The Brief

The San Fernando Valley is full of many great places to get breakfast. There’s the greasy spoon diners, the mom-and-pop chilaquiles parlors, and those creative takes on classic pancake houses. The Valley has its share of trendy cafes and influencer-endorsed brunch spots, but much of this list is more unassuming. The kind of place you’ve been going to with your family for years, the coffeeshop for early morning meetups with old friends, restaurants that simply serve the community tasty meals. This is by no means a definitive list, just a collection of some of the places you can get great breakfasts in the SFV.

Myke's Cafe (Pacoima)

Myke's Banana Split Pancake goes all in

(

Courtesy Myke’s Cafe

)

You can get a straightforward breakfast, sure, at Myke’s Cafe, the legendary Northeast valley breakfast spot with garden seating. They have huevos rancheros, benedicts, or the classic two-eggs-any-style-with-a-side-of-bacon-and-potatoes — but people really come here for their “mad creations.”

Like reimagining a pancake breakfast as a banana split, complete with bananas, vanilla ice cream, whipped cream, lemon curd, and of course sprinkles. Or the Wafflechera, which pours lechera condensed milk, graham crackers, strawberries, and whipped cream over their signature Belgian waffle. And if you’re coming in crudo after a long night, the Little Man Hangover Cure comes with fries, cheddar cheese, black beans, cilantro, tomatoes, onions, red sauce, one sunny side up egg and asada. If you need that hair of the dog they serve beer and bottomless mimosas. Breakfast is served all day. If you end up staying for lunch, they’ll put a Snickers bar on your burger.

Con Sabor Salvadoreño (Reseda)

There are a number of places to get great Salvadoran food in the Valley. Pupusas, panes rellenos sandwiches stuffed with turkey and vegetables, crispy pastelitos, and all those great soups. But first thing in the morning, you know I’m craving a traditional desayuno salvadoreño. The ones they serve at Con Sabor Salvadoreño in a strip mall on Tampa and Roscoe hit the spot. Their traditional breakfast comes with eggs over easy or revueltos scrambled with tomatoes, onions, and peppers. It's served with fried plantains, crema salvadoreña, queso duro, a salty hard cheese, thick tortillas, and frijoles licuados, a refried black bean or casamiento, a mixture of rice and black beans. Of course they’re also known for the aforementioned breadth of Salvadoran cuisine, and those delectable pupusas that you can also eat anytime.

Brent’s Deli (Northridge) 

Grab a traditional breakfast or order a pastrami sandwich and a bowl of matzo ball soup if you're feeling crazy

(

Josh Heller

/

LAist

)

I think that Brent’s Deli s probably the best deli in Los Angeles, and they make one of the best breakfasts in the Valley. We often meet my wife’s family there early on Sunday mornings before the rush. If you come any later than 8:45 you can expect a twenty minute wait. I sometimes get delicatessen breakfast favorites like salami and eggs or matzo brei. Another favorite is American Dream Breakfast which comes with your choice of french toast, pancakes, or waffles topped with a red, white, and blue patriotic trifecta of strawberries, whipped cream, and blueberries. My wife’s family always orders a round of mini latkes and blintzes for the table. Grab a traditional breakfast or, heck, it’s totally okay to order a pastrami sandwich and a bowl of matzo ball soup for breakfast. Get there when they open or expect a wait.

Goto At Silog (Panorama City) 

Breakfast including tocino, a cured meat and bangus, also known as milk fish

(

Courtesy Goto at Silog

)

For a great Filipino breakfast go to Goto At Silog. In Filipino, “Silog” is a portmanteau for sinangag, meaning garlic fried rice, and itlog for a fried egg. The word can get even more portmanteaued when you combine it with your favorite proteins like a sweet and garlicy sausage longganisa which makes a dish called longsilog or tocino, a cured meat which becomes tocilog. They also serve Spamsilog and Hotdogsilog. Another popular dish is their sizzling sisig, made from crispy pork jowl, served in a skillet with eggs on top and of course a side of rice. You can also go with their namesake Goto, a savory rice porridge made with ginger and beef tripe. Breakfast is served all day.

Western Bagel (10 locations including the Van Nuys Factory)

There are some great places to get bagels in The Valley, like Hank’s in Sherman Oaks and Burbank. But it’s hard to beat Western Bagel — the “bagel that won the west” since 1947. Their factory in Van Nuys makes around five million bagels per year.

(I got a tour of their operation last year. Bagels galore gliding by on conveyor belts on their way to be baked.)

They make the dough at the HQ but each retail location boils and bakes their bagels on-site. You can bring home a dozen with appropriate lox and schmears. Or order their popular jalapeño cheese bagel or their famous Egg Ala Bagel with scrambled eggs, cheese, and your choice of bacon, ham, sausage, or turkey. Their horchata latte hits the spot every time and if you and a few friends want to get extra caffeinated, you can order the 96 ounce containers of coffee for a good time.

