#3 of 88: Heritage Family Pantry (Lakewood)

Restau­rant #3: Her­itage Fam­ily Pantry (Break­fast, Lunch, Diner)
City: Lake­wood
Date: 10/7/10
City Fun Fact:  (Incor­po­rated in 1954) Lake­wood is home to the first Denny’s restau­rant. Orig­i­nated in 1953 as Danny’s Donuts and renamed Denny’s in 1959.

Who doesn’t like a sat­is­fy­ing, down home diner meal every once in awhile? Her­itage Fam­ily Pantry in Lake­wood is serv­ing up just that – with a lit­tle extra kick.

With a menu com­prised of every­thing from over­sized omelets to home­made muffins, tow­er­ing zuc­chini fries to five, yes FIVE pieces of bacon in one side — the por­tions are wel­com­ingly enor­mous, with fla­vor not far behind. I ordered one of their spe­cial­ties, the Corned Beef Hash, along with a side of bis­cuits and gravy… of course. Mike skipped break­fast and went with a Frisco burger, side of onion rings and chili. Despite the Fam­ily Pantry’s con­ven­tional look and feel, we felt the food far sur­passed your typ­i­cal, greasy diner style meal.

The corned beef hash, a house spe­cialty, packed an extra crispy punch – a must for any hash. (Corned beef is brine-cured beef i.e soaked in a salt solu­tion for preser­va­tion – typ­i­cally brisket.) The dis­tinct fla­vor of the corned beef shone through with­out being over­whelm­ing, and the ratio of beef to potato to onion to sea­son­ing was spot on. The hash was accom­pa­nied by three per­fectly cooked over easy eggs and a side of home­made white bread (slightly on the thick side, but ter­rific nonethe­less). Bread, muffins and bis­cuits are made in house every day. Not your typ­i­cal diner fare but a spe­cial treat for those who crave freshly baked good­ies! The heap­ing plate of bis­cuits and gravy looked and smelled like some­thing Paula Deen might serve for Sun­day sup­per, but sadly didn’t mea­sure up. The bis­cuits were melt-in-your-mouth fluffy but the gravy was a seri­ous fla­vor dis­ap­point­ment – and you sim­ply can’t do bis­cuits and gravy well with­out that warm, thick, salty, com­fort­ing GRAVY!

As for Mike’s Frisco Burger, his many “mmmmm’s” made it a safe bet he was enjoy­ing. It wasn’t any­thing unusual for a Frisco burger but over­all, taste wise, he found it to be every­thing he was expect­ing, and cooked to a “Mike medium”: just a hint of pink but still juicy (I’m more of a medium rare kind of gal). For those won­der­ing, typ­i­cally a Frisco burger is on grilled parme­san sour­dough bread with let­tuce, tomato, cheese and a 1000 island type dress­ing. The home­made sour­dough bread really accel­er­ated the fla­vor of the burger to the next level.  Onion rings were room tem­per­a­ture and the cup of chili was decent enough, though nei­ther were out­stand­ing.  After see­ing the lean­ing tower of zuc­chini (fries) that arrived at the table next to us, we real­ized which side we should have ordered. Next time!

Over­all we were excited to find a local haunt that sat­is­fied our every once in awhile crav­ing for diner food. Aside from the food the ser­vice was prompt and friendly. Greeted and seated right away, drinks were always quickly refilled (one of our pet peeves, most places slack) and we had a smil­ing and respect­ful server who checked back just enough. The wide range of cus­tomers added a lit­tle extra to the atmos­phere as well  – just near us we had one table of four adorable old ladies, a table with three twenty-somethings play­ing cards, three busi­ness men, and what looked to be a fam­ily of good ol’ south­ern­ers in the back. And of course, us. Love it.  If we find our­selves in Lake­wood any­time soon we would def­i­nitely relive the tasty mem­o­ries. Recommended!

Her­itage Fam­ily Pantry
2601 Car­son St
Lake­wood, CA 90712