Basix

Today, a group of nine decided to drive over to Basix Cafe in West Hollywood for lunch. We were in the mood for something healthy and not particularly fast. At first, I worried that the place would be expensive, but it turned out to be pretty much average, for West Hollywood.

Parking around the restaurant isn't that easy. There is some street parking and meters but watch out because a lot of the parking is by permit only. The restaurant is pretty small inside, but it's corner location lends itself to plenty of outdoor seating. Despite the size of our group, we were seated immediately, they pushed a couple of indoor tables together for us. I suppose if we had requested the patio, which seemed to be the popular place to sit even though it was a little smoky still outside on account of all the fires, we probably would have had to wait because the restaurant was rather busy.

After we were seated we ordered drinks. They had a wine list, but nobody was having any with thoughts of afternoon work looming. The menu is pretty extensive. The breakfast menu--served until 3pm daily--has everything from scrambles to quesadillas to pancakes. The lunch and dinner menus have a large selection of salads, sandwiches and cutting board pizzas plus a selection of pastas and main dishes and a couple of soups.

I had the Antipasto Chopped Salad which consisted of sweet Italian sausage, garbanzo beans, cucumber, tomato, pasta, and cheese. It came with a sweet vinaigrette. The salad had a lot of great textures and the dressing really made it something special with the unusual sweetness. I also tried the tomato bread soup. I expected a thicker tomato soup with bread cruetons but got a thinner consistency soup with vegetables and fresh bread inside. It was still good, but a rather small cup for $4.50.

As usual, our party of nine ordered all sorts of different dishes. The breakfast quesadillas were the only things that looked too much like something you could make at home. The crab cakes with breakfast potatoes were delicious and a large amount for the price. The turkey burger looked delicious, the other salads all seemed large. And then, I saw the pancakes. This month, since it is October, they were featuring pumpkin pancakes with powdered sugar and pecans on top, but they also had regular pancakes. If you are a breakfast fan, and I hope you are, this place is a good choice. Someone at a nearby table ordered a plate of 2 pancakes and eggs. The pancakes were each about an inch to a half inch thick and as big as a dinner plate. The cakes were cooked all the way through too. When I saw those pancakes going by, I was a little disappointed I hadn't chosen breakfast.

So, Basix has all the basics down from comfortable seating, to good service, to a varied menu, to delicious and creative dishes. Treat yourself to the charming neighborhood eatery on your next trip through West Hollywood.





Basix Cafe
8333 Santa Monica Blvd
West Hollywood, CA 90069
Map