dupar's - los angeles, ca
since the twenties , the farmers market on third and fairfax has been a local institution . it's where the legions of old people from the nearby fairfax district come to buy fruits , vegetables , and food made the " old fashioned way " , for a new fashioned price . parking was nothing short of a hassle . even on a ninety degree monday , the courtyard beside dupar's was packed . i guess porkbellies were in season . or it was cane re - tipping day . bluehairs were all over the place .
except where i was .
half of me was happy , surprised , and overjoyed not to be downwind from the ben - gay factory . my more suspicious other half was , well , suspicious , cause you can't pull bluehairs away from two things . thats cheap and food .
after battling my way to the side door , i walked into the air conditioning and slid into a spot at the counter . i should have known that even the oldies would rather fry in the heat of summer outside than endure the age old tastes of this place . while looking over the offerings , the ample waitress poured me a cup of unremarkable coffee from a nearby spicket as if it was from the backyard hose .
the ordering went , as per the norm . except dupar's , as old as it is , is still under the terms of the stamp act , and felt the need to charge me one dollar extra for my english muffin .
after choking down an additional cuppa joe ( as they say in the olden times ) my order was trotted over from the hole in the kitchen wall to me , at the counter .
no orange marmalade . you'd think that a place located at the farmers' market would have orange marmalade . i suppose the brits tax that too .
the plate was way too small to keep this chicken fried steak centered . complicating the issue was the gravy : ordinarily on top of the chicken fried steak . dupar's kicks it ' olde skool ' by putting the gravy underneath the chicken fried steak . i do not approve of change . it was a decent sized steak , though , the chicken fried part of it was too thin , and didn't adhere very well to the steak portion , creating a kinda peeled off kfc skin thing with gravy .
the potatoes were ok . nothing outstanding , a common dilemma in the c . f . s & e industry .
the eggs were almost an after thought . one was done , over medium , as ordered . the other was the red headed step child of the pair . over extra - extra medium and hard yolked .
total score out of a perfect five mishaco's :
after the undeserved tip , the total was sixteen bucks . next time i'm coming back with a cowbar .
