Midtown Lunch

The strip of West L.A. on Sawtelle between Olympic and Santa Monica has long been known as a hub for good Japanese food; the Osaka to Downtown’s Tokyo.  The great Asian hope, in a Westside sea of duds.  And its resurrection as a popular lunchtime destination over the past year or two has been well documented.  But most recently it’s been interesting to see how many non Japanese success stories have popped up on this half mile stretch.  Food options that might not be Japanese, but still appeal to the ever growing Sawtelle crowd.  Whether it’s Korean soondubu from the 7 month old Seoul House of Tofu, the Umami-like burgers at Plan Check, or Vietnamese food at the super packed NongLA, Sawtelle is no longer just ramen, curry and sushi.

But the biggest gamble has got to be the pizza.  Earlier this year Slice Truck brought their New York style pies to a brick and mortar up by Sawtelle Kitchen, and even more recently Clusi Batusi opened their doors, another in a new school batch of pizzerias looking to turn quick cooking Neapolitan’ish pizza into fast food.

Read more »

After months and months of waiting Seoul Sausage on Sawtelle in West L.A. is finally opening on Saturday, but for those of you who can’t wait any longer they’ve been quietly training their staff and testing out menu items for the past two days.  L.A. has had a few chances to sample bites from the winners of the Great Food Truck Race (most notably at the L.A. Street Food Fest), but this week has been the first time I can remember that fans in L.A. can finally order a whole sausage sandwich- plus try out some of their non sausage items (short rib poutine, anybody!?)

A look at the goods (plus some of Seoul Sausage’s future plans) is after the jump…

Read more »

Not having to drive all the way to the Valley for some fresh baked sangak is a great thing for those of us who live in L.A. proper. But being able to get solid, under $10 kebab lunch specials alongside that fresh baked Persian bread is what made Kabab Mahaleh (8762 Pico Blvd, just East of Robertson) one of my favorite 21 lunches in Los Angeles to share with people from out of town. So when I heard that a rotisserie spit had popped in their window a few weeks back, I got pretty excited. And on Friday I finally got to check it out (with a friend from out of town, of course!)

Read more »

When I heard about Tatsu Ramen opening on Sawtelle, three things immediately came to mind:

1. Ordering on iPads is a stupid gimmick…
2. … there’s no way this place is going to be good.
3. What the hell is “naked ramen” and why the hell would I want to eat it?

What I learned after actually eating at Tatsu?

1. Ordering ramen on iPads attached to the wall is kind of fun!
2. This place is no freakin’ joke.
3. And naked ramen is my new favorite bowl of noodles for the summer

Check it out after the jump…

Read more »

Coming to the realization that there is and will never be decent Vietnamese food without traveling to Westminster or SGV is an exercise that can bear some resemblance to the 7 stages of grief.  “There must be some place that does it well?” “This place really doesn’t do it well.”  “Why the fuck can’t they do it well!?” “This is never going to happen, is it? Time to get in the car and spend more on gas than I will on the banh mi I’m going to order when I get to where I’m going.”  The problem is I only ever make it to stage 4.   It makes sense that there is no decent Chinese food on the west side, after all it’s tough to wean a person off of chicken lo mein and beef with broccoli. (I should know, even though I love the SGV I’m not completely cured of my General Tso’s addiction.) But Vietnamese food?  That seems tailor made for chicken loving, health food eating Angelenos.  Pho is like a less fatty version of ramen, right?  Bun is just a glorified salad, with grilled meats.  And banh mi.  Who doesn’t like banh mi?

And yet most of the Vietnamese places in L.A. proper and parts west give the distinct impression that the owners spent more time thinking of stupid restaurant names than they did on the menu.   So when I heard that NongLA was opening on Sawtelle, I had mixed emotions.  Could this be the upward turn that leads us to the promise land?

Read more »

Thanks to Yamadaya and Jinya and a few others, no neighborhood is safe from the ramen explosion that is currently sweeping through Los Angeles. The Valley, Miracle Mile, Hollywood, Culver City, even Koreatown has a better than average ramen option, saving pork loving noodle fans from the lines at Daikokuya, or the trip west to Santouka. It doesn’t matter where you live or work, a good to great bowl of ramen should be no more than 15 minutes away from anywhere in the city. And now that Tsujita is open, L.A. finally has the kind of place that you only read about on blogs like Rameniac or in magazines like Lucky Peach. The small ramenya dedicated to serving up a single, perfectly crafted bowl of soup- take it or leave it.

When you take a step back and look at the history of ramen in this city, the progression seems pretty clear. Introduction, Explosion, Expansion, Perfection. So, what’s next? It’s got to be innovation. How else would you expect to survive, opening a restaurant specializing in ramen and tsukemen across the street from the best ramen and tsukemen restaurant in the city. Ok, so maybe innovation is a kind word for what Miyata Menji is, the latest ramenya to open in West L.A. (right across the street from Tsujita, in the old Gr/eats space.) Downright wacky is more like it.

Read more »

I’ve been spending way too much time in Little Osaka these days. I can’t help it. The tsukemen from Tsujita is enough to make me consider a trip to Sawtelle at least once a week, but once you throw in all the new lunch options that seem to be popping up one after another, the pull is just too much for me to resist. Gottsui just started serving a surprisingly tasty lunchtime ramen, a new Korean soondubu place just opened in the same strip mall, and apparently another ramen place is on the way!  There’s also the newly converted Spaghetti by Orris (although word is that place is up for sale) and if you haven’t tried the ketchup leather topped burger at Plan Check, I’d highly recommend it.  And of course there’s Miyata Menji, which opens today- although I’m going to give them a little time to get settled in.  (Plus, word is the famous-in-Japan comedian who owns the place is supposed to be there today, and I don’t want none of that.)

And yet in the midst of all this craziness, last week I found myself sidling up to the counter at Robata Ya- a 4 year old yakitori place that is solid if uninspiring.  The reason?  My buddy Dylan had told me that they do a bento box with salad, soup, rice, tempura (including one piece of shrimp!), gyoza, half a spicy tuna roll, and 3 pieces of yakitori.  All that food for just $10?!  How could I not.

Read more »