Midtown Lunch

There is not much I can say about the infamous Chef Ludo that you couldn’t read in the L.A. Times or the New York Times or the L.A. Weekly, or in the millions of blog posts that have been written about him. But I will say this- the prospect of an under $10 Ludo lunch is especially exciting to me. When he introduced his ham and cheese sandwich at Gram & Papa’s downtown I got a little giddy…  but ham and cheese is child’s play compared to fried chicken. So once it was announced that Ludo would be taking his famous fried chicken to the streets permanently, the official stalking began.

There have been sporadic sightings over the past few months (like the one a few weeks ago at the Tuesday only LAX food truck lot) but lately it feels like they’re finally gearing up for an official launch.  They’ve even posted a schedule to their Facebook page and a menu to their MobiMunch page, so when I saw they were going to be parked on the westside for lunch yesterday I had to go check it out. (Fat man likey fried chicken.)

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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 we’re excited to have Lindsay from LAist, who is presumably sitting on her couch in her PJs right now, hoping for a good reuben rec!

Name: Lindsay

Age: 33

Occupation: Co-Editor, LAist

Where in L.A. do you Work?: We have a virtual office, so I work wherever there’s a seat, my laptop, and the internet. Mostly that’s in my bunny slippers in my living room, which is in North Hollywood.

Favorite Kind of Food: Sushi, my Nana’s sandwiches, birthday cake, anything shared with friends or family, cheese, the Legendary Platter at The White Spot

Least Favorite Kind of Food: I’m working on overcoming an aversion to the boiled eggs that come in many Asian dishes. I also (don’t send hate mail) dislike tamales. I try to avoid restaurants where they don’t make the food on-site themselves mostly from scratch; if there’s a giant freight truck dropping off pallets of plastic-wrapped stuff or the word “Factory” is in the restaurant’s name, I’m running the other way.

Favorite Place(s) to Eat Lunch: As the former (and currently de facto) food editor of LAist I’m so lucky that some days it’s my job to go to lunch! This also means, though, that I rarely go to the same place multiple times because I’m always trying something new. I love lunching at higher-end restaurants like Eva or Hatfiled’s where they offer beautiful and reasonably-priced three-course prix fixe lunches. My brain explodes during dineLA weeks because suddenly there are 3 course lunches everywhere. It’s a beautiful thing. Other faves: The burger and a cheese plate at Cube (615 N. La Brea, Mid City); tacos at Tinga (142 S. La Brea, Mid City); the seasonal pizza at Pitfire Pizza (Multiple Locations); anything Jazz brings me at Jitlada with a giant Thai iced coffee on the side to tame the spice; ham and cheese empanadas and the dulce de leche pastries my boyfriend gets us from an Argentinian market he loves; truffle fries from the Grill ‘Em All Truck; any sandwich from Auntie Em’s (4616 Eagle Rock Blvd, Eagle Rock); Quarter White Chicken plate with extra garlic sauce from Zankou (Multiple Locations); Butterscotch budino from Mozza (what, that’s not “lunch”?).

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I try to be positive here on Midtown Lunch… and I freakin’ love this city.  The food is amazing, and there’s no better place to be a “Midtown Lunch’er”.    But as much as I love much of the food in L.A. (and will defend it to the death against any outsiders, or natives with an inferiority complex) there are some things about lunching in this town that really annoy me.  Here are 7 of them, LAist style, for your enjoyment…

1. Am I crazy for thinking that if you name your restaurant Potato Chips, you should probably make your own potato chips?  A much better name for this place would be Meatball Sandwich- because they actually make a good meatball sandwich.  (It might not be worth $10, and you’ll need a ton of napkins to sop up the mess, but it’s far more interesting than their bagged potato chips.  Just sayin’.)

2. What’s worse?  The Asian restaurant that refuses to give people forks unless they ask (and then openly looks down on those who want one.)  Or the Korean/Chinese restaurant where, the other day, every single employee who walked by the table offered me a fork-you know- because white people in L.A. don’t know how to use to chopsticks…? (I think I prefer the former.)

3. Seeing as how I actively promote eating lunch out every single day of the week, it naturally bothers me that so many places are closed for lunch on Mondays (I’m looking at you Huckleberry and Attari!)  Fine.  I get it.  Mondays are the slowest day of the week. People ate a lot over the weekend. Maybe they bring their lunch on Mondays, or starve themselves. Restaurants need a day off.  Whatever.  But Tuesday?  Why are you closed on Tuesdays!? (Salt’s Cure, you screwed me real good!)  And Wednesdays?  There’s really no excuse for being closed on hump day. (If you haven’t been burned by Sapp Coffee Shop at least once, you’re not going enough!)

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Bacon & Egg Sandwich w/ a side of bacon wrapped potato and cheese.
Photo from the new Lardon Truck by E*star LA.

• MOBILE File this under “it was only a matter of time” [Eating LA;E*star LA]
• MOBILE Manila Machine answers some FAQs about food trucks [Serious Eats]
• DOWNTOWN A Kebab and taco option for those in DTLA [The Minty]
• DOWNTOWN The Guru will serve Langer’s at his funeral [LAW]
• HOLLYWOOD Armenian bakery Mush makes a great borek [Food GPS]
• MID CITY These guys are also fans of Tinga for lunch [LAist]
• SILVER LAKE Cowboys & Turbans is now serving a masala dosa [Squid Ink]
• VENICE The west side is getting a Wurstkuche! [Eater]
• WESTWOOD It sounds like Gushi may be better than Bibigo [Losanjealous]
• WEST L.A. Your first look at Obika Mozzarella Bar [Food GPS;Grub Street]
• MOBILE A new Singaporean street food truck is opening on Monday [Grub Street]

And now a quick lesson in how math can be applied to everyday food decisions… for example, the transitive property.  I loved the fried chicken sandwich made by Animal chefs Jon Shook and Vinny Dotolo on the Cart for a Cause.  Jon & Vinny loved the chicken at Dino’s Burgers on Pico.  Therefore it is safe to assume that I would also love the chicken at Dino’s Burger.  And I did. So, when Kogi Chef Roy Choi told The Guru that he liked the chachiangmian from Dragon Restaurant in K-Town I knew I had to check it out.  I’m an unrepentant fan of Kogi and Chego, and noodles with black bean sauce is one of my favorite Korean/Chinese dishes (so far here in L.A. I’ve only tried the great $5 version at Mandarin House, also courtesy of @thejgold).  So when I read on Dragon’s website that they offer a $10 lunch special with that dish PLUS a standard Chinese food option, I couldn’t resist.

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Not that I know much about people who don’t eat meat, but it occurs to me that Culver City is a great place for vegetarians… especially vegetarians that love Indian food. Veggie Indian food is one meatless wonder I can get down with, mainly because South Asians don’t automatically assume that because somebody doesn’t want to eat meat they also don’t want their food to have flavor… and calories.  The fact that they get it so tasty without relying on the sweet deliciousness of meat fat is just bonus points.  I’m a big fan of India Sweets and Spices (9409 Venice Blvd), but most people will agree that the go-to vegetarian Indian steam table/grocery store combo has got to be Samosa House… and, I guess by transitive property, the glossier Samosa House East- which opened in December just to the (you guessed it) East.

The original Samosa House

But with only 1.3 miles separating these two incredibly similar locations, pure proximity shouldn’t necessarily decide which one you eat at (unless of course you work at Sony and can just walk across the street to S.H.E.)  Sure, those who prefer modern decor will go the East route, while those who prefer the old school feel of the original (plus all the Indian groceries) will go West.  But food-wise they are almost identical…  save for 2 pretty awesome ingredients.

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