Whenever I want to eat out in LA, I have a good idea of where to go. I may know the exact restaurant, a city of choice, or I may be in a struggle and only know that I’m hungry. Regardless, if I’m in the city of angels, I’ll be guided to a good eatery. But on this recent occasion I wasn’t in LA. Instead, I was in the valley. Do angels even go out there? I’m sure they do, but in that moment I was struggling to find a place where a friend and I could eat in that city. After racking my brain and scrolling through my food notes on my phone I remembered Sweet Butter Kitchen in Sherman Oaks. I found out about this place after seeing E! News host Terrence J. post a picture of his breakfast on Instagram a few months ago. Once I saw the kitchen’s name in my notes and his picture came to mind, we were on our way to get breakfast. Sigh, in the valley.
As soon as we found street parking, we made our way into the cute restaurant. It sits on the corner of Ventura Blvd. with outdoor seating aligning the exterior of the restaurant. A few steps inside and there’s a second seating area and then a small café where you can take a look over the menu and order. Here’s the drawback about when it comes to Sweet Butter Kitchen. The section where you order, is actually very small and if there’s a rush of people inside, it can get crowded quickly. Since there are so many people in the limited space, it’s hard to keep track of who’s in front of who because everyone mashes together like potatoes. The person behind the counter politely asks for the next customer but it feels like there is little order. Add to that, the seating is ineffective alongside ordering since the restaurant discourages people to sit at a table without a number. That means, you can order your food and get a number, then go out to sit and there aren’t any available tables. Not easy to eat pancakes standing up. Lucky for my friend and I, we were able to order and snag a table outside just in time.
It wasn’t a long wait until our food came out. I ordered the Blueberry Pancake Breakfast ($9.95), a side of Niman Ranch Applewood Smoked Bacon ($4.50), and a Strawberry Lemonade ($3.50). The lemonade was exactly as you would expect. Sweet and tart, but nothing more than that. The name of the bacon read like a sultry country novel so I was eager to try that out. However, it was the description of the pancake breakfast that seemed like it would satisfy me instantly. The breakfast itself came with three buttermilk pancakes topped with their signature sweet butter and pure maple syrup. Sounds good right? Yeah, it did! The nice part about the pancakes is they are pretty big. My blueberry stack had the common characteristics of any good pancakes: soft, thick, and fluffy. But a fun addition was the freshness of the blueberries. The fruit gave the pancakes a tart accent to what could be a simple set of flap jacks. Oh, and the pancakes were the size of an average plate—and don’t forget, there’s three of them. I didn’t come close to finishing them because they were pretty hearty, but I did make a good effort.
The only disappointing part to my breakfast was the bacon. It was pretty dry. With the obsession people have over bacon, most restaurants should put great emphasis on getting it right. However, here the three small pieces that I received were unfortunately overcooked and I didn’t want to finish them. Instead, I filled the bacon space with more blueberry pancakes.
My friend ordered the Nutella and Banana Pancakes ($11.95) and they were beautiful! I could only take one bite of them because they were so decadent. The Nutella was rich and sweet and went well with the very prominent banana taste. Since I’m not so big on bananas, one bite felt like more than enough for me. But I did stare at them like was going to devour them.
Overall, the breakfast at Sweet Butter Kitchen was good. The ordering process wasn’t the smoothest and the bacon wasn’t the tastiest, but the pancakes saved the day. I would suggest them only if you keep in mind some of the disadvantages. I hope that if I were to return, some of the issues listed here would be improved. If not, I’d have to pray anything I order then would be as good as the pancakes here so I could look past it. Hopefully then, I’ll finish my bacon. It’s a shame to throw bacon away anyplace that isn’t a stomach.
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Address: 13824 Ventura Blvd, Sherman Oaks, CA 91423
Phone: (818) 788-2832
Hours: Daily 8:00am to 6:00pm
Social: Website, Facebook, and Instagram.
