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 Christine, a grad student who works in Azusa but appears to be an expert on K-Town lunches.

Name: Christine (aka choisauce, aka olivejina)

Age: 28

Occupation: Psychotherapist, Grad Student

Where in L.A. do you Work?: Azusa for school/work and when I’m working from home, Pasadena.

Favorite Kind of Food: Almost anything soupy (especially thai boat noodles, hot pot, ramen), offals (again boat noodles, spicy sichuan, tacos!), anything and everything made by my Korean grandmother.

Least Favorite Kind of Food: Only two foods I refuse to eat: bitter melon and durian. No and no.

Favorite Place(s) to Eat Lunch: When I’m in Azusa, Country Chicken and Ribs BBQ (994 E Alosta Ave) has one of the best lunch deals in town which is a MASSIVE box of delicious brontosaurus sized ribs, moist bbq chicken, coleslaw, rice with gravy & biscuit for a mere $5! I also love that one of my favorite chicken places, Dino’s (original on Pico/Berendo) has another location in Azusa (another massive box of nuclear orange chicken, fries, coleslaw, tortillas for $5). Ironically enough, I’m not a big fan of chicken unless it’s fried so it’s saying a lot that I love LOVE these two places.

On the days I’m working from home, I have the nice luxury of being able to drive anywhere my appetite takes me.

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It only took one visit to Tahoe Galbi for me to rethink my position on the ubiquitous $10 All You Can Eat Korean BBQ lunch.  It’s not that I thought I wouldn’t be down with all you can eat Korean BBQ (how could it possibly be bad!?)  It was more me lamenting the fact that there weren’t any proper under $10 Korean buffets in Los Angeles.  I’m an old school buffet enthusiast, not just for the all you can eat aspect but also for the form itself.  Like carts at a dim sum palace, much of the joy I take from eating all I can eat is the buffet line itself.   But even though Tahoe converted me to this new way of gorging myself, it was clear it wasn’t going to be the end all be all $10 Korean BBQ spot of my dreams.  Room for improvement seemed possible, and it was then I decided I would need to try *all* of the $10 AYCE Korean BBQ spots in Koreatown before I’d be truly satisfied.  (You know… for science.)

Back in May Lunch’er “djjewelz” recommended Choi Ga Neh in the ML Forums, so I figured that would be as good a place as any to continue my quest.

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