Midtown Lunch

One of the best things about Starry Kitchen, the pan-Asian fast food spot in the Cal Plaza Water Court Downtown, is the fact that every week they rotate new dishes in and old dishes out.  It’s also one of the worst things about the place.  It’s fun, and keeps things fresh and new… but it also means that your favorites might be fleeting.  Case in point: their green crisped rice covered tofu balls (also called “Game Changer #2”, perhaps because it’s a vegetarian option that even fat dudes like me would like.)  Surprisingly, this pork-less option was one of the best things I tried on my first visit to the place back in February, and when they were rotated out if was kind of upsetting- not just for me, but for countless other fans.  Well, they have heard the cries from the masses and today the tofu balls are back on the menu.  If you missed out the first time around, don’t let it happen again.  They’ll probably disappear again in another few weeks.  You know… because that’s how they getcha!

And as an added bonus, if you go to Starry Kitchen today (5/17) you get a free soda.

Related:
Starry Kitchen is a (Now Legal) Downtown Godsend. Just Make Sure You Go By Friday!

This was the scene on Saturday in MacArthur Park, as over 250 people (and 6 finalists) gathered for the the first ever Los Angeles Vendy Awards.  The judges (Evan Kleiman, Bill Esparza, Javier Cabral, and Jon & Vinny from Animal) had a tough tough job (after all, how do you compare a short rib stuffed grilled cheese with a chile dipped pambazo) but in the end Nina’s Food, a  Breed St. vendor who specializes in Mexico City style street food, took the top prize.  Music was played, beer and wine was enjoyed, and nobody left hungry… but most importantly, money was raised for the organizations that advocate on behalf of street vendors all over the city- like Los Loncheros.

Check out scenes from the day, after the jump…

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India Jones’ butter chicken is just one of the things you’ll be able to eat at this weekend’s Vendy Awards (along with grilled cheese, Mexican hot dogs, BBQ, tacos, and quesadillas)

• NEWS This is what you should be doing on Saturday! [The Vendy Awards]
• KOREATOWN Pollo ala Brasa is expanding [Squid Ink]
• KOREATOWN The banchan alone makes Mapo worth visiting [Food GPS]
• DOWNTOWