It’s been quite some time since the Liquor Ladies got together for a little drink, a little grub. But what better occasion than Mexican Mother’s Day/my half-birthday (as an only child, this is something I celebrated as a kid – still do now just to be annoying)? The idea involved some synergistic planning where four of us were able to sneak away from our Long Beach lives and head away to LA for a few Plan Check burgers and cocktails.
Plan Check has two locations, the newest one settled along Fairfax just north of Beverly. It’s among a couple of blocks teeming with eateries, both long established and fledgling. Boutique and quaint.
An obvious objective of our trip was for me to add another sandwich to my Burger Quest. Additionally, we heard of their daily happy hour that ends at 7:00. After an already packed day of volleyball tournaments and dance rehearsals, I joined my Ladies for a much needed trip.
We caught the place when it was open. Open, yes as far as hours. But open, its windowed facade lifted garage like, giving the sense the entire restaurant sat on one wide patio. It definitely delivered on ambiance. They also showered us with hip-hop from up above – semi-old school and truly old school, both appreciated by me.
To drink, I ordered the Tropic Thunder but only because it was on their Happy Hour menu. Their website right now touts $6 Pisco Sours – my favorite cocktail – but that ended up being not the case. I guess I could have ordered one at the regular price, but I wanted to save my cash for other choices. And at least one other drink – this Lady’s on a two drink max budget.
We started with starters – the dollar fifty chicken wing and a round of crab dip. I’ve never been a hot wing kind of gal, but this buck-fifty one at Plan Check was pretty awesome, a perfected buffalo sauce smothering crispy fried chicken. And that dip – that DIP. I had to hold back (as only only child, I don’t share very well), tempering my enjoyment by eating just one dip-slathered toast, and then waiting until the crowd was satisfied with the crab dip and had moved on to their wings before I went back in for the kill, piling the remaining couple toasts with the creamy, briny dip, made interesting by the slivered seaweed sprinkled on top.
Next came our sandwiches. I’ll chat about mine on a Burger Quest post later this week, but I also split with fellow winer Kristina the place’s Southern Fry, a chicken sandwich with pimento cheese, duck breast ham (which I slid off and gave to one of the other Ladies), and pickles (okay, I took the pickles off too!).
The sandwich was wonderful with it’s meaty chicken breast and yummy crunch bun, but my favorite part of our meal (burger excepted – again, we’ll talk about this later) was our dessert – a warm, sugar-sprinkled cruller donut served over the whippiest of creams (only subtly sweet) [and bananas – I did not eat them; call me crazy if you like, but I have a complete and total dislike of bananas].This treat made my Mexican Mother’s/Half Birth Day.
Plan Check Kitchen + Bar
351 N. Fairfax in LA
Another in West LA, and one on the way in Downtown