Favorite Place Restaurant

Favorite Place

115 West Wilson

Glendale, CA 91203

(818) 507-7409

Hours:  Lunch only from 11:30 - 4:00 pm

please call to double check days of operation

i'm not sure if its closed on mondays and sundays

or just sundays. 

Reservations are also suggested

i have to talk about favorite place restaurant right now!  i know, i have a bajillion other posts to write, which i am deligently working on every night, but writing posts while on lunesta is not the easiest thing.  haha  anyhow, i was having lunch with my good friend chris today (well, now it's technically yesterday) and i didn't have any particular place in mind to go to and she had mentioned favorite place her husband john and her had been wanting to go to.  so i said...cool!  let's go check it out!  so off we went...and let me just say, OMG...where the hell did all this rain suddenly come from?!  i swear it must be global warming!  i feel like every week we have a few days of great weather then rain!  i mean...isn't it spring yet?!  it is april isn't it?!  yeah yeah..please don't tell me april showers bring may flowers.  anyhow...do you see what i mean about writing under the influence of lunesta?  ok...back to the post.  so went in search of the restaurant, and if you blink, you could miss it if you're driving too fast, so slow down...and keep your eyes peeled.  its right next to an alley drive way. 

by now the rain is really starting to come down, so i didn't get a chance to snap off a shot of the front of the restaurant.  perhaps next time.  all the windows are covered and we had no idea what to expect when we opened the door and it was just this brightly lit room with spring colors...greens and yellows!  the tables were all covered in white cloth, china, silverware and of course flowers at each table.  the restaurant is cozy and springy!  my first thought was, i would love to throw a tea here!  this looked like a place for women to just enjoy a nice lunch, sip some tea or their rose-water lemonade.  it just felt beautiful!  the room was almost filled to capacity, and i say room because it felt more like a lovely dining room in a friend's home versus a restaurant.  you could just tell that someone loves what they are doing...and those persons would be the owners Alissa and Sarkis aka Sam. (i hope i got the spelling right on Sarkis's name) 

i really need to pick this post up before i really get loopy!  ok...so here is chris!  who was so smart in suggesting we eat here!  (you have got to know that i'm already in love with this place!)

look at that generous bowl of french bread and a little thing of butter with a tiny flower petal on top.  everything is just so cute and pretty. 

more little snacks, some black olives, which i didn't eat because olives aren't my favorite thing.  you know, when i was a kid, i used to love them...i'd open up the can, drain the juice out then proceed to put an olive on the tip of each skinny little finger till all my fingers had an olive on it.  then i'd wiggle my fingers, showing off my black bubble olive fingers then eat them off my fingers one by one.  ahhh...those were the days.  my mom really loved eating those olives...we'd always have olives in the house.  blech!  i will have them if i must, but i won't go seek them out. 

my point about the olives though...so generous of them to give us these little snacks!  chris took them home so she could have them later.

now, as we were looking through the menu and trying to decide what to get, alissa walked by with two of these soup bowls for the ladies next to us.  and of course it smelled divine so we had to ask what it was!  and she told us it was the soup of the day.  roasted butternut squash, with roasted red bells, roasted garlic, cumin, curry and cinnamon.  you know how bell peppers upset my tummy, so i wasn't even thinking that i was going to order it.  then after we placed our order alissa asked if we wanted the soup and chris and i said, sure!  why not!  omg...am i freaking happy that alissa came back and asked us!! 

if there is anything i can say about cooking, and i'm sure you've heard it a million times from other people, but it's about cooking with love.  and it is so true!  i totally believe that!!  and this soup was pure love!  i can't tell you how much i enjoyed this soup.  you can see all the cinnamon and cumin sprinkled in the bowl...i just loving mixed it all in so it was completely incorporated into the soup.  i want to make sure that all the spices were distributed evenly.  the flavors were so well balanced, you could get the hint of roasted garlic, but not in any way overpowering...the sweetness from the red bells, but really, i could barely taste it...it was so subtle.  the tiny dash of cumin and the fragrant cinnamon and hint of curry.  (which i really couldn't taste the curry, but sarkis said it's in there so who am i to argue with sarkis?!)  whatever the case, all the flavors melded together so beautifully, it was not a thick soup, but was still so velvety and creamy on my tongue.  and lastly, it was PERFECTLY seasoned.  i was in heaven.  i will say, for the record, this was THE BEST SOUP i have had in a very long time.  i can't tell you how much i am in love with that soup!  chris and i HAD to tell alissa how much we enjoyed it and how we could seriously taste the love that went into it! 

side note:  alissa is one of the sweetest persons alive!  she has such a great energy about her and it's just so infectious!  she's a beautiful woman who truly loves what she does and it completely shows!  i can't tell you what a joy it was to eat here and she made us feel so at home.  i wish more restaurants had people like alissa to brighten up everyone's day.  i wish her and sarkis aka sam all the best!!  they are so incredibly generous...and i'll show you in a bit why i am saying this.

next, they brought us a plate of freshly sliced tomatoes, perfectly seasoned with salt and pepper and one little mint leaf that i sliced up and ate with my tomatoes.  it was simple and delicious.  we didn't even order this!  they just gave it to us!  see?!  generous!

chris ordered the oriental chicken wrap...

and no, they don't serve fries here.  as much as we all love fries, this just isn't that kind of joint. 

i ordered "my husband's favorite" which is in fact her husband, Sarkis's favorite...tuna!

i love how they already cut this up for me and made it so easy for me to eat.  there were little bits of corn kernals, which i never had in tuna before, but it tasted great.  i actually didn't sit and try and dissect the sandwich, i really just enjoyed the wonderful flavors and spices that i never had on a tuna sandwich before.  i loved it...and would go back and eat this again also!  i was so stuffed...i ate almost all of it minus the two large ends and one piece i gave to chris to try.  this fills you up!  man!  i was stuffed!

i did not think i could eat anymore...and then guess what...GENEROUSNESS!!! (is that even a word?  i don't care! i'm making it a word if it's not, and i don't feel like looking it up...its 2:08 am right now, i'm tired but am pushing myself to finish this!)  sarkis brings us a little dessert platter!

the chocolate cake and fresh fruit were just delicious...the cake was moist and had the perfect amount of chocolate.  i was too full to eat anymore...i know...you must thinking...sure...you eat like a pig...how could you be full.  alright then!  i did in fact have a few bites of the other cake too!  but the chocolate was my favorite!

oh, and this is how thoughtful sarkis was...because chris ordered some coffee, he overheard me say, oh, i'd get some tea, but i'm so full i can't drink a whole pot, so he has the other young lady who works there, bring out a cup of their house blend of black tea, orange peel and i think it was cinnamon. i can't remember.  and it was so light and delicious!  and some of you know, i put so much cream and sugar in my tea normally, but this tea was just so delightful and delicate, i drank it as is! 

i really fell in love with this little cozy place...it's bright and cheery, alissa and sarkis love what they do and it shows in everything they do.  i can see why they have been voted best of glendale many years in a row.  if you are ever in glendale, make a phone call and make your reservation and tell alissa and sarkis doreen says hi and give them a hug for me too.  they are the cutest couple and i just loved everything about this place and the two of them!!  thank you alissa and sarkis for just a lovely lunch and THE best butternut squash soup!!!  (annie don't be upset, i totally love yours too!)  but seriously, i have not had a soup that has completely moved me like this one did today...amazing!!!

cooking with love...that's what great food is all about.


ps. please excuse any and all typos and grammatical errors...i am very sleepy...but wanted very much to share this restaurant with you all!