The Apple Pan

My friend Sujata and I went to see the movie "Intouchables" which by the way is a "must see..feel good" movie. It's French and it is subtitled. For those who get turned off  by reading or if you think you can't read fast enough; not to worry, you'll get used to it the first 5 minutes and you'll forget you're reading as this movie is delightfully entertaining. (Based on a true story)

Afer the movie, we went across the Landmark Theater at Pico in Los Angeles to the famous Apple Pan. They first opened in 1947 and are known for their great burgers and apple pie a la mode.  We got there at 1:45 p.m. It was a quaint small free standing building with just a counter and 26 bar stools. There were people ahead of us so we just had to wait for 2 people to leave and grab their stools. After 10 minutes, we got our prized seats. I ordered the steakburger, Sujata, a vegetarian, ordered the grilled cheese. We decided to split an order of fries. The fries came first. It was really crispy AND it was really crispy....had to add salt and lots of ketchup. We both have had much better fries.

Then the burger came wrapped in paper and was just plopped with a bang in front of me. No plate. Sujata got a paper plate with her grilled cheese. I thought this might be part of their charm.  No plates, soft drinks served on plastic cones inserted into metal cup holders. I took one bite of the burger and I have to say it was just O.K.  It had lots of lettuce, their sauce, mayonnaise, pickles and cheese. I was starving so needless to say, I ate the whole thing. The whole thing was not particularly big. It only looks big in the picture. Carl's Jr. #2 is much better than this burger. I can see that in 1947 or in the 50's, 60's and 70's, this would have been very good and maybe even one of the best burgers....but times change, our tastebuds change...what we thought was good before may not be as good now. The grilled cheese was..... well,....grilled cheese!

Dessert time: The Apple Pan, name of the restaurant, so we thought it made sense to order their famous apple pie a la mode. We decided to split it. We were surprised as the waiter already split it for us (no extra charge). Another disappointment. The apples were sour, the crust was good but the apple pie was a bit runny. The good thing is they served this on a real plate. The bad thing is they give you a fork ....so how do you eat the melted ice cream?  I would have asked for a spoon but didn't really want to waste calories on something I didn't enjoy.

The Apple Pan prides themselves on their unchanged menu.  Perhaps it's time for a change.