John O'Groats: Brunch 7 Days a Week

John O'Groats on Pico Blvd near Rancho Park has been serving breakfast and brunch all week long for almost three decades.  It is a neighborhood standby that I had never been to, so a confederate and I had brunch there on a weekday this week to sample their offerings and avoid the weekend hordes.  The restaurant has been successful over the years and has absorbed two adjacent storefronts into its original spot, tripling the original seating capacity.  The Pico location is only open for breakfast and lunch, from 7 am - 3 pm.

This is not a "chef driven" restaurant.  It is updated diner and brunch spot classics, with some innovations and some nods to the healthy eating demographics of West LA.  The biscuits are allegedly a highlight of the menu, so we began with them.  The biscuits were on the dry side and even a pat of "Land o Lakes" butter was not able to make them moist or satisfying.  Neither the Colonel or Bisquick has anything to fear.

We both opted for the 2x2x2: two each of pancakes, eggs and bacon.  They offer both traditional and turkey bacon, or for $1 more spicy turkey sausage.  The pancakes are a choice of buttermilk or buckwheat.  I ordered the buttermilk pancakes with scrambled eggs and spicy turkey sausage.  The sausage was spicy and flavorful and the eggs were fluffy and light.  The sausage was worth the surcharge.

The buttermilk pancakes are large.  The order of two was more than I could eat at this meal even if I wasn't saving room for other meals that day.  They were of a medium consistency, not heavy but also not light and airy; something in between.  This was a lot of breakfast and aside from the biscuits, we enjoyed everything we had.

On the weekends, O'Groats serves corned beef hash.  During the week a salmon hash is available but I am holding out to try the corned beef version on a weekend visit.  The omelette selection also looked promising.

The ambiance was cozy without being precious.  There is also an Encino location which served dinner as well as breakfast & lunch, but that location was not visited.

John O'Groats: 10516 Pico Blvd. (West LA).  Phone: (310) 204-0692.  Website: ogroatsrestaurant.com