The only store nestled in the verdant Laurel Canyon, Canyon Country Store, built in 1919, has served as a location for several films and is also a hangout for many artists, musician and actors.
"We don\’t do falafel or schwarma," said Avi Ben-Harouch while seated on a beige banquette in the elegant dining room of his new restaurant, Avi\’s Bistro in Agoura Hills.
Deep red curtains, dark lighting, cushiony pillows and pictures of camels and bellydancers adorning the walls: That\’s what you\’d expect from a restaurant reputed to be one of the best Middle Eastern eateries in Southern California.
Instead, what you find is a bright diner-like atmosphere, with orange and yellow arches on the walls, in a strip mall in Sherman Oaks. Oh, and a long line of Americans, Arabs, Druse and Israelis.
Carnival\’s green awning welcomes guests in Hebrew (\”Bruchim Ha\’baim\”) English and Arabic. Newspapers in three languages line the table of the anteroom, as people wait for a table or takeout on this busy Saturday night.
Yoshinoya and a sushi restaurant sprang up at Dodgers Stadium after Japanese pitcher Hideo Nomo donned blue, but it\’s going to be a while before L.A. fans will be able to bite into a kosher Dodger dog, even with the addition of Jewish outfielder Shawn Green.
Who is supposed to pay? And why does the whole subject make me so squeamish?
\”I\’m a Jewish girl, and my husband\’s a Catholic,\”says Barbara Lazaroff, who has been married for 15 years to renownedchef Wolfgang Puck.\n\nAbout 12 years ago, Passover was a lonesome timefor Lazaroff, most of whose Jewish relatives lived out of town. SoSpago regulars nudged her to create a restaurant seder, and she consulted withhubby Wolf (\”He said, \’We can make shrimp.\’ I said, \’I don\’t thinkso,\’\” Lazaroff quips).\n\nThe result was the first seder ever held in anupscale Los Angeles eatery, with kosher-style (i.e., not strictlykosher) fare a la Puck\’s trendy-interpretive cuisine.
Today the once-legendary Spanish Kitchen restaurant is a study in decay, the \”K\” missing from the neon sign, the arched storefront crumbling and covered with graffiti.
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