Whenever I am in L.A. I always try and find some new cuisine I have never tried. This year I found an Ethiopian restaurant. But, after sitting there for 40 minutes with no food and flies buzzing around my eyes I decided to dine elsewhere.
On this day that was South Street.
South Street is the name of the restaurant, not the name of the street. There are actually three South Streets in L.A. One in Westwood, one in Burbank and a third location inside Dodger Stadium. None of them are on a street called South Street. There are also 2 streets named South Street in Southern California. Neither of them house a restaurant called South Street.
Anyway, the one I visited was in Burbank, just outside of Hollywood. The restaurant is pretty plain from the outside. But once you enter, it's like you are transported to Philadelphia - but I mean that in a good way.
I knew I was going to like the place when I found poster sized print of the Phillie Phanatic on the wall.
The Phanatic visited the restaurant as part of his recent DVD The Phanatic Goes Hollywood. He certainly made a great impression, they added a special menu item just for him.
Unfortunately, they spelled his first name wrong. The lovable green mascot spells his first name "Phillie" not "Philly."
Anyway, the "Philly Phanatic is a pizza with pepperoni, sausage, peppers, mushrooms, olives, tomatoes and onions.
But, pizza is not the signature item at South Street.
That would be the cheese steak.
So, that is what I ordered. It was pretty good. The bun to meat ratio was a bit lopsided (too much bun, not enough meat) but other than that it was fine.
The coolest thing about South Street for me was the Philadelphia sports memorabilia.
They had pennants and photos on the walls, and a couple glass display cases filled to the brim with awesome knick knacks.
My favorite was two seats from Veterans Stadium which hosted the Phillies and the Eagles from the early 1970s until the early 2000s.
It was replaced by two other stadiums, nether was named in tribute to America's Veterans. They were named after banks. Hey, maybe some of the vets own a bank. Then they can get a stadium named after them.
The new stadiums were great, as for Veteran's Stadium, it was a drab ugly stadium. Still, I felt a pang of nostalgia as I sat down in the chair for a moment.
Then the surfer dude behind the counter said "Hey, those are for display only."
To which I responded "I'm displayin'."
"Displayin' what?"
"Displayin' around."
Then we laughed and laughed.
Aside from the sports memorabilia, a few other nods to Philadelphia are on the walls. A large list of facts about the city is displayed, some Liberty Bell photos and a few Frankie Avalon records.
Outside hung another long list, a list of famous Philadelphians.
Overall, the place was a blast. The food was good and it had a good atmosphere. I definitely recommend it over the REAL South Street which is located in a rather scary section of Philadelphia.
Even the Phanatic stays away from there.
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