Midtown Lunch

People ask me all the time why Midtown Lunch is limited to under $10 lunches.  The answer I usually give is this: because the original goal for this site was to be a resource for people looking for something a bit more interesting out of their everyday lunches.  Not business lunches with the boss.  Not birthday party lunches for your spouse or co-workers. But a cheap lunch that could replace those cop-out meals that tons of people rely on daily- from Chipotle, California Pizza Kitchen, and {insert boring salad place here} every single day.

Sure I’ll make the occasional exception for the $11 all you can eat buffet, and once you add tax and tip a ton of the lunches I love come out to more than $10. But the rule speaks more to the heart and soul of a place than to a hard $$$ amount.  I guess what I’m saying is I will make exceptions for the extraordinary deal.  One that hits you instantly in the gut, while your brain simultaneously tries to figure out how a restaurant can stay in business and still charge these prices. Libra- a Churrascaria in Culver City- is one of those places, offering a meal which would cost $25-35+ anywhere else in L.A., for just $15.  And did I mention it’s all you can eat?

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When Bella Vista, the Brazilian rodizio (that’s Brazil-talk for all you can eat!), opened in Culver City back in April my mood could only be described as tempered elation.  All you can eat pizza sounds good to me.  Pizza topped with salted beef or potato sticks and beef stroganoff sounds even better.  For a limited time the all you can eat pizza deal cost $9.99, just inside the ML price boundaries, but that didn’t last too long.  And after a short amount of time the regular price settled in at $12.99.

Well, this past weekend they listed a special deal on Yelp… $16.98 for two diners to partake in Bella Vista’s all you can eat pizza smorgasbord. Dine in (naturally) and only for lunch.  That works for me!

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Love them or hate them, there is no denying that Kogi has influenced the entire landscape of food trucks in Los Angeles (and beyond).  And I’m not talking about twitter.  These days it is hard to find a single food truck that doesn’t serve some kind of fusion taco, and it looks like Chego- their new brick and mortar restaurant near Palms- might be having the same effect on the restaurants in the vicinity.

Chego, which serves Kogi-esque rice bowls with various toppings (an “upscale Yoshinoya” if you will) is still not open for lunch (much to my disappointment!) but Rio Brazil Cafe, located just a few doors down, is trying to fill the void.  Known for their feijoada, which traditionally is only served on the weekends, Rio Brazil Cafe has tried to capitalize on the new attention being paid to their previously deserted strip mall by beefing up their lunch options. I stopped by for lunch while Chego was under construction, and the restaurant was a ghost town.  Lunch options were limited mostly to sandwiches, and nothing looked too great.  Since Chego opened they’ve started serving the feijoada every day, and the walls are papered with specials- including a $7 lunch plate, and (naturally) a $6 Brazilian “chopped steak bowl”.

I headed over on Friday to check it out.

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