Archive for 'Downtown'

Add Dune and Madcapra to Your L.A. Falafel List

Apparently today is International Falafel Day (who knew!?) and our good friends over at the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs reminded us of this great falafel round up we posted last year.  If you’re looking for some lunchtime falafel action today, all of those places are still rolling strong.  But here’s two new spots that have opened since then that could both lay claim to serving the best falafel in L.A. right now.

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When Dune first opened in Atwater Village at the beginning of this year a very specific kind of food writer induced hype commenced, and for good reason.  It’s good.  Really good.  This tiny storefront with less than 10 stools serves up the kind of the things you might expect from a new school Mediterranean take out spot in Atwater. There’s a beautifully simplistic blood orange salad with black olives, tabouleh with organic gluten free quinoa, and a pickled beet sandwich with sheep’s milk feta, an 8 minute egg, and shoestring potatoes.  But the insanely good flatbread makes the two pita sandwiches the thing to order. The lamb meatball one is surprisingly great, especially considering that Dune’s owners also own the vegetarian Elf Cafe.  But today isn’t National Meatball Day.  It’s National Falafel Day, so you’ll want their green falafel sandwich topped with house made pickles, tahini, hummus, tahini, and shoestring potatoes.  Did I mention the flatbread is amazing?

Even newer is Madcapra, a falafel stand that opened recently in the Grand Central Market cut from the same cheffy cloth as Dune.

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Kazu Nori: Sugarfish’s New Handroll Spot Knows Just How to Get Ya

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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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Every Question About Choco Chicken, Answered

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When the first news of Choco Chicken started leaking out on the interwebs I have to admit I was instantly excited.  Not because chocolate covered fried chicken sounds good to me (it doesn’t), but because I’ve got a ton of respect for Umami Burger and 800 Degrees. They might not serve up your favorite burger or pizza in the city, but both chains are genius ideas and both taste great for what they are. It helps, of course, that I love the mix of sweet and salty.  And I knew in my heart of artery clogged hearts that the concept of a chocolate fried chicken would be safe in the hands of whoever came up with those other two ideas.

Fast forward to now.  Chocochicken is now open in Downtown L.A. and I can confirm that the chicken is pretty much everything I imagined it would be. (Did I mention that I knew it was going to be good?) The restaurant itself?  Well, that’s a different story.  And it seems like a lot of people still have questions they need answered before they’re willing to fork over the cash for whatever it is that chocochicken is.

So, for those of you who haven’t taken the dive yet (or those of you who have and are still confused) here is every question you had about Chocochicken, answered.

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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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Egg Slut Now Open for Lunch in Grand Central

Despite its name Egg Slut has made it anything but easy to find them since they popped up over two years ago, especially for those of us who are fans of breakfast for lunch.  For awhile they spent mornings in front of Commissary Coffee on Fairfax, weekends at Handsome Coffee Roasters, and there was word of a stint at The Hart & the Hunter (although it was never clear if their truck was parked in front of the Palihotel or they were cooking out of the kitchen.)  But getting to try their delicious sounding egg sandwiches after Noon proved to be difficult, a policy that continued when they opened their first brick and mortar last week inside the Grand Central Market in Downtown L.A.  Excitement was high, lines were long, and for their first week they were only open until Noon.

But week two goes to the lunchers!

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Guerrilla Tacos Now Serving Breakfast Burritos (and They’re Pretty Amazing)

You can get a lot of good food news following our Instagram account @midtownlunchLA.  Like, for example, this… 

If you haven’t been to the Guerrilla Tacos Truck recently (or ever), the gourmet taco slinger that’s been outside of Handsome Coffee a few days a week since last year, here’s a pretty great reason to check it out: they’re now serving breakfast burritos during their 9am to 2pm service!  There’s one $10 burrito option per day, and the filling will likely be familiar to anybody who has had Wes Avila’s gourmet tacos before.  Think, chorizo and sweet potato, lamb shank with pickled onions, and braised oxtail. Some will think it’s a tad bit pricey for a breakfast burrito that is admittedly large, but doesn’t come with a drink or chips or anything on the side, but one bite and you’ll likely forget about all that.  And the best part is, there’s great coffee just steps away from both of their breakfast/lunch stops.

For breakfast and lunch the truck can be found on Wednesdays parked outside of Cognoscenti Coffee in Culver City from 9am to 2pm.  And Handsome Coffee Roasters in DTLA on Tuesday and Fridays from 9am to 2pm, and they’re adding Saturdays and Sunday starting on November 2nd.

  • Cognoscenti Coffee, 6114 Washington Blvd, Culver City
  • Handsome Coffee Roasters, 582 Mateo St,  Los Angeles

Is Mexicali Taco & Co Serving up the Best Al Pastor in L.A.?

When I put together my Perfect 2 hour taco crawl of L.A. last year that started at Ricky’s Fish Tacos (RIP) and ended at Mariscos Jalisco, I included Mexicali Taco & Co. even though their tacos aren’t the best thing on the menu.  After all, why let semantics deprive you of delicious vampiros and egg topped cachetadas?  But recently Mexicali started serving up two new taco specials that are both making me re-consider the carne asada vampiro as my go to order.

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