WHAT You Have Never Eaten at The Hat?

I grew up near this place. Yet in all those years and even in recent times when we often drove by this eatery I had never eaten there. The wonderful and most recognizable neon sign stands out during the day and at night. When relatives come from out of town my brother takes them to eat the famous pastrami sandwiches. Recently my nephews were talking about "The Hat" and I said I had never eaten there. They both responded increduously, "WHAT, you've never eaten at the Hat? Uncle Mike would love that place!"

So this past Saturday when we had time on our hands and found ourselves in the San Gabriel Valley we said, "Let's have lunch at The Hat!" The original location is located at a busy interesection of Garfield and Valley Blvds.

You will stand in a long line but it moves very quickly.

Mike ordered drinks, a pastrami sandwich and a chili tamale. We watched in amazement at the orders being picked up by people in the know.

Here's our order a killer pastrami sandwich.

I forgot to take a photo of the chili tamale but it was very tasty too.

Here are some other things you can order. We didn't even know what some of them were but they were gigantic portions and people seemed to really love them.


Wet fries? Who knew...I still don't know what that means.

Okay here's an order I recognize...chili fries (someone else's)

They also serve fries with pickles and pastrami

or this monster dish of chil fries with cheese, tomatoes and pickles.

If you ever find yourself in the San Gabriel Valley/Monterey Park area (or several other locations) stop by and sample

the food at this landmark eatery. It's a fun experience. Make sure you're hungry!

Wikipedia says this:

The Hat is a Southern California fast-food restaurant specializing in pastrami sandwiches.This iconic eatery, once local only to the San Gabriel Valley has been offering its "World Famous Pastrami" to Southern California residents since 1951. Its customers consume 13 to 15 tons of pastrami per week.
The first restaurant opened in Alhambra. It was across the street from the historic Garfield theater (on Valley Blvd and Garfield).

The pastrami sandwich, or pastrami dip, served by the restaurant is a signature item. It comes on a french roll with mustard and pickle with over 0.5 pounds (0.2 kg) of meat. You may also add tomatoes. Along with the large portions of pastrami, the restaurant is also known for serving french fries in a paper grocery bag. The Hat offers no table service, so all of the items are wrapped to go, but paper plates are given to customers who wish to "dine in."

1 W Valley Blvd

Alhambra, CA

91801

Neighborhood: Alhambra

Post Birthday Dinner Celebration

Although my birthday was in January I was invited to a belated birthday dinner celebration with my cousin Ann. She had planned a very special evening at Osteria Mozza in West Hollywood. Reservations are difficult to come by and need to be made several weeks in advance. I was looking forward to this evening. It's fun to stretch out these celebrations of life for as long as possible. At least that's my motto.

The interior of Mozza is quiet and elegant. I loved the subdued lighting and the lovely

ambiance.

In the center of the restaurant is a busy mozarella bar.

The main dining room was quickly filling up. Service is swift and well organized. All the staff

were extremely cordial and helpful.

We started with a glass of Prosecco.

A complimentary dish of crostini topped with ricotta, black olive tapenade and basil was served.

From the mozarella bar we ordered Burrata cheese with leeks vinaigrette and mustard breadcrumbs with bacon, marinated escarole and carmelized shallots. Every bite was heavenly!

This was followed by the antipasti which was grilled octopus with potatoes, lemon and celery.

For our Primi we had Tagliatelle verde with lamb ragu, olive taggiasche and mint.

A lovely vino rosso was a good choice.

For our secondi roasted pork loin with fennel and onion with olives.

The pork was accompanied by the contorni . We chose sauteed broccolini with chiles and vinegar.

Espresso anyone?

My birthday dolci came with a candle. I made a wish before I took the photo so no picture with a lit candle. I hope my wish comes true.

This was a rosemary olive oil cake with gelato and rosemary brittle. I think that's what we ordered but now when I recall the taste it was more like an almond dessert with marinated tangerines. Whatever it was, it was delicious.

A second dessert was ordered but I don't know why because we were both so full.

Here is this beautiful choccolata bitter sweet cake with perugian chocolates. Oh my!


Next door to the Osteria is the Pizzeria Mozza. We want to try that one too!

And if you don't have reservations or time to dine in you can go right next door to the adjoining "Take out" for Mozza. It looks great as well.

http://www.mariobatali.com/restaurants_osteriamozza.cfm

“Enchant, stay beautiful and graceful, but do this, eat well. Bring the same consideration to the preparation of your food as you devote to your appearance. Let your dinner be a poem, like your dress.”Charles Pierre Monselet (1825-1888)(rench journalist and author, "Letters to Emily"