Good Day L.A., Orange County

[WhoozOn1st]

Lately, friends, I'd had the honors of riding the Amtrak SoCal rails with saxman66 (Chris 3), gswager (Greg), and unwittingly with chuljin (Chris 4).

Fine experiences all, so when GG-1 (Eric, AU member/moderator who currently lives in Hawaii) told me he'd be in town and suggested doing lunch I readily agreed. Not just because of the Amtrak Guest Rewards spring promo points potential (though I'd be lying if I told you that wasn't a factor), but also because I happen to know from direct experience at L.A. during the 2008 Gathering that Eric is a cool guy to hang out with.

Now in making meet plans there was a little glitch, but it was easily resolved. Knew Eric would be offline while in transit, but still had cellphone action available. However, it got to be the day before, and hadn't heard. Reluctant to book before knowing the deal, I queried train status at Amtrak.com, learned Eric was likely sitting at El Paso after arriving 40 minutes early, and gave him a call.

Turned out Eric's train had been running early all along, and we set up the meet at L.A.

I was concerned about Eric's arrival situation at L.A. Union Station. If his train arrived early, or even on time, a long wait before I came in on Surfliner 774.

As events unfolded though, not much worry. Eric's SL/TE fell 3 hours behind due to a freight suicide by train.

Long story not so long, we met up at Union Station. Eric had some serious baggage, and I entertained doubts about schlepping it around for lunch.

Nevertheless I suggested riding the Metro Red Line to a stop near Cole's, L.A.'s OTHER "original" French dip sandwich.

GG-1 was game, so we schlepped all his stuff, Red Line and walking, over to 6th & Main.

Growing weary on Friday evening I'll cut the beginning of the report short, call this Part One, and post more later. Pics and videos - better than usual - will be linked in the near future.

 

[WhoozOn1st]

PART TWO

Cole's P.E. Buffet is below street level on the 6th Street side of the old Pacific Electric Building at 6th & Main in downtown Los Angeles. The structure itself, once the hub of P.E. operations, with an elevated track structure attached to the building for arriving and departing trains, has now been turned into lofts. The restaurant/bar is L.A.'s oldest public house, and was recently reopened following a renovation and restoration that remained true to the original style and materials.

Because it was Friday lunchtime I had expected Cole's to be packed, but no. Open booths, so we were seated upon entering. The bar was completely empty when we arrived, but that didn't last long: a number of people who appeared to be Cole's regulars showed up in rapid succession and parked themselves on the stools.

The French dip sandwiches at Cole's (we both had beef) differ from Philippe's well-known offerings in two main ways. First, the meat is of higher quality (and sandwiches more expensive, but not by too much) than at Philippe's. I'm not knocking Philippe's in any way, just saying. Also, instead of dipping the bread in the jus, sandwiches at Cole's arrive with a little bowl of hot jus so customers can dip for themselves. The mustards at both places are very similar in both flavor and sinus-clearing heat (careful!), and Cole's offers the option of a milder Dijon version. Eric mixed mustard into his jus, kinda like mixing wasabi into soy sauce at a sushi joint. I use the hotter mustard at full throttle, slathered liberally over the meat.

A further difference between the two establishments is that at Cole's the people making the sandwiches actually carve the meat, and you can watch them working in the open kitchen while waiting to be seated, if there's a wait, and from booths adjacent to the kitchen if seated in that section. At Philippe's the servers behind the counter cut only the lamb; beef, ham, and turkey are carved by unseen others.

Eric got a couple sides, I had the slaw (better than Philippe's, in my opinion), and we both ordered lemonade (overly sweet for my taste). The food seemed to take forever to arrive, even though the place wasn't all that busy. Ordinarily it wouldn't be an issue, as Eric and me yakked and yukked it up very enjoyably while waiting, but I had tentative and developing plans to meet my sister for her first Metrolink ride, and Eric was trying to determine which Surfliner would be best for riding to Fullerton and family.

A few bites into the meal I started grilling Eric about which sandwich is superior - Cole's or Phillipe's - but he was very slippery about it. Perhaps operating under the influence of some misplaced Amtrak Unlimited Moderator reflex, he refused to be pinned down. Weasel!! Sandwiches are accompanied by an "atomic" pickle wedge (mustard squeeze bottles are labled "Atomic" and "Dijon"). These things are heavily spiced - accent on the garlic - and pack a sneaky punch: munch munch munch - "Nice pickle" - munch munch - "WHOA!" As a fan and aficionado of human suffering I was not disappointed by Eric's reaction to his atomic pickle. He took it up several notches to a new high, and I'm pretty sure I've never seen anybody actually bleed from the eyes before. Served him right for being wishy-washy on the sandwich superiority issue. For some reason he declined a second bite.

To give Eric more gagging and choking room, and to get away from his annoying howls of agony for some peace and quiet, I stepped outside to try to get in contact with my sister about riding Metrolink. The inside vs. outside noise situation was a wash. Traffic in general, and passing buses in particular, seemed to be perfectly timed to prevent me from hearing crucial points of the message left by sister, no matter how many times I replayed it. Giving up, I barked a reply amid the din that I'd meet her at the time and place we'd agreed upon via e-mail.

Back inside, Eric had recovered somewhat. The Los Angeles County Fire Department was called again, this time to let them know that the services of their Hazardous Hotsauce Victims Unit were no longer required.

Time was becoming critical for me, as I needed to be aboard Metrolink's Orange County Line train 684 (2:25 p.m. departure from LAX) to meet sister at Laguna Niguel/Mission Viejo. Despite his atomic pickle discomfiture Eric most generously coughed up the cabbage (almost literally) for lunch. THANKS AGAIN, ERIC! We made our way back to Union Station, where I had to bid my friend a quick goodbye and hastily hoof it to get my Metrolink ticket and board 684.

In order for this part of the trip report to be more than a deranged restaurant review, here are links to the companion photos and videos, even though the narrative has not yet reached most of the material:

PHOTOS: Good Day L.A. (Orange County Too)

VIDEOS:



Next: Metrolink 684 to the MOON (Laguna Niguel).

EDIT: Like rock music, videos are best played LOUD. With a subwoofer you can feel the action.

 

[gswager]

I do remember about the "atomic" pickle. I thought it was just a typical pickle, so I took a good bite. Few seconds later, I'm not too fond of that weird flavor and grab a drink to drown my tongue. Good thing that I survive a lot better than poor Eric!

 

[GG-1]

Aloha

First chance I have had to respond to Whooz's comments. My slowness on commenting was not to be politically correct, but more to reflect on the two different sandwiches. He is definably correct the Cole's meat is better, more generous, and the dipping jus on the side much better. I did prefer the Philips Sides, Having the same sides made the comparison easy. But the Lemonade at Coles was very disappointing. But the restaurant is worth going to again. About the only disappointing thing at Cole's was the piped in music, a fake Elvis, how tacky is that? Also due to the interesting architecture the restaurant is noisy.

I did have a good time "yacking" it up with Patrick, hope we can do it again some time soon.

Eric