La Grande Orange Santa Monica: Comfortably Different, Deliciously Similar

If you’ve eaten any meal in La Grande Orange in the old train station in Pasadena you know that their food is fresh and wonderfully prepared. (Read previous reviews of brunch and dinner). LGO recently opened another Café in Santa Monica; whereas the Pasadena location is semi-formal, the Santa Monica location is totally “beachy” with an open kitchen, some casual al fresco dining and packaged takeway foods.

Chef Jeff Mahin making sure all dishes are perfect [Photo: James Macpherson]

For breakfast, ordering is done at the front counter and then brought to your table. Tasty highlights? A daily freshly squeezed juice special, a large assortment of baked goods and an extensive menu of pancakes, waffles, omelets and other breakfast goodies.

Chef Jeff Mahin says the Santa Monica location serves “simple straight-forward food.” One of the hallmarks of LGO is customer service, “we’re really all about pleasing our customer, they’re the one’s who keep us in business,” Chef Jeff told me.

Allison Shashok, company project director for both the Pasadena and Santa Monica locations says that some people are surprised when they come to the Santa Monica cafe and find the menu and service different. She likes to explain that “we’re not a chain [Santa Monica] has a beach vibe.”

Apple Pancake [Photo: Candice Merrill]

Chef Jeff described the Apple Pancake as “awesome,” so I decided to start my breakfast with one of these generous masterpieces. A baked pancake topped with apples, caramelized sugar and cinnamon  — what could be better? Add a cup of their fabulous coffee and you’ve got a meal that two or three can share.

To “guild the lily” I also ordered an open-faced croque monsieur sandwich and the special for that morning: chilliquillas. Slices of ham top a crouton-type piece of bread (a bit on the hard side for my taste) the croque monsieur is finished off with tomato slices, spicy mustard (needed more of this in my opinion) and Gruyère cheese. This is then broiled until hot and bubbly, a deliciously different breakfast entrée. They will also top this sandwich with a sunny side egg; the entrée is then called a croque madame.

Chilliquillas [Photo: Candice Merrill]

For those of you not familiar with chilliquillas, they consist of layers of fried corn tortillas, chicken, cheese and a spicy red sauce. This is one of my favorite breakfast meals and these were as good as they get. Spicy, yes, but not so much so it detracted from the other flavors of toasted corn and creamy cheese. What a treat!

La Grande Orange, Santa Monica is located at 2000 Main Street. Breakfast is served from 6:30 a.m., lunch begins at 11:00 a.m. and dinner begins at 5:00 p.m. seven days-a-week. Call (310) 396-9145 or log onto www.lagrandeorangesm.com for more information.