Midtown Lunch

Looking around at all the people in the Marina Del Rey Mendocino Farms yesterday I thought to myself what an amazing place M.F. is.  It’s one of the few places in L.A. where the fatties and the anorexics can find a common ground, and have a fast casual lunch together as one.  Sure, they have your standard L.A. salads and various vegan offerings- but there’s also the pork belly banh mi.  And the occasional draw dropping special… like the current Duck Conit Sandwich.  Sadly it’s a whopping $12.50 (!?!), aka too much for this cheap ass.  But yesterday and today they’re offering it for $9.50 if you quack like a duck at the register (and yes, they really make you do it.)  A small price to pay for this gutbomb.  Check it out in all its glory, after the jump.

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On Monday Grub Street dropped a bombshell of awesomeness– a new food truck has opened in L.A. called Jogasaki, selling… wait for it… wait for it… sushi burritos. I’m guessing “awesomeness” isn’t the word everybody would choose to describe a sushi burrito. Perhaps to you it sounded like another stupid new food truck, with an ill advised idea, by some deluded individual trying to discover the next Kogi in the worst place imaginable. To me, it sounded like the greatest idea of all time. Does that make me crazy? (Apparently it does.)

What can I say? I am no stranger to eating sushi from a truck, and I’m a firm believer that wrapping anything in a gigantor tortilla makes it better (french fry burrito anybody?) And yesterday I got a chance to put my theory to the ultimate test. Ladies and gentlemen, prepare yourself for… the SUSHI BURRITO.

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They’re baaaaaaaaaack. Starry Kitchen’s Famous Tofu Balls.

I can’t believe it has been a whole year since Starry Kitchen went legit, and moved their North Hollywood apartment super secret take out business into a real brick and mortar space in the Downtown water court. And yet… here we are! And all next week they will be celebrating by serving a “Best of” menu. Each day Starry Kitchen will feature a fan favorite from the past year, and here’s the schedule they’re CONTEMPLATING…

• Monday, Feb 14th- MALAYSIAN CHICKEN CURRY
• Tuesday, Feb 15th- SPICY “CRACK” KRAB CAKES
• Weds, Feb 16th (their ACTUAL anniversary)- BRAISED COCONUT PORK… BELLY!
• Thurs, Feb 17th- TAIWANESE FRIED PORK CHOP (lunch & dinner)
• Friday, Feb 18th – CRISPY TOFU BALLS (also lunch & dinner)

Looks good to us! Got an opinion? Sound off on their blog or via Twitter and we’ll make sure to update you on the final menu by Monday it’s confirmed.  The menu above is the final menu. And, of course, congrats to Nguyen and Thi and the whole SK team!

Related:
Starry Kitchen is a (Now Legal) Downtown Godsend. Just Make Sure You Go By Friday!

As is customary on Midtown Lunch, every Tuesday we profile a random reader to get their recommendations for the best spots to lunch near their work. This week it’s Brandon, a freelance FX artist on the westside looking for a Sham replacement.

Name: Brandon

Age: 38

Occupation: Freelance FX artist

Where in L.A. do you Work?: Santa Monica

Favorite Kind of Food: Indian, Middle Eastern, Japanese, Korean, Italian

Least Favorite Kind of Food: Thai, Chinese,(not that these are bad, just only occasionally), Franchise Food.

Favorite Place(s) to Eat Lunch: ZamZam Market (11028 Washington Blvd)- Tandoori, Kebabs and Biryani. BEST IN EXISTENCE for all 3. Mayura (10406 Venice Boulevard) Buffet Lunch. Friday is Chinese-Indian. All India Cafe (12113 Santa Monica Blvd) – good buffet. Pennsylvania Ave and Centinella/Olympic lunch trucks. Bay Cities Italian (1517 Lincoln Blvd.) Hot counter and Pre-made Godmothers.

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I will fully admit to having a love/hate relationship with food trucks.  I love street food, and it’s been a part of my lunch routine since I started this site almost 5 years ago.  When the first wave of gourmet trucks started hitting the streets in NYC it was fun, and new.  Unique and exciting.  Now it seems like everybody and their mother is opening a food truck, and some of them are pretty mediocre.  Little did I know that NYC was the minor leagues compared to what was going on in L.A.  Outfits like Road Stoves make it incredibly easy to open your own food truck, and when something is easy why bother doing basic things that opening a new business usually requires… like research.  Or menu testing.

When I first moved to L.A. a year ago this month I was completely overwhelmed by the food truck scene.  So many freakin’ trucks to try, so many different concepts.  Some of them were no brainers… Kogi, Dim Sum Truck, India Jones, Grill ‘Em All (what can I say, I’m a huge Four Horsemen fan.)  Others took a bit of convincing.  Buttermilk Truck?  What the hell is that?! Burgers sold by a Paris Hilton look-a-like?  No thanks.  But I quickly learned to not necessarily judge by name alone (Baby’s makes a good burger, and Buttermilk is possibly my favorite truck in all of L.A.)  Take Frysmith for example.  I like french fries just as much as the next guy, but fries isn’t a meal- even if you top that shit with meat and cheese and other fancy ingredients (which apparently they do.)

Then I found out that you can get those fries stuff into a tortilla… and that changed everything.

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Whoa. That looks way tastier than my photos. Photo by Eat to Blog.

• HWOOD A much prettier look at our Siam Sunset lunch [Eat to Blog]
• DTLA Ruth Reichl loves Clifton’s Cafeteria [Ruth Reichl]
• DTLA Two Bits Market is now open in the Alexandria [Grub Street]
• HWOOD NYC’s Papaya King is coming to L.A. [Eater;Squid Ink]
• KTOWN Kalbi Burger is building up its fan base [Squid Ink]
• KTOWN Sharing a lunch special at Kobawoo!? I don’t think I could do it [Actor’s Diet]
• MID CITY Not everybody likes Simplethings’ pie [Noms Not Bombs]
• MOBILE Sausages outnumber Korean tacos on food trucks now [Grub Street]