Midtown Lunch

Ever since discovering the awesomeness of freshly cooked sangak, I’ve been kind of obsessed.  Not to be confused with lavash, the flatbread used to make sandwich wraps in many Middle Eastern countries, sangak is the slightly puffy, slightly sour, surfboard size, Persian bread found at specialty bakeries like Naan Hut in West L.A.  I couldn’t imagine a better Persian lunch than a koobideh kebab wrapped inside a fresh piece of sangak with roasted tomatoes.  And then I saw the sour cherry rice from Javan Restaurant on this “Best Persian Food in L.A.” article on The Huffington Post.   Sure, I’ve had sabzi polo- the green herbed basmati rice you’ll find at most Perisan restaurants.  But sour cherry rice?  This was new.  And the best part is, that’s not even close to where the rice craziness ends at Javan.

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As is customary on Midtown Lunch, every Tuesday we profile a random reader to get their recommendations for the best spots to lunch near their work. This week it’s Steve, a finance dude looking for some good eats around Santa Monica and Sepulveda.

Name: Steve

Age: 37

Occupation: Finance

Where in L.A. do you Work?: LoanCore Capital, LLC at Santa Monica & Sepulveda.

Favorite Kind of Food: French; anchovy-laded dishes

Least Favorite Kind of Food: Ashkenazi Jewish, ever immutable and always brown unless prepared at 422 Detroit Street in Ann Arbor

Favorite Place(s) to Eat Lunch: Directly across from the corporate compound, Zankou (1716 South Sepulveda Blvd) and its unsatisfying plate of dark meat, insipid hummus and the by-product that is its garlic paste, remains superior to ghastly O Sushi and Salad Farm. The immediate area is bereft of edible food.

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If you take 2nd street a few blocks north west out of Downtown L.A. you’ll find an amazing little stretch of Glendale Boulevard on the border of Westlake and Echo Park.  It’s mostly deserted, save for two unassuming restaurants who both serve amazing chicken.  I found myself over there on Friday with Nastassia Johnson, the founder of the Manila Machine Truck (R.I.P.), to continue my Filipino food education at a place called Bernie’s Teriyaki. But once I saw that the popular Haitian rotisserie chicken place Tigeorges was right across the street, I knew a double lunch was in order!

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Beef Salad from Esaan Thai. Photo courtesy of The Minty.

• BEV HILLS Brooklyn Water Bagel Co is going kosher [Squid Ink]
• CTOWN Pho 87 makes the best spring rolls ever [Umamimart]
• DTLA Clifton’s Cafeteria will be closed for 3-6 months [Eater]
• DTLA Wraps & Rolls Vietnamese now open on 11th [The Minty]
• DTLA The beef salad at Esaan Thai is a nice light lunch [The Minty]
• HWOOD Vegas transplant Fukuburger is set to open next week [Eater]
• LOS FELIZ House of Pies makes a great burger [AHT]
• MAR VISTA Pepy’s Galley makes a great corned beef hash on Weds [Eaten Path]
• MID CITY The spicy sausage at Wirsthaus is great [Treasure LA]
• SAMO 5 Questions with Bru’s Wiffle [Unemployed Eater]
• WEST LA Tusjita says no ramen until end of October [Grub St.]
• WEST LA/WESTWOOD The best Persian food in L.A. [HuffPo Food]

One can’t help but feel like there is a full scale ramen invasion going on in Los Angeles right now.  Jinya attacked the woefully unoccupied Valley and Mid City territories, while Yamadaya took their Torrence army north into a Westside previously dominated by Santouka– and will soon dispatch another force to Westwood, where Wakasan is the only ramen lunch to be had.  We are all eagerly awaiting Tsujita’s first move in West L.A., and even Hollywood seems to be under fire.

But none of those battles compare to the throw down that is about to take place in Downtown L.A. Love it or hate it, there is no dispute that Daikokuya is the best bowl of ramen in DTLA. But now that Shin Sen Gumi, a Hakata style ramenya with locations in the South Bay and San Gabriel Valley, has opened up an outpost in Little Tokyo that is all totally up in the air.

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Last month’s lunch at the Bill Esparza approved Gish Bac on Washington near Crenshaw gave me a serious craving for mole.  Ordering mole in L.A. is always a crapshoot, but Gish Bac’s red and black versions are everything you hope for when you go all in on a new place.  Thick, complex, fragrant… it’s the kind of sauce that sticks with you for awhile, giving you hope that greatness might, just might, be found in any old Oaxacan place in any part of the city.  And it was that optimism that brought me into El Jacalito, a tiny little joint on Washington near Centinela in Culver City.

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As is customary on Midtown Lunch, every Tuesday we profile a random reader to get their recommendations for the best spots to lunch near their work. This week it’s Kathy, a writer searching for sweet Indian balls.

Name: Kathy

Age: Too old for George Clooney

Occupation: Freelance Writer/Resident Blogger at DenimTherapy.com

Where in L.A. do you Work?: I have a home office, but I travel between Pasadena, Downtown and Westside a lot to cover events or meet with potential clients.

Favorite Kind of Food: Japanese, Italian, French and Chinese comfort food (e.g. savory Tang Yuan soup and Hainan Chicken); charcuterie, salumi, things that might become extinct (like abalone); but I’ll take a well-marbled steak and baked potato anyday.

Least Favorite Kind of Food: Things with floating red oil on top like chili fries or those $1 Chinese “express” heat lamp places around town.

Favorite Place(s) to Eat Lunch: Many of my favorite lunch places have closed over the years, such as The Coffee Table in Silver Lake. They used to make this wonderful German potato salad to go with a burger or sandwich. I’m a huge fan of Euro Pane Bakery (two locations) in Pasadena for their chicken salad sandwich (made with yogurt instead of mayo) or open-face egg salad sandwich; Philippe’s for their lamb dip; Farfalla in Los Feliz for their Rigatoni Al Tre Funghi or Gnocchi; San Sui Tei (313 E 1st St) in Little Tokyo for their Bento lunch combos and Favorite Place (115 W. Wilson Ave.) in Glendale. All their sandwiches are excellent (I like the “From Russia with Love”) and their rosewater lemonade is legendary!

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