Dan Tana's

Few go to Dan Tana’s simply for the cooking. It’s not that the old-fashioned Italian American fare is bad: It’s more that the Old Hollywood atmosphere is wonderfully thick. The longtime servers can tell you what L.A. was like back when this red-sauce joint was cutting-edge, a time when they were much younger but Dan Tana’s looked the same. The menu is full of inside joke-like nods to regulars, including a few dearly departed celebrities and industry bigwigs, but focus in on the chicken (or alternatively, veal or eggplant) parm, the various cuts of steaks and potatoes Beckerman—essentially cottage fries topped with crispy deep-fried onions. The spaghetti marinara that comes with every entrée is old-school Italian American at its most endearing (read: the noodles are rinsed off with water, and it’s much better as a side than a main event). One word of warning, however: The maître d’ does play favorites when it comes to reservations, which are only taken over the phone, and the wait for walk-ins can stretch to an hour or more, particularly on weekend evenings. Generally, however, even newbies can score a table here if they call three weeks in advance—which is what I recommend doing.