Venice Beach is a place for locals, even if at times it seems to consist of nothing but tourists.  After the buses have pulled away for the day, what's left is a bevy of local restaurants and bars filled with regulars.  These places are even better when they are created and maintained by locals, as Maxwell Café is.

Mike Maxwell started the restaurant in 1972, and for the last 35 years it has been serving up some of the most delicious breakfast and lunch on the Westside.  The omelets are the specialty, but there are also breakfast burritos, pancakes, burgers, all sorts of melts and daily soups.   There are even full lunch plates of roasted turkey or meatloaf.

As is hoped for at an intimate setting such as Maxwell, the food is simple and familiar.  Home fries means real home fries; sautéed seasoned potatoes, not deep-fried cholesterol sticks.  Whether breakfast or lunch, the focus is on quality American-style cooking, just as Mike Maxwell explains on his introduction to the menu.

Situated on Washington Blvd. near Lincoln, Maxwell is a small, cozy diner which may remind people of a roadside café found off the highway between L.A. and New Mexico.   With vintage photos on the wall, 1970's sea foam-green padding on the chairs and a long lunch counter, it is part truck stop, part hip Venice hang-out.

If it's a weekend, it's best to come early.  Maxwell gets packed for breakfast on Saturdays and Sundays, and there is sure to be a line out on the sidewalk.  And with a closing time of 2 o'clock in the afternoon, it's early or never, which perhaps eliminates some of the harder-drinking crowd on a Sunday morning, but doesn't deter the locals.  As it should be.

Maxwell Café
13329 W Washington Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90066
(310) 306-7829

By Chris Boyd