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 Melissa, a journalist who is probably eating lunch at the LAX food truck lot as you’re reading this…

Name: Melissa

Age: 27

Occupation: Music and film journalist/editor of political and advice columns, and comic strips

Where in L.A. do you Work?: Creators Syndicate, LAX area/Winchester

Favorite Kind of Food: Thai, anything with basil or cilantro, copious amounts of cheese, Greek

Least Favorite Kind of Food: “fishy” fish, baby corn

Favorite Place(s) to Eat Lunch: Ayara Thai (6245 West 87th Street, Los Angeles, CA 90045-3901) – The lunch specials are killer! I usually get the pad thai $8 lunch special, which also comes with chicken sate and veggie rolls; The Counter (700 A Allied Way, El Segundo, CA 90245-5504) – BOMB build-’em burgers. I’m partial to a bleu cheese one with the garlic fries; Veggie Grill (720 South Allied Way, El Segundo, CA 90245) – A vegan reprieve from the aforementioned meals, but just as good! The All Hail Kale salad is delish, as are the sweet potato fries!

“Go-To” Lunch Place You and Your Coworkers Eat at Too Often? Panera Bread (8647 South Sepulveda Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA 90045-4001). The employees at this point express concern when they haven’t seen me for a few days.

Place(s) you have discovered thanks to Midtown Lunch? My Tuesday savior, the food truck festival at the Crowne Plaza Hotel (5985 W. Century Blvd, Los Angeles, 90045). In fact, as I type this, I’ve got a belly full of Lee’s Philly Gogi veggie tacos!

The farthest place you’ll drive for lunch on a normal day? Working by LAX really sucks because you have to commute to the happening spots and we only get an hour for lunch. But I’ll slink off to Dinah’s (6521 South Sepulveda Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA 90045) for a fried chicken fix, or Jersey Mike’s (5342 Rosecrans Avenue, Hawthorne) for their delectable subs.

If you could work anywhere (just because of the lunch) where would it be and why? Maybe I’m myopic, but really, how could you go wrong as a foodie living in Los Angeles? You could daydream about chocolate chip dim sum with tarantula eggs, and I’m sure there’s at least one or two restaurants here that would serve it!

Is there anything you’d like to ask the Midtown Lunch readers in L.A.? Any authentic Hungarian restaurants worth checking out?

Got a recommendation for Melissa? 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.