Midtown Lunch

Jade Noodles from Sapp’s Coffee Shop in Thai Town

• HOLLYWOOD Jade noodles at Sapp’s are a perfect summer dish [Gourmet Pigs]
• WEHO Carney’s Chili Cheese Dog is better than Pink’s [Squid Ink]
• WEHO Vito’s makes the best NYC style pizza in L.A. [HuffPo]
• CULVER CITY Japanese b’fast for lunch!?! [LAist]
• DOWNTOWN A Chick-Fil-A has opened near USC [LAist]
• MIRACLE MILE The tinga at Tinga is great [Savory Hunter]
• PASADENA “The Guru” samples the food at the new Intellegentsia [Squid Ink]
• SAMO The new SMP Bloomingdales has a Forty Carrots! [Toddrickallen via Eater]
• MOBILE L.A. City Council held a panel to discuss food truck issues [LAist]

I discriminate against no dumpling!  Chinese… Korean (mandoo)… steamed… fried.  I love them all.  So when Josh Lurie and Matt Kang invited me to try Myungin Dumpling in K-Town, I was down.  The place is not necessarily going to make you swoon, but it’s an interesting hybrid of Korean ingredients with Chinese preparations.  They give you some panchan (always a good thing) and have a pretty standard verison of mandoo, but I prefered the hybrids… like the giant steamed Chinese looking buns filled with kimchi, pork, jap chae (Korean glass noodles).  Check out Josh’s comprehensive review over on Food GPS>>

Myung In Dumplings, 3109 Olympic Blvd., 213-381-3568

I have a confession to make.  When I first moved back to L.A. in February, my sandwich outlook was kind of grim.  Sure, I was excited for Philippe’s, Langer’s, and Bay Cities is a good Westside option (provided you order online!)  But mostly I was expecting one avocado topped grilled white meat chicken sandwich after another.  And, granted, there have been plenty of those to be found at generic sit down business lunch spots around the city. But there are also some amazing sandwich specialists, and even though they are pushing the boundaries of what amount is acceptable to charge for a fast casual sandwich shop there is no denying that some of them put out some lunches that are worth the splurge.

The Los Angeles Magazine sandwiches guide from June has been a great help (hello chicken salad from Gram and Papa’s and capastrami from Capriotti’s!) but there’s also that pork banh mi from Mencodino Farms, the lambwich from Venice Beach Wines, and the great new sandwich menu at Wally’s Cheese Box (in Westwood).  And now it’s time to add another to that list.  Thanks to a recommendation from Lunch’er “Harriet” I hit up Curious Palate on the other day, on Venice in Mar Vista, and had a sandwich that could go toe to toe with any of the above.

Check it out after the jump…

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The New York based Schnitzel & Things Truck has become so popular since their launch last year that it didn’t surprise me at all to read this morning on Grub Street that a new Schnitzel Wagon has launched here in L.A. What did surprise me was how much the wagon looks like another New York City truck… The Street Sweets Truck!  I mean, seriously? Burger Kitchen ripping off Umami is a bit of a stretch… this?  Not so much.  Super curious to find out if the guys behind this truck are from NYC?  Or whether or not they even know the folks behind the Schnitzel & Things Truck or the Street Sweets Truck.  Laughably hilarious trademark infringement aside, I am excited to be able to get some schnitzel from a truck here in L.A.  (I was a huge fan of Schnitzel & Things.)    You can follow them on Twitter here.

UPDATE: Apparently the Street Sweets Truck has taken notice…