Big Art’s (Mission Hills / Chatsworth)

Carne asada breakfast burrito at Big Arts

(

Courtesy Big Art’s Tacos y Burros

)

There are so many contenders for the best breakfast burrito in the valley. You can go to fast food joints like Big Fat, whose griddle produces some hearty breakfast burritos, or new school places like Taqueria Nopal who work out of a modern trailer on Balboa in Northridge and also have an impressive specialty latte program.

But a place that’s been holding it down specifically for the breakfast burrito for the last few years is Big Art’s. Art and his team have been in a tent on the corner of Devonshire and Sepulveda slinging those warm flour blankets wrapping a combo of cheese, egg, tater tots, pico de gallo, and avocado salsa. The OG style comes with asada. You can also get one with bacon that’s called the "when pigs fly” burrito. (You can also omit the eggs and get the vegan soyrizo version). They also serve cafe de olla and a coffee cake that rivals the classic LAUSD recipe. Big Art’s Tacos y Burros recently opened a brick and mortar location in Chatsworth on Devonshire in the plaza behind The Munch Box.

Mel’s Drive-In (Sherman Oaks) 

Like the Mel’s Drive-In on Route 66 in Santa Monica that LAist food and culture writer Gab Chabran recently wrote about, the Sherman Oaks location originally started as a 24 hour Googie-style diner. It originally opened in the Spring of 1953 on Ventura Boulevard and Kester Avenue as Dyles Restaurant (and later Kerry’s Coffee Shop.) Back then you could order breakfast 24 hours a day, with menu items like the advertised steak and eggs for $1.75. These days you can order it but you’ll be paying closer to $29.99.

It’s been a Mel’s Drive-In since 1988, a part of the iconic chain of California fifties diners that were featured in the coming-of-age movie American Graffiti. The Sherman Oaks location still has a jukebox at the table and you can sit at a booth beneath Wolfman Jack, and new school heroes like Guy Fieri. You can get your classic diner fare plus specialties like their The Elvis Scramble, with chorizo, green chiles, monterey jack. Or the Yuppie Joe’s scramble with ground turkey, spinach, mushrooms and onions.

Garcia Bros Cafe (Van Nuys)

Garcia Bros Cafe Breakfast sandwich

(

Courtesy Garcia Bros Cafe

)

Whenever I’m driving down Victory Boulevard west of Van Nuys Boulevard, I see a long line forming in front of Garcia Bros Cafe. People say they don’t mind standing in line for up to forty-five minutes, because they love their made-from-scratch food and extremely friendly staff. This popular Van Nuys destination is known for their hearty breakfasts.

Their house specialties include avocado toast, chilaquiles, spicy chicken omelettes, and matcha berry pancakes keep the crowds coming. They’ve got a Brunch Burger with American cheese, arugula, onions, bacon, thousand island, and a sunny side up egg. The Victory Breakfast Sandwich comes stacked with two scrambled eggs, goat cheese, hashbrowns, avocado, and tomato. Their full coffee menu includes signatures like cafe de olla and matcha lattes. Come hungry, the wait is worth it.

Lady C’s, formerly CiCi’s Cafe (Tarzana) 

The breakfast diner in a strip mall on the corner of Ventura Boulevard and Wilbur recently renamed itself. Since it opened in 2006 it had been known as CiCi’s Cafe but now it’s called Lady C’s. Everything else is exactly the same, including the ownership, staff, recipes, and having perhaps the “Largest Menu In The World.” Long lines of customers keep coming into Lady C’s for their classic diner breakfasts and tiramisu soufflé pancakes. Allow 45 minutes to an hour for their 80+ soufflé pancake options, and only one order per table to accommodate their tiny kitchen.

When you look deeper into the menu you can find some of their Thai fusion specialties like the shrimp fried rice, Thai beef benedict, and the beef panang curry and lava omelette. The orangeish red curry is served among the Japanese-style viral cream runny egg dish that erupts “lava” when it’s cut into.

Honorable Mentions

I know a list of great breakfasts can be controversial, especially in the the things we may have omitted. Why not include the Ranch Style breakfast at Joyce’s Coffee Shop in Northridge? Or the steak and eggs at the iconic Norm’s of Van Nuys? Where’s the cheese beorek at Taron Bakery in North Hollywood? Or the tamale lady at the corner of Saticoy and Reseda? These are all certainly great meals that hit the spot early mornings, but alas we’re limited by space.

With a little more than two months to go until the general election, the two mayoral candidates running to lead the city of Los Angeles fielded questions about the environment at a Thursday night forum hosted by LAist.

