Eating Window Sandwiches in Los Angeles
A building isn't required for great food.
I love L.A. I could live in L.A. And if that ever happens, there’s a good chance I’d gladly survive on food handed to me from walk-up windows.
I know walk-up windows aren’t unique to Los Angeles, but that’s where I’ve most enjoyed them. It’s a perk of having a touch of social anxiety: for unknown reasons I should explore with my therapist someday, I have no problem dining solo anywhere but L.A. While my experiences in L.A. have counter-acted so many of the stereotypes of everyone in the city being thin, rich, and beautiful, I think some tiny bit of belief in that bullshit is still at work when it comes to nice restaurants. I’m not even remotely phased by going to really nice restaurants elsewhere without companionship. But L.A., man …
Enter the walk-up window! Of course, the enviable weather makes it easier to have a walk-up window in L.A. than, say, St. Louis, where it’s currently predicted to dump rain until next Tuesday. But with the sunshine and warm temperatures, walking up to a window, getting a quick meal, and being on my way feels less committal than going inside to eat.
Pink’s was one of the walk-up innovators. Open since 1939 smack in the middle of Hollywood, you’ll encounter plenty of tourists, but the line moves quickly. I’ll admit that I wasn’t really interested in a stop until 2022. Pink’s had undergone a renovation and had been closed for a while between that and Covid. Thanks to a flight cancellation, I found myself with a bonus day in L.A., which started with coffee with a friend at Coffee for Sasquatch on Melrose, just around the corner from Pink’s.
Not that my friend joined me, what with being vegan. But I hopped over for a Mulholland Drive: a 9” dog with grilled onions and mushrooms, nacho cheese, and bacon.
Was it worth battling the crowd? Sure! Have I gone back? I haven’t, but I probably will at some point.
Two years later, while scrolling Instagram I found information about Royal Lobster, which I immediately saved to my L.A. list of places I should visit. Converted old gas station in Koreatown with outside seating only, and a menu limited to market-priced Connecticut-style lobster rolls and a green salad with lobster meat? I’m down! The slight Soup Nazi vibe, with detailed ordering instructions, made it even more appealing.
Technically, Royal Lobster isn’t a window. They do have the menu and the day’s prices posted on the door to the former gas station, which is now the kitchen. I gave my order to a server blocking the door with a card table, then took a seat at one of the umbrella tables on what used to be the service station’s large parking lot.
What came out of the kitchen is about as far from gas station food as you can get.
Instead of hiding the beautiful flavor of the delivered-daily fresh lobster, I opted to dip the chips in the aioli, which contained a hefty dose of Old Bay. Plump lobster bathed in just the right amount of silky melted butter makes for a damn near-perfect Connecticut-style lobster roll. The only thing missing is the sea breeze—Koreatown is nowhere near the ocean, but that can be forgiven, It wouldn’t be nearly as easy to get this simple yet decadent lunch if Royal Lobster was in Venice or Santa Monica.
My L.A. food window standards are high, and that’s because of Maison Matho in East Hollywood. Like Royal Lobster, this window is in the least likely of spots. A brightly painted storefront amid the senior housing and strip malls, Maison Matho combines east side attitude with Beverly Hills taste for French sandwiches and pastries.
Like Royal Lobster, Maison Matho uses its entire building, small as it is, as kitchen space. During a visit three weeks ago, Chef Daniel was rolling croissants in one window. Having owned two small food businesses in past lives, my first thought wasn’t that he was on display to attract foot traffic, but that the counter by the window was probably the biggest work surface available. I’m a fan of that kind of culinary flexibility.
At the order window, I got my usual: a jambon beurre with a raspberry iced tea. Then I asked to see the pastry basket. There’s no room for a pastry case so instead the server brings a large basket with one of each available pastry, usually a variety of croissants and brioche rolls with cream fillings.
The jambon beurre sticks to tradition, the prep kept simple to let the quality of the ingredients shine. Perfectly crisp baguette crust leads to an airy interior slathered with an almost-obscene amount of cultured butter that will ooze out the side when you take a bite on a hot day. The ham isn’t like anything in your grocer's deli case. Sliced paper thin, it’s a fresh, clean flavor, lacking the funk of aged hams like prosciutto or American country ham. The meat’s flecked with generous shakes of salt and pepper, then crowned with handfuls of thinly-sliced little cornichons that balance the richness of the butter.
The house specialty, available as a croissant and latte flavor, is the Lyonaisse French pink praline. Featuring almonds instead of the pecans of American pralines, they’re cooked in caramelized pink sugar, giving them a deeper burnt sugar flavor.
It’s a lovely change of pace, but when the orange pistachio croissant is available, I forget that pink praline exists. It’s filled with a house-made pistachio marzipan surrounded by zest-flecked laminated layers, and a crispy crust dotted with candied pistachios.
It’s the reason why Maison Matho is usually my first and last stop when I’m in L.A. A croissant and half of a leftover jambon beurre hit just right during layovers in Denver.
While I’ll gladly eat anything from Maison Matho on a plane, at the gate, or sitting at an umbrella table on their small patio, I prefer taking one of the two wrought iron benches on the sidewalk by the ordering window, with a tiny round bistro table.
Melrose Avenue in East Hollywood isn’t the Champs-Elysees. That’s fine. It’s still a great place to feel the sun on your face and watch the neighborhood go by. Pet some dogs, ponder if it’s the same Jackie who owns the neighboring Jackie’s Tattoos and Piercings and Jackie’s Banquet Hall, and while away an hour or so as your body decides what to do with all that butter you just ate. It’s my favorite way to lunch, anywhere in the world.
Pink's Hot Dogs 709 North LaBrea Avenue, Hollywood (and a bunch of other locations, but this is the original.) Royal Lobster 4450 Beverly Boulevard, Koreatown, Los Angeles (There's a new location in Beverly Hills, too.) Maison Matho 4770 Melrose Avenue, East Hollywood, Los Angeles