Rate-A-Restaurant, #100 in a series

Restaurant: Cole's P.E. Buffet

Location: 118 East 6th Street (Downtown)

Type of restaurant: French-Dipped Sandwiches

We stipulated: For our 100th Rate-A-Restaurant review, we wanted to make it special. Obviously it had to be a spot we'd never visited. But it also had to be some place special. An institution, perhaps. As the oldest continuously operating restaurant in Los Angeles (founded 1908), Cole's fit the bill. As did its part in the ongoing debate over which L.A. landmark -- Coles or Phillipe's -- created the french dip sandwich. So we invited all of you to come celebrate -- and we met up with several L.A. bloggers to break french-dipped bread.

They stipulated: You're on your own when it comes to parking. But otherwise, it's a pretty simple place: Just show up, get in line and pay at the cashier (credit cards are accepted -- a nice surprise. I find that many older eateries don't.) Then there's the unspoken stipulation: Get here now if you want to experience Cole's as it was meant to be -- tattered, dark and filled with character. Who knows what the new owners plan to do with the joint -- but the fear is they'll undergo a massive makeover that sucks out what makes Cole's a quirky L.A. classic.



What we ordered: Corned beef french dip sandwich (Maria; $5.59); Turkey french dip sandwich (Mike; $5.39); side of cole slaw ($1.39); side of mashed potatoes (for Evan; $2.19).

High point: In the debate over which french dip is better, Cole's or Phillipe's, it's a tight race. Cole's has Phillipe's beat when it comes to the actual dip. While Phillipe's simply dunks part of the sandwich in sauce after its done, Cole's takes the bread and sticks half (the side that touches the meat) in its pool of aus jus goodness. It makes for a juicier sandwich that gets better the longer the bread sucks the juice in. My turkey was fresh; the cole slaw (which I like to put on my sandwich) was decent -- although not as tasty as Philippe's.

Low point: Maria's corned beef was too fatty -- and not the good, tasty kind of fatty. It was the hard-to-chew kind of fatty. Also, the scary/weird guy who came in and started asking us about Evan, until he was shooed out by one of the Cole's workers. It's still downtown folks, and although the area is still dramatically changing (including the Pacific Electric building where Cole's is based), there's still a lot of unusual people on the streets.

Overall impression: As an Angelenophile, I'm embarrassed that I hadn't hit Cole's until now. And I'm glad I did. The place exudes old time character; the sandwiches are excellent (although I may still give a slight edge to Phillipe's); and the full bar, as Celia tells us, makes it an excellent downtown hang. How can you not like a place that's about to celebrate its 100th anniversary?

Chance we will go back: I would think so. Hopefully before the new owners make their changes.

(For a full roster of Franklin Avenue's restaurant reviews, check out our companion Rate-A-Restaurant site.)