A Look at Everything That Was Added to Fig + 7th This Past Year

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It’s been exactly one year since I first visited the rechristened food court at Fig+7thin Downtown L.A. Oleego by Park’s BBQ is still the best option, churning out bulgogi topped bibimbap and sweet Korean hamburger patties over rice.  And you can still get some solid Indian food and fresh baked naan at lunch focused mini-chain Indus by Saffron, and a grilled cheese sandwich and tomato soup from The Melt.  Juicy Lucy is no longer topping their burgers with a 3 inch tall mound of lettuce (which is good) but yesterday they were lacking in the line department (possibly because of new year’s resolutions?)  And of course there’s the grande dame of the food court, George’s Greek, plodding away in the outer courtyard.  But plenty new has been added in the past year, and they’re not done yet.

I stopped by yesterday to give you a quick update…

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As promised a year ago, Mendocino Farms is now open in the outer courtyard (saving people on this end of DTLA a 20 minute walk to the water court or Flower and 4th).

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Although for some reason Loteria and its new torta concept are still not open, despite at one time hoping for a Nov/Dec opening. 

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And we’re still waiting for the Tokyo based Gentaro Soba Noodle, which was announced back in July, and City Tavern, which was announced 6 months before that. (That’s a year ago, for those of you keeping score at home.)

Flying Pig, the pork heavy popular Asian food truck, opened their food court booth back in July and nobody will be surprised to see that they’re serving all of the classic buns that made them famous.  They also have a build your own rice bowl option which allows you to pick your protein, veggies and sauces, Chipotle style.

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Uh… sliced broccoli, papaya salad, peanuts and pickled veggies. Look familiar to anybody?  As you can see, their food court branch is nothing like their Little Tokyo branch… and yet it still maintains that signature Flying Pig oddness.  (As in, “This place is odd, right?”)

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In September, Pizza Studio opened, bringing their “build your own pizza with unlimited toppings for under $10” concept from USC to Downtown L.A.  Imagine Blaze Pizza, but with a choice of four different pizza doughs, and you pretty much understand what you’re getting.

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The food court has gotten two brand new concepts in the past few weeks.  Twist & Grill might sucker a guy like me once into trying them with their fresh baked pita and vast selection of rotating meats on a spit, but this place is more for the healthy salad eating crowd.  You want a gyro, go to George’s.

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And finally, Fig + 7th finally has the one thing no food court can survive without- a cheap Chinese food option.  New Moon is actually a 50+ year old concept mostly famous for inventing the Chinese chicken salad (no joke.) They have four sit down locations in L.A., including one in Downtown (on 9th and Main), but this is their first stab at a fast food concept.

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You can order the Chinese chicken salad, naturally, and they’ll make it for you in the back…

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…but most people right now are opting for the Panda Express style steam table combos, which are perfectly fine for food court Chinese food.  Now, if they could find a way to serve that Chinese chicken salad on the combo plate in place of steamed veggies or rice, then they might give the Panda something to think about.

Until then, I’ll probably be sticking with Oleego. (And waiting for Loteria and that soba place!)

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1 Comment

  • I’m pretty thrilled about how “the hole” has transformed into this. Conversely, the quality of the 7Fig farmer’s market has declined precipitously.

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