CAFE METROPOL - AN EXCUSE TO GO TO DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES

This last Sunday, five of us went to the Ahmanson Theatre to see Spamalot. After the really funny musical, we drove down to the Café Metropol for a 3pm lunch. My wife Janne discovered Metropol after a search on the internet. And, what a find she made!
The neighborhood in which Café Metropol is located is in transition from warehouses and manufacturing companies to artists’ lofts and creative spaces. Parking spaces are limited, so it takes a little searching but not overwhelming. The Café, according to owner Angie An has been at its location for 12 years. Angie and her partner Guido Ganschow opened the place because there were no other places for coffee in the area at the time.
The restaurant’s interior is, as one would expect, a bit funky. With white butcher paper for table coverings, I wish I had brought something to draw with (and, I’ll be lots of art has been done there from folks in the neighborhood.)
Thank goodness that our pal Patty is serious about lemonade. Assured that the drink would be made fresh and good and sour, I opted in. (I figured that I could add sugar – but was served with a little pitcher with a supply of simple syrip.) It was simply the best lemonade in Los Angeles.!
For our friend Dallas, there was a goat cheese pizza. I had a splendid country paté served with French bread, butter, thin slices of red oinion and tomatoe and cornichons (ok........ so, I just looked up cornichon - crisp, tart pickles made from tiny gherkin cucumbers). As someone of Alsatian heritage, I am a snob about paté and won at the Metropol. It was accompanied by a delicate and very fresh mixed green salad with a super good sesame ginger dressing.
Patty and I had cups of salty, but still very good soup. Our ally Linda had a pulled turkey sandwich. Listen to this: “pot roasted turkey marinated in cranbetty bourbon BBQ sauces (she had extra sauce) on a brioche sesame bun........ sensational! She added oven baked garlic sweet potato fries.
Janne has tropical ice tea, and a ham stuffed panini. She substituted a hearts of Romaine Caesar salad. I was forced to order an ultra thin Margherita pizza, half of which I took to our poor, starving son at home. Patty tortured the rest of us by ordering a delicious looking slice of cheesecake accompanied by fresh raspberries in whipped cream.

Café Metropol is located downtown: It is very reasonably priced too!
923 E 3rd St
Ste 101
Los Angeles, CA 90013
(213) 613-1537
www.cafemetropol.com

And, guess what! The Metro Gold Line Subway is scheduled to open a stop just 3 short blocks from Café Metro this next month.
So, catch the Orange line in the San Fernando Valley, transfer to the Red Line – go to Union Station and hop on the Gold Line and get off at the Little Tokyo Arts District. A day at the Japanese National Museum and MOCA’s Geffin Museum, and lunch at Café Metropol ... Is this a great City or isn’t it!