Midtown Lunch

With all the talk of the Go Go Curry eating championships in NYC, I found myself craving some Japanese curry recently.  It doesn’t help that Hideki Matsui is a California Angel now either.  My favorite cheap curry spot in Midtown was a shrine to #55 (Go Go in Japanese) and every time he hit a home run you would get a free topping coupon.  Sadly Go Go Curry hasn’t followed Matsui out to L.A. (yet!) but thankfully there are plenty of spots to find Japanese curry out here, and the other day I ventured to Little Osaka (the section of Sawtelle btw. Olympic+Santa Monica) to try two of them in a head to head curry battle the death!

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Usually we leave the tawdry business of critic stalking to Eater, but couldn’t resist posting this! Went to try the new special today at the Dim Sum Truck (ham su gok, and it was delicious by the way), and on the way back to the car spotted Jeffrey Steingarten! We geekily said hi, and he kindly told us how much he liked the Nom Nom Truck and the Dim Sum Truck (both were parked at the lot on Ocean and 31st today.)

Can’t help but wonder if he would have been as nice if they were competing on Iron Chef.

Photo courtesy of Noms Not Bombs

• MOBILE New Shrimp Guys truck recreates a Hawaiian favorite [NomsNotBombs]
• DOWNTOWN Newly open Arashi Sushi has a $10 lunch special! [BlogDowntown]
• DOWNTOWN Uncle John’s is opening a second location [Dig Lounge]
• MARINA DEL REY Westside Mendocino Farms coming soon! [Grub Street]
• FAIRFAX Golden State wins Gourmet Burger Battle [Exile Kiss]
• MOBILE The new Vizzi Truck’s chimichurri chicken looks pretty good [Eating L.A.]
• MISC It’s not lunch, but everybody should support the Share Our Strength bake sale at the Grove on Saturday! [What’s Gaby Cooking]

Growing pains and early mistakes aside, when a new restaurant opens it’s pretty easy to tell if the owners know what they’re doing.  From the fanciest of the expensive restaurants, to the independently owned spot, to a new franchise of a giant chain, there are little things that let you know- ok, problems aside, these guys have their shit together.  They’ve done this before.  It’s going to work out.  It is pretty clear that the duo who started Ratata, a brand new French Cafe in Westwood, have absolutely no idea what they are doing.  You know how I know?  Because their authentically Parisian menu of sandwiches, salads, pates and pastries is way too amazing to be so cheap.

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There are friends in New York who would kill me for saying this (we abandoned them for the West coast in the dead of winter) but the past few days have been soup weather here in L.A., don’t you think? (Uh, it was cloudy the other day. That’s as a bad as it gets, here right?)  I’m usually partial to the ramen (hello Daikokuya and Santouka!) but I’m always looking to branch out.  So when a good friend offered to take me to his favorite spot for Kal Guk Soo, Korean knife cut noodle soup with ground beef and dumplings, I was all over it.

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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 Justin, a freelancer who used to lunch Downtown, but is now in the Valley.

Name: Justin

Age: 23

Occupation: Unemployed recent college graduate/Freelance editor/assistant

Where in L.A. do you Work?: Used to work mostly downtown/USC area, now the valley

Favorite Kind of Food: Japanese and truck fare

Least Favorite Kind of Food: Chain food

Favorite Place(s) to Eat Lunch: Where I used to work… the two plate combo at A Taste of India in the University Village Food Court (3333 South Hoover Street). Steak nachos at Chanos Drive In (3000 S Figueroa St) was an entire meal unto itself. Fibbs with a side of Vegan Mac & Cheese (that is 10x better the next day) at Vegisoul (1436 W Jefferson Blvd). Or a cheese slice from the Slice Truck. Now: Tandori Lunch at Anarbagh in Woodland Hills (22721 Ventura Blvd), or a plain slice or a special slice at Mulberry Street Pizza in Encino (17040 Ventura Blvd) .

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