Midtown Lunch

As is customary on Midtown Lunch, every Tuesday we’ll profile a random reader to get their recommendations for the best spots to lunch near their work. This week it’s Mike, a former New Yorker who loves meatballs (natch), pizza (natch), and eggs benedict (slighly less natch.)

Name: Mike

Age: 37

Occupation: Artist Manager / A&R Consultant / Co-Blogger at Eggs Benny Tour

Where in L.A. do you Work?: Mike Savage Artist Management, Hollywood.

Favorite Kind of Food: I’m an Italian / Pizza kind of guy (you can take the kid outta NY…), but living in L.A. for the past 13 years has given me a fondness for Asian cuisine as well. And of course Eggs
Benny!

Least Favorite Kind of Food: Anything with (Vegan Version) attached to the end of the name.

Favorite Place(s) to Eat Lunch: Most of my lunches are business-related with music industry jerks, spread out all over the city. In Beverly Hills I like Frida on Beverly Drive (their tacos de camaron are fantastic), and the fish & chips at Kate Mantilini on Wilshire Blvd. are actually pretty awesome. If it’s my call, and we’re anywhere near an Umami Burger, we’re going there and I’ll probably order the standard Umami Burger, possibly their Port & Stilton Burger if I’m feeling fancy. One of the artists I manage, Meiko, is of Japanese descent – if we’re having a lunch meeting together it’ll usually be someplace downtown – more than likely Daikokuya in Little Tokyo (she’s got me addicted to their Daikoku Raumen).

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As is customary on Midtown Lunch, every Tuesday we’ll profile a random reader to get their recommendations for the best spots to lunch near their work. This week it’s Austin, a pastry chef who hates taro.

Name: Austin

Age: 29

Occupation: Pastry Chef, writer, ninja by night

Where in L.A. do you Work?: Westside Tavern, a 300 seat restaurant in West LA at Pico and Westwood.

Favorite Kind of Food: Pretty much anything, I’m open to try most things at least once, but I consider myself a “burgers and pizza” kind of guy

Least Favorite Kind of Food: There are 2 things I absolutely refuse: taro (in any form) and papaya

Favorite Place(s) to Eat Lunch: As someone who works the dinner shift in a restaurant, I actually have the liberty of choosing just about anywhere to go for lunch before I need to leave for work, however tend to stick to places near my home in San Marino. But this also applied while I was previously doing private catering out of my home.

With that said, some of my favorites near me are B-Man’s Teriyaki and Burgers in Pasadena (on Huntington and San Gabriel Blvd) for the ABC burger, a cheeseburger (American or Swiss) with teriyaki sauce and avocado. Their chicken curry fries are also pretty bomb and a meal in itself.

South Pasadena also has quite a few good lunch places.

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As is customary on Midtown Lunch, every Tuesday we’ll profile a random reader to get their recommendations for the best spots to lunch near their work. This week it’s Christine, a grad student who works in Azusa but appears to be an expert on K-Town lunches.

Name: Christine (aka choisauce, aka olivejina)

Age: 28

Occupation: Psychotherapist, Grad Student

Where in L.A. do you Work?: Azusa for school/work and when I’m working from home, Pasadena.

Favorite Kind of Food: Almost anything soupy (especially thai boat noodles, hot pot, ramen), offals (again boat noodles, spicy sichuan, tacos!), anything and everything made by my Korean grandmother.

Least Favorite Kind of Food: Only two foods I refuse to eat: bitter melon and durian. No and no.

Favorite Place(s) to Eat Lunch: When I’m in Azusa, Country Chicken and Ribs BBQ (994 E Alosta Ave) has one of the best lunch deals in town which is a MASSIVE box of delicious brontosaurus sized ribs, moist bbq chicken, coleslaw, rice with gravy & biscuit for a mere $5! I also love that one of my favorite chicken places, Dino’s (original on Pico/Berendo) has another location in Azusa (another massive box of nuclear orange chicken, fries, coleslaw, tortillas for $5). Ironically enough, I’m not a big fan of chicken unless it’s fried so it’s saying a lot that I love LOVE these two places.

On the days I’m working from home, I have the nice luxury of being able to drive anywhere my appetite takes me.

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As is customary on Midtown Lunch, every Tuesday we’ll profile a random reader to get their recommendations for the best spots to lunch near their work. This week it’s Shauna, a public radio marketer with some great recs for Downtown L.A.

Name: Shauna (aka “The Minty“)

Age: 35

Occupation: Public Radio Marketing

Where in L.A. do you Work?: Downtown Los Angeles, South Park

Favorite Kind of Food: Seafood, Korean, tacos, sushi, American comfort food such as meatloaf, fried chicken and the like.

