If you’re in LA, a visit to Canters Restaurant should definitely be high on your ‘to do’ list.
The Canters family moved from New Jersey to LA with just $500 and opened the original Canters restaurant in 1931. They moved it to it’s current location on Fairfax Avenue in 1953. Since then it has become Kosher central.
You don’t become a famous restaurant without good food and Canters food doesn’t disappoint, their Monte Cristo sandwich was voted “one of the best sandwiches in America”. Through the years everyone from Elvis, Marilyn Monroe, Woody Allen, Madonna and Guns n’ Roses have hung out here. On screen Canters has ‘starred’ in ‘Entourage‘, and ‘Curb Your Enthusiasm‘, among many others.
As well as the Restaurant, the Canters Bakery is a well oiled machine, here are just some of the things Canters cook TWICE daily – Cheesecake, Babka, Apple Strudel, Sour Cream Coffee Cakes, Rugelach, Mandelbrot, Black and White Cookies, Tea Cookies, Chocolate Cakes, Brownies, Bagels, Rye Bread, Pumpernickel and Challah.
Another great thing about Canters is it’s open 24 hours a day, and closes just two days a year so it’s perfect for a late night (or early morning). You don’t need to dress up to get down at Canters, and there are customers from every slice of LA life, young and old, rich and poor. It’s a great place to people watch.
Canters have recently expanded and now have a couple of other restaurants (one at the Treasure Island Hotel in Las Vegas) and a mobile van. Flush the Fashion spoke to the lovely Bonnie, to find out the low down on the chow down.
What is the most popular dish on the menu at Canters?
Pastrami is the most popular item, because pastrami itself is so popular, there is much debate whether New York or Los Angeles has the best and most authentic pastrami sandwich… (But really experienced deli go-ers, know Canters has the best corned beef of all, and that is what they order).
How many bagels do you sell in a week?
We sell over 400 dozen bagels a week! To give you an idea since we opened we have sold over
9 Million Pounds of Corned Beef
10 Million Matzo Balls
20 Million Bagels
24 Million Bowls of Chicken Soup
How many staff do you have?
There are 150 people that work at Canters, (we are open 24/7 363 days of the year. Actually it is now 153 because of the mobile truck.
When is the best time of day to visit Canters?
We’re open 24 hours so it’s hard to say the best time of day to visit. It has the best people watching at night, and is one of the few good and fun places to go eat in LA when it is late. (There is also the famous bar here, the Kibitz Room, so its good for eating and drinking at night! There is lots of music too).
Who has worked at Canters the longest?
Besides the family who have worked there their entire lives, Jean Cocchiaro has worked here on and off for 50 years! She left for a 10 year period in the middle, otherwise it would be 60 years!
Has anyone famous been in lately?
There are always celebrities eating here, Mick Jagger ate in here two weeks ago, and Taylor Swift.
Do you have plans for any Mcdonalds style world domination?
No, but if the right situation came across we’d certainly be interested, for now are just looking forward to our 80th anniversary in 2011.
Here’s to another 80 years of Canters!
Canter’s Fairfax
Delicatessen and Restaurant
419 North Fairfax Avenue
Los Angeles, California 90036
Tel: (323) 651-2030
Located on Fairfax Ave. between
Beverly Blvd. and Melrose Ave.