Small Steps to Good Grits for Hung Juries

The prosecutor looked puzzled when the verdict was read. Then he looked chagrinned. “How could you possibly have found her not guilty?” he wanted to know. We explained our reasoning, he shrugged, and my fellow jurors and I went off to eat.

In the course of the four-day trial we formed a lot of opinions about where to eat around the County Courthouse. The Wells Fargo Center is only a short walk, and it’s so lovely that your heart lifts when you walk into the atrium. There are several restaurants: a decent cafeteria with a good view and high prices, Mandarin Cove (which has turned into a sort of Chinese food factory), McDonald’s (which sometimes has a harpist playing) and Stepps. The latter is always packed, but if you go into the bar you’ll find a smaller menu, lower prices and a shorter wait. Here you sit at a table (you can also go outside to the patio), order from a reasonable list of sandwiches and salads (I’m particularly fond of the hefty Cajun meat loaf served on eggbread) and pick your tray up when your name is called. It makes an extremely satisfying break in a day spent listening to motions and matters.

A couple of days ago a new eating option opened just across the street in California Plaza. Vie de France, 300 S. Grand Ave., (213) 687-0507, has a self-service counter with soup, sandwiches and salads. (The Cafe will not open until next week.) The jury’s still out on the salads, but the sandwiches are fine, and the outdoor patio is pretty. Best of all is the bakery, which has a number of filled croissants and cookies that are the perfect way to while away a dreary afternoon. But what really makes the verdict favorable is that it’s so close to the courthouse that you won’t have to worry that the judge will find you guilty of tardiness.