Midtown Lunch

The lunch options have slowly been getting better and better for those who work in the Fashion District part of DTLA. And when it comes to sandwiches, I think you could do a lot worse than Gram & Papa’s. But spending $10 on a sandwich doesn’t exactly thrill me, so when I saw on Yelp that there was a far cheaper, highly rated torta place called La Torta Loca right around the corner from G&P, I couldn’t help but be curious. I’m always cautious when using Yelp as a guide, but all I had to do is look at the first (and most popular) torta listed on the Torta Loca menu, and I was sold.

The Cubana: Ham, sausage, chorizo, breaded steak, bacon, and egg.

Uh… yes please.

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I’m beginning to learn that there is no shortage of good BBQ in Los Angeles, provided you know where to look and are willing to drive.  The Vendy Awards introduced me to Big Mista’s BBQ back in May (their pig candy is possibly the greatest use of bacon ever invented), last week Ed Levine from Serious Eats took me to Phillip’s in Jefferson Park (totally worth the ride south!), and Bludso’s in Compton is high on my list of places to try.  But what if you work… say… Downtown.  And don’t have two hours to trek over to Compton, or down to the Torrance Farmer’s Market on a Thursday.  What then?

Answer: The Original Texas BBQ King.  Located on 7th Street btw. Grand and Olive, the OTBBQ King is one of those places that you could drive by a million times and never notice (even if you were looking for it.)

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Yesterday I took my very first trip to the Grand Central Market downtown- and let me be the first (although probably not) to say: if you work in walking distance from Hill and 3rd, I am extremely jealous of you!  Sure, some complain that a number of the stalls are crappy, and there is not enough variety.  You know what I say?  Who needs more than roast pig parts and cheap Chinese food!?  Not me.

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I remember my very first experience with Lemonade… not the drink, obviously, but the popular picnic themed (?) lunch spot with four locations around Los Angeles (Venice, WeHo, & 2 locations Downtown). I was walking on Abbott Kinney with a buddy, who pointed out their Venice location to me and suggested we poke our heads in. At least I thought he was a buddy. What’s with the salads, friend-o? You know I’m not into the whole “I live in L.A. and love to eat quinoa” bullsh- wait a second. What’s that to the left of the salads? Are those dutch ovens? Filled with various meats that have been tendered up slowly so that the fat actually remains in the dish? And not just one, but 6 different stews?! Alright trendy salad and lemonade place. You have got my attention.

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I’m embarrassed to admit it, but before last week I had never been to Langer’s.  As a Miami jew (lower case, because I’m a bad jew who loves pork way too much), whose parents were born in New York, who spent his his childhood eating at Wolfie’s (and the lesser known, kind of terrible, Pumpernickel’s), and the past 4 1/2 years living in NYC, you’d think I would have gone sooner.  Like maybe the first week I moved here.  Like, maybe right from the airport.  Despite the pedigree, I’m no deli expert.  But I am a fat man, and as such have nothing but love for pastrami and corned beef and tongue, on good rye bread, with a bit of mustard.  How could I not?

Sadly, none of those things are under $10 at Langer’s.  In fact, getting out of that place for $10 is practically impossible, especially if you Dr. Brown’s a requirement (it is.)  But that didn’t stop me from trying.

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What’s there not to love about a proper Izakaya?  Copious amounts of beer, sake and shochu to wash down plates of yakitori (chicken on a stick), karrage (fried chicken), and other assorted Japanese dishes that are too big to be considered snacks, but too small to be considered entrees.  And the best part is, they don’t rush you… so you can spend hours and hours eating and drinking, drinking more and eating more.  In other words it’s more of an after work thing, which is why most traditional izakaya don’t even open until after 5pm- although here in L.A. it seems like that word might be used more for hipness, than to describe their bar/restaurant accurately.

So when I first read about the lunch menu at Izakaya Fu Ga, a new “Izakaya” that opened recently in Little Tokyo, I had mixed emotions.  If they’re open for lunch, they couldn’t possibly be a truly traditional izakaya- right?  On the other hand, their lunch specials looked kind of awesome… and they were all around $10.  “Authenticity” (whatever the hell that means) be damned! I had to check it out.

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Like many folks in Los Angeles, the first time I ever heard of Gram & Papa’s was when Chef Ludo Lefebvre announced he would be bringing his pop up restaurant sensation there this past April.  But for people who work in the Fashion District, and don’t mind spending $10 on a sandwich, Gram & Papa’s is a decent (albeit pricey) lunchtime standby. Their chicken salad sandwich was named one of the best in the city by Los Angeles magazine last month, but Ludo was clearly the biggest thing to ever happen to this place- and even though Ludobites 4.0 dinner service ended a few weeks ago, his spirit lives on in the form of “Ludo’s Parisian”- a lunchtime special now being served at the Downtown sandwich shop.

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