Midtown Lunch

On the surface Curious Palate (on Venice Blvd in Mar Vista) isn’t a typical Midtown Lunch’ing spot. Everything is a dollar or two more than it should be, and if my NY self caught my L.A. self eating quinoa a good kick to the balls would be in order. But some of their sandwiches are pretty awesome, and kind of worth the splurge if you’re in the area- like their miso short rib wrap, and the Thai chicken satay sandwich. And if you like nuts and dried fruit in your chicken salad, their chicken salad is pretty awesome as well.

So when I saw that they were opening a second Curious Palate inside the new “Market” at Santa Monica Place, and it was going to have an expanded menu from the Venice location, I was intrigued. I’m a fan of the SaMo place food court, but even I crave a “quality” (read: more expensive) lunch every once in awhile.

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I have a confession to make.  When I first moved back to L.A. in February, my sandwich outlook was kind of grim.  Sure, I was excited for Philippe’s, Langer’s, and Bay Cities is a good Westside option (provided you order online!)  But mostly I was expecting one avocado topped grilled white meat chicken sandwich after another.  And, granted, there have been plenty of those to be found at generic sit down business lunch spots around the city. But there are also some amazing sandwich specialists, and even though they are pushing the boundaries of what amount is acceptable to charge for a fast casual sandwich shop there is no denying that some of them put out some lunches that are worth the splurge.

The Los Angeles Magazine sandwiches guide from June has been a great help (hello chicken salad from Gram and Papa’s and capastrami from Capriotti’s!) but there’s also that pork banh mi from Mencodino Farms, the lambwich from Venice Beach Wines, and the great new sandwich menu at Wally’s Cheese Box (in Westwood).  And now it’s time to add another to that list.  Thanks to a recommendation from Lunch’er “Harriet” I hit up Curious Palate on the other day, on Venice in Mar Vista, and had a sandwich that could go toe to toe with any of the above.

Check it out after the jump…

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