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 Meg, a Century City marketing person who spends a lot of time in the Century City Mall- but wishes she worked in Mexico City.

Name: Meg

Age: 30

Occupation: Marketing

Where in L.A. do you Work?: Century City

Favorite Kind of Food: French brasserie (moules frites, steak frites, cassoulet, roast chicken, frisee aux lardons, etc.)

Least Favorite Kind of Food: Deviled eggs and anything with plantains

Favorite Place(s) to Eat Lunch: Spicy pork ramen from Ajisen Ramen in the Century City Mall Food Court (10250 Santa Monica Blvd). It’s no Daikokuya (Downtown), but as far as fast food ramen goes, it totally holds its own.

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I become mesmerized in the presence of cheap Chinese food steam tables (you know- the ones where you point to what you want), and I know there are some of you who are with me… after all, how else would so many of them exist in L.A.? How do you know if you’re afflicted with cheap Chinese food-itis?  It’s pretty simple actually. At mall food courts, do you find it difficult to choose anything but the place that has the best free samples of orange chicken? When you travel, have you ever walked to another terminal hoping for Panda Express (but willing to settle for Manchu Wok)?  Do you find yourself wanting to try every single crappy looking Chinese place you drive by?  Well, I’m here to help.

Last month, after a particularly mediocre meal at Patty’s Chinese Express downtown, I agreed to eat at any of the cheap Chinese food dives that dot our wonderful city… not just as an excuse to eat at all the gross Chinese fast food spots that dot our strip malls, but also because I wanted to serve my community!  Oh, who am I kidding.  I just wanted an excuse to eat gross Chinese food.  So I was pretty excited when I got this email from Lunch’er “Cathy” (who also happens to run Gastronomy Blog):

“I passed by this awful looking chinese restaurant on Santa Monica the other day and thought of you. It’s called fortune cookies. please go there without me one day.”

How could I not?

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You would think that winning the First Annual L.A. Vendy Awards would have been a great thing for any of the nominated vendors… but sadly it’s been bittersweet for Nina’s Food, the Breed St. Vendor who took home the top prize last month in MacArthur Park.  Since winning the Vendy Award Nina’s has attracted a ton of new customers and press, and sadly the extra attention has resulted in an increase in the attention from the police too.  She’s been shut down and harassed so often since the Vendy’s, she doesn’t think she can continue unless she gets a truck, which she can’t afford.  (Until now, she’s vended from a table.)

Enter Vendy Award Judge, and Good Food host, Chef Evan Kleiman who has put together a benefit to help Nina raise the money she needs to get a truck.  The event will take place at Evan’s restaurant, Angeli Cafe, this Sunday (June 20th) from 11am to 3pm. It’s a chance to make a difference and eat some great food. Get more details here>>

Related:
Breed Street Vendor Nina’s Food Takes Home the First Ever L.A. Vendy Awards

Photo courtesy of Noms Not Bombs

• MOBILE First look at the Manila Machine’s Filipino food [Noms Not Bombs]
• MOBILE This World Cup truck’s menu was designed by Kogi [LAist]
• DOWNTOWN Hello new lunchtime Izakaya! [Grub Street]
• MID-CITY A new pho shop has opened on Melrose [Squid Ink]
• CULVER CITY Gaby’s Express opens another location [Eater]
• PASADENA Good thai food in Pasadena? That’s unpossible! [Eating L.A.]
• PASADENA The Guru comes around to Slaw Dogs [LA Weekly]
• WEST L.A. Pili’s makes a great squash blossom empanada [Squid Ink]

Whenever anybody says that New York City is better than Los Angeles, one thing immediately pops into my head.  Thai food.  Sure, the Mexican food is awesome… but I’m kind of addicted to the Asian thing.  And, for me, the Thai food alone is enough to make me feel pretty damn good about my decision to move back to L.A.  And while there are little pockets of great Thai food all over SoCal, Thai Town in East Hollywood is still the mecca.  They have everything you could want, with countless restaurants specializing in a few great dishes… like the spicy catfish at Ganda, the great dessert place next door, the Northern Thai food specialties of Spicy BBQ or Pailin Thai, and for those who want a show (but don’t care about the food) there’s Thai Elvis.

But if you want a Southern Thai feast, of epic proportions, from a restaurant with a menu that is the Thai equivalent of the Cheesecake Factory (how… do… they… do… it!?) then there is only one spot for you:  Jitlada.  And if you want to do lunch at Jitlada, everybody who is a huge fan will tell you the same thing- “talk to Jo.  She goes every Thursday.”  And so last Thursday I asked Jo (from My Last Bite) if she would show us how the “Mayor” of Jitlada recommends doing lunch.  She agreed, and a crew was assembled of her friends just knowingly arrived to join us…

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Is there a better area of Downtown to work near (or eat lunch in) than Little Tokyo?  It almost makes me want to get a job at City Hall just so I could work near all the great Japanese food that lines the streets between Main St. and Alameda.  I’ve already tried the porky bowl of goodness that is Daikokuya’s ramen, and the Little Tokyo Marketplace (on 3rd & Alameda) is on my radar.  But when Profiled Lunch’er “Nguyen” (who also happens to own Starry Kitchen in the Downtown Water Court) called Chin Ma Ya’s ramen one of his favorite dishes to eat Downtown, the Weller Court (nr. 2nd and Los Angeles) leaped to the top of my list.

Chin Ma Ya isn’t known for their typical Japanese ramen.  You can order a shoyu or shio ramen, but their specialty is something called “tan tan men” a Japanese ramen with a Sichuan twist (imagine a bowl of soup with dan dan noodles dumped into it, and that’s the dish.)  I love ramen.  And I love Sichuan cuisine.  So there was pretty much no way this was going to be bad…

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