November 12, 2006: The Old Place or Steak and Clams

On Saturday, my husband Brian and I ran with the Los Angeles Hash House Harriers in the Malibu mountains near Malibou Lake and the Saddle Rock Ranch where I went on first excavation some 20 years ago. The run lasted about 2 hours with 2 beer checks. The down downs were fun - it was good to sing more than 1 song. We ended up at this little country market / deli for the On on on (eating). We had a snack and planned to have more street tacos later. I found out from Retracted (Neil) that my old 320i is still running well, but he as changed mechanics. We talked to a couple of locals at the bar. One looked like a rockabilly star and his name was Chuck. He's a horse trainer. Another hippie-like guy called Snow told us of his love of guns. People there told us to check out a restaurant called the Old Place. It doesn't really have a name, that's just what it's called. It sounded just weird enough to draw us and several other hasher's there.
The Old Place is on Mullhullond Hwy just east of Kanan Dume Road. It's kind of a shack with a Miller neon sign in the window. It's run by an old couple of 80 something's. They only open when they want to be and most of the patrons are local people: a combo of drugged out hippie bikers, artists, and rich media types. In short, our visit there was a "David Lynch Moment". They only serve two things: steak and clams. They don't start cooking the steaks until they have 4 orders in and they will only cook them medium rare. They have 5 taps in the bar - all Miller. Barbara, who works the counter said she didn't know if they had two steaks for us. She had to serve the 6 other customers and she said she would then let me know if there were steaks for us. It turns out there were and we had a steak, baked potato and bread for $16. While we were waiting and talking with various people there, the owner's son (picture) who appeared to be 60-something walked around seranading the customers with country music. My husband Brian (right) seems to be having fun, but I think he could've done without the music.
This was the type of place I'd expect to find in the middle of nowhere, not on the outskirts of a city like Los Angeles.