Midtown Lunch

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 Steve, a finance dude looking for some good eats around Santa Monica and Sepulveda.

Name: Steve

Age: 37

Occupation: Finance

Where in L.A. do you Work?: LoanCore Capital, LLC at Santa Monica & Sepulveda.

Favorite Kind of Food: French; anchovy-laded dishes

Least Favorite Kind of Food: Ashkenazi Jewish, ever immutable and always brown unless prepared at 422 Detroit Street in Ann Arbor

Favorite Place(s) to Eat Lunch: Directly across from the corporate compound, Zankou (1716 South Sepulveda Blvd) and its unsatisfying plate of dark meat, insipid hummus and the by-product that is its garlic paste, remains superior to ghastly O Sushi and Salad Farm. The immediate area is bereft of edible food.

The “goto” lunch place you and your co-workers eat at too often? And yet not often enough. Probably Sunnin on Westwood Blvd. and Sawtelle Kitchen (2024 Sawtelle Blvd.) for basic fish and rice dishes.

Places you’ve discovered thanks to Midtown Lunch: Zam Zam Market (11028 Washington Blvd) – how did you discover this place? It’s never open and a little sketchy.

The farthest place you’ll drive for lunch on a normal day? Is the boss around? If not, Chichen Itza (south of downtown) last week was a real treat. Otherwise, I’ll gladly settle for Momed (233 S Beverly Dr) in Beverly Hills.

Dream job location (anywhere in the world), purely for lunch purposes, and why? For a temp gig, somewhere within a few blocks of Nick’s Roast Beef in South Philly for roast beef, service from a waitress-cum-bookie, and the picture of Mike Schmidt on the wall. Otherwise, I’ll gladly relocate to Paris and eat a bucket of herring and warm potato salad every single day at any reputable bistro.

Anything you’d like to ask the Midtown Lunch readers? Where do people like in the area for Iranian food? I need to move beyond the basic Attari sandwich, but never the wonderful kashk-e-bademjan, its eggplant dish. Also, is there anything decent to eat at the corner of Santa Monica Bl. and Sepulveda?

Steve… today is your lucky today. Well maybe not today, but tomorrow. I’ve been eating at Javan, this amazing old school Persian restaurant on Santa Monica and Butler, six blocks west of Sepulveda. Full report is coming tomorrow. Have you been? It’s like a basmati rice temple. And for Chinese food, Hop Woo (on Sepulveda and Olympic) isn’t terrible. Got a recommendation for Steve? Put it in the comments. And, as always, if you want to be next week’s Profiled: L.A. Lunch’er (or know somebody you’d want to nominate), email me- zach@midtownlunch.com.