NO MORE POTATOES OVER EASY AND OUT
From the Beachhead Archives - 25 Years Ago -
March 1982 - #147
by MOE
STAVNEZER
"We love you and
we
miss you
all."
---------------------------------------
"Thanks for 15
years."
Lettered on a blackboard, that was what
greeted me instead of an open door at the "no-name" restaurant the last week in
January. In the other window was a sign with the details of when and how one
could purchase the equipment inside. My favorite breakfast place in the whole
world had closed...this time it seemed to be pretty
permanent.
Known variously as "Nu Pars"
and "Juergens" (your-gins) as well as "Closed Monday" for the sign in the window
announcing same) and "Cheap and Cheerful" (by more recent and naive arrivals to
Venice) the place became known to me as the Big Omelet" about 10 years ago. I
was initated to the place by Annie and Phil when it was on Ocean Front Walk in
the building, just south of the paddle-tennis courts, that more recently housed
the much more expensive and chic, but nonetheless defunct, "Robert." Part of
going to the "Big Omelet" included waiting in line for at least an hour to get a
seat on weekends. The place was literally a hole in the hall--about a 10-seat
counter and some tables crunched against the wall--but the generous portions and
low, low prices made it a gastronomic must. Hell, one of the omelets and a
serving of potatoes could render you helpless for the rest of the day. The
special, 3 eggs, potatoes and toast, was a wonderful bargain at around 50c. (The
potatoes were the best I found anywhere in L.A. right up to the last.)
I can't remember when Juergen Roscher
(the origin of one name) and the family moved the restaurant to the Pacific and
Windward location, seems like at least eight years ago. It was, apparently, the
restaurant part of a health food store called Nu Pars and the sign bearing that
name stayed up for a while which gave the new location its second most used
name. Around that time the Venice Town Council was getting started and many of
the activists hung out at NuPars. Anna Haag was one of the waitresses and, urged
by John Haag, prevailed upon Juergen to allow some Town Council committees to
meet in the place after closing time. Juergen, and almost all the people who
worked at the place through the years, was apolitical as far as I could tell.
Whatever statement the Roscher family had to make in Venice, it guess it was
voiced in the kind of business they operated. Not a bad statement, as far as I'm
concerned.
I remember only one flap
involving Nu Pars. During the lettuce boycott, some pro-farmworker community
people went to Juergen and asked him to stop using the boycotted produce. He
refused and, for a while, many activists boycotted Nu
Pars.
Being rather sloppy about dates,
I can't remember when Juergen began to train another cook for the morning job.
Most of us opined that the new guy would never last and certainly would never
match Juergen's speed at dishing up the eggs et. al. We, of course, were wrong.
Juergen took the show to a second location on Washington Street. But the new
place never seemed to find its own identity and it soon
failed.
I never really got to know Gene
or Crystal Roscher (brother & sister) or their mother except to sometimes
trade quips at the counter. It seems like a constant stream of these kinds of
exchanges always bounced around the entire restaurant which gave the feel of a
family affair. And that's the way I came to feel about Nu Pars--part of the
Venice family. Its closing is like having part of the family, old and familiar,
move away, and also represents the profound changes that have taken place here
in past 10 years. I understand that the landlord raised the rent by a
substantial amount when the lease expired. And, like many other Venice renters,
the residents were forced to leave.
I
miss Nu Pars. And I'd like to return the sentiments expressed on the blackboard
sign. I feel pretty certain that I speak for the community in saying to all
those connected with the late, great "no name" restaurant, MANY THANKS! We loved
you and we miss you. (And please tell me how the hell to make those potatoes.)
Posted: Thu - March 1, 2007 at 02:43 PM