The Capri

I love the idea of The Capri (4604 Eagle Rock Blvd.) more than I actually like going to The Capri. In theory, there is nothing better than a casual, family run, Italian restaurant that serves homemade pasta dishes (all within walking distance from my house!) I keep coming back here despite the fact that the pasta is usually overcooked, the wine is terrible and the food is just plain average. Why do I keep coming back ? Well, there's no place quite like it in all of Los Angeles. The Capri is a genuine small town America experience. While you sit in one of the red leather booths and chow down some lasagna, you'd swear you were hundreds of miles away in Baltimore, Maryland, Springfield, Illinois or Mars, Pennsylvania.

The Capri is a bit like the twilight zone. I imagined that a little league baseball team was going to walk in any minute and then it happened...a little league baseball team walked in and filled up half of the restaurant. They just had a big game apparently. I suddenly felt the urge to poke my head outside and make sure I was still in Eagle Rock. And on top of this, two of the waiters are twins. When one of them served me a glass of Budweiser, I said to him very slowly "How can you be here, when you are actually over there." I pointed to his twin.

The Capri is great fun. It's usually packed with Oxy kids, LAPD, big families, bowling teams, Eagle Rock locals and the occasional hipster who misses being a big fish in a small pond. It's too bad the food is really average.