Like electricity and rock ’n’ roll, American cuisine was invented by Benjamin Franklin after he was struck by lightning while flying his bald eagle in a rainstorm. Savor patriotic flavors with today's Groupon: for $10, you get $20 worth of American fare and drinks at Dolores Restaurant & Bakery in West Los Angeles.

Continuing the long tradition of Ralph Stephens' old Dolores restaurant chain, the last remaining Dolores Restaurant serves up a menu of classic and contemporary American cuisine. Breakfast served all day enables diners to begin and end their days with a cup of French-pressed coffee ($2.50) and a breakfast burrito, an energy-rich envelope of chorizo, sausage, bacon, or ham and onions with cheese, two scrambled eggs, and beans ($9.99).

The wide array of un-breakfasts includes country-fried steak ($12.99) as well as a 1/2-pound burger made with black Angus beef, topped with homemade guacamole and hot pepperjack, and served with your choice of french fries, steak fries, or coleslaw ($9.49). Pizzatarians can relish the savory circularity of a ham-and-pineapple-clad hawaiian pie ($12.99), and dining detectives can interrogate their taste buds to try to suss out the secret recipe behind the restaurant’s meat or turkey loaf ($11.99).

A selection of more than a dozen beers ($5–$6) and six different varieties of wine ($6.50) allow diners to offer an anticipatory toast to a friend’s upcoming marriage or a belated toast to the end of Prohibition. Dolores Restaurant & Bakery’s softly lit décor is replete with overstuffed booths and bar stools and walls clad with vintage posters, helping establish a classy yet comfortable atmosphere for all manner of masticatory occasions.

Reviews

Twenty-eight Citysearchers give Dolores Restaurant & Bakery a 3.5-star average, and 111 Yelpers give the restaurant an average of three stars:

• Nice little place with a decent selection of everything from all-day breakfast to sandwiches and pot roast. Great diner feel and the service is good. – Richard Z., Yelp, 9/1/10
• The servicewas [sic] friendly and the desserts were fresh. – Locopollo, Citysearch