Midtown Lunch

“There’s no Midtown in Los Angeles!” is something I’ve been hearing a lot of these days. Yes, I get it. There is no Midtown here. What am I going to do? How will this even work? The short answer is this… my fatness knows no boundaries! And rather than focus on a specific area of Los Angeles, I’ll just try and find “Midtown Lunch’ish” spots- wherever they may be. (In other words, I plan on being a fatso all across this great city.) Not everything will be some amazing destination, that you’d travel across the city for. But if one of these places is around the corner from your office, it’s far better than another boring lunch at Subway!

I’ve been spending a lot of time Downtown, on Miracle Mile, and in Westwood, with a few excursions into Thai Town and one great lunch in North Hollywood. But yesterday’s profiled lunch’er put me in the mood for some Pasadena action. So when Javier (aka the Teenage Glutster) invited me to have lunch with him in Pasadena yesterday I jumped at the opportunity. A Tibetan all you can eat buffet? Yes please!

“We could also do Thai or Indian or…” Let me stop you right there Glutster. I… want… Tibetan… buffet.

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As is customary on Midtown Lunch, every Tuesday we’ll profile a random reader to get their recommendations for the best spots to lunch near their work. This week it’s Justin, a grad student from South Pasadena who loves BBQ and has been to Slaw Dogs 10 times.

Name: Justin

Age: 31

Occupation: Grad Student

Where in L.A. do you Work?: I am self-employed and work out of South Pasadena

Favorite Kind of Food: Barbecue

Least Favorite Kind of Food: Anything with avocado

Favorite Place(s) to Eat Lunch: If I have more than an hour for lunch, and I can have a couple drinks, I head to Green Street Tavern (69 West Green Street). They have the best burger in Pasadena and I am addicted to their conquistador bisque. If it’s only an hour for lunch I usually go to Hutch’s BBQ (390 E. Walnut Street). I have been eating there my entire life. Green Street Tavern has the best burger in Pasadena but Hutch’s has my favorite burger in the entire world. If you understand this then you understand everything. If it’s gotta be a quick lunch I get a couple tacos at Rick’s Drive-In (680 E. Walnut Street). Their tacos are a guilty pleasure for me. People know Rick’s mostly for the spuderito (a burrito of french fries, cheese and hot sauce) but to be honest that’s the only thing I’ve ever eaten there that I thought was lousy.

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Anybody who has ever moved from one great food city to another must know what I’m going through. When I moved from L.A. to New York 5 years ago, one of the first things I tried to do was find a replacement burrito for all the great ones I had left behind. (I failed.) And now that I’ve moved back, so much of my first few months of eating have been dedicated to finding replacement lunches for all my NYC favorites.  Thai food? That was easy. Pizza? Good enough. Ramen? Done and done.  The India Jones truck wasn’t quite the Kati Roll/Biriyani cart replacement I had hoped for, but their butter chicken more than made up for it.  But what about the Jamaican Dutchy?!  Where am I going to get my stew peas?  Hello Reggae Chicken Truck.

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Sad news from the LA Food Truck Lots twitter account yesterday: “The Alameda lot [at Traction] didn’t make the cut…. We have a new lot opening in little Tokyo in 2 weeks on Judge John Aiso St. Stay tuned.”  Unlike the Santa Monica food truck lot, which opened to huge crowds on day 1 before being closed on day 2 by a zoning issue, the Downtown lot seems to be closing because it didn’t work for the vendors.  It’s not completely clear if it was a lack of customers, the rent being charged by the owners of the lot, or most likely a combination of the two.  (One truck owner described it to me last week as a “petering out”.)  The new location will be closer to the Civic Center, and perfect for those days when the line at Daikokuya is too long (aka every day).  But, sadly, parking will probably be more difficult.

One thing is for sure… despite all the hype, and initial crowds, food truck lot survival is not a given.  If you like the trucks that park near your office, you’ve got to get out and support!  (They cannot pay the bills from twitter alone.) If not, they’re going to find somewhere else to park…

The Thai Slaw Dog. Photo courtesy of Gastronomy Blog

• PASADENA: When I finally make it to Slaw Dogs I’m having what she had [Gastronomy Blog]
• PASADENA: Although apparently the bread could be better [Eating L.A.]
• DOWNTOWN: Not everybody loves Wurstkuche [Noms Not Bombs]
• MOBILE: Must… try… churro tots! [Caroline on Crack]
• MOBILE: L.A. gets its first restaurant on a bus [Sinosoul;Noms Not Bombs;Eating L.A.]

Westwood Blvd is teeming with delicious Middle Eastern options, and a few weeks ago Squid Ink pitted two of the relatively new spots against each other in a shawarma sandwich battle to the death. (Technically both sandwiches “died” at the hands of a third party, but one made its killer happier than the other.)  And even though Sunin was declared the winner over Alcazar Express I was left pining for the other sandwiches mentioned on Alcazar Express’ menu.  Beef brain?  Lamb tongue?  I’m there.

(Don’t worry squemish white meat chicken addicts…  there’s that too, after the jump.)

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I still remember the very first time I had Korean food.  I was 18 years old, and visiting my dad at work. He suggested Korean, I said sure (?), and we headed down the street to what I’m assuming was the only Korean restaurant in Downtown Miami.  I remember them bringing out the little plates of what I now know are called banchan, and my dad telling me I had to try this stuff called kimchee. “It’s the worst tasting thing you’ll ever eat. And really spicy.” “Well, if it tastes so terrible why would I want to eat it?” “That’s the thing, son.  It’s so bad, that eventually you’ll start to like it.” I took one bite, and as promised it was pretty bad… but sure enough, 10 minutes later I was like “hmmm, maybe I’ll try another bite of that weird cabbage stuff”.  I was hooked.

The other thing I remember about that meal is what my Dad ate for lunch that day- and this is truly amazing because I have the worst memory of all time (although it’s not suprising that this is the shit I remember.)  It was a large bowl of noodles topped with this thick brown sauce, with onions and little cubes of meat.  It was delicious.  And for almost 10 years I never saw the dish again, and pretty much forgot about it entirely.

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