Midtown Lunch

I love me some dim sum, and had every intention of checking out  the newish Bao Dim Sum House on Beverly yesterday for lunch. But naturally I ended up being drawn to the dingy little Chinese take out spot next door.  China Catering is not unlike most of the typical cheap takeout Chinese food places in L.A.  $6 lunch specials, assorted meins (lo, chow, etc.), and deep fried meats covered in a sticky sweet sauce that is supposed to resemble any one of a number of different citrus fruits.  Standard in pretty much every way- until I saw these words under the chicken section:

General Tso Chicken (New York Style or Chinese Style)…………………… $7.50

“Chinese style” General Tso’s Chicken? Who knew such a thing even existed! Now you have to understand I have an unhealthy obsession with general tso’s chicken.  And I don’t mean unhealthy in that cutesy “I’m a fat food blogger, and I love to eat pork belly!” kind of way.  I mean, unhealthy- it sent me to the hospital back in college– unhealthy obsession.  So… clearly I needed to try both versions of China Catering’s general tso’s (you know, for science.)

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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 Caroline (on Crack), a Santa Monica booze blogger looking for a tasty grilled cheese sandwich.

Name: Caroline

Age: 39

Occupation: Blogger/Caroline on Crack

Where in L.A. do you Work?: Santa Monica, CA

Favorite Kind of Food: Healthy, comfort food

Least Favorite Kind of Food: French, just not into the meatiness, heaviness and the tiny portions to boot.

Favorite Place(s) to Eat Lunch: The chicken pho and the eggplant tofu at Tiato in the MTV building (2700 Colorado Ave), build-your-own-salad at Mrs. Winstons (3150 Ocean Park Blvd), tuna melt at Bergamot Station (2525 Michigan Ave), the ever-changing food truck alley on Pennsylvania Street (off of 26th). The Counter‘s turkey burger in a bowl with cranberries, carrot strings, mixed greens and fried onion strings with a side of roasted garlic aioli. Huckleberry Cafe (1014 Wilshire Blvd.) is a splurge for me in terms of time and money but I love the quinoa with fried egg and the salted caramel bar for a treat.

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• BEVERLY HILLS Pizza expert agrees: Vito’s white pie is awesome… [Squid Ink]
• BEVERLY HILLS …And their breadsticks are good too! [Savory Hunter]
• DTLA Guisados looks like it’s worth the drive to Boyle Heights [Daily Dish]
• DTLA The Argentine Kachi Deli is now open [Grub Street]
• H’WOOD More dishes you should be ordering at Pailin Thai [Sinosoul]
• H’WOOD Adam Levine from Maroon 5 loves Mozza 2 Go [Food is the New Rock]
• KTOWN Cassell’s burger is a classic [Squid Ink]
• VENICE Poke Poke looks like my kind of place! [Food GPS]
• WEST LA Marukai Japanesen Market is opening soon [Grub Street]
• WEST LA Hello pretzel bun from Hole in the Wall Burger Joint! [Squid Ink]
• MOBILE Nom Nom Truck’s Jen crowned hottest chef in L.A. [Eater]
• MOBILE Hear me talking about sushi burritos on the radio! [Dinner Party Download]

Ask for the best Chinese food in Los Angeles?  People will tell you that you have to drive East into San Gabriel Valley.  Vietnamese?  It’s south to Westminster you go.  Japanese?  Torrence.  Filipino? Artesia.  Fans of Thai and Korean food (aka Me) are lucky.  Those two can be found within the Midtown Lunch boundaries, just West of Downtown.  But what about Indian food?  Well, for that, I’m starting to think that Culver City is the place to be. Sure, many of the restaurants are vegetarian only.  But the food is so good, so flavorful, and so uniquely Indian (forget everything you know about chicken tikka masala) that it’s easy to forget there’s no meat.

This realization didn’t happen all at once.  When I first moved to Culver City I tried India Sweets and Spices, and was super surprised by how good it was (jackfruit is not very common in New York City.)  Things got even better at Samosa House and Samosa House East. Same basic concept, but with tastier food (fake chicken and paneer FTW!) Mayura is great if you want an all you can eat lunch buffet (and meat), and I’ve heard Annapurna is good for dosas and other south Indian delights- but Bawarchi might just be the best of them all.

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A few weeks ago I couldn’t help but notice profiled L.A. lunch’er Himanshu’s go-to lunch recommendation in Santa Monica.  Usually a go-to lunch is the place you hit up when you’re feeling lazy and unadventurous- but this one stood out as a tiny bit awesome:  “Lunch specials at Il Forno (2901 Ocean Park Blvd) $6 for pasta + excellent bread”.  $6?  And you get “excellent bread”?   How could I not?

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