How often, upon receiving a chain email, we do take a peek at Snopes.com to clear up if what we're looking at is factual and true or just a big ol' heaping ball of malarkey (typically, the latter). We do value that site so, because there doesn't seem to be an urban legend or rumor or myth they haven't addressed, dissected, turned upside down, painted with polka dots and sent running. Juicy fun.
Now those smarty-pants Snopeans have taken on the French Dip, which is famously tied to Los Angeles, specifically to downtown Los Angeles, specifically to Philippe the Original (located near Union Station) and Cole's, which recently reopened on Sixth Street. Culinary enthusiasts know about the long-standing rivalry, although they might not know about the role that sore gums -- yep, as in the soft, wet, gummy parts of your mouth -- play in the legend. We didn't, and we certainly considered ourselves attentive students in French Dip Studies 101. Sore gums. Mmm.
But really, our fervent wish is that the rivalry fades and that those two fine establishments keep doing dippable, delicious business. Cole's mixes a fine, old-fashion-y drink we're crazy about -- the Hemingway-esque Death in the Afternoon -- and Philippe's boasts those luscious, neon-pink eggs in the jar on the counter. There's room for both places in this big city, that's for sure. And two French Dips in a day, lunch at one place and dinner at another? It can be done. Believe us. Believe our scale.
