Archive for 'PROFILED L.A. Lunch’ers'

Every Tuesday we'll profile a L.A. Lunch'er and get his or her recommendations for the best lunches Los Angeles has to offer. Want to be profiled and give your recs? Just email me at zach@midtownlunch.com

PROFILE: L.A. Lunch’er “Chas”

As is customary on Midtown Lunch, every Tuesday we profile a random reader to get their recommendations for the best spots to lunch near their work. This week it’s Chas, a burger blogger who loves… well… burgers obviously, but also Cajun food.

Name: Chas

Age: 32

Occupation: Television Editor and Burger Blogger

Where in L.A. do you Work?: I work freelance all over town, but I am mostly in the Santa Monica.

Favorite Kind of Food: Cheeseburger

Least Favorite Kind of Food: Anything vegetarian

Favorite Place(s) to Eat Lunch: Father’s Office (3229 Helms Avenue): Burger, sweet potato fries and a nice craft beer. Umami Burger (Multiple Locations): The Umami Burger, cheesy tater tots and a Deadlift IPA. Bay Cities Italian Deli (1517 Lincoln Blvd.)– The spicy godmother. Wockano (1413 5th Street): The Maguro sushi lunch special, which is 5 pieces of tuna sushi, tuna roll and a salad. Sometimes they will give you miso soup as well.

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PROFILE: L.A. Lunch’er “Caroline”

As is customary on Midtown Lunch, every Tuesday we profile a random reader to get their recommendations for the best spots to lunch near their work. This week it’s Caroline (on Crack), a Santa Monica booze blogger looking for a tasty grilled cheese sandwich.

Name: Caroline

Age: 39

Occupation: Blogger/Caroline on Crack

Where in L.A. do you Work?: Santa Monica, CA

Favorite Kind of Food: Healthy, comfort food

Least Favorite Kind of Food: French, just not into the meatiness, heaviness and the tiny portions to boot.

Favorite Place(s) to Eat Lunch: The chicken pho and the eggplant tofu at Tiato in the MTV building (2700 Colorado Ave), build-your-own-salad at Mrs. Winstons (3150 Ocean Park Blvd), tuna melt at Bergamot Station (2525 Michigan Ave), the ever-changing food truck alley on Pennsylvania Street (off of 26th). The Counter‘s turkey burger in a bowl with cranberries, carrot strings, mixed greens and fried onion strings with a side of roasted garlic aioli. Huckleberry Cafe (1014 Wilshire Blvd.) is a splurge for me in terms of time and money but I love the quinoa with fried egg and the salted caramel bar for a treat.

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PROFILE: L.A. Lunch’er “Maggie Nemser”

As is customary on Midtown Lunch, every Tuesday we profile a random reader to get their recommendations for the best spots to lunch near their work. This week it’s Maggie, the Founder and CEO of Blackboard Eats– which is kind of like Groupon… if Groupon only worked with good restaurants and you just had to pay $1 to get the discount.

Name: Maggie

Age: 31 and 1/2

Occupation: Founder/Editor-in-Chief of BlackboardEats

Where in L.A. do you Work?: Venice, CA

Favorite Kind of Food: Octopus

Least Favorite Kind of Food: Canned tuna. I won’t touch it and have a hard time being around it.

Favorite Place(s) to Eat Lunch: Akbar (3115 Washington Blvd) for their Bhindi Masala and Chicken Tikki Masala. Irori (4371 Glencoe Ave) for their Japanese Albacore, Japanese Snapper with Shiso, and “The Maggie Special”. Gjelina (1429 Abbot Kinney Blvd) for their Tuscan Kale, Bread Crumbs, Shaved Radish, Fennel, & Ricotta Salata, P.E.I mussels with Chorizo, Confit Tomato, White Wine & Grilled Bread, and their Mushroom, Goat Cheese & Truffle Oil Pizza. Lemonade for their Israeli Couscous and Broccoli w/ Ricotta and Champagne Vinaigrette.

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PROFILE: L.A. Lunch’er “Brandon”

As is customary on Midtown Lunch, every Tuesday we profile a random reader to get their recommendations for the best spots to lunch near their work. This week it’s Brandon, a freelance FX artist on the westside looking for a Sham replacement.

Name: Brandon

Age: 38

Occupation: Freelance FX artist

Where in L.A. do you Work?: Santa Monica

Favorite Kind of Food: Indian, Middle Eastern, Japanese, Korean, Italian

Least Favorite Kind of Food: Thai, Chinese,(not that these are bad, just only occasionally), Franchise Food.

