Archive for November 2010

Crunchy Sea Brings $1 Fish Tacos to Koreatown Car Wash

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I think the car wash lunch is one of my favorite things about Los Angeles.  I’m not sure why, because admittedly I’ve never actually had lunch at a car wash.  It just excites me that they exist.  I live in Culver City, so Outdoor Grill at the Handy J Car Wash on Washington is on my list (even though I’ve heard it’s terrible.)  And somebody told me there is car wash sushi (how could I not!)  But my first car wash lunch happened last week when I stumbled upon Crunchy Sea, a newish car wash shack specializing in $1 fish tacos in of all places, Koreatown.

How could it be bad?

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My Favorite Thing at Honey’s Kettle Fried Chicken is the Fish (!?!) Combo


Which one of these do you think is in Culver City?

There’s no question that you lose a little bit of Compton magic going to the Culver City location of Honey’s Kettle Fried Chicken.  For one thing the ambiance is… well… very Culver City’ish.  (The new Culver City that is.) The original is sparse and kind of dirty looking, just what you would want from a good ole fried chicken shack. The CC location is… well… very Culver City’ish.  In Compton you can get two thighs, two biscuits, and two orders of pickles for $5 in a basket lined with red and white checkered picnic table cloth patterned paper.  No such luck in Culver City, where the picnic table cloth paper seems a bit more like a kitchy design decision.  On the other hand, Culver City has a fried chicken sandwich.  Compton does not.

But one thing is for sure, the chicken has the same super thick, super crunchy, super tasty crust at both locations. And the honey tastes just as sweet.  And the fact that the Culver City location is right around the corner from where I live (and work) kind of makes the “where to lunch?” decision an easy one.

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PROFILE: L.A. Lunch’er “Mike”

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 Mike, a former New Yorker who loves meatballs (natch), pizza (natch), and eggs benedict (slighly less natch.)

Name: Mike

Age: 37

Occupation: Artist Manager / A&R Consultant / Co-Blogger at Eggs Benny Tour

Where in L.A. do you Work?: Mike Savage Artist Management, Hollywood.

Favorite Kind of Food: I’m an Italian / Pizza kind of guy (you can take the kid outta NY…), but living in L.A. for the past 13 years has given me a fondness for Asian cuisine as well. And of course Eggs
Benny!

Least Favorite Kind of Food: Anything with (Vegan Version) attached to the end of the name.

Favorite Place(s) to Eat Lunch: Most of my lunches are business-related with music industry jerks, spread out all over the city. In Beverly Hills I like Frida on Beverly Drive (their tacos de camaron are fantastic), and the fish & chips at Kate Mantilini on Wilshire Blvd. are actually pretty awesome. If it’s my call, and we’re anywhere near an Umami Burger, we’re going there and I’ll probably order the standard Umami Burger, possibly their Port & Stilton Burger if I’m feeling fancy. One of the artists I manage, Meiko, is of Japanese descent – if we’re having a lunch meeting together it’ll usually be someplace downtown – more than likely Daikokuya in Little Tokyo (she’s got me addicted to their Daikoku Raumen).

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Baby’s Bombshell Patty Melt Available As Off the Menu Special

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With all the ruckus over Grill Em All’s “Great Food Truck Race” victory over the Nom Nom Truck a few months ago, it’s easy to forget that earlier in the year Grill Em All was actually bested by Baby’s Badass Burger Truck on Travel Channel’s “Food Wars”.  It’s hard to beat Grill Em All’s seared fennel smoked sausage gravy and maple syrup topped burger (aka The Molly Hatchet) but when it comes to just the burger itself, Baby’s is surprisingly awesome- provided you order it medium rare. So, when I spotted this special posted on the Baby’s Badass Burger Truck, how could I resist?

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Lunch Links (The “Cheese Makes Everything Better” Edition)


Mac and Cheeza, Downtown. Photo courtesy of The Minty.

  • DTLA Check out this Downtown mac and cheese crawl! [The Minty]
  • BEVERLY Bao Dim Sum House is opening Wednesday [Eater;Squid Ink]
  • HOLLYWOOD The Nam Prik Noom is also good at Spicy BBQ [Savory Hunter]
  • WESTWOOD Fat Sal’s Deli is worth checking out [Losanjelous]
  • WESTWOOD 1st bite of Wally’s truffle grilled cheese is the best [Caroline on Crack]
  • MOBILE Shrimp scampi from a food truck!? [Squid Ink]
  • MOBILE Willoughby is back with a scaled down menu [Squid Ink]

JGold’s Essentials Piles On More Lunches to My Wishlist

Urgh.  I’m barely half way through Jonathan Gold’s 99 Things to Eat Before You Die, and this week he he goes and drops his 99 Essential Restaurants list.  Thankfully there is some crossover, and I already got the memo about a bunch of the places (Chichen Itza, Daikokuya, Huckleberry, Jitlada, Langer’s, and Sapp’s Coffee Shop– to name a few) but it did add a bunch more to my constantly going wishlist of lunches… like the birria from El Parian, the bosam at Kobawoo, that damn doughnut at Nickel Diner (that’s lunch, right?!), and Ethi0pian at Meals by Genet.  I’m also curious about Flame in Westwood, although I can’t help but wonder if this one will get replaced on next year’s list by Attari Grill!  

Check out The Guru’s complete list here>>

Al Bae Ne’s Jjajang Rice is Magically Delicious

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My love of jjajangmyeon, the Korean/Chinese black bean sauce over noodles dish, is well documented.  So you can imagine how excited I was to read Lunch’er “Christine’s” profile a few weeks ago where she mentioned that you could also get also get jjajang rice at a place called Al Bae Ne (in Koreatown.)  That’s the same black bean sauce, served over fried rice instead of noodles.  How awesome is that?  (I discriminate against no carbs!)

Kristine graciously agreed to take me to her leader the delicious sounding black bean sauce rice.

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