Least Favorite Kind of Food: Americanized anything. Americanized Chinese. Americanized Thai. Americanized Mexican. Bleh.

Favorite Place(s) to Eat Lunch: I’ve been going to the Hygge Bakery (1106 South Hope Street) for sandwiches, specifically for the roast beef. I like the fresh green pepper slices in it. Corkbar (403 W. 12th) makes a great soup. Their corn and pasilla chile is wonderful. If I want to splurge, I go to Rivera (1050 S Flower St). Their shrimp and watermelon mojito salad is very good. And I like their fish tacos.

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As is customary on Midtown Lunch, every Tuesday we’ll profile a random reader to get their recommendations for the best spots to lunch near their work. This week it’s Lynn, an actress who hates small portions and is saddled with a vegetarian husband.

Name: Lynn

Age: 30

Occupation: Actress and blogger

Where in L.A. do you Work?: Everywhere! With my acting career I’m all over town auditioning, having meetings, filming on location, etc. and with the food blog I like to travel around to discover new restaurants. That said, I find that I eat mostly in the Larchmont Village/Hollywood area.

Favorite Kind of Food: Hmm….that’s a tricky question for an actor. My age range is 25-35.

Least Favorite Kind of Food: Teeny tiny expensive portions. So I don’t eat at “fancy” places very often.

Favorite Place(s) to Eat Lunch: In Culver City, I like the cheap and fresh salad bar at Govinda’s (3764 Watseka Avenue); Bella Vista (10826 Venice Blvd.) for all-you-can-eat Brazilian pizza with crazy toppings like corn and tuna. Downtown, I’m over the moon about Starry Kitchen (350 S. Grand) – there’s nothing I’ve eaten there that isn’t spectacular; I was once lucky enough to film a movie there (the upcoming “Surrogate Valentine”) – best prop food ever. In the Valley, I like Sunpower Natural in Studio City (3711 Cahuenga Blvd) for the portabello sandwich and raw cookie dough pie. Capriotti’s in Beverly Hills (9683 Wilshire Blvd) is fun for take-out sandwiches – try “The Bobbie” (a.k.a. Thanksgiving on a bun) or their “Veggie Cole Turkey” (the most unbelievable “fake meat”). Greenleaf Gourmet Chopshop, also in 90210 (9671 Wilshire Blvd), is great for quick, organic salads and sandwiches (their veggie Panini is one of the best I’ve ever eaten). Other yummy to-go sandwiches include the Burata Cheese and the Pastrami at All About the Bread in West Hollywood (7111 Melrose Ave), the award-winning “DaVinCheese” at Locali in Hollywood (5825 Franklin Ave.), and every single thing at Larchmont Village Wine & Cheese (223 N. Larchmont Blvd.)

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As is customary on Midtown Lunch, every Tuesday we’ll profile a random reader to get their recommendations for the best spots to lunch near their work. This week it’s Christine, a designer who hates L.A. bagels and doesn’t mind walking a few blocks for food trucks.

Name: Cristine

Age: 30

Occupation: Designer

Where in L.A. do you Work?: Montalba Architects, Inc. in Santa Monica, near Cloverfield and Olympic

Favorite Kind of Food: Japanese, all things Italian, especially pizza, homemade Mexican

Least Favorite Kind of Food: L.A. Bagels

Favorite Place(s) to Eat Lunch: The spinach burrito at Tacos Por Favor (1406 Olympic Blvd), the meatball sandwich at Bay Cities (1517 Lincoln Blvd), the cochinita pibil two taco plate at Frida Tacos in the Brentwood Country Mart (225 26th Street), the salad pizza from Abbott’s Pizza (1811 Pico Blvd)

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As is customary on Midtown Lunch, every Tuesday we’ll profile a random reader to get their recommendations for the best spots to lunch near their work. This week we’re excited to welcome Thrillist’s L.A. editor Jeff Miller who works in the Mid-Wilshire area but wishes he was in Japan…

Name: Jeff

Age: 31

Occupation: Editor

Where in L.A. do you Work?: Thrillist LA; Mid-Wilshire

Favorite Kind of Food: Sushi

Least Favorite Kind of Food: Dessert

Favorite Place(s) to Eat Lunch: I’m roaming around the city a lot for work — but by my home/office I find myself eating the chirashi from Sushi & Kushi Imai (8300 Wilshire Blvd) and salads from Doughboys (8136 W 3rd St) at least once a week, but I like it when I end up in the valley and find myself at Pita Kitchen (14500 Ventura Blvd, Sherman Oaks) for their chicken kafta. I’ve also been doing TONS of lunches at Tinga (142 S. La Brea). MMM.

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