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 Steven, an artist who claims he has eaten the best falafel in L.A. and it is in Santa Monica…

Name: Steven

Age: 34

Occupation: Artist

Where in L.A. do you Work?: Self employed in Santa Monica

Favorite Kind of Food: Good

Least Favorite Kind of Food: packaged in styrofoam

Favorite Place(s) to Eat Lunch: Tacos Por Favor (1406 Olympic Blvd) for their cemita poblana (it’s like a torta, but way better) and their spinach burrito (which also features guacamole and black beans, and is surprisingly good and possibly healthy). Cha Cha Chicken (1906 Ocean Blvd) for their jerk chicken enchiladas and beach proximity. Bay Cities (1517 Lincoln Blvd.) when I’m really in the mood to stand on a line. (I know, I should order online, but I never do.) Hungry Pocket (1715 Pico Blvd) has the best falafel I’ve found in LA. And Border Grill (1445 4th St) has really good upscale Mexican-ish food, and some pretty good lunch specials. Finally, Chez Jay (1657 Ocean Ave.) for those days when lunch is best defined as a steak and a scotch in a dimly lit dive with peanut shells on the floor.

“Go-To” Lunch Place You and Your Coworkers Eat at Too Often? The various food trucks that come to Santa Monica; Wahoos (418 Wilshire Blvd.)

The farthest place you’ll drive for lunch on a normal day? I just went to Oakland to have lunch at Bakesale Betty’s. But I usually stay a little closer to home: San Gabriel for Chinese food, Cassell’s for potato salad, Downtown LA for a bunch of things, Boyle Heights, pretty much anywhere in LA.

If you could work anywhere (just because of the lunch) where would it be and why? LA has an amazing variety of lunch offerings, but it would be a lot better if it had a high speed subway connecting Santa Monica to the rest of the city. Barring my ability to speed up construction of the subway to the sea, I guess I would pick New York since it also has amazing variety, but I wouldn’t need to spend so much time in traffic. Or Beijing, because I really like Chinese food.

Is there anything you’d like to ask the Midtown Lunch readers in L.A.? Does anyone know where to find bitterballen, Burmese food, and/or water chestnut with grass jelly drink in LA?

Got a recommendation for Steven? Put it in the comments. And if you’d like to be next week’s Profiled: L.A. Lunch’er (or know somebody you’d want to nominate), email me- zach@midtownlunch.com.