyone goes back to work after lunch!

And the service we had was pretty good. Dishes were bussed in a timely manner, which is always important, especially when you make the kind-of mess that we do! And they brought us everything extra we needed, like plates and napkins, right away. We were especially fond of Angel, who took care of us with a twinkle in his eye. And we loved that John Chung, the owner, wore the same casual garb as his servers, so the whole place had a relaxed vibe.

Now to the “great, varied menu,” which is very affordable. All portions were quite generous, and nothing was over $11.95! (And most were much less that that!) As usual, we had more than was necessary in order to choose favorites to recommend. I’ll start with the beverages, of which this menu had more than the norm.

Jeanine and Caryn were thrilled with their iced teas. The latter’s was made with strawberry lemonade, but she hadn‘t paid attention to what she was ordering. So, when Caryn asked Angel what he did to make it so good, he answered, “A lotta love.” What a charmer. Eadie was impressed with their extensive coffee menu, and said the basic house blend was “the most flavorful” she’d had “in a long time.” I was impressed that they have Italian sodas, (fun-flavored syrups with carbonation) which I’ve enjoyed before in only specialty shops. (Order what they list as French soda, though–it’s the same as the Italian, with cream added. Yum. It’s usually called “Italian cream soda,” if you’ve had it elsewhere.)

This is the only Novel Café location that serves the chips and salsa, so of course, it’s already my favorite branch. We could not stop eating them! Seriously. I couldn’t put my hands down long enough to even read the menu! But when I finally forced myself to, I was happy with everything.

We started with two giant salads. The warm goat cheese salad featured a “really good blend of greens,” and we all loved it, especially the goat cheese on savory toast. The chicken, apple, and walnut salad was light and tasty, with excellent grilled chicken. Eadie liked the sweet mango dressing that came with it.

Then she moved on to the turkey meatloaf sandwich, which was “crunchy” with a “nutty flavor.” I couldn’t try it because, even though this is considered special, it had a hard-boiled e-word in the center, which I once found out about the hard way–I had never seen meatloaf done that way until I moved to Los Angeles!

[Sidebar: I was nineteen, and a couple of guy friends said they made me “meatloaf with an e-word in it.” (Of course, they said the actual word because even I didn’t call them “e-words” back then.) I was wondering why they were listing an ingredient, but figured maybe that’s what people out here do. I was shocked when I bit into it and found an actual whole e-word right in the center! I was scared to eat meatloaf out here for a long time after that.]

I didn’t need any of Eadie’s meal anyway, because I couldn’t put my fork down from my own angel hair pasta with shrimp. It was delicious! Caryn said her chicken penne pasta had “perfect bites of chicken,” and the penne itself had a “nice little crunch,” (meaning it wasn’t mushy, as many pastas are.)

Jeanine’s a strict vegetarian, (there should actually be no other kind than strict, actually–I hate when people claim they’re vegetarians, but then order fish!,) and she had plenty of choices. She went with the garden burger, which was way huge, with “lots of stuff on top!” You get to choose your bun on the burgers, and either French fries or organic mixed greens. The fries were outrageous, (ask for them crisp or well done,) especially with the aforementioned ranch dressing, of which I’m dreaming as I write this!

She left before dessert, which is probably why she’s a size zero, but the rest of us went to town. Caryn practically wept as she ate the carrot cake, and Eadie and I had lovely red velvet cake, and the best Boston cream pie EVER!!! (Note: many of the desserts are from a major outside bakery, which Novel Café proudly makes known, but I’ll tell you from whence they came if ever I review the actual place.)

On the way out, we noticed even more features of this particular location: a piano for music nights, a lobby-like lounge, a bar with big-screen TVs, and even more desserts and treats in display cases in the entrance. If they added a hotel on the premises, I could just go to my room and sleep in-between terrific meals and fun activities! Now there’s something for John to think about–the Novel Hotel! Catchy.

3760 Wilshire Blvd.        213-388-3383        www.novelcafe.com

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