Casbah Cafe and Alma Closings: It's Not the Media's Fault

(Casbah Cafe photo courtesy of Harriet's Tomato)

There was a time when the Casbah Cafe seemed like the kind of place I might stop in every day on the way to work and find a crowd of regulars. Local artist Jon Huck was usually hanging out there with a few friends, and at the time it was about the best Silver Lake had to offer, especially if you weren't a fan of the Coffee Table or Backdoor Bakery. The sad truth was that all three had pretty terrible coffee. It was the early 2000s and Intelligentsia, Lamill and all that followed were still several years off, and L.A.'s standard for cappuccino was fairly low. I never quite became the regular I imagined, since I find it hard to give up my home-brewed coffee, and after all, I had a job to get to and would never be the kind of flâneur for whom Casbah seemed made to order.

But like everyone in the neighborhood I appreciated its funkiness, its quirky selection of Moroccan textiles and South American teas. It was a place you could meet up with a friend to chat and not feel rushed, the kind of place you thought would be there forever until suddenly it wasn't. The management posted a statement Thursday making now-familiar accusations of gentrification, landlord troubles, rising rents and increasingly corporate environments. Read the full statement on EaterLA. I'm not sure what the answer is to those problems. I dislike boutiques where I can't afford anything, but I like good coffee and good cheese. I don't think landlords should use any illegal tactics to get businesses out and I think every effort should be made to help beloved community businesses survive, but it's also hard to understand why they wouldn't need to charge the market rate to survive as property owners.

But what I do understand is that it's not the media's fault for not supporting Casbah, as the cafe's statement said. That's the nature of restaurant coverage and most news and content -- there has to be a news hook, or a reason to write about the place. Casbah got plenty of coverage when Sunset Junction first became hip, but inevitably it was upstaged by the massive wave of new businesses that have opened since then. Would it have gotten more media attention if a quality coffee program was offered, or a better menu? Quite possibly, if it was promoted in the right way, though maybe not, if the economics of the place still rested on regulars hanging out for hours after buying just a cappuccino.

Strangely, the media and the expectations it creates was also at least partly to blame for the recent closure of Alma, according to chef Ari Taymor -- but for the exact opposite reason: It brought too much attention to the tasting menu-focused Downtown restaurant that started as a pop-up.

Damned if we do, damned if we don't? We get it, running a restaurant is extremely challenging, whether it's for two years like Alma or 20 years like Casbah -- which by the way, pretty damn good run, right? Sure, it's the media's responsibility to treat restaurants fairly, not to jump in with early negative reviews and to try to have just a little compassion for hard-working chefs and entrepreneurs. But it's not our job to help you revitalize a restaurant that never got a menu update or served a memorable dish, and it's definitely not our job to NOT let readers know about a place we think they should know about. Unless, of course, we want to save it for ourselves, and then you won't hear about it.

So restaurants, blame greedy landlords or fickle investors or changing tastes -- but please don't blame the very people who would love to help you spread the word if you're doing good work. We're on your team, really. Now Yelpers, they're another story altogether.

Why Pok Pok LA Might Need to Make More Changes Than Just the Service Charge

Tamarind whiskey sour

From the start, Pok Pok has been in a tough place in L.A. Owner Andy Ricker kind of confused everyone first with a ticketed reservation policy via Tock that seemed appropriate only for a wildly popular place like Trois Mec. Customers were also confused by the 5% service charge that was one of the first of its kind in Los Angeles, leaving people not sure whether to tip 10%, 15% or what in addition to the 5%. He talked to Playboy today about the service charge issue and what the new minimum wage will mean to restaurants.

larb patties

Though Ricker later said he loves L.A. and meant no disrespect, the headline "Pok Pok's Tipping Experiment Didn't Work and Chef And Ricker Blames L.A." made it seem like L.A. isn't ready to treat its restaurant employees fairly, which is probably true. But if restaurants need to charge more to pay decently, it's probably easiest to just fold the costs into the menu prices. Though Pok Pok has now ditched both the ticketing system and the service charge, here are three other reasons it could still have issues gaining traction in the city with the biggest and most established Thai population in the U.S.

1) The size: It's still not clear how it's going to consistently fill the vast upstairs and downstairs space. Pok Pok is not only bigger than any other Thai restaurant in town, it's as big as the Chinese banquet and dim sum places that survive on weddings and family gatherings, not couples and small groups of friends. It's big enough to house the crowds that line up in Portland and Manhattan, but in a part of L.A. that's maybe not quite yet ready to be a happening nighttime restaurant destination.

2) The menu: Like Night + Market, Pok Pok's specialty is Northern  and Northeastern Thai cooking. After the Pok Pok's Phat Thai noodle shop opened in Chinatown with middling to positive reviews, I was excited to see what Andy Ricker could bring to L.A. that we didn't already have.

The verdict? After just one dinner, I'm not qualified to do a full review yet, but with so many great Thai restaurants in L.A., I'm just not dying to rush back. The signature roasted chicken was indeed nicely grilled and caramelized and used a much better bird than the average joint, and the fried larb patties had a good, complex flavor. But the server didn't seem concerned that we didn't finish the blah Jaw Phak Kad mustard greens and pork ribs, which seem to have now left the menu.

Why not offer the Phat Thai noodle menu too, so customers can have a wider choice of dishes like their excellent Phat Sii Ew?

3) The bar: That tamarind whiskey sour is as tart and refreshing as it was in Portland the first time I tried it, but I'm not sure I want it while I'm eating dinner at long banquet tables in the dining room. Beer seems like the best match for a spicy meal, but I might stop by if there was a dedicated cocktail space.

Why not turn part of the upstairs into a more intimate, funky cocktail lounge with the drinking snacks menu, and encourage people to come even if it's just for drinks? 

L.A. loves Thai food, but it also loves value and lack of pretensions. And noodles. If Pok Pok can strike the right balance, the city will welcome it with even wider arms.