Rate-A-Restaurant #255: Lawry's

Restaurant: Lawry's The Prime Rib

Location: 100 N. La Cienega (Beverly Hills)

Type of restaurant: Steak

We stipulated: For a belated office holiday party, the consensus was Lawry's. I had never been, believe it or not, and was more than intrigued about this history and tradition.

They stipulated: "The moment you arrive, you’ll know Lawry's The Prime Rib is an extraordinary restaurant – a place of grand style, classic elegance, luxurious comfort and home of the world famous Lawry’s Seasoned Salt. The unique menu features our Roasted Prime Ribs of Beef served tableside from gleaming silver carts. Enjoy the warm hospitality, exceptional service and award-winning food that have made Lawry's a dining legend for more than 70 years.



What we ordered: "The Famous Original Spinning Bowl Salad: Crisp romaine and iceberg lettuce, baby spinach, shredded beets, chopped eggs and croutons, tossed with our exclusive Vintage Dressing"

Lawry cut: "our traditional and most popular cut"

C.C. Brown's ice cream sundae: "Prepared tableside with Häagen-Dazs vanilla ice cream, toasted almonds, whipped cream and C.C. Brown's Hot Fudge"



High point: The entire old-school experience, starting with the odd use of meatballs in the front as you wait for a table. From the table-side prep to the servers' uniforms, you're transported back to an earlier time.

Low point: Of course, in that earlier time, food was fatty, portions were large and the overall experience was pretty unhealthy.



Overall impression: Lawry's is not a place you would visit often, but it's a dying breed of a restaurant experience. I'm glad that places like this still exist; I can at least get a bit of a feel for what it might have once been like to dine at a Perinos, for example.



Chance we'll go back:  Not in a long time (I think I've had my allowance this year), but perhaps for a special occasion.

Rate-A-Restaurant #254: My Sweet Cupcake

Restaurant: My Sweet Cupcake

Location: 954 Mission St. (South Pasadena)

Type of restaurant: Bakery/Cupcakes

We stipulated: We were in South Pasadena for one of our regular go-to adventures with the kids: Taking the Metro Gold Line downtown. Back in South Pasadena, we were walking around and decided to check out My Sweet Cupcake's goods.
b
They stipulated: My Sweet Cupcake won Food Network's "Cupcake Wars." "My Sweet Cupcake prides themselves on fine ingredients with a touch of homemade flair to make their cupcakes delicious and classic."



What we ordered: "Oreo Delight," "Simply Vanilla" cupcakes.

High point: My Sweet Cupcake had just closed, but we must have looked sad otuside the door, because they still let us in and let us buy two of the day's leftover cupcakes.

Low point: Well yeah, it was an end-of-the-day cupcake... which meant that it wasn't quite as fresh.



Overall impression: Cute place, cute cupcakes. Does the job if you're in South Pasadena and you're jonesing for a cupcake.

Chance we'll go back:  In a town overrun with cupcake shops, there wasn't anything that memorable about these. (If anything, the cake was a bit dry.) They were OK, but is anyone jonesing for cupcakes anymore? So I'm no so sure.