Midtown Lunch

The annual 101 Cheap Eats issue of Los Angeles Magazine is out, and it’s a veritable who’s who of Midtown Lunching. From Zam Zam Market to Flavors of Belize, Gish Bac to 800 Degrees the issue also has a lot of great lunch ideas for areas that we don’t go to that often, like the SGV and South Bay. And as an added bonus (as if this isn’t the whole reason for this post!) the issue  features a list of 10 Rules to Dining on the Cheap written by yours truly. The list isn’t posted online, so if you’re not already a subscriber you can either try to super squint your way to reading the image above, or quit being such a cheap bastard just this once and shell out the $5 for the issue. You’ll make your money back ten fold on all the great cheap eats recs.

My lunchtime wish list for this site is starting to make me feel like the captain of a leaky boat in the rain.  Just when I feel like I’m starting to make a dent in lists like this one and this one, another one comes along that just piles on more lunch options to try.  Enter this month’s “Mexican Food in L.A.” issue of Los Angeles Magazine.  Huntington Park, East L.A., and Downey are a bit too far for me to go for a weekday lunch, but there are a few recs between Downtown and SaMo that have no officially made it onto my must try list:

Top 10 Mexican Restaurants

5. Loteria Grill, 6627 Hollywood Blvd, Hollywood.  I’ve been to the location in the Farmer’s Market, but maybe it’s time to finally hit up their brick and mortar location in Hollywood.  LAMag recommends the mushroom tacos topped with huitlacoche sauce, and the ones with pork rinds in chile verde.

7. La Taquiza, 3009 S. Figeroa St., South L.A. (just south of Downtown). Al pastor mulita, here I come!

8. Yuca’s, 2056 Hillhurst Ave., Los Feliz. This hut has been on my list for awhile, and seeing it here just seals the deal.  LAMag seems to think cochinita pibil sandwiches are the way to go.

10. Guelaguetza, 3014 W. Olympic Blvd, Koreatown.  Many of the house specialties are out of ML price range at this popular K-Town Oaxacan spot, but the clayuda is under $10, as are their lunch specials with mole.

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