Out and About – Traxx Restaurant and Traxx Bar

CameraZOOM-20140501154747109One of the things we love is discovering really fun places that have great wines – especially places you wouldn’t necessarily expect to find them. Which is why Anne was so anxious to check out Traxx, at Los Angeles’ Union Station.

Now, Union Station, at 800 N. Alameda St., is already one of those gems even most Angelenos don’t know about – although we’ve all seen it hundreds of  times in films, television and commercials. It opened in 1939 and was built not only during the heyday of rail travel, but at a time when Los Angeles was just coming into its own as a major city in the U.S. The architecture is grand, with a mix of Hispanic mission style overlayed with an Art Deco sensibility. And it’s all been recently refurbished, thanks to the big 75th Anniversary celebration on May 3, National Train Day.

Traxx, which opened in 1997, took over the old restaurant, putting the bar part of the restaurant in what used to be the station’s telephone room – one of those nice places with phone booths where you could make a phone call while waiting for your train. Now, it’s a place where you can get a nice glass of wine while waiting for your train.

CameraZOOM-20140501154612605We both commute through Union Station regularly, Michael to get to his day job, and Anne to her errands for various clients. It took a bit of arm-twisting by Anne to get Michael into the bar after work one night recently. But in Michael’s defense, stopping for a drink means getting home to dinner and relaxation that much later. Not fun when you’re already pooped from a long day at work.

Still, it was one of those days, and the bar wasn’t too busy, although there were plenty of commuters kicking back for a drink before their trains left (there’s a pretty busy system of commuter trains to the further reaches of Southern California that come and go from Union Station). There were also a few tourists. The atmosphere was a tad on the noisy side and the bar has the inevitable television sets playing, but not blaring.

The wine list was very interesting, but sadly, we don’t remember what specifically we drank. We weren’t there to report on it, just to check it out before going home. It was only later that we thought about writing it up here. You can find a wine list posted here, but Anne didn’t recognize anything on it. Which means they change things up as the wines are released – and that’s a good thing. The important thing is that the white was served nicely chilled, and the service was prompt and polite. Wines by glass run between $9 and $16, and most of them were local to California, many from the Central Coast and Santa Ynez Valley.

Hours, menus and more information are here, at the restaurant website. If you’re in L.A., it is well worth checking out and pretty easy to get to, even if you don’t drive, since both the Red Line and Gold Lines are here, not to mention a host of buses. Contrary to popular belief, L.A. does have public transportation and it works pretty darned well. If you’re not in L.A., then the lesson is that fun places to drink wine are all around us. You just have to be willing to check them out. Even if it means getting home from work a little later.

 

Please tell us what you think.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.