Favorite Place(s) to Eat Lunch: ZamZam Market (11028 Washington Blvd)- Tandoori, Kebabs and Biryani. BEST IN EXISTENCE for all 3. Mayura (10406 Venice Boulevard) Buffet Lunch. Friday is Chinese-Indian. All India Cafe (12113 Santa Monica Blvd) – good buffet. Pennsylvania Ave and Centinella/Olympic lunch trucks. Bay Cities Italian (1517 Lincoln Blvd.) Hot counter and Pre-made Godmothers.

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PROFILE: L.A. Lunch’er “Himanshu”

As is customary on Midtown Lunch, every Tuesday we profile a random reader to get their recommendations for the best spots to lunch near their work. This week it’s Himanshu, a tech support guy looking for some seafood in Santa Monica.

Name: Himanshu

Age: 32

Occupation: Tech Support Engineer

Where in L.A. do you Work?: Santa Monica

Favorite Kind of Food: Too many to name but would try almost anything

Least Favorite Kind of Food: Not a big fan of sweets, mayonnaise

Favorite Place(s) to Eat Lunch: Again too many to name but a few of them are Tacomiendo (4502 Inglewood Blvd.), Simpang Asia (10433 National Blvd.), Sorrento’s Italian Deli (5518 Sepulveda Blvd), Hole in the Wall burgers (11058 Santa Monica Blvd), Chutney’s (2406 S Barrington Ave), Mitsuwa (3760 S Centinela Ave) etc. criteria being lunch < $10

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PROFILE: L.A. Lunch’er “Bucky”

As is customary on Midtown Lunch, every Tuesday we profile a random reader to get their recommendations for the best spots to lunch near their work. This week it’s Bucky, a Fashion Designer with some great Downtown recommendations.

Name: Bucky

Age: 40

Occupation: Fashion Designer

Where in L.A. do you Work?: SYC FUK (Street Youth Couture From Unwanted Kids)- Down Town Los Angeles

Favorite Kind of Food: BBQ and Seafood

Least Favorite Kind of Food: French

Favorite Place(s) to Eat Lunch: 1. RCA (Red Corner Asia, 5267 Hollywood Blvd) on Hollywood Blvd- Frequently I crave Thai food and this is the best one I have found in LA. I like the crispy duck panang, make sure you order the panang on the side. then dip each piece so it remains crispy. The calamari here is perfectly fried crispy and in big cuts. I highly recommend 2. Wow Bento and Roll (710 S Hill St) – Sashimi Salad – the biggest amount of FRESH sashimi you will get for only 7.99. It comes on a bed of wide shred lettuce on over a bottom bed of warm rice. And the ginger dressing is a bit spicy for the amateur but AMAZING. Ask for an extra container of dressing, its that good. 3. Tulip Café (628 Saint Vincent Ct) – The shrimp scampi. I like this because of the sauce, it is really creamy and thick. Not your traditional sauce. And you get a nice chunk of a baguette you can break up and dip in the sauce. The owner is working there from opening till close every day. 4. LA Café (639 S Spring St) – This is def New York Style. Place is real trendy right now and always has a scene going on… But I really believe its because of the food they are serving. I really like the Mini Cheese burgers (3) on a bed of caesar salad… salad is crispy and the burgers and hot on fresh buns. The carrot cake is also worth getting a slice of to go. Problem is I cant wait to get home to eat it. Make sure you have milk around with the cake tho, it compliments it just right.

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PROFILE: L.A. Lunch’er “Katherine”

As is customary on Midtown Lunch, every Tuesday we profile a random reader to get their recommendations for the best spots to lunch near their work. This week it’s Katherine a freelancer writer who hates McDonald’s but loves Asian food.

Name: Katherine

Age: 28

Occupation: Writer. Lifestyle journalist, when I’m feeling fancy.

Where in L.A. do you Work?: I work from home in Silver Lake, freelancing for any publication that still pays its writers. Right now I’m doing a lot for City’s Best.

Favorite Kind of Food: That’s way too hard. I’m going to cheat and say “Asian.”

Least Favorite Kind of Food: After a horrifying experience in North Las Vegas with a truly upsetting “southern chicken biscuit,” I’d say McDonald’s. Just everything McDonald’s.

Favorite Place(s) to Eat Lunch: I can walk to Forage (3823 W Sunset Blvd), for whatever salads they offer on a given day, and the avocado sandwich. In Chinatown, Yum Cha Cafe (638 N Broadway) and My Dung Sandwich Shop (314 Ord Street) in Chinatown, for cheap dim sum and banh mi, respectively. And Pho Broadway (942 N Broadway) for cold bun. Xoia (1801 W Sunset Blvd) in Echo Park has a great brisket banh mi.

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