Midtown Lunch

This isn’t really about lunch, but we had to mention it for those of you who don’t work near Ricky’s Fish Tacos… Inspired by last month’s fundraiser for Breed Street vendor (and Vendy Award Winner) Nina’s Food, Chef Evan Kleiman, with the help of Bill Esparza from Street Gourmet L.A., have launched a new Monday night street food pop up series at Angeli Caffe (7274 Melrose). It kicks off tonight with an appearance by Ricky’s Fish Tacos, the famous fish taco vendor who used to only sell on the weekends at Sunset Junction, but now has a tent Wednesday through Sunday at 1400 Virgil (just south of Hollywood Blvd.)

So if you work in Mid-City or the west side, and haven’t been able to make it over to Los Feliz for a delicious fish taco lunch, tonight is your best shot at Ricky’s Fish Taco goodness (voted best fish taco in L.A. by the Taco Task Force!) Owner Ricky Pina will be selling $3 tacos from 6-10pm, while Angeli Cafe will selling beer and desserts.

After an aborted trip to the inaugural LA Street Food Festival Downtown back in February, I decided to give Profiled Lunchers Shawna and Sonja another chance on Saturday- and hit up Pasadena for their massive tasting event, featuring food trucks and street food inspired restaurants all handing out food on the field of the Rose Bowl. The lines weren’t much shorter this time around, but they moved a lot quicker (that happens when you don’t have to take money for each dish) and *most* (but not all) of the vendors seemed a bit more prepared for the crush. Plus, getting to hang on the field at the Rose Bowl while drinking beer and tequila makes waiting 30 minutes for a taco much more palatable.

Truthfully, for a guy like me even the best run tasting event is stressful. My strategy is always to get there as early as I can (buying the VIP tickets is definitely the way to go), and run from booth to booth eating as much as I can as quickly as I can before the lines get to be too long (which happens pretty quick when an event like this is sold out and thousands of people are waiting at the gate to get in at the very beginning.) Not fun, right? And it’s tough to really taste or enjoy the food. And yet something about these events keeps me going back again and again- excited for the prospect of being able to try so many places, from all over the city, in one spot, even though it’s not always a good representation of what you’d get if you went to actual truck or restaurant. After all, sometimes a great restaurant will serve up something that is not nearly as good as the food made fresh at their actual location, and bad places can easily pull it together to serve up one good bite.

And yet- despite my running, and face stuffing, one dish did manage to stand out above the rest. Not just to me, but to “The Guru” as well. And that place is now at the top of my list of must try spots…

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The Summer version of the LA Street Food Fest has been announced, and from the sounds of things it will be far smoother than the inaugural event this past Feburary.  The completely redesigned “Tasting Event” is being held at the Rose Bowl, July 24th from 5:30 to 9pm. Tickets are $45 and all inclusive, or you can buy a VIP pass for $65 that gets you in at 4pm. They’re also hoping to cut down on the lines by taking the 60 or so participating vendors out of their food trucks and putting them at tables.  There will also be bands, a beer garden, and cocktails from L.A. area mixologists.  Plus the event has taken a page from the Vendy Award playbook, and will have a panel of judges to hand out random awards to the trucks (Susan Feniger has already been announced.)   As long as the line to get in is shorter that’s all I care about… don’t want to end up at Philippe’s again! Get more info, and buy your tickets, here>>

Related:
PROFILE: L.A. Lunch’ers “Shawna & Sonja” (aka the Co-Founders of the L.A. Street Food Festival)