Hermosa Beach: Ocean Diner / Chicken Shack

Recently, I've been hitting the beach cities with a friend, Leonard, a lot since I found a 24-Hour Fitness there with a 24/7 basketball gym. It's probably one of the buffest and fittest 24 I've seen since everybody there got guns the size of my thigh haha!

Of course, being in that area, I've also been exploring a lot more, trying out whatever I see and here's two restaurants I tried recently... actually in the same night :]

Oh and I took these with my iPhone. Sorry for the bad quality. Can't be carrying my camera everywhere!

Ocean Diner

959 Aviation Blvd

Hermosa Beach, CA 90254

www.oceandiner.com

Ocean Diner is this small little neighborhood diner, sorta hidden, with a WWII theme throughout the place. It's very much known for their breakfast items and since breakfast is served all day, why not get it for dinner?

Menu.

I was craving French toast and they had 3 different kinds. Eventually settled on the Cinnamon Roll French Toast. Sounds delicious, tastes delicious, just not enough :[ I want more cinnamon roll!

Leonard's Kapiko's Skillet with chicken, mushroom, onions, roasted red peppers, spinach, & jack cheese with home fries on the side! Definitely hearty.

Biscuit with gravy that came with the skillet. The gravy tasted like clam chowder, probably cause of the bacon. It was incredibly creamy.

Had to get something salty with my Cinnamon Roll French Toast so got chili cheese fries.

Cool neighborhood spot that's pretty well hidden. For the price, it isn't bad but I did expect to have a bigger portion since it's a diner. Nevertheless, must come back and try their other French toasts: Crunchy Granola and Vanilla! Maybe add a dinner entree in there somewhere :P

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Right across the street is another restaurant and since I was still somewhat hungry after the French toast and the chili fries, decided to pop in and check it out.

The Chicken Shack

1030 Aviation Boulevard

Hermosa Beach, CA 90254

chickenshackrotisserie.com

So apparently it is a Peruvian rotisserie spot! There's a lot of Peruvian food around South Bay but never knew that this was another. Awesome thing about Peruvian rotisserie chicken is that it's incredibly flavorful.

HAHA this had a chicken head and tail. Is this the same one that's around Santa Monica?? (photo: Leonard)

Unfortunately I wasn't hungry enough for a chicken platter so decided on a sandwich: Shack Sandwich with shredded chicken, lettuce, tomato, mayo and their signature yellow sauce, served hot on a roll. Great chicken but there was just way too much mayo... and I hate mayo. Yellow sauce is made with a Peruvian chile and man it's got a little bit of heat. Mustardy too.

I also got to try another sandwich, the Hermosa Beach Sandwich which is shredded chicken with caramelized onions, and the saltado sauce. Crazy addicting. Even better when you add the jalapeno green sauce. (photo: Leonard)

I love Peruvian food so I'm extremely happy that there's another one in the area. It's just unfortunate that Chicken Shack is way more expensive than all the other Peruvian restaurants. The sandwich itself runs at about $7-8 and about $14 for saltados, which is a dish stir-fried with protein, fries (yes, fries), onions & other veggies. Most of other places have it for about $8-12! It does look glorious though when others ordered it...