Chef Hannes Restaurant — Restaurant in El Segundo

This is a lovely little El Segundo Cafe which is chef run. It has a cozy interior but we chose to sit at one of the tables outside in front, along the sidewalk. It was a very pleasant way to spend an early summer evening. The waiter and the chef took my food allergies and celiac disease quite seriously. Although there were already many items on the menu I could have chosen that suited my special needs, they remade the evening's fish special to suit my gluten free, dairy free and soy free diet. My friend and I shared that with the day's soup, which was lentil-vegetable made in the European style with a broth base instead of a water base, as well as the pickled cauliflower special appetizer which came on a generous plateful of other vegetables and some herbed pesto-like puree. My other friend had the Italian sausage and white bean casserole. He said it was very tasty and that there was enough sausage to be satisfying and flavor the dish but not so much as to be the centerpiece of the meal. Therefore the dish was lighter than he expected, also perfect for an early summer evening instead of a heavier, more meat-centric dish. His starter was the roasted tomato puree which came with four small slices of very lovely-looking country bread. The wine-by-the-glass list is small but the wines seem to be well chosen. I enjoyed my pinot grigio, he enjoyed his cannone and my other friend enjoyed his beer on tap very much. We will certainly be...

Wife and I had some errands to run in El Segundo yesterday and stopped here for lunch. Although the web says it was open at 11:30, 12:00 is more like it. The chef is from Austria and the decor looks like it came from any small town there. The music is straight James Last Orchestra (If you were in Germany in the 70s). Almost danced with the wife (I resisted the urge). The wife ordered tomato soup. It was thicker than bisque but not too thick. It was "she stopped talking with me and just ate it" good. Came with a slice of bread that was left untouched even though it was fresh. I had the meat loaf. It comes on a bed of spaghettini. I entered "don't talk, eat" mode. It was good as a lunch. For dessert, we had the apple strudel (Austrian chef, OK?). We caught it right from the oven. It came with sliced strawberries and butter on the side. Not too sweet, just right. For the two of us, the check was $60, including tip.

All in all, we were satisfied with everything: the food, decor, service. Even the wait was not too bad. In El Segundo? Worth...

We recently had our wedding reception for 20 guests in the “train room.” We went over the menu a few weeks before with Chef Hannes confirming a chicken, fish and pasta dish option and also decided on rack of lamb and duck appetizers along with cheese and fruit for starters. Again Chef Hannes did not disappoint. The food was fabulous – the guests couldn’t get enough of the appetizers – not to mention the elevated orange roughy, chicken that barely needed a knife to cut and a sweet potato lasagne that even meat eaters raved about. The herb dusted rolls were sooo good and the grilled tomato on the salad was a nice detail. The flow of service and room set up was perfect. Everything was flawless from the champagne at the beginning to the cake...