Incumbent Karen Bass and her challenger, L.A. City Councilmember Nithya Raman, each answered questions separately about how they would approach many environmental challenges facing the city, including emergency preparedness, water resiliency and transportation policy.

These and other environmental and climate issues are top of mind for many Angelenos during a summer marked by extreme heat, humidity and the Lineage warehouse fire in Boyle Heights that affected surrounding neighborhoods for months. Communities are also still rebuilding from last year’s destructive Eaton and Palisades fires.

The forum, held at Los Angeles Trade Technical-College, was organized by the L.A. League of Conservation Voters, SCOPE-LA, Sierra Club, Clean and Healthy California, Neighborhood Council Sustainability Alliance and Communities for a Better Environment, and was moderated by LAist climate and environment Reporter Erin Stone.

Here are three takeaways from the event:

Differing visions of LA

Bass, who was elected mayor in 2022, painted a picture of an L.A. that’s made significant progress on environmental issues during that time, while Raman said the city has stalled under Bass’ leadership.

Bass referenced her work transitioning the city off of coal-generated energy and expanding the city’s electric bus fleets and clean-energy jobs. She said she wants to build on that momentum, particularly with a focus on helping communities impacted by environmental and industrial pollution.

She pointed to many communities of color that bear the brunt of industrial pollution, including in South L.A. neighborhoods dotted with oil wells and residents who live in close proximity to the Lineage warehouse in Boyle Heights.

“Where we need to go now in the future is focusing on environmental justice, focusing on the communities that are disproportionately impacted by greenhouse gases and by the environment,” she said.

Raman also talked about a need to focus on environmental justice, but she said environmental programs are underfunded and understaffed, and that she would invest more in them if she becomes mayor.

She said Bass’ administration has not prioritized environmental climate issues enough, and that there should be a more aggressive policy around them.

“Too much of that work remains unfinished,” she said. “Our transition to clean energy has slowed. Efforts to build a resilient water supply, close neighborhood drilling sites, make our streets safer, all of these have slowed over the last four years.”

Raman specifically called out Bass for her proposal to cut funding for the Climate Emergency Mobilization Office as the city faced a billion-dollar budget shortfall last year.

Bass defended the proposal, arguing the program had not developed a climate action plan as directed and needed to be revamped.

The office has shrunk under Bass’ leadership, and she removed the city’s chief heat officer and quietly appointed a new one earlier this year.

Emergency response failures

Both Bass and Raman said L.A. has room for improvement when it comes to preparing for fires, earthquakes and other disasters.

Raman criticized the city’s response to last year’s Palisades Fire, saying there was no clear leadership to guide the community through the recovery effort. She pointed to Bass' appointment of Steve Soboroff to head the recovery. He left the post after his three-month term and was not replaced.

 ”What we saw in the Palisades, I think, was an example of what shouldn't happen,” Raman said. “ A lot of residents in the Palisades have been feeling like they don't know who to reach out to, who is the person that they need to connect with in order to make sure that recovery really happens.”

But she defended her administration’s response, and said confusion over city and state land made it more difficult.

 ”Part of the brush was the city, part of the brush was the state. There was a reluctance to go into state territory because our folks were told they couldn't do that,” Bass said. “As far as I'm concerned, that's not gonna happen again.”

Bass said the biggest impediments to the recovery process — and to people moving back into their homes — are insurance companies and banks. She called for legislative reforms to the insurance process.

Raman also criticized the response to the Lineage warehouse fire in Boyle Heights this summer, calling out Bass directly for sharing misleading information about air quality.

Bass said she relied on inaccurate information from public health and air quality management officials.

Both candidates said there’s a need for stronger enforcement and higher fines that could be levied against corporations like Lineage, the warehouse owner, and better planning for emergencies around industrial buildings.

Shared goals

Although the candidates leaned into their differences, the reality is that they align on many climate and environmental policies.

Unhoused Angelenos are especially at risk from extreme heat, and Bass said the city needs to provide more places for them to cool off.

“My plan, priority one, is to get people off the streets,” Bass said, adding that during heat emergencies that needs to include providing emergency shelters and other ways to cool off.

Raman talked about similar solutions.

“ Responding to people who are experiencing homelessness to ensure that they're actually able to get indoors and off the streets, so that they're not dying from exposure to heat, because that is a very, very high risk that people who are experiencing homelessness face,” she said.

They had other shared goals.

Both said incentives and rebates that keep down the cost of utility bills need to be more accessible, especially in low-income communities.

Both called for more severe penalties for owners of industrial sites like the Boyle Heights warehouse.

And they both said they want to grow the city’s electric vehicle fleet, and decrease car use by building more public transit ridership and expanding biking infrastructure.

Topline:

The details: State water officials confirmed a harmful algal bloom in Lake Hemet that’s showing up as green, cloudy discolored water, scum and algae.

Why it matters: The bloom can produce toxins that could cause you and your furry friends to get sick. People and pets are being urged to stay out of the water and away from any scum or algae along the shore. Dogs and children are especially vulnerable because they’re more likely to swallow water while playing and swimming, according to the State Water Resources Control Board. You can learn more about healthy water habits here.

Why now: The warning for the Riverside County lake comes about a week after a similar alert was issued for Big Bear Lake. Lake Hemet is under an advisory until further notice, state officials said.

The backstory: Harmful algal blooms are most common in California between the warmer months of late May through October, although they can pop up year round, according to the board.

What's next: You can check California’s map to see if any harmful algal blooms have been reported in the area.

Go deeper: What's the green sheen on Big Bear Lake? What you need to know about harmful algal blooms

Yama Sushi Marketplace is a local chain that helps set the standard for quality sushi and Japanese cuisine in Los Angeles — all while trying to keep prices more affordable than you might expect.

About the owners

Kenzo Yamada opened the business in 1984 after working as a local fish broker. He eventually sold the business in 2021 to Scott Kohno and his family. Kohno sat down with Austin Cross, who hosts AirTalk every Friday, to explain how they've continued to deliver quality sushi and expand the business.

Making Japanese culture accessible and affordable

Yama Sushi Marketplace's Koreatown grand opening.

(

Courtesy Alysia Rodriguez

)

Yama Sushi Marketplace looks to provide the best of both worlds — high-quality sushi lower costs — in serving customers.

How do they do it? They've benefited from Yamada's connections, sourcing quality fish through trusted suppliers like Bluefiná. It also helps that it's not a restaurant, minimizing the overhead costs that come with staffing.

Restaurant details

• The Kohno family has expanded to West L.A. and Koreatown. A fourth location is set to open in Sherman Oaks, although its official opening date hasn’t been announced.
• Co-owner Wendy Kohno has a background as a kikisake-shi — sake sommelier — and has helped build out the market’s selection of more than 200 sakes, most of which you can find at their San Gabriel and West L.A. locations.
• They also have classes on sushi, sake and miso.

What we tried

• California Roll (their most popular menu item)
• Bara Chirashi
• Yama Deluxe Platter
• Narumi Sake (Yama's own craft sake)

Yama Sushi Marketplace is co-hosting American Craft Sake Fest on Saturday, Sept. 10. Click here for more details.

What should we try next?

This story first appeared on Long Beach Post.

After months of fear about dwindling federal funding for a pandemic-era housing assistance program, Long Beach housing officials say they have secured enough money to keep nearly 500 households from potentially falling back into homelessness.

The last-minute announcement saves the city from what would have been the worst-case scenario: having to kick hundreds of formerly homeless people off of federal housing assistance. The situation illustrates just how dependent Long Beach’s homelessness and health services are on state and federal funding, which has stagnated or been cut in recent years.

Long Beach officials thought they would run out of money to pay rental subsidies for the 480 households currently on Emergency Housing Vouchers as early as this month, but they now say they have the time — and money — to transition all of those households to other rental assistance programs by November.

An estimated $480,000 increase in federal funding for Long Beach, cost-saving measures and help from a neighboring housing authority made that possible, according to a city memo.

The Emergency Housing Voucher program was a one-of-a-kind opportunity for people defined as “chronically homeless” or at risk of losing their housing to have a slew of services paid for to get them housing. That included security deposits, moving costs and paying past utility debt.

Long Beach quickly used all 582 vouchers allocated to it.

The swift spending gave people like Clark Inglish, a new mother living on the Los Angeles River, a streamlined and effective way to get back on their feet, according to local health officials. The program “really changed my life,” said Inglish, who was able to start working as a counselor and put her son in preschool after getting a roof over her head.

The vouchers were supposed to be good through 2030, but when rent rates increased more quickly than anticipated, the program ran out of money years ahead of schedule, and in April last year, the Department of Housing and Urban Development notified housing officials that Congress did not allocate new funding for it.

Instead, a last-second increase in federal dollars to a different housing program will allow the Long Beach Housing Authority to transfer 400 households from EHVs to Housing Choice Vouchers – also known as Section 8.

HUD will also give Long Beach’s housing authority an additional $1,000 for each EHV voucher that they convert to Section 8.

The 80 remaining households on EHVs will receive assistance from the Housing Authority of the city of Los Angeles.

Over the next few months, housing officials will assist each household with completing the paperwork necessary to make the transition.

If you’re on an Emergency Housing Voucher and have a question, you can email the city at HA-EHV@longbeach.gov.