Midtown Lunch

Carson is a bit too far too travel for a weekday lunch, but if I found myself down there over the weekend (maybe on a trip to IKEA?) I’d definitely go to Pho King Way for lunch.  Why?  The King Way Combo.  I’m a big fan of  bun, and they do an everything but the kitchen sink version that leaves you wanting nothing.  Beef, pork, chicken, shrimp *and* egg roll served on top of vermicelli noodles with veggies and fish sauce for $8.95.  Prefer pho?  They do it with the soup too, giving you steak, brisket, flank, fatty brisket, tendon, tripe, and meatballs all for $8.45.  Best Vietnamese food of all time?  Hardly.  And $9 isn’t exactly cheap for the South Bay.  But I love a place that doesn’t force you to choose between all the meats they offer.

Anybody know a place like this a bit closer to home?  The few versions I’ve tried are a bit lacking.

Pho King Way, 940 E. Dominguez St. #A, Carson. 310-327-5464

Don’t know I how I missed this one (probably had something to do with this) but two weeks ago Savuer published a 24 hour guide to the best Thai food eating in Los Angeles. It included Midtown Lunch Thai Town favorites Sapp Coffee Shop, Pa Ord, Hoy Ka, Spicy BBQ, Ganda, Siam Sunset and Jitlada, plus NoHo stand out Sri Siam.  But it also added a few new places to my list, like Essan Thai in Downtown L.A., LAX-C in Chinatown, and the prik king from Ruen Pair in Hollywood. Related: Midtown Lunch Thai Food Posts

If cities had official birds (do cities have official birds?) is there any doubt that Los Angeles’s would be the chicken.  The people in this city looooove chicken, or maybe they just hate pigs and cows? Or… maybe they love pigs and cows, and want to spare them.  Not likely.  I suspect the real reason people in L.A. prefer chicken so much is because pigs and cows don’t have boneless white meat breasts, that can be grilled and served in sandwich or salad form inevitably topped with avocado. Sometimes it makes me angry.  But there are benefits to this city’s obsession with chicken, namely the obscene amount of amazing rotisserie (and rotisserie’ish) chicken options at our disposable.  There’s the garlic sauce goodness of Zankou, Al Wazir, RoRo’s and Gaby’s.  The red chicken juice topped french fries you get at Dino’s.  And of course there’s the smokey wood fired Peruvian rotisserie chicken.  I found a pretty great version at El Dorado (on Vine just north of Melrose), but everybody knows that the industry standard is Polla ala Brasa, a 20+ year old shack on Western & 8th.

A year ago Squid Ink reported that Pollo ala Brasa would be moving into a larger space, and it looks like they’re getting real close to being finished.  Clearly it was time to go say goodbye to the original…

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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 its Corianda, a social media analyst who loves being challenged to cook weird stuff.

Name: Corianda

Age: 20

Occupation: Social Media Analyst, moonlighting as a graphic designer and wanna-be food blogger

Where in L.A. do you Work?: Smarter Social Media, a boutique PR/Marketing firm specializing in online and, duh, social media. We’re in the office with the halfpipe at the Santa Monica Airport.

Favorite Kind of Food: Depends entirely on my mood, but can’t pass up a big bowl of noodles, nor german comfort food, nor good cheese and meats platter-style at my family “Cheese Nights.” I recently discovered foie gras- is duck fat a “kind” of food?

Least Favorite Kind of Food: Anything overcooked and un-inventive. Or overly pretentious, though I won’t say so.

Favorite Place(s) to Eat Lunch: It’s unoriginal, but slurping down ramen at Santouka in Mitsuwa (3760 South Centinela Ave) is the automatic go-to, especially when I need a break. Following up with a snack labelled entirely in Japanese is like playing Russian Roulette with your dessert. If I feel like eating with my hands and some greasy good samosas, India Sweets and Spices (9409 Venice Boulevard) is worth the trek. Other than that, it’s the food trucks parked on Ocean Park or dragging the co-workers to Westside Food Truck Central.

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A-Frame’s new lunchtime burger ($11)

Ever since Day 1 I’ve been begging Kogi offshoot Chego to open for lunch.  Their rice bowls and low price point are tailor made for Midtown Lunch, plus I live in Culver City.  What I didn’t realize is, as perfect as Chego lunch would be it’s next to impossible for them to serve lunch because they use the Chego kitchen to do prep for the Kogi trucks.  (Makes sense.)  But there is a glimmer of hope for Chego-loving lunchers.  According to this post on the Kogi blog they are *considering* a Chego lunch truck. It sounds like it’s faaaaaaar from a done deal, but we’re glad they’re at least trying

In more immediate west-side Kogi/Chego related lunch news, A-Frame soft-opened for lunch over the weekend.  The small lunch menu has some new stuff (including blueberry pancakes and a cobb salad that even I could love) plus  some dinner items (beer can chicken)  and modified dinner items (like their double cheeseburger, which has an egg on top during lunch.)  Sadly it’s not really possible to get out of there for under $10, and they’re only open for lunch on Saturdays and Sundays, so for Midtown Lunch’ing purposes we’ll just have to hold out for the Chego truck!

Falafel from Habayit. Photo courtesy of Gary Friedman/LA Times

• BEVERLY HILLS A video of Larry King at Brooklyn Water Bagels [The Daily]
• DTLA Pho Citi is coming soon to Hill [Grub Street]
• DTLA Chimu Peruvian is now open in the Grand Central Market [Zagat]
• HWOOD Captain Thai serves up Esaan classics [Squid Ink]
• KTOWN Zzamong makes a great version of jjanjangmyeon [Table Conversation]
• WEHO The mushrooms at Rounds is a good choice [The Minty]
• WEST LA Habayit makes some amazing falafel [LAT]
• WESTWOOD Is where Five Guys is opening their next location! [Eater]
• WESTWOOD Hello Waffle Chix! [Eater]

So many great food neighborhoods in Los Angeles have become better known by the food they sell, than anything else. You’ve got Chinatown, Thai Town, Koreatown, Little Tokyo… I could keep going. And I’m starting to think that we should lobby to have the stretch of Venice and Washington between the 405 and Sepulveda renamed Little Kashmir. Seriously, if you love amazing Indian or Pakistani food, you’re vegetarian (or not) there is no better place to go in all of Southern California. Bawarchi, with it’s intensely proud chef, edges out the always solid Samosa House, Samosa House East and India Sweets and Spices for vegetarian steam table supremacy. The completely off the beaten path, open during weird times, Zam Zam Market makes the best biryani and tandoori chicken I have ever tasted. And all you can eat buffets? Mayura has you covered with a decent $10 buffet that rocks a good mix of vegetarian and non-vegetarian dishes.

But after trying Annapurna’s lunchtime buffet (a few blocks east on Venice), Mayura will likely be relegated to a dinner time only spot.

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