Midtown Lunch

People of Los Angeles! At the risk of having my honorary Boston citizenship revoked (I lived there from 1994-2003), I have a warning for you all. Each and every one of you. Some of you. A handful of you. The few of you who might be super excited about the long awaited arrival of our very first Dunkin Donuts. You might want to curb your enthusiasm, just a tad. Don’t get me wrong, I’m kind of excited to have Dunkin Donuts in Los Angeles, and in 2003 when I first moved here from Boston I would have actually killed for it. But it’s not 2003 anymore. And unless you are from the east coast, and know exactly what it is you’re getting excited for, you’re going to want to lower your expectations before heading over to the DD opening in Santa Monica on Tuesday.

So why exactly are people getting excited and why should you not be one of those people? I ask and answer all those questions, after the jump.

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If you’re going to be in Los Angeles this weekend, come hang at L.A. Times’ The Taste!  Food is the New Rock will be podcasting from a booth tonight at the Opening Night Party with old and new chef and musician friends… so stop by and say hi.  But if not tonight, there’s tons of other events throughout the weekend worth checking out.  Go here for all the details>> 

When Sugarfish announced that they would be debuting a new concept at Coachella this year, affordable sushi fans across Southern California rejoiced.  Not the carb hating ones, of course, because the new concept is still just as much about rice as it is about fish.  But us rice loving sushi bargain hunters could barely contain our excitement.  The originators of L.A.’s best omakase deal were giving their signature item, the blue crab hand roll, its very own restaurant.

And it didn’t disappoint.  Kazu Nori debuted in the desert this past April to mostly rave reviews.  3 rolls for $15 seemed like an amazing deal at a music festival where a slice of pizza costs $7.  And now that their Downtown brick and mortar is finally open, you might be surprised to find out the deal has gotten even better.  Like, you-can-almost-actually-get-a-Midtown-Lunch-at-this-place, better.

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I’ve been a big fan of Tatsu Ramen ever since they opened up on Sawtelle two years ago, and clearly I’m not the only one if they’ve survived the competition on that street.  It’s especially good in the summer time, when their soup-less naked ramen is a great alternative to the heavy-osity of Daikokuya and the Tsujitas. And their hot ramen is not too shabby either. So when I heard they were opening a new location on Melrose near Highland I wasn’t too surprised.  But with a new location comes a new(ish) menu, and one of the new items was a huge surprise.

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Just because nothing has been posted here doesn’t mean I’m eating any less these days.  You can always follow my lunch adventures (and by adventures I mean “fat guy using sporadically updated lunch blog as an excuse to get fatter”) on Instagram or Twitter.   This past weekend I was at Outside Lands with my podcast Food is the New Rock, eating tons of loud food for makemusicsocial.com and feeding grilled cheese sandwiches to bands like Capital Cities, Local Natives and The Kooks.  And if for some reason you prefer audio content to visual content, Thrillist’s Jeff Miller and I podcasted too w/ Grouplove, Stella from Warpaint, and chefs Naomi Pomeroy and Kris Morningstar.

Of course none of that helps you get any fatter.  For that you’ll have to check out this Top 10 Places to Get Eggs for Lunch piece I did for DiscoverLA.  And finally, if you’re in the mood for one of our “7 Reasons to Hate L.A. Lunching” posts this 8 Most Overrated L.A. Food Icons thing I did for Zagat kind of reads like one of those.  Speaking truth to power, or me just being a dick for no reason?  You decide.  (Spoiler: I’d be shocked if something you love isn’t on that list.  It brought me no joy to call out some of those places, but I stand behind everything I wrote.)

Enjoy!