Midtown Lunch

Photo courtesy of Food GPS

• WESTWOOD You can get a lamb brain/beef tongue sando at Persepolis Cafe [Food GPS]
• BEV HILLS Choppe Choppe is moving from Culver City to Camden [Toddrickallen]
• DTLA Mexicali’s brick and mortar is opening Tuesday!? [Eater]
• HWOOD The Fat Dog has introduced a soup and sandwich combo menu [Grub Street]
• KTOWN It looks like Bud Namu has a $10 ayce grand opening lunch special [SinoSoul]
• MID CITY Five Guys on Wilshire is opening Feb 13th [Eater]
• MID CITY Sangak Bakery & Cafe is set to open this week [Squid Ink]
• MID CITY Chinese food recs outside of the SGV [Eater]

I didn’t grow up eating fried chicken in California, so the nostalgia factor of the Pioneer Chicken on Olympic and San Vicente is a little lost on me.  I don’t have any fond memories of eating the grease bomb that is Pioneer as a child, nor did I ever go through the shock of discovering that my local Pioneer had been replaced by a Popeyes, or feel any sadness when the original Echo Park location closed a few years ago.  And even though the location on Olympic is one of only 3 locations left (and the only within Midtown Lunch’ing boundaries), there are some who claim that it doesn’t taste the same as the original locations.  It’s not a surprise considering that the actual chain itself hasn’t really existed since the 90s, and the remaining franchises are all owned and operated independently.

But none of that really mattered when Lunch’er Garrett recommended Pioneer as one of his favorite places to eat lunch in Mid City.   I had driven by that kitschy chuck wagon sign so many times, trying to think of a good excuse to stuff my face with fried chicken that couldn’t possible be as good as Honey’s Kettle, or Roscoe’s, or even, ironically, Popeye’s. (I freakin love Popeye’s.) Garrett’s rec was just the excuse I was looking for, and now that I’ve been I can think of 5 amazing reasons I’ll be back to Pioneer.  (And one of them involves Korean fermented soy bean soup.)

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As is customary on Midtown Lunch, every Tuesday we profile a random reader to get their recommendations for the best spots to lunch near their work. This week we’re happy to welcome art curator Gil, the friend who introduced me to La Cienega Kebab House and took down that massive falafel in laffa at Ta-eem. Now it appears as if he’s become obsessed with Ink.Sack.

Name: Gil

Age: 30

Occupation: Writer/Curator

Where in L.A. do you Work?: SEGALprojects (art gallery), Currently in West Hollywood

Favorite Kind of Food: Cheese

Least Favorite Kind of Food: Salad

Favorite Place(s) to Eat Lunch: Soda Pops (349 North La Cienega Boulevard) – Veggie Reuben is ridiculously good. Ink Sack (8360 Melrose Ave) – I’m pretty sure the sandwiches contain meth, as there is no time in the day that I am not craving one. I am mad that they stopped making the “Nu-tella” sandwich. Apparently, I was the only person who ordered it.

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If you are super fan of the Japanese fried meat cutlets known as tonkatsu (and quite frankly, how could you not be?) then you likely have discovered that one of the best versions in the city can be found not in the South Bay or on Sawtelle or in Little Tokyo, but in Koreatown, at a Korean/Japanese place called Wako Donkasu.  They’ve pretty much perfected the lunchtime katsu, but it doesn’t stop me from trying any new places that may pop now and again.  So when I saw this photo on Food GPS from the 6 month old Myeongdong Donkasu, I thought… don’t mind if I do!

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Chashu Tsukemen from Tsujita L.A. Photo courtesy of Gourmet Pigs

• WEST LA Tsujita’s chashu tsukemen looks worth the extra $3 [Gourmet Pigs;Darin Dines]
• DTLA Daikokuya’s shredded pork bowl is better than their ramen [Chowhound]
• DTLA How do we get this market to open on the weekdays!? [Street Gourmet LA]
• DTLA Philippe’s is raising the price of their 10 cent coffee to 45 cents [Blogdowntown,LAT]
• HWOOD Ruen Pair’s tom kha gai is a great cold remedy [Amateur Gourmet]
• KTOWN The katsu at Meyongdong Donkasu looks really good [Food GPS]
• SAMO Arepas are back at Cafe Bolivar [Squid Ink]
• WEST LA Clusi Batusi jumps on the personal pizza bandwagon [Eater]
• WESTWOOD This blogger agrees with our assessment of 800 Degrees (and he didn’t even get the food for free!) [Sinosoul]

What do falafel sandwiches, chicken parm sandwiches, gyro pitas, and burritos all have in common? Answer: They are all made infinitely better when stuffed with french fries. Don’t agree? Then you’re probably a communist. (Or a far less disgusting eater than I.) But in California, the king of the french fry stuffed lunch has got to be the California Burrito, a San Diego creation that is essentially carne asada fries, wrapped in a giant tortilla. Or as I like to call it, a nugget of deliciousness.  I’ve never actually had a California burrito in San Diego, but that’s probably a good thing. Because it means that I can enjoy these 3 (presumably more mediocre) versions available right here in Los Angeles.

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Westwood lunching has been on fire since the beginning of the year.  800 Degrees continues to rack up fans with their Chip(otle)izza, Yamadaya just opened a new branch on Westwood Blvd just south of Wilshire, and the anticipation over the new Five Guys is palpable on Broxton during lunch. Plus there’s Wakasan, sandwiches that run the spectrum from grossly insane (Fat Sal’s) to grossly refined (Fundamental), and a ton of Middle Eastern food. In other words, Westwood is quickly becoming one of my favorite places in L.A. to eat lunch.  But it’s not all good news.  Canary, an old Persian standby on Westwood Blvd. whose tongue sandwich made it onto JGold’s 99 Things You Have To Eat Before You Die list in 2010, has been replaced by a new Turkish restaurant called New Anatolia Mediterranean Cafe.

Westwood is known for its Persian food (Attari will ensure that we don’t miss Canary’s tongue sandwich too much), and you can find solid Lebanese food at Sunin. But Turkish? That’s a new one. Tasting Table got pretty excited about their funky lamb soup (kette pacha) but I was super curious about their two shawarma spits they had rotating behind the counter, and their $7 lunch special.

Check it out after the jump…

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