The cuisine of California reflects the diverse culture of California and is influenced largely by European American, Hispanic American, East Asian and Oceanian influences, and Western European influences, as well as the food trends and traditions of larger American cuisine.
Cha chaan teng, often called a Hong Kong-style cafe or diner in English, is a type of restaurant that originated in Hong Kong. Cha chaan teng are commonly found in Hong Kong, Macau, and parts of Guangdong. Due to the waves of mass migrations from Hong Kong in the 1980s, they are now established in major Chinese communities in Western countries such as Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Likened to a greasy spoon cafe or an American diner, cha chaan tengs are known for eclectic and affordable menus, which include dishes from Hong Kong cuisine and Hong Kong-style Western cuisine. They draw comparisons to Western cafés due to their casual settings, as well as menus revolving around coffee and tea.
Philippe's, or "Philippe the Original" is a restaurant located in downtown Los Angeles, California. The restaurant is well known for continuously operating since 1908, making it one of the oldest restaurants in Los Angeles. It is also renowned for claiming to be the inventor of the French dip sandwich.
A French dip sandwich, also known as a beef dip, is a hot sandwich consisting of thinly sliced roast beef on a "French roll" or baguette. It is usually served plain but a popular variation is to top with Swiss cheese, onions, and a dipping container of beef broth produced from the cooking process. Beef stock, a light beef gravy, or beef consommé is sometimes substituted. The sandwich is an American invention, with the name seeming to refer to the style of bread, rather than any French origin. Although the sandwich is most commonly served with a cup of jus or broth on the side of the plate, into which the sandwich is dipped as it is eaten, this is not how the sandwich was served when it was originally developed.
A buffet can be either a sideboard or a system of serving meals in which food is placed in a public area where the diners serve themselves. A form of service à la française, buffets are offered at various places including hotels, restaurants, and many social events. Buffet restaurants normally offer all-you-can-eat food for a set price, but some measure prices by weight or by number of dishes. Buffets usually have some or mostly hot dishes, so the term cold buffet has been developed to describe formats lacking hot food. Hot or cold buffets usually involve dishware and utensils, but a finger buffet is an array of foods that are designed to be small and easily consumed only by hand, such as cupcakes, slices of pizza, foods on cocktail sticks, etc.
An Italian beef is a sandwich, originating in Chicago, made from thin slices of roast beef simmered and served au jus on French bread. Common toppings are a choice between spicy giardiniera or mild bell peppers. The entire sandwich is traditionally dipped in the juice the meat is cooked in before serving with a side of French fries.
Sizzler USA Restaurants, Inc., doing business as Sizzler, is a United States-based restaurant chain with headquarters in Mission Viejo, California, with locations mainly in California, plus some in the nearby states of Arizona, Nevada, New Mexico, Idaho, Utah, Oregon and Puerto Rico. It is known for steak, seafood, and salad bar items.
The historic Pacific Electric Building, opened in 1905 in the core of Los Angeles as the main train station for the Pacific Electric Railway, as well as the company's headquarters; Main Street Station served passengers boarding trains for the south and east of Southern California. The building was designed by architect Thornton Fitzhugh. Though not the tallest in Los Angeles, its ten floors enclosed the greatest number of square feet in any building west of Chicago for many decades. Above the train station, covering the lower floors, were five floors of offices; and in the top three was the Jonathan Club, one of the city's leading businessmen's clubs introduced by magnates from the Northeast. After the “Great Merger” of Pacific Electric into Southern Pacific Railroad in 1911, the PE Building became the home of Southern Pacific in Los Angeles. In 1925, a second electric rail hub, the Subway Terminal, was opened near Pershing Square to serve the north and west.
Restaurants fall into several industry classifications, based upon menu style, preparation methods and pricing, as well as the means by which the food is served to the customer. This article mainly describes the situation in the US, while categorisation differs widely around the world.
The Hat is a Southern California fast-food restaurant chain specializing in pastrami dip sandwiches. This 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 Original Pantry Cafe is a coffee shop and restaurant in Los Angeles, California. Located at the corner of 9th and Figueroa in Downtown L.A.'s South Park district, The Pantry claims to never have closed or been without a customer since it opened including when it changed locations in 1950 to make room for a freeway off-ramp; it served lunch in the original location and served dinner at the new location the same day. This claim is also attributed to the fact that Dewey Logan never refused a customer even if the customer was short on money. It was however, closed briefly at the order of health inspectors on November 26, 1997, and reopened the next day. That tradition ended due to the COVID-19 pandemic in California, and the restaurant has since been open from 7 am to either 3 or 5 pm, depending on the day. The restaurant was owned by former Los Angeles mayor Richard Riordan and has served many celebrities and politicians.
Clifton's Cafeteria, once part of a chain of eight Clifton's restaurants, was the oldest surviving cafeteria-style eatery in Los Angeles and the largest public cafeteria in the world when it closed in 2018. Founded in 1931 by Clifford Clinton, the design of the restaurants included exotic decor and facades that were "kitschy and theatrical", and would eventually include multi-story fake redwood trees, stuffed lions, neon plants, and a petrified wood bar. Some considered Clifton's as a precursor to the first tiki bars. The name was created by combining "Clifford" and "Clinton" to produce "Clifton's".
William Otto Binder was an American restaurateur and businessman who ran the landmark Philippe's restaurant, known as Philippe the Original, downtown Los Angeles for decades. Philippe's, a major destination for locals and tourists, is famous for its French dip sandwiches, which are said to have been invented at Philippe's, and sawdust covered floors.
Sweet Tomatoes, operating as Souplantation in southern California, is a United States–based chain of all-you-can-eat buffet-style restaurants. The first location opened in 1978 in San Diego, California, where the company was headquartered. The company was incorporated as Garden Fresh Corp. in 1983. The company went public in 1995 but was taken private in 2004. The company, owned by Garden Fresh Restaurant Corporation, temporarily closed its 97 locations in March 2020 in response to government mandates related to the COVID-19 pandemic. On May 7, 2020, the closure was made permanent and the company filed for liquidation. However, one restaurant in Tucson, Arizona reopened after one firm bought the assets of the company, with no word yet on whether other locations will be reopened.
Langer's Deli, also known as Langer's Delicatessen-Restaurant, is a kosher-style delicatessen located at 704 South Alvarado Street in the Westlake neighborhood of Los Angeles, opposite MacArthur Park.
Pacific Dining Car is a culturally significant luxury steakhouse business in Los Angeles California. It was founded in 1921 by Fred and Grace Cook in the backyard of a friend's house in Los Angeles. In 1990, it expanded to Santa Monica. In 2020, it underwent a shift to delivery and takeaway services due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and then moved temporarily to online offerings and popups.
Victor Clothing Company was a retail clothing store at 242 S. Broadway, Downtown Los Angeles. Originally from 1926–1964 it was located at the Crocker Building #212–6 S. Broadway.
Stacked Sandwich Shop was a sandwich shop in Portland, Oregon. Gabriel Pascuzzi operated the original restaurant in southeast Portland's Hosford-Abernethy neighborhood from 2017 to 2021. The business operated in a different location for several months in 2023. The second reiteration of Stacked was housed alongside Pascuzzi's second Feel Good restaurant, in a space previously occupied by Sunshine Noodles in northwest Portland's Northwest District.
Tanaka is a small chain of Japanese restaurants in the Portland, Oregon metropolitan area. The original location has operated in downtown Portland since 2022. A second location opened in Bridgeport Village in 2023, and a third followed in Gresham in 2024.
Stonefire Grill is an American fast casual restaurant chain serving Greater Los Angeles and Ventura County in California. The restaurant also runs a catering business. It is based in Agoura Hills, California.
