Kate Mantilini Beverly Hills, California

My next stop with Zack and Sophie was to try the pancakes at Kate Mantilini in Beverly Hills. Their pancakes are somewhere between a fluffy flapjack and a crepe. I don’t think I have seen a pancake like this anywhere. With pancakes you run the risk of feeling like a ten pound lead ball has been deposited in your stomach once you standup from the table. This hybrid pancake solves that problem. I was not eating that morning because unemployment 2011 has forced me to cut back on luxuries like pancakes. I did have a few bites that I found to be quite tasty. Zack covered his with strawberries,bananas, butter between each pancake, and syrup. 

I did indulge in a “big steamy bowl of cappucino”. I will always go for a bowl of coffee because I like drinking with both hands.

Kate Mantillini was the location of the diner scene between Pacino and Deniro in Heat. You can kind of make it out in the picture above. Even without the Heat posters you could sense this place makes for a great location in a film. The interior looks like a modern version of the 50’s diner, but built in the 80’s to cater to the cocaine and cocktail Hollywood crowd. The ridiculously overpriced dinner menu is also a testament to that time. 

With so many good dining options in Los Angeles right now, a place like Kate Mantilini feels like an expensive relic. That being said, a power breakfast in a booth of thin flapjacks, “a big steamy bowl of cappucino”, the latest issue of Variety, Zack Susskind, and deals being made all around you, ranks right up there with a cocktail at Musso and Frank’s or late night taco from a truck on the Eastside of town as necessary Los Angeles dining experiences.