Midtown Lunch

As soon as JGold discovered Palsaik Samgyupsal, the pork belly specialist that opened in Koreatown last summer, I did what I do with most places “The Guru” writes about: looked for a lunch menu! Like most places in K-Town, Palsaik has a lunch menu featuring various soups and stews for under $10. There’s a $10 galbi tang (short rib soup), a $10 soybean paste stew with seafood, and a $9 kimchi jigae. You can also order pork belly lunch special for $12, as long as you have at least two people- or else they don’t think it’s worth it to fire up the table top grill. The lunch specials come with two strips of pork belly, plus grilled bean sprouts.

But Palsaik’s main draw is their namesake 8 flavors of pork, featuring a long wooden board with jelly roll looking servings of pork belly in a rainbow of colors. It was $40 when I had it a few weeks ago and I had been planning on writing about how it makes the perfect lunch for four (in addition to two pieces of pork belly per person, and a seafood stew, they also make a fried rice for you on the grill at the end of the meal.)  It may not be the biggest $10 lunch K-Town has to offer, and most of my Korean friends could probably polish off the dish themselves with a little help from a friend or girlfriend.   But as a way to enjoy a quality pork belly lunch with friends, it was a totally sensible lunch for $10 a person.  Sadly, though, Palsaik revamped their menu last week and the 8 flavors of pork is now $50!  Total bummer for cheap bastards Midtown Lunchers like myself, looking to eat their signature dish during lunch.  Whether or not it’s still worth it for dinner, I’ll leave to others to decide…

Check out the new menu after the jump…

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When most people in L.A. talk about loving Korean food, they’re usually talking about Korean BBQ.  And even more specifically than that, all you can eat Korean BBQ.  But not all ayce Korean BBQ lovers are created equal, and opinions can range from the wildly enthusiastic (“I am a fatso… let’s do it!”) to the mildly exuberant (“You know all you can eat Korean BBQ isn’t even that popular in Korea.  It’s totally an American thing.”  “So you don’t want to go?”  “What are you talking about!?  Of course I want to go!”) to the reluctantly excited (“I’ll go… but I’m totally not going to eat that much.”) And within that group there is even a smaller subsect of ayce Korean BBQ lovers who will only eat at $9.99 all you can eat Korean BBQ places for lunch. And that’s where you’ll find me.  After all, why pay $16-25 for something you can get during lunch for just $10.  Added bonus?  You have the rest of the day to recover.

My journey to find the best $10 all you can eat Korean BBQ restaurant has taken me through many body sacrificing lunches… from Tahoe Galbi (which now features Brazilian BBQ!?), to the always reliable Choi Gah Neh, which were both blown away by newcomer Don Day, which I raved about back in June.  But after a return visit to Don Day last month left me a bit disappointed, my search for the best $10 ayce Korean BBQ lunch deal began again.  So when I read that a new Korean BBQ place had opened on Ardmore and 8th called Bud Namu, and they were offering a $10 all you can eat lunch option for a limited time only, it wasn’t long before I made it over there to stuff my face.

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I didn’t grow up eating fried chicken in California, so the nostalgia factor of the Pioneer Chicken on Olympic and San Vicente is a little lost on me.  I don’t have any fond memories of eating the grease bomb that is Pioneer as a child, nor did I ever go through the shock of discovering that my local Pioneer had been replaced by a Popeyes, or feel any sadness when the original Echo Park location closed a few years ago.  And even though the location on Olympic is one of only 3 locations left (and the only within Midtown Lunch’ing boundaries), there are some who claim that it doesn’t taste the same as the original locations.  It’s not a surprise considering that the actual chain itself hasn’t really existed since the 90s, and the remaining franchises are all owned and operated independently.

But none of that really mattered when Lunch’er Garrett recommended Pioneer as one of his favorite places to eat lunch in Mid City.   I had driven by that kitschy chuck wagon sign so many times, trying to think of a good excuse to stuff my face with fried chicken that couldn’t possible be as good as Honey’s Kettle, or Roscoe’s, or even, ironically, Popeye’s. (I freakin love Popeye’s.) Garrett’s rec was just the excuse I was looking for, and now that I’ve been I can think of 5 amazing reasons I’ll be back to Pioneer.  (And one of them involves Korean fermented soy bean soup.)

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If you are super fan of the Japanese fried meat cutlets known as tonkatsu (and quite frankly, how could you not be?) then you likely have discovered that one of the best versions in the city can be found not in the South Bay or on Sawtelle or in Little Tokyo, but in Koreatown, at a Korean/Japanese place called Wako Donkasu.  They’ve pretty much perfected the lunchtime katsu, but it doesn’t stop me from trying any new places that may pop now and again.  So when I saw this photo on Food GPS from the 6 month old Myeongdong Donkasu, I thought… don’t mind if I do!

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A few weeks ago I was pretty excited to be turned onto Yang Ban, a sul lung tang specialist in Downtown L.A. Not only was it exciting to find such a great Korean place in such an unlikely place, but flu season is in full effect. And sitting in that warm little restaurant, slurping down ox bone soup, actually had me considering giving up chicken soup with matzoh balls as my go to penicillin. No joke, Yang Ban makes a damn good bowl of soup. But I had to stop short of declaring it the best in L.A. because (and I’m a little embarrassed to admit this) I hadn’t actually been to any other sul lung tang places in L.A.

So on Monday, with the weather cold and rainy (aka sul lung tang weather), I decided to head to K-Town for a double dose of soup… hitting up two places recommended in the comments by my buddy Matt.

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If you haven’t figured it out yet, I’m a bit obsessed with all you can eat buffets.  Whether it’s Chinese food in Hollywood, Japanese food in Little Tokyo, Brazilian meats in Culver City, or Japanese/Chinese seafood in West L.A., I’m always down for a good challenge.  I like all you can eat Korean BBQ as well (obviously), although I do enjoy the standard steam table set up of a good buffet. The quantity.  The variety.  The challenge.  It’s like a 3 round UFC title bout. Me vs. The Buffet. It’s why I was willing to pay an unheard-of-for-me $17 (!!?!?!) to eat at Hansong Buffet in Koreatown.  It was a lot to shell out, but I can confidently say that place has not made money on me.

That being said I’d rather not make a habit of eating at $17 all you can eat Korean buffets… so when my good buddy Matt told me that a new Korean BBQ place had opened Downtown with a $9 all you can eat lunch buffet, only one thing came to mind.  Oh baby, you know what I like!

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When bragging that Los Angeles is one of the best food cities in the country, bringing up all of our ethnic enclaves is my go-to argument.  The Thai food in Thai Town, Chinese in the San Gabriel Valley, Mexican food in Boyle Heights, and Vietnamese and Japanese food in the South Bay are unrivaled in San Fran, Chicago, hell, even New York.  Sorry America.  L.A. has the best, most diverse, ethnic food neighborhoods in the country, possibly even the world.  But as great as each area of this city is for its own specialty, for those of us who live here there is something exciting about discovering something regional removed from its region.  Whether it’s ramen in the valley (hello Jinya!) or dim sum on the westside (still waiting!), we seem to be willing to sacrifice a bit of “authenticity” for a bit less driving.

So when Lunch’er Dylan recommended Yang Ban, a Korean soup place in the garment district of Downtown L.A., that tinge of excitement came up again.  Surely it wouldn’t be as good as the places in Koreatown, but even a decent Korean option for people who work in DTLA would be welcome- especially as the days start to get shorter and the air starts to get colder.

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