Midtown Lunch

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 Kelley, a Downtown based insurance underwriter who loves to chase food trucks during her lunch hour.

Name: Kelley

Age: 30

Occupation: Insurance Underwriter (and semi-professional food truck chaser)

Where in L.A. do you Work?: Insurance company on 8th & Figueroa in Downtown LA

Favorite Kind of Food: That is such a difficult question to answer. I hate to be cliche but I really love all food. I especially like traditional food with a creative twist.

Least Favorite Kind of Food: Shellfish…but just because I’m allergic to it.

Favorite Place(s) to Eat Lunch: Its no secret that my favorite place to eat is the corner of 9th & Hope, where most food trucks stop. My favorite truck picks are: Chinese BBQ Pork tacos (Don Chow Tacos), Asian Marinated Chicken tacos (Komodo), Lomo Saltado (Lomo Arigato), Honey Feta Fries (Louks), and The Original Manila Dip (Manila Machine). As for a non- food truck lunch, I can be found at the Farmer’s Market at 7th +Fig shopping center on Thursdays ordering a lamb crepe w/ avocado.

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Santa Monica lunchers can not live off of Bay Cities alone, so when I heard that Sham- an Arabic restaurant on Lincoln and Santa Monica, known for their shish kebab and tabouleh- was now serving “Arabic Pizza” I was completely intrigued.  When I heard you could get 2 for 1 Arabic Pizzas for takeout or delivery, I headed right over!

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Turmeric Fish Noodles from Viet Noodle Bar. Courtesy of Exile Kiss.

• ATWATER Dan was right. Viet Noodle Bar doesn’t look too bad [Exile Kiss]
• MOBILE A new Brazilian food truck has hit the streets [My Last Bite]
• MOBILE The Kogi run ESPN Match Truck is hit and miss [Deep End Dining]
• PICO UNION El Taurino makes a great suadero taco [LAist]
• HOLLYWOOD Pa Ord makes a good pork pad see ew [Food GPS]
• HOLLYWOOD Paddy Rice has opened on Melrose [Squid Ink]
• HOLLYWOOD Ruen Pair makes a better red curry than Pailin Thai [Squid Ink]
• CULVER CITY Scoops is coming to the west side! [Eater]
• BEVERLY Nonna’s Empanadas is finally open [Squid Ink]
• WEHO Kassava has opened another restaurant on Sunset [Eater]
• WEHO We’re not that into salads for lunch… [Gastronomy]
• EVENT …but we’ll GO to Tender Greens on Sat. for the Eat My Blog bakesale! [Noms Not Bombs]
• MOBILE Here’s the menu for this weekend’s benefit for Nina’s Food [E*star LA]

Back in March I was shocked to discover how not terrible Pitfire Pizza was.  With branches on the west side and Downtown, it comforted me to know that after 5 years of NYC plentitude, decent pizza would not be something that was super hard to track down here in L.A.  But Pitfire is more like a poor man’s Mozza, not a go-to lunchtime slice joint… so my quest for a great lunchtime slice was nowhere close to being over. (And by “quest” I mean “excuse to travel around L.A. trying out slices of pizza”.) Lunch’er Wutzizname said in the comments that Vito’s vs. Joe’s was the classic  comparison, and Slice included them both in their favorite pizzas in L.A. list, so when Profiled Lunch’er “Patricia” recommended the white pie at Vito’s last week as her goto lunchtime slice- I was kind of sold.

And despite what Wutzizname said, I’m not so sure the winner is “abundantly clear”.

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Nina’s Food isn’t the only vendor fighting for her survival right now… Last week City Council Member Tom LaBonge proposed two motions that would severely limit food trucks’ ability to find parking in Los Angeles. LaBonge represents the district that includes the area in front of 5700 Wilshire where tons of trucks park every day for lunch. The SoCal Mobile Food Vendors Association has already sprung into action, creating a petition, a Facebook page and listing the City Council members who you can email. Don’t think it will make a difference? The same exact kind of parking law is making its way through the City Council in New York city, and it looks the massive outpouring of support for the food trucks might have made the difference in a hearing that was held yesterday.

If you love Food Trucks, and don’t want to see them go away, now is the time to act.  Sign the petition now.

Yesterday it was reported on the Midtown NYC section of Midtown Lunch that The Counter would be expanding to Times Square this October. The Counter’s “build your own burger”  craziness is old hat here in L.A., and some New Yorkers with connections to the West Coast were pretty excited by the news.  But most people in NYC are unfamiliar- so yesterday, at the request of a few lunchers, I headed over to Santa Monica to scarf down a burger and fries at The Counter… you know, for my old friends in Midtown.

See the sacrifices I make for you people?

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