LA Scenes (5) The Single Best Plate of Food in LA is...

…the nova, eggs and onions at Nate “n Al’s Deli where I had Sunday breakfast with blogmaster Roger L. Simon before leaving LA.

I’d gotten into a bitter feud last time I wrote abot deli food in LA when I criticized the Beverly Hills branch ofthe classic New York deli, Barney Greeengrass for “modernizing” Barney G.’s ancient but superb versions of the classics (cilantro in the chopped liver!), hyperbolically blaming the troubles of the entire movie industry on this sacrilege. .

But I neglected to put in a word for what I had always preferrred for its far more echt New York, Barney Greengrass style: the venerable Nate ‘n’ Al’s on Beverly Drive in Beverly Hills.

It was there I had (I hesitate to even suggest it , but it’s true) a dish superior to the Barney Greengrass version thereof: the nove, eggs and onions. At Nate ‘n’ Al’s it’s an extremely delicate fusion of the three ingredients with the onions done to a perfect carmelized turn. It wafts you into a stratosphere of Jewish food bliss.

Roger then drove me to the airport and in the course of a discussion made an observation I found worth repeating. That the great struggle in the world is between those nations, cultures and religions that hate and fear women and those in which women, and women’s rights thrive. I think it’s an astute way to divide the world. I’m not optimistic about the outcome of that struggle alas.