catching up with gram & papa’s
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A month after their low-key debut in the fashion district, Gram and Papa’s owner Mike Ilic is enjoying the fruits of his labor.
But he’s not done yet.
Despite the positive customer feedback, Ilic says there is still much work to be done in growing and perfecting his restaurant concept.
The goal is to maintain high quality, fast service and a superior level of customer satisfaction. Ilic believes you have one chance to make a good impression and have people coming back for more.
A recent customer visited four times in one day, so they must be doing something right.
Kitchen staff is on board to compose salads and sandwiches using 125 different house-prepared ingredients. Minor tweaks and fine-tuning has streamlined the preparation and presentation process even more than before.
Gram and Papa’s now serves different soups daily and expects to introduce a turkey burger to their menu soon. Breakfast is served daily from 8:00am to 10:30am; brunch on Saturdays from 10:00am to 4:00pm.
The brunch menu consists of regular breakfast items (granola-yogurt parfaits, frittata, breakfast sandwiches, homemade muffins, bagels, eggs) plus a few salads and sandwiches from the lunch menu. Brunch will eventually be offered on Sundays.
Ilic insists on personally overseeing every aspect of the business and performing quality control on a regular basis. He jokes that owning a restaurant business “is like raising a child.” Indeed, the doting parent is always around for fear of missing out on a single moment.
The Gram and Papa’s philosophy is to grow the business organically and respond to the needs of the community. For this reason they have held off pursuing an active advertising campaign. Better to start small, simple and get it right rather than serve hordes of customers only to sacrifice quality in the process.
Gram and Papa’s catering recently got underway. Mini sandwiches made from downsized loaves of bread and baby ciabatta rolls are available for parties of 10 or more. As before, they are slowly easing into the catering portion of their business.
So what lies ahead for Gram and Papa’s?
They are currently debating whether to have pancakes, waffles or french toast on the breakfast menu. Do you have a preference? Vote for your choice in the comments below.
High quality espresso drinks will be served once the espresso machine arrives. Coffee drinks will be kept very simple- drip-brewed Intelligentsia coffee and traditional lattes, cappuccinos and espressos without a million syrup choices to make your brain explode.
Forrest Gump benches now sit outside the restaurant, but signage and window decals will help the establishment be more recognizable to newcomers and locals alike. You can expect to see this at Gram and Papa’s soon. Ilic also hopes to extend hours for Downtown Art Walk night and dinner.
A larger delivery zone will be implemented once Gram and Papa’s can guarantee satisfactory order-to-delivery time. Delivery within a half mile radius is currently offered.
However, they may be able to deliver to other downtown neighborhoods depending on how busy the kitchen is. Delivery as far as City West has been known to happen so it wouldn’t hurt to call and ask.
Do you have comments for Gram and Papa’s? Your feedback is most welcome!
Gram and Papa’s
227 E 9th Street (between Los Angeles and Santee)
Los Angeles, CA 90015
213-624-7272
Current hours of operation
Monday-Friday breakfast 8:00am-10:30am, lunch 11:00am-4:00pm
Saturday brunch 10:00am-4:00pm
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18 comments
Wish you guys had dinner items and were open past 4PM. The only time i’ll be able to stop by is during the weekends.
Definitely serve french toast over the other other items!
“They are currently debating whether to have pancakes, waffles or french toast on the breakfast menu”
Why not all 3? But if I had to choose one….waffles.
^^LA Lola- since simplicity is at the heart of Gram and Papa’s they decided not to make all three. So choose wisely!
BTW, I vote for french toast.
Damn im hungry..I haven’t had breakfast and looking forward to lunch. I love the menu selection and the “build custom salad” option
mmmm.
One more for french toast!
I love this place. Great concept that is well executed. Mike has a real nose for quality ingredients. Intelligentsia coffee, bread from Breadbar, and bagels from Brooklyn Bagels. Homemade muffins, too. Quality ingredients prepared simply. FINALLY!
I think Mike is very smart in the way he is rolling out his business. He wants to offer dinner eventually, but it’s a mistake to run before you can walk. That location is a lunch/breakfast spot. He’s sitting on some pretty solid lunch/brunch business there, but if he tries to roll out dinner and the added expense included, he could put himself out of business.
I believe Mike’s intention, when he does decide to wade into the dinner hours, is to roll out an almost entirely delivery based service.
Good idea.
As Tiara has discovered, it is next to impossible to get nighttime diners into that area of the Fashion District. Nobody lives there (meaning on that block or any adjacent) and there is nothing open (no bars, coffeeshops, or galleries). Furthermore, local construction has blocked the sidewalk; therefore, standing on 9th street looking east before the vast intersection at Spring and Main, it is impossible to tell what’s open if anything at all. That’s a huge barrier to entry for any potential walk in business.
I say all this as someone who has been single-handedly trying to support Tiara’s dinner business, but that location is in the boondocks of the evening.
Oh and given G and P’s already has that great bread, I say play to your strengths and do the French Toast.
I agree, French Toast is my vote.
Viva La French Toast!
ok, french toast it is then. they better make them good.
LOL, I don’t think Mike Ilic was expecting the angry french toast mob from us. He’s been keeping track of our comments and sounds like he’s sold on PeterJ’s logic for french toast.
We’re no longer calling it “freedom toast”, right? :P
French toast all the way! People love them some French toast. If it can hold its own against Tranquility Base’s Grand Marnier French toast, I’ll be sure to stop in for brunch on Saturdays. The Nickel’s gotten too crowded (that’s a good thing).
By the way, Mike, one suggestion I have. When you’re closed, don’t allow your neighbors to hang rugs in front of your entryway. It makes it seem as if your business doesn’t exist there.
I know French Toast is the topic of the day but as brief resident of San Diego — I remember Hash House A Go Go in Hillcrest offered the most amazing Butterscotch Pancakes ever! Anyone know of a restaurant in LA that offers the same? No luck with The Grittle and Jinkys : (
Lol, Ira, it was “Liberty Toast.”
French Toast.
nDevelopment, I used to be a regular at Hash House *sniff, sniff* oh, how I miss that place so. Pancakes as big as a hubcap and waffles spilling over the platter they used as a ‘plate.’ And YES, those butterscotch pancakes…memories.
Yummy Shrimp Po’boy! And Gram and Papas refers to what the owners called their grandparents, not (as the owner told me) drugs and potatoes.
I generally wouldn’t comment on a post about the restaurant, however I do want to thank everyone from the community that stopped in either to eat or just say hi today! We look forward to growing into an important eatery in the neighborhood!
I went there early and they definitely needed some improvement. The flatbread in our salad was baked to a crisp (a hard crisp). The salad was too lightly dressed (even for my standards because I like lightly dressed salads) and the shrimp po’ boy was weak. I think there were like three tiny shrimp sliced in half for the entire sandwich. Definitely disappointed considering the trip I made out there.
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