Midtown Lunch

I try to be positive here on Midtown Lunch… and I freakin’ love this city.  The food is amazing, and there’s no better place to be a “Midtown Lunch’er”.    But as much as I love much of the food in L.A. (and will defend it to the death against any outsiders, ornatives with an inferiority complex) there are some things about lunching in this town that really annoy me.  Here are 7 of them, LAist style, for your enjoyment…

1.  Man, I really wish Momed was cheaper.  Duck shawarma sandwich? Sooooo good!  Why can’t you be $10 little friend?

2. Why does anybody bother serving pastrami sandwiches within a 5 mile radius of Langer’s?  Especially one that costs $14 and looks like this. Really, what’s the point? Also, in a related story: dividing your menu into 3 sections and having cute little open prep stations doesn’t make you a food court.  You’re just a regular old restaurant with waiters, and a menu that happens to feature good burgers, hipster deli food, and meat curated by a kick ass chef from San Francisco. Please tell the press to stop describing you as a mini version of Eataly West.

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In honor of Eater’s pizza week I thought I’d post a photo of the best pizza I’ve had in the past week… Pitfire’s new spring special, The Hula Hoop. Featuring pineapple, jalapenos, straciatella, and speck, I couldn’t help but be reminded of a slice I crave come April of every year: the pineapple and jalapeno pizza from Spicy Pie.  Pitfire’s wood fired Neapolitanish pizzas bear no resemblance to the ridiculously priced $7 slices that Coachella goers stuff their faces with every year, but considering I didn’t make it to Coachella this year it was close enough.  Now if only the Tupac hologram had joined me for lunch, it would have been perfect.

Related:
An Open Letter to Spicy Pie: Please Open a Storefront in Los Angeles
Am I Crazy or Is Pitfire Pizza Not Terrible? (Even By New York Standards!?)

My love of food trucks is an odd obsession that has managed to endure many years despite numerous contradictions.  For one thing, even though I love to track the comings and goings of new food trucks it is always with a slightly disapproving eye.  ”Did you seriously put money into this idea?” “Didn’t anybody warn you that food trucks are a losing proposition?”  ”Didn’t you bother to ask!?”   Most new trucks are either too cute for their own good, more expensive than they should be, or (the worst offense) just downright awful.  As if dressing up shitty food in a painted truck is going to somehow turn it into the next Kogi.  And yet on indecisive lunch days I can’t resist heading to Miracle Mile, or Pennsylvania and 26th, or the newly re-opened food truck lot on Overland and Washington to see what’s going on.

Last week I was rewarded with “Cod Save the Queen”, a new fish and chips truck that launched at Coachella this year.  And as somebody who runs a website/podcast called Food is the New Rock, how could I not?

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Sushi Gen’s Sashimi Lunch. Photo courtesy of The Minty.

• BRENTWOOD Could Roast be the first decent B’wood lunch spot!? [Unemployed Eater]
• CULVER CITY I wonder what Lawrence of India’s lunch menu looks like [Squid Ink]
• DTLA Papi’s Pizzeria serves up some of the best pizza in DTLA [Brigham Yen]
• DTLA Sushi Gen’s $15 sashimi lunch is clearly worth the splurge [The Minty]
• DTLA Signs are up at Mo Chica! [Brigham Yen]
• DTLA The Counter is now open on 7th [Blog Downtown]
• DTLA Two Boots is open, and already packed [Blog Downtown]
• FAIRFAX Mendo Farms is opening on 3rd this month [Eater]
• KTOWN BCD Tofu House on Wilshire has been renovated [Eater]
• VENICE The cuban at Zelda’s Corner looks great [Food GPS]
• WEHO Tochka brings flat bread sandwiches to Sunset [Eater]
• MOBILE The ShmuckTruck hits the streets [Grub Street]
• MOBILE The Border Grill truck now serves burritos [The Minty]

The Gordita from Antojitos Carmen. Photo courtesy of Serious Eats

• DTLA Two Boots is opening next month [Eater]
• DTLA Getting lunch from around the world [DowntownNews]
• EAST LA The gorditas are the best things at Antojitos Carmen [SE]
• MID CITY Paper & Plastik will soon have Jeremy Fox created offerings [Eater]
• PALMS Simpang Asia makes a good roti [Squid Ink]
• WEST LA Seoul Sausage Co is opening soon [Grub Street]
• WEST LA The Turkey Burger at Hole in the Wall is great [Unemployed Eater]
• WESTWOOD The carne asada at El Gallito is surprisingly good [Great Taco Hunt]
• LIST 5 Fast Food Chinese spots under $5 [Squid Ink]

We interrupt your regularly scheduled lunchtime content to bring you this news: the preview episode of the Food is New Rock podcast is now available!   If you haven’t seen it yet, Food is the New Rock is a little Tumblr side project I started last year to celebrate the places where food and music intersect, but since I started off in radio I always hoped it would evolve into a free podcast.  The preview episode is 35 minutes long, and features Mike D from the Beastie Boys and Chef Roy Choi talking food and music, and you can download it from iTunes or Soundcloud. On future episodes I’ll be joined by my co-host and all around music geek Chuck P (from KCRW), so if you like what you hear please leave a comment and subscribe to receive future episodes over on iTunes.  You can also follow FitnR on Tumblr, Facebook and Twitter.  Thanks… and we now return you to your regularly scheduled lunchtime programming.

Last week Transmission LA: AV Club opened at the Geffen Contemporary at MOCA in Downtown L.A., an installation curated by the one and only Mike D from the Beastie Boys.  A maze of visual wonders, complete with a coffee bar that doubles as a race track for remote control racing boats, the exhibit is open for three weeks and meant to be more than just a thing you visit once before checking it off your list.  There will also be performances by bands and DJs, and to add to the draw Mike D enlisted Chef Roy Choi to offer up food from a Kogi truck parked outside the building.  Each day the chef plans to offer something completely new, alongside old Kogi favorites like pork belly tacos and blackjack quesadillas.  Last week it was peanut butter and jelly pupusas, this week- who knows?

Sadly, though, Kogi will only be serving food Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights from 6-10pm  (with lunch service just once a week on Saturdays from Noon to 2pm.)  So if you want to check out the installation during the week on your lunch break, you’ll be on your own food-wise.  Thankfully The Geffen is right in the heart of Little Tokyo, and there are plenty of great, quick lunch options within walking distance.  Here are 6 of my favorites…

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