Archive for December 2010

Rincon Chileno’s Delicatessen is a Godsend For Chilean Food Fans

Los Angeles - Rincon Chileno

When I first read that there was a Chilean bakery serving sandwiches on Melrose in East Hollywood I got pretty excited.  Ever since visiting Chile in 2008 I’ve been a big fan of their food.  Mote con huesillos, chorrillana (steak and egg topped french fries), their sandwiches (churrasco FTW!) and their egg and olive filled empanadas de pino will forever be embedded in that part of my brain where good things are stored.  After a bigtime lunch fail a couple of months ago (they’re one of those places that are closed on Mondays!) I finally made it over to Rincon Chileno to see if their sandwiches and empanadas would live up to my fond memories of Chile.

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PROFILE: L.A. Lunch’er “Matthew Kang”

Christmas has come early for westside ice cream lovers now that a second location of the ultra popular Scoops is open in the Palms area. It’s called Scoops Westside (natch), and in addition to serving 7 flavors of ice cream delivered directly from the original location on Heliotrope (brown brown bread FTW!), they also have Intelligentsia coffee, and you can follow them on Twitter. For this weeks Tuesday Profile we asked owner Matt Kang to give us his recommendations for lunch around his brand new baby (on Overland just south of the 10.)

Name: Matthew

Age: 26

Occupation: Ice cream shop proprietor

Where in L.A. do you Work?: Scoops Westside, Palms

Favorite Kind of Food: Kimchi fried rice, Korean BBQ, durian, tacos al pastor, steak florentine, roast chicken, hakata style ramen, pastrami sandwich, ice cream (naturally), pappardelle bolognese, saffron risotto, Thai boat noodles, banh mi, pozole, goat birria tacos, margherita pizza, burgers

Least Favorite Kind of Food: bread and butter pickles

Favorite Place(s) to Eat Lunch: Simpang Asia (10433 National Boulevard, Palms). The nasi bunkus is great. I honestly want to try everything on the menu because I love Indonesian food. The beef brisket sandwich at Western Smoke House (10640 Woodbine St) is terrific and it’s super convenient because it’s just one door down from my shop. I’ve also had fairly decent pizza at Kristina’s Italian Kitchen across the street but it’s nowhere near a great pizza. Victor’s Deli (10002 National Blvd) has good BBQ beef and BBQ chicken sandwiches at a good price.

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7 Reasons to Hate L.A. (Lunch’ing, That Is)

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 eating lunch in this town that really annoy me.  Here are 7 of them, LAist style, for your enjoyment…

Tacos Por Favor

1. No lard!?  You are a Mexican restaurant.  In what crazy pants world is “no lard” a selling point?

2. Don’t celebs eat Midtown Lunches?   Or, do the good cheap ethnic spots in L.A. just not have PR people to spread the word.  Just once I’d like to see something like “Paris Hilton spotted eating brain sandwich at Attari in Westwood.”

3. Why do so many all you can eat Korean BBQ places not allow for parties of 1?  (Or, they allow it, but then charge solo diners double.)  It makes no sense. It is my god given right to stuff my face alone- and lord knows I’ve done it on a number of occasions. Is it because lonely people eat more, and they’re afraid of being put out of business by a influx of friendless fatsos?

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Lunch Links (The “Burger of the Year” Edition)


This burger from The Park looks amazing. Photo courtesy of AHT.

  • NEWS Alan Richman names Umami burger of the year… [GQ]
  • ECHO PARK … and yet my next burger will most likely be at The Park [AHT]
  • CULVER CITY Scoops Westside is Now Open! [Savory Hunter]
  • CULVER CITY Abbot’s Pizza is opening their 3rd location [Eater]
  • DTLA Sandwich list includes our fave from MendoFarms [Blogdowntown]
  • DTLA D-Town Burger Bar is perfectly acceptable [AHT]
  • DTLA Mo Chica is coming to 7th and Grand!?! [Eater;GS;Downtown News]
  • H’WOOD Chick-Fil-A is coming to Santa Monica & Highland [Squid Ink]
  • KTOWN The chalupas at Pal Cabron look great! [My Last Bite]
  • PASADENA Dog Haus is way better than Slaw Dogs [Immovable Feast]
  • SANTA MONICA 2 for 1 Syrian pizzas couldn’t save Sham [Eater]
  • EVENT Eat My Blog is at Tender Greens Hollywood tomorrow! [Gastonomy]

Simplethings Wins Sandwich Battle With Pie?

Simplethings Sandwich & Pie Shop

There seems to be no shortage of newish, fancy pants, $10 sandwich shops in the Beverly Center/Melrose area of Mid City West, and all of them seem to have chosen a non-sandwich item to distinguish themselves from the fray.  Potato Chips is an ok option (although I wish they made their own potato chips), and I’ve always been intrigued by the steak bomb at Soda Pop’s.  But the latest entry into the “are these sandwiches really worth the money” sweepstakes has completely upped the ante.  In fact, they may have won the game by virtue of their name alone: Simplethings Sandwich and Pie Shop.  Because, quite frankly, how can soda or chips compete with pie.  Answer: they don’t.

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Bella Vista Now Offering $17 AYCE Brazilian Pizza For 2!

Los Angeles - Bella Vista

When Bella Vista, the Brazilian rodizio (that’s Brazil-talk for all you can eat!), opened in Culver City back in April my mood could only be described as tempered elation.  All you can eat pizza sounds good to me.  Pizza topped with salted beef or potato sticks and beef stroganoff sounds even better.  For a limited time the all you can eat pizza deal cost $9.99, just inside the ML price boundaries, but that didn’t last too long.  And after a short amount of time the regular price settled in at $12.99.

Well, this past weekend they listed a special deal on Yelp… $16.98 for two diners to partake in Bella Vista’s all you can eat pizza smorgasbord. Dine in (naturally) and only for lunch.  That works for me!

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