Midtown Lunch

Ever since discovering the awesomeness of freshly cooked sangak, I’ve been kind of obsessed.  Not to be confused with lavash, the flatbread used to make sandwich wraps in many Middle Eastern countries, sangak is the slightly puffy, slightly sour, surfboard size, Persian bread found at specialty bakeries like Naan Hut in West L.A.  I couldn’t imagine a better Persian lunch than a koobideh kebab wrapped inside a fresh piece of sangak with roasted tomatoes.  And then I saw the sour cherry rice from Javan Restaurant on this “Best Persian Food in L.A.” article on The Huffington Post.   Sure, I’ve had sabzi polo- the green herbed basmati rice you’ll find at most Perisan restaurants.  But sour cherry rice?  This was new.  And the best part is, that’s not even close to where the rice craziness ends at Javan.

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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 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.

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If you take 2nd street a few blocks north west out of Downtown L.A. you’ll find an amazing little stretch of Glendale Boulevard on the border of Westlake and Echo Park.  It’s mostly deserted, save for two unassuming restaurants who both serve amazing chicken.  I found myself over there on Friday with Nastassia Johnson, the founder of the Manila Machine Truck (R.I.P.), to continue my Filipino food education at a place called Bernie’s Teriyaki. But once I saw that the popular Haitian rotisserie chicken place Tigeorges was right across the street, I knew a double lunch was in order!

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