The Apple Pan
10801 West Pico Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90064
Few restaurants can say that they have been in business for ten years. Even fewer can say they have been around for 25 years. The number shrinks to a minuscule amount when you think of restaurants that have been around for half a century. 71 years is almost unheard of. On an unofficial list of the oldest restaurants, I found online a few years ago, they list Apple Pan as the 64th oldest restaurant in the LA metro area still serving guests. That's some pretty rare company when you consider the number of restaurants in LA, Orange, Ventura, San Bernadino, and Riverside counties that this list covers. If you want to check out this great list, see it here.
Back to the Apple Pan, though. They opened in 1946, the same year my dad was born, which seems like eons ago when you know what he looks like now. Just kidding, dad. In this age of changing for customers' tastes, it's almost a badge of honor that the menu at the Apple Pan has not changed in the 71 years they have been in business. No gluten-free, quinoa, kale, or any other trendy ingredients of the moment, and recipes that have not changed since Harry Truman was President.
While they get kudos for not changing a thing, I'm not going to lie, this is not the most comfortable of restaurants to eat at. First, this is a cash-only restaurant, and no cards of any kind are accepted. You will probably be directed to the bank across the street if you do not expect it. Secondly, there is only counter seating, so you will get to know your neighbors, and depending on your shyness level and how much you appreciate your personal space while eating, this might make some a tad anxious. Lastly, there's the waiting system, which is not explained well upon entering. You line up to either the left or right side of the almost always full 26-seat counter and wait for people to finish their meals while trying to keep track of who was before you. It made me feel a tad nervous that we would not be able to get a seat, but then I realized they have been doing this for decades, and I haven't heard of too much trouble at the Apple Pan. One of the other customers directed us to a pair of seats at the end of the counter about 20 minutes after we had arrived.
The Apple Pan was the basis for the Johnny Rockets chain, as their founder modeled his restaurant after this one. You can see it, but the nostalgia here is not forced like at Johnny Rockets. This is just the way things have always been at The Apple Pan. The compact menu includes two burgers, five sandwiches, and fries and pie. The men behind the counter appeared to have been employed here for a long while, as they knew many customers around us. With such few options, and since I had looked at the menu before leaving the house, we quickly made our selections and waited for our food to arrive.
The Fries ($3.10) came out rather quickly after ordering. Like at Johnny Rockets, the server puts the ketchup on a side plate for you and refills it as needed. The fries here are excellent, crisp, and soft on the inside. A very well-done fry and one that went well with the ketchup.
My Double Hickory Burger ($10.10) arrived about ten minutes later. This paper-wrapped burger comes with lettuce, mayo, and their hickory sauce, which I'd describe as a mixture of ketchup and a sweet barbecue sauce, Tillamook cheddar cheese, and pickles. The bun had a nice toast to it, which was appreciated. They could have had a heavier hand with the mayo, and I was happy that the hickory sauce did not overpower the clean-tasting beef. Tillamook is always an excellent choice for cheese on a burger, which was the case here. I took a little of the lettuce out and like to eat the pickles separately. A solid, simple burger that almost made me forget my beloved bacon on a burger.
Much like In-N-Out, but with way better burgers, The Apple Pan has a secret menu that some insiders know about. These secret items include root beer floats, cheese fries, lettuce-wrapped burgers, and perhaps the most famous secret item, this Tuna Melt ($10.35). They have a tuna salad sandwich on the menu, but for a little extra, they'll add some cheese and put it on the grill for you. Katie had this special tuna melt on rye. The white tuna is studded with pickles, and the mayo-to-tuna ratio is nearly perfect. Katie felt this was a perfect tuna melt. The bread had a good crunch from being on the grill, the tuna was fresh, and the cheese-to-tuna ratio was spot on. She can see why this sandwich gets so hyped, even though it's not on the menu.
You are doing it all wrong if you are at a restaurant named The Apple Pan and do not try their Apple Pie Ala Mode ($9.50). I was a little shocked when this was sat in front of us. It was very syrupy, and it did not seem like we got the extra $2.25 that we paid to get ice cream with this. The pie was pretty sweet but still tasted freshly made, which all pies are, as they are made on the premises every day. The crust was not as light as I would have liked, and the apples were pushed to the background by the syrup's overabundance. Not bad, but we've had better. Their banana cream pie that our neighbor had looked amazing.
The nostalgic factor at The Apple Pan is off the charts, and from just talking with the people around here, they are crazy for this place. How do I feel about it? I enjoyed it, but it's not the best burger I've ever had. With it being a simple burger, I enjoyed it well enough, especially since it does not include bacon. I could not help but compare The Apple Pan to Pie N' Burger in Pasadena. Both places are similar, although Pie N' Burger is a tad newer, as it opened in 1963. I liked both the apple pie and the burger at Pie N' Burger better, but the tuna melt and fries at The Apple Pie are superior, but that's just my opinion. The Apple Pan is definitely worth a try, especially if you are in the area and want to step back into a time machine to 1946. Glad to see that they are churning out the same food as they did in the middle of the last century and have not succumbed to the fads that their customers will move on from in the next month.
Out of five bikinis (because just like The Apple Pan, the two-piece bathing suit made its debut in 1946 in Paris), five being best to zero being worst, The Apple Pan gets 3 bikinis.
For more information about The Apple Pan, head to their website by clicking here: https://theapplepan.com/
No comments:
Post a Comment