We had dinner at Mac and Cheeza in Downtown L.A. on Friday, October 8 before seeing Chapterhouse at the Troubadour later that evening. I think we originally read about Mac and Cheeza in the Downtown News. The owners founded the original location in Bakersfield and the Downtown location opened in April or May of 2010. It’s a restaurant that lets you customize your meal. First you choose your noodles (rice or wheat), then your cheese (cheese or soy) then toppings of various meats and vegetables. For some reason I thought it was located near Staples Center and L.A. Live but I was a bit off. It’s actually on 8th Street between Spring and Broadway.
That Friday my wife picked me up after work. We went south on Bixel, inadvertently got on the freeway, exited at 9th, drove down Figueroa to Olympic. We drove on Olympic east to Main Street where we turned left (north). We then turned left (east) on 8th street. We located Mac & Cheeza with its logo of an arched macaroni noodle and triangle of cheese, on the right (north) side of 8th just west of Spring Street. We couldn’t find any parking. The signs along the street said “no parking between 5-7” or restrictions like that. Mac & Cheeza did not have a designated lot. I think there was an alley nearby but I didn’t see any parking for it. We ended up parking many blocks away on Hope between 8th and 9th. We then had to walk back to 8th and east on it across Grand, Olive, Hill and finally Broadway. We passed some small shops selling T-shirts, electronics, and inexpensive goods. At one the clerk and some customers were watching a soccer game on a small TV.
We found Mac & Cheeza just past Broadway. It’s a very small restaurant with only two tables for customer seating and no restrooms for customers. I believe that most of their business is take-out orders. There’s a counter/open kitchen where you order and a cooler in the back with specialty sodas. The dominant colors were black, yellow, and white and there was artwork made with raw macaroni on the walls and tables. They played techno music over the speakers. There were only a couple of customers there, most of them waiting for take-out orders. At around 6 p.m. it was early for L.A. dinner time.
The guy behind the counter was very nice first asking if we had been there before. We then ordered our size that ranged from small (Baby Mac) to medium (Momma Mac) to larger sizes (Daddy Mac and Mac Daddy) that were enough for multiple people. We selected our noodle type (we both got regular rather than rice), cheese (I got soy and my wife got regular), meat or vegetable and final toppings. It took them around 8 minutes to prepare our orders and the employee called us over when they were ready. I don’t remember if they used my name or a number. Before giving us our orders he sprinkled on the final topping that we both chose: toasted walnuts. He told us to say when he had sprinkled on enough walnuts. We both got a specialty soda for beverage. I got a Bulldog root beer. I think I had that root beer before but the bottle was different from what I remember. It still tasted good. My wife got Mr. Q. cucumber soda made by Global Beverage Enterprises. She enjoyed it.
As for our mac and cheese, my wife enjoyed her medium-sized regular noodles (Momma Mac)—regular cheese with spinach and toasted walnuts. I got a medium size with regular noodle (Momma Mac), soy cheese, tomatoes, and toasted walnuts. They both came in the foil pans in which they were cooked. The soy cheese was a bit bland. It had some cheese consistency but not much of its flavor. The tomatoes helped a bit, though it might have been better to get one of the meat options or sausage. I think the meat options cost extra with our size option. It was a good amount of food and very filling. Our check seemed a bit high for such simple food. But then again, it was freshly made.
After we finished we left and walked through a couple of crowded bus stops to get to our car. I think we passed a couple of clubs such as The Golden Gopher. We reached our car well within the 1-hour parking given on the sign. We then drove to Chapterhouse. We may return to Mac & Cheeza. Hopefully, it won’t end up like the Pastagina that used to be near where we parked. I could try one of the meat options and maybe we’ll find closer parking.
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