The Oaks Gourmet fine foods & Spirits

Tuesday afternoon Papa Tapeworm and Brother Charlie picked me up for brunch, we were in one of those adventurous moves we so often find ourselves in and decided on a place Brother Charlie had heard about called The Oaks Gourmet.

Brother Charlie very often likes to frequent 'hole-in-the-wall' places, indeed very often these are the places that serve the best of food, so... never having been to The Oaks Gourmet I was expecting something similar except the name of the place seem to say otherwise "THE Oaks - Gour~met", sounds more swanky than 'hole-in-the-wall', I sat patiently in the car awaiting our destination.

The Oaks Gourmet was indeed small like a 'hole-in-the-wall' restaurant but it wasn't at all 'hole-in-the-walll-esque'.  The restaurant had a separate cafe counter from it's deli counter and to top it all off sold a large variety of beer and wine... otherwise known as spirits.

The place was charming and swimming with customers that can best be described as hipsters, except these hipsters obviously had money as this wasn't the cheapest place to purchase Tummy filling goodies and thirst quenching liquids.  It was indeed an older hipster crowd as well, unlike those 20-something hipsters you find Silverlake infested with, these were semi-sophisticated, entering middle-age "I've got my life together" hipsters.  Hmmm... Strike #1: I'm not quite sure I like the crowd?  But I wasn't here to mingle, I was here to eat thank-goodness for that!

The wine wall

Beers

Cheese and salami

Brother Charlie picking his nose, how unsanitary!
I really wouldn't put it past him to wipe it on his shirt.

Receiving our food after a few minutes of waiting we soon found that finding a spot to eat here was rather difficult, the community table sitting only 6-8 persons inside was full and all outdoor tables (and there weren't many) were also fully occupied.  And so Brother Charlie, Papa Tapeworm and I found ourselves sitting at the counter area on the stools at front of the restaurant deli/store, this would have been okay had the 85+ degree sun was not burning a hole right through the back of my shirt.  Sitting there for only five minutes I can feel my body wanting to sweat... and sweating while eating really isn't my thing, nor is it anyone else's I don't think: Strike #2.

The counter and stools at front of the wide window- this is where we sat
yes, not very ideal for a hot day

Now let us discuss the real subject we are here for, food. Brother Charlie feeling very brunchy ordered a breakfast burrito, they had a couple of different varieties of the breakfast burrito but he opted specifically for The Oaks Bacon Breakfast Burrito, this included Black Forest Bacon, Eggs, cheese and spring onions.  Other than Brother Charlie's complaint that it was a bit too small in size for a breakfast burrito I do believe he rather liked it.  And may I add, that he was grasping the beautiful burrito with his unwashed boogery hands!

I, feeling more like lunch decided to get the Ultimate BLT, how can I put this?... The BLT was truly ultimate, in other words: hands-down THE BEST BLT I've ever had... IN- MY- LIFE!  Yes, not kidding nor exaggerating, it was that delicious- absolutely yumMY!  

And I can tell you exactly what it was... the Black Forest Bacon was sweet with just the right amount of fat to crisp/crunch ratio (you know what I speak of), the thick slices of avocado, the creamy camambert cheese introduced the right amount of tang to each bite, the roasted shallot aioli- I know sounds weird, but was more sweet than shalloty, and last but not least the large slice of heirloom tomato for that juicy freshness.  Many great ingredients each special in their own right came together to create the bestest of the best BLT.

Brother Charlie had a bite and I do indeed believe I saw a flicker of disappointment that he had chosen to get the Breakfast Burrito instead of the Ultimate BLT.  Hence I will say this, to any of you who find yourselves at The Oaks Gourmet for the first time, order the Ultimate BLT.

The small side of slaw that came with my sandwich

And so, though the crowd of middle-aged hipsters with money that seem to frequent The Oaks Gourmet is less than ideal, and the fact that during lunch there really is no place to sit and enjoy your food- in spite both these things The Oaks Gourmet is worth going to because it simply does best what it's supposed to do, serve delicious food.

The Damage: $18.00 -/+

1 Ultimate BLT

1 Oaks Bacon Breakfast Burrito

The Oaks Gourmet
fine foods & spirits
1915 North Bronson Avenue
LA CA 90068
(323) 871.8894