Café 50’s, Los Angeles

Atmosphere is everything at Café 50s. This is not to say that other food establishments have no atmosphere; after all, no business owner wants to kill his customers via suffocation—or by any other means—if he can help it, but when I say “atmosphere” I mean interior decoration designed to charm and set a specific and appealing scene. Eating here is like stepping back six decades to a more genteel time. Understandably, such places are growing in popularity, especially with old fogies like me.

The owners went to great pains to decorate the place appropriately—including satellite stations at every table for the juke box, of course, large movie and music posters of the period and a wall dedicated to 50s record album covers, many of which I am familiar with which, sadly, gives you an idea of what a dinosaur I am—the service is excellent from people who obviously enjoy their jobs and the prices are… well, they are not outrageous at least, and frequent diners receive numerous discount coupons via email and snail mail, as well as vouchers for free treats when our birthdays roll around.  As for the food… 

I had the steak and eggs and the New York steak was perfectly cooked and tastier than others I have had. Face it: the New York cut is not exactly filet mignon and I believe it comes from a part of the cow suspiciously close to its anus. I don’t care for their cottage fries style hash browns, but they serve the shredded variety also and they appealed to me. The eggs were perfect and I was completely satisfied.  

 My wife ordered the eggs Benedict with much different results. The eggs were fine, the muffins were not exactly toasted but rather just heated up, and instead of Hollandaise sauce they used cheese sauce like any other cheap, low-class diner, basically destroying the eggs. On the bright side, a roving prestidigitationist  stopped by our table twice to entertain us (for free; he even insisted the we not tip him but rather hoped that we would tell the owner how much he entertained us, and we did). He performed a number of mind-bending card tricks inches from us that left us scratching our heads, all the while spewing banter that was at least mildly amusing and occasionally funny. He may be no George Carlin, but I’ll bet that George Carlin can’t make all four aces float to the top of a deck of cards!

Shakes are the house specialty. I suppose I should have assumed this before ever eating there as the place is essentially a 50s soda fountain. The shake menu takes up the better part of one wall, is extensive, and when they serve your drink they include the mixing cup, so you get more than just a glass full—which is good, because they aren’t cheap. But they are delicious.

The bottom line is if you’re looking for excellent food (other than shakes), you’d be better off walking a couple blocks over to California Grill on Virgil for the best refried beans in the known universe. But if you’re looking for a fun place to take a date who isn’t fussy about food, this is a lively, entertaining place with great atmosphere, nice and efficient service people and constant music that won’t drive you into a homicidal rage.

http://www.cafe50s.com/

Café 50s locations:

11623 Santa Monica Blvd

West Los Angeles, CA 90025

(310) 479-1955

850 N. Vermont Ave

Los Angeles, CA 90029

(323) 906-1955