PROFILE: L.A. Lunch’er “Fred”

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 its Fred, a car-less (!?) animator who spends most of his time Downtown.

Name: Fred

Age: 30

Occupation: Freelance computer animator and Metro transit blogger for The Source

Where in L.A. do you Work?: Downtown L.A. (mostly South Park but sometimes Union Station adjacent)

Favorite Kind of Food: Burgers and fries

Least Favorite Kind of Food: Sushi and anything with chunks, slices and/or little tiny bits of tomato

Favorite Place(s) to Eat Lunch: Sandwich Shop (531 W 6th St). The Pho French dip is probably the best sandwich I’ve ever had, but it only appears on the menu once in a blue moon. The Gogi Hoagie is my standard order and it’s fantastic. At Cabbage Patch (520 W 6th St) the Jidori chicken bowl is one of the rare overtly healthy dishes that I actually love. It’s vegetables, brown rice and grilled chicken but somehow it’s amazing. When it comes to Mediterranean food I’m split between my old fave Lula Kabob (952 S Broadway) and my new fave Flames (which offers tasty homemade potato chip things). I simply can’t forget Uncle John’s Cafe, I love getting their orange chicken or teriyaki/chasu combo to go for lunching at my desk. Also, Gills lunch buffet is hard to beat for a chicken tika fix.

“Go-To” Lunch Place You and Your Coworkers Eat at Too Often? Sadly I probably eat at Ralphs or Quiznos more often than I’d like. I’m often inexplicably drawn to their boring and overpriced offerings… okay it’s not inexplicable, they’re a block away from me. Honestly though, Downtown has a lot of choices so I tend to keep things varied.

The farthest place you’ll drive for lunch on a normal day? Well, I blog for Metro and promote the Los Angeles transit lifestyle, so I don’t own a car… but I’ll take the subway (or *gasp* the bus) to add some variety to my lunching routine. When it comes to lunch I probably wouldn’t take the Blue Line to Long Beach, but I’ve taken the Gold Line to East L.A. and Red Line to Hollywood to switch things up. Not to compete with your map, but on The Source we actually started a reader generated Metro Dining Map of food recommendations near Metro rail and bus stops.

Place you discovered thanks to Midtown Lunch? WOW Bento Bowl – somehow I missed the review on Midtown Lunch but the restaurant sure didn’t and put up a big banner advertising the positive review from the site. Once I saw that it was Midtown Lunch approved I stepped in for the first time after ignoring it for years. I was not let down – cheap and good enough to eat. Another Midtown discovery: Starry Kitchen.

Dream job location (anywhere in the world), purely for lunch purposes, and why? I wouldn’t mind lunching on the reg in Manhattan, NYC. I like my lunch options to be great, varied and transit accessible

Is there anything you’d like to ask the Midtown Lunch readers in L.A.? Expo Line light rail to Culver City is opening within the next year – what am I going to want to eat near the terminus of Phase 1 at Venice/Robertson?

Got an answer for Fred? 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.

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