Midtown Lunch

Hart & the Hunter is one of my favorite restaurants in all of L.A., not just for their smoked trout, their ridiculous biscuits, and their addictive chicken cracklins. But also because you could get at least two of those three things during breakfast and lunch, even though it was pretty clear from the beginning that they were probably only serving food during the day to satisfy some kind of contract with their hotel landlords. Naturally the lunch menu also sported a few of their more popular salad offerings (brussels, cauliflower, pickled shrimp) and you could get their hangar steak as a salad’ish bowl. Certainly not the food that earned them a reputation as one of the coolest restaurants in the city, but good enough to get us hardcore fans to schedule lunch meetings and coffee meet ups there.

Well, just short of their one year anniversary, Hart & the Hunter has revamped their lunch menu and it now actually has a few things that might make the dinner crowd a bit jealous!

The hot chicken photo they posted on their Instagram account was what initially caught my eye, and can you blame me?  Interestingly enough there’s a rumor going around that Prince’s Hot Chicken, the famous Nashville institution, is scouting L.A. locations.  Want to get a preview?  This is probably the closest thing you’ll find in these parts. $12 for white meat, $10 for dark.

There are also two $10 sandwiches on the menu, including this cold pork poin sandwich topped with heirloom tomatoes and an arugula and fennel mixture that is pretty much identical to what used to get served in the pickled shrimp salad. It comes to the table open faced, and should probably stay that way.  Trying to stuff this monstrosity in your mouth will be a challenge.

But the most exciting new menu item by far is the other $10 sandwich… a chicken cracklin BLTA.  So not only are Hart and the Hunter’s famous chicken cracklins now available during lunchtime, but the “bacon” part of the sandwich is actually the same little cubes of sherry vinegared bacon that are in their brussels sprouts.  A huge score.

They’ve also started doing shrimp and grits during lunch for $12 if you’re a fan of the dinnertime version, and the biscuits, pimento cheese plate and kate salad (natch) are all still available as well. Hart & the Hunter likes to change things up a bit so there’s no guarantee that any of these things are permanent additions but for now this is the menu.  Now if we could just get them to do those crispy shrimp heads…

The Hart and the Hunter (at the Palihotel), 7950 Melrose Ave. 323-424-3055