Plugs is The Angel’s recs column. On most Saturdays, you’ll get six picks—a restaurant, a bar, a shop, an ingredient, a person, and a treat—from someone in New York or Los Angeles who knows what they’re talking about, plus a selection of Angel-curated links. Plugs are for paid subscribers of The Angel only; upgrade your subscription to receive all six!
Plugs #105 comes courtesy of former Eater L.A. editor and current S.F. Gate Southern California bureau chief, Farley Elliott. Farley and I first became acquainted in the early 2010s, when I was working at Serious Eats in New York, and he was filing a series of delightful reports on L.A.’s street food scene. Jealous of his taco access and deep knowledge of the city, I angled to meet him when I came to visit. Now that I live here, we get together to talk shop and eat tacos whenever we can. Farley is always quick with a rec, and has an almost preternatural ability to nail it for any occasion, whether you seek an old-school Hollywood classic or a deep cut in unincorporated L.A. County. Reporting in from West Pasadena, here are his Plugs:
Restaurant: Stoney Point
Every aging Angeleno of a certain description pines publicly for restaurants of the past, either bygone favorites (RIP Capitol Burger) or timeless classics like Casa Vega and the Smoke House. Yet almost no one talks about Stoney Point, tucked into the nebulous hill between Pasadena and Eagle Rock. The cozy Italian spot has carpeted floors, goblets for wine, and white-jacketed servers who oversee their individual white tablecloth kingdoms. There’s a piano in the corner that regulars will just get up and play sometimes, in the middle of dinner. Of course the menu has penne alla vodka and spaghetti vongole, but the local crowd frequently veers from salads straight to mains like lamb chops and chicken in a lemon-butter sauce. It’s the kind of place where nothing is perfect, and everything is.
