Midtown Lunch

Sad news for fans of Bawarchi in Culver City; it’s been taken over by new management. Known for its Soup Nazi’ish chef who ruled the steam table with an iron fist, Bawarchi’s vegetarian dishes really stood out- even in a neighborhood with a lot of other Indian options. According to the guy working the counter now the chef is having some health problems and left the business. Apparently his daughter is in the kitchen now, but the food is completely different.

Check out a recent combo plate, after the jump…

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 Jang Teo Bossam. Photo courtesy of Cecilia Hae-Jin Lee

• DTLA “The Guru” likes the more traditional stuff at Murugame Monzo [LAT]
• DTLA Besha Rodell is a big fan of JiST Cafe [Squid Ink]
• HWOOD Tatsu is opening a second location on Melrose [Eater]
• KTOWN Jang Teo Bossam finally gets discovered by somebody other than us! [LAT]
• KTOWN A new burger place and a new fried chicken place have opened next to School Food [Eater]
• KTOWN Boo’s Philly Cheesesteaks is getting a 2nd location on Wilshire [Eater]
• PALMS Skip the banh mi, get the pho at Phorage [Squid Ink]
• SILVER LAKE Hungry Pig is open and serving up Asian BBQ [Eater]
• PIZZA 7 of the Best Pizzas You’re Not Eating (with picks from me and my buddy Bernardo!) [LAist]
• PODCAST Did you know that in addition to being a professional fat guy, I’m also an actor? [Actor’s Diet] 
• EVENT 6 reasons not to miss the Thai Food Fest this weekend at Paramount [LA Mag]

What is it about layers that makes people go insane? Some pastry guy in New York layers croissant dough and deep fries it, and the country goes bonkers. Idiots, I say! They’re losers, right? Why would anybody wait in line for that? And yet… when I heard about Kimukatsu, a famous Japanese pork cutlet chain opening its first two locations in Los Angeles, I had a cronut moment of my own. Maybe it wasn’t as twee as what Dominique Ansel has wreaked, but it was a moment nonetheless. And why was I so excited for the news of this chain? What makes this breaded and deep fried pork cutlet more excited than the excellent pork cutlets you can get at Hurry Curry of Tokyo, Wako Donkasu, or Myeongdong?  Layers.  It’s all about the layers.

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Is it weird that I love conveyor belt sushi, without ever having been to a conveyor belt sushi place that I truly love?  That’s definitely strange, right?  I guess I just love the idea of conveyor belt sushi. After all, what could be more fun than having your menu float past you on miniature boats, combining the ordering and receiving of your food into one simple motion. Sushi dim sum!  In practice, though, kaiten sushi is never as fun as you think it’s going to be.  If the place isn’t full, you watch the same things go around and around and around, wondering why you even bothered with this nonsense.  Sure, you can order anything they serve off the menu but that would defeat the purpose.  When something you do want comes along you find yourself quickly trying to match the color of the plate with the price. Is this worth it?  Am I paying more for something that may have been floating around in circles for god knows how long? How many plates have I ordered already?  Will something better come if I just wait? Am I spending a fortune?  What the hell is going on?!

It’s downright stressful.  Unless, of course, you just give in to the fun of it. In which case you always end up with a bill that seems far too expensive for what’s supposed to be a casual sushi lunch. And that, folks, is how they get you.  But even knowing all that, I can’t resist the pull of the conveyor belt.  So when Kula Sushi finally opened on Sawtelle last week, in West L.A., I had to check it out.

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I love dim sum more than pretty much any other possible meal. Think of any kind of meal, I would pick dim sum over that meal.  Last meal before getting the electric chair? Dim sum.  I love it as a noun, adjective or a verb.  It’s the best.  It took me a long time, and many weekend visits to the San Gabriel Valley to reconcile the fact that none of the best dim sum places in Los Angeles use carts anymore, but I’ve finally come around and accepted the ordering off of a menu.

Shockingly it took me even longer to realize that here in L.A. dim sum is a viable weekday lunch if you live or work on the east side of Los Angeles (I credit Adam Roberts with this discovery.)  Menus are the same, waits to get a table are shorter, and the food comes out quick enough that it can be done.  Especially at a place like Sea Harbour, which is right off the 10 and has waits of over an hour on the weekends.  Two weeks ago, on a weekday we walked right in for lunch.

Jonathan Gold called Sea Harbour’s dim sum “the best in California” in his most recent 101 Best Restaurants in L.A., and after a number of trips to other places it’s hard to disagree.  Here’s 7 reasons why:

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If you’re a Mayer Hawthorne fan and a burger fan you’ll be interested to know that tomorrow is the last day his special burger will be available at Umami.  The burger, which comes topped with cognac-infused parsnip puree, cognac fondue sauce, hatch chiles and chile straws, was reintroduced this month to promote his new record “Where Does This Door Go”. The burger is available at The Grove and Hollywood locations of Umami.

Here’s what else is going on in lunch these days…

• DTLA La Morelianas in the Grand Central Market makes some good carnitas [LAM]
• DTLA Loteria and Torta Co. coming soon to Figat7th [Eater]
• KTOWN Cho Man Wan serves up great dumplings and jjanjangmeyon [LAT]
• LOS FELIZ The Palace has SGV style lunch specials!?! [Clarissa Wei]
• SILVER LAKE Black Hogg has a lunchtime sandwich menu called Sopressata [Squid Ink]
• VENICE Look who finally discovered El Huarique! [LAT]
• WEST LA Sushi Stop is opening a Shabu Shabu place on Sawtelle! [Eater]
• WESTWOOD 800 To Go opens on Tuesday w/ an expanded sandwich menu [Eater]
• MOBILE Ricky’s Fish Tacos is the best taco in America… [Daily Meal]
• MOBILE … and soon they’ll be getting their own truck! [Squid Ink]
• FOOD IS THE NEW ROCK I podcasted w/ Grant Achatz at the L.A. Food & Wine Fest last weekend [FitnR]

Photo courtesy of Clarissa Wei

Sad news about one of our favorite lunches near Amoeba Records, and one of the best chirashi deals in all of Los Angeles…  Clarissa Wei, from KCET and the L.A. Times, reported yesterday that Murakami Sushi will be leaving their current location (on Wilcox just north of Hollywood Blvd.) at the end of September, and hope to find a new location by then. Hopefully the rent will be just as cheap at their new location so they can continue to charge such amazing prices.

Related:
Murakami: Hollywood’s Surprising Sushi Gem
My 5 Favorite Lunches Near Amoeba Records