Roscoe's House of Chicken   

The visually calming wood paneling and straight backed chairs aren't the only reasons a meal at Roscoe's feels like going home. From the beloved attention of the kindly waitresses to the house specialty drink "sunrise" (orange juice and lemonade mysteriously kept separate from one another), Roscoe's is one of the city's oldest and finest dining traditions, a local chain with five restaurants from Long Beach to Pasadena. Most thrifty patrons are quick to come in and order a No. 9 (three wings and a waffle) while hearty eaters rush for a whole half chicken, all fried meticulously in vegetable oil and seasoned with all the love that goes into of a church dinner. The Gower location is notoriously tiny, often leaving a line of patrons waiting outside, day or night or after midnight. Inside, celebrities often chow down and hog tables, which can be a good thing (if you like stargazing) or a bad one (as sometimes the waitstaff pays more attention to the celebs than your order). It's worth enduring the distractions when you finally sit down to the traditional breakfast of Southern Black folk who wouldn't eat pork, and when you're done eating, the mostly hip clientele often provides plenty of eye candy to make your experience complete.