It took me a long time to even step inside American Junkie to see what the place was about. The first reason was the name, which I found repellent when I first heard it. I assume that it’s intended to be slang for “irresistible”, but if you have had friends who went down the black hole of addiction you recoil at trivializing it.
The second reason I put off going there was that I often passed by on weekends when the place was party central for a young crowd, and I thought of it as a just a boisterous bar that served a little food. I knew it wasn’t that riotous all the time, and gets slow midweek like the rest of the area, but I thought of it primarily as a place to drink rather than eat.
I tried the place due to a chance conversation while on my way somewhere else. We were talking about what we’d order while walking the plaza and a stranger said, “I just had the best wings of my life in there.” I looked at where he was pointing and had to make sure I understood him correctly. My companions and I were in a whimsical mood, and decided to change destination and try the wings and whatever else caught our fancy.
After a bit of wandering around and trying to figure out who, if anyone, actually worked there (nobody was working the door, and the staff dress a lot like the patrons), we made the acquaintance of an amiable server named Jane. She was reassuringly professional and showed knowledge of the menu and willingness to ask our preferences and recommend things accordingly. We ordered drinks, wings with three sauces, and because when in a bar you order what bars usually do well, a plate of fried calamari.
The wings arrived disconcertingly quickly, so that I strongly suspected they had been made in advance and sauced at the last minute rather than made to order. We had ordered nine wings with three different sauces, teriyaki, buffalo, and spicy honey. We all agreed that the fellow who had praised them so highly should get out more, because they were pretty average. The Buffalo sauce was on the timid side but had a mellow heat, the barbecue was OK and the teriyaki was a bit sweet for my tastes. They weren’t bad, but not good enough that I’d go out of my way for them. The calamari were also in the merely okay range, having been freshly made but cooked so the batter was just short of crisp and a bit oily. We had ordered them because they came with a spicy remoulade as well as cocktail sauce, and the remoulade kept up my wilting hopes for the rest of the meal.
Surprisingly, that was where things took a turn for the better. I had ordered conservatively and got a pesto chicken sandwich with tater tots, while my companions threw caution to the winds and ordered entrees of seared ahi and braised short ribs. My strategy worked well, and I got a good sandwich with bacon, grilled chicken, Swiss cheese, and a side of pretty decent basil pesto sauce. And of course tater tots, a guilty pleasure but crisp and salty and great.
Their meals eclipsed mine, the beef served with mashed potatoes, gravy, and thick but perfectly cooked asparagus spears. The meat was tender enough to shred with a fork, and the portion was respectably large. The tuna had been sesame crusted and seared and topped with Hawaiian poke sauce, a mix of soy sauce, green onions, sesame oil, and what might have been a bit of ginger and red pepper. The fish was served with sautéed asparagus and mango, a combination I really hadn’t considered before but worked nicely. It was altogether more ambitious and successful that we expected.
Being what it is and where it is, it’s no surprise that American Junkie had a good selection of taps and bottles, plus a standard and competently executed cocktail menu. It’s not a trendy mixology place, but it’s not priced like one either; mainstream craft beers are between six and nine bucks, cocktails around ten, and if you’re there at the right time both are cheaper. They have the inevitable daytime weekend specials, happy hour, and other promotions, plus theme nights including live country music and dancing on Wednesdays.
I’m still not a fan of the name, and I doubt that I’ll spend a lot of time here, especially on weekends. That said, it’s always worth noticing when someone does something a bit better than they needed to. For the crowd that usually patronizes this place the food may be an afterthought, but our server Jane and someone in the kitchen are taking pride in what they do.
American Junkie is at 68 Pier Avenue in Hermosa. Open Monday -Friday 11 a.m. – 1 a.m., Saturday 9 a.m. – 2 a.m. , Sunday 9 a.m.- 1 a.m., street parking or lot in rear (not validated). Full bar, some vegetarian items, weekend brunch, drink specials. Phone 310-376-4412.
