Midtown Lunch

My quest to find Koreatown’s best bowl of jjajangmyeon (noodles w/ black bean sauce) will likely never end.  For one thing I don’t think I would ever want to declare a best version of the Korean/Chinese specialty.  After all, as much as I love it it’s so ubiquitous, so cheap, so one note in a lot of ways, that I can’t even imagine sending anybody across the city with expectations that they will finally find a bowl of these noodles that is worthy of getting super excited about.  After all, it’s just jjanjangmyeon.

But sometimes that craving hits, and there are plenty of places ready to step up to the plate.  If I want to spend $5, but still get house made hand pulled noodles, I’ll hit up Mandarin House.  If I want a small bowl of it, paired with some cheap Chinese food as a lunch combo all for just $10, Dragon Restaurant is the spot.  Substitute the noodles with fried rice?  Al Ba Nae it is.   But if seafood jjajangmyeon is what I crave, I’m heading for Zzamong.

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Porno appearance with Ron Jeremy aside, I’ve been an unabashed fan of the Flying Pig Truck since trying them out back in August.  So when I heard that they were opening a “cafe” downtown with an expanded menu I got pretty excited.  Duck fried rice?  Yes please.  After all, anybody that can make tofu taste this delicious must be doing something right.  Sadly running a truck well doesn’t translate to immediate brick and mortar successquality…

When I stopped in on Monday at 1:45pm they were still in the weeds from the lunch rush, with practically ever customer in the joint angry about something (missing food, missing drinks, general slowness). On one hand I feel bad for the place.  Customers should know that a brand new restaurant needs some time to get things on track (especially during the lunch rush in a high density part of town like DTLA.)  On the other hand, the one thing I tried was pretty terrible, especially compared to the delicious food on the truck, and the portion was laughably small for the price.  I think I might give Flying Pig Cafe another week (or four) to get everything sorted out.

Thankfully Aloha Cafe is right across the street, and was ready to save the day!

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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 Cari, a DTLA drinker/jogger whose love all you can eat buffets and shitty Asian food appears to rival my own.

Name: Cari

Age: 21, for the 8th time!

Occupation: Game changer

Where in L.A. do you Work?: Downtown

Favorite Kind of Food: Fried sh*t, carbos, mayonnaise, peanut butter, fruits, salad, raw fishies, and piggies…mostly though I just drink my calories in the form of lovely 100% distilled agave or whiskey.

Least Favorite Kind of Food: Anything with rubbery texture (ie: intestines, lengua, stomach, tripes, and steak). I’m lazy and I don’t like to chew that much. Also anything that has a beak still attached. Beaky food es no bueno.

Favorite Place(s) to Eat Lunch: Chirashi matsu from Sushi Go 55 (333 S. Alameda Street), Senor Fish (422 E 1st St) fried shrimp and scallop burrito, Fisherman’s Outlet (529 S Central Ave) fried platter, the DA special platter at Eastside Market and Deli (1013 Alpine St), the chicken with fries at Dino’s Burger in ktown (2575 W Pico Blvd), nengmyun at Yu Chun in ktown (3185 W Olympic Blvd), and cheapo reapo dimsum at Yum Cha Cafe in Chinatown (638 N Broadway).

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This might come as a shock to some, but I don’t love sandwiches.  Wait.  Scratch that.  Who doesn’t love sandwiches? I love sandwiches. Of course I love sandwiches.  But I will admit to being slightly prejudiced against sandwiches. I hold my lunchtime sandwiches to a higher standard. In other words, I expect more from my sandwiches than I do from… say… shitty Chinese food. You either have to be the very best at what you do (i.e. the chicken parm from Bay Cities), or you’ve got to be doing something really unique (I’m looking at you Mendocino Farms).  Something that makes me look at the menu and think… ok, this is going to be different and awesome.

Fundamental L.A., the new sandwich shop on Westwood Blvd that replaced Alcazar Express, did just that to me last Monday.  I don’t know if it was their sous vide egg topped BLT, or their house made porchetta that did the trick, but either way I found myself there last Thursday eating my way through half their menu.  And it was so good, I went back on Friday.

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Escabeche from Flavors of Belize on La Brea

Looking for the places I recommended for lunch on KCRW’s Good Food w/ Evan Kleiman today?  Here they are w/ links to posts about each one…

• DOWNTOWN Spice Table (114 S. Central Avenue) – Great banh mi lunch menu link
• KOREATOWN Don Day (300 S. Hobart) – $10 ayce Korean BBQ link
• MID CITY Flavors of Belize (1271 S. La Brea) – Delicious Belizean food link
• BEVERLY HILLS Brooklyn Water Bagel (262 S. Beverly Drive) – Decent bagels overcome a terrible chain concept link
• WEST L.A. Naan Hut (11551 Santa Monica Blvd.) – Freshly baked Persian sangak and kebabs link
• WESTWOOD Wakasan (1929 Westwood Blvd.) – This Japanese institution is now open for lunch! link
• CULVER CITY Zam Zam Market (11028 Washington Blvd.) – Exceptional biryani and tandoori being sold out of a dingy halal market link

Missed the show?  You can listen to it online or download the podcast here

The scene from last year’s L.A. Street Food Festival Summer Tasting Event

• EVENTS Who’s going to the LA Street Food Festival on Saturday!? [Official Website]
• DTLA Your first look at Flying Pig Cafe, opening this weekend [Eater]
• HWOOD O-Chai makes the best Khao Soi in Thai Town [Eat Drink Be Merry]
• HWOOD Chick Fil-A is coming soon [Eater]
• KTOWN Jun Won has a ban chan store on Olympic [LAT]
• KTOWN Pal Cabron is now closed! :-( [Eater;Squid Ink]
• SAMO La Monarca is a good back up for Huckleberry [TasterTotsLA]
• WEST LA Tsujita Ramen should be opening soon [Grub Street]
• MOBILE Great Balls on Tires makes a good burger? [The Minty]