[dropcap size=big]T[/dropcap]wo Cents, Alisa Reynolds’s restaurant, might be best known for its “gries”: corn grits cut into rectangular logs, fried, then stacked like Jenga pieces for you to dislodge at will. But as much as Two Cents is the sort of restaurant unafraid to riff on a few classics, it’s also a restaurant where you can have said classics: Here you’ll find an enormously comforting bowl of creamy grits finished with butter and served with plump shrimp, and its gumbo, fried chicken, and stacks of fried green tomatoes are good options, too. And it is also a restaurant where the chalkboard menu alerts you to both the specials and market vegetables of the day, the oxtail tacos are topped with shredded kale, the mac and cheese is gluten-free, and Sriracha is on the table alongside the bottle of organic hot sauce. Thus no matter your craving and no matter you diet, Two Cents has something for you; lest you have any questions about the ethos here, you’ll likely find your answer on bookshelf next to the counter, which holds, among others, Bryant Terry’s Afro-Vegan and Dorie Greenspan’s Around My French Table. It’s easy to see why, then, Two Cents is such a beloved spot, a place where neighbors run into neighbors and where someone may or may not break into a dance after the bread pudding dessert. — TN
5583 W Pico Blvd., Mid-Wilshire
(323) 938-1012
http://mytwocentsla.com
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