"Gardena Bowl is a decades-old coffee shop and South Bay landmark where you can bowl a full game before or after your meal (if the name didn’t tip you off, it’s attached to a bowling alley). The menu here is a mix of Japanese, Hawaiian, and American breakfast dishes, with items like loco moco, banana pecan pancakes, kimchi bacon fried rice, and meat-filled freeform scrambles called "royales" living in perfect harmony. The food is comforting and generous, but it’s little details here we savor the most: the handwritten specials above the counter, the blue faux-leather swivel chairs, and the $5 bags of boiled peanuts they sometimes sell by the cash register." - brant cox, sylvio martins, garrett snyder