"Los Angeles is not known as a happy-to-wait town, really - lack of available sidewalk space and an immovable car culture have conspired against the kind of linephilia New York encourages. So locals and not-so-locals like me took note when a new restaurant in the not-exactly-a-restaurant-row neighborhood of Larchmont opened in the fall and quickly developed a reputation for four-, six-, or even eight-hour waits. From morning to evening, Max & Helen's is a hit."
"The rest goes to the diner's very public face, Phil Rosenthal, the creator of Everybody Loves Raymond. After making a fortune on the sitcom, he devoted himself to his other pleasure, food, starring in a globe-trotting docuseries, Somebody Feed Phil. His aw-shucks demeanor half-conceals a steelier tenacity: Rosenthal created the show in its original iteration as a PBS program, before it moved to Netflix and a wider audience, while quietly investing in a number of L.A. restaurants, like Michelin-starred Providence and the Umami Burger chain."
Los Angeles typically lacks a waiting culture because of limited sidewalk space and a dominant car culture. A new Larchmont restaurant opened in the fall and rapidly developed four- to eight-hour waits, drawing attention from locals and visitors. Hostesses reported weekend-morning waits reaching eight hours, and nearby businesses noted increased foot traffic. Breakfast is served all day, and the diner’s yeasted waffle, developed through a three-day process, has been praised as exceptionally good. Much of the culinary credit goes to Nancy Silverton. Phil Rosenthal serves as the restaurant’s public face and investor, bringing a television and restaurant-investment background.
Read at Grub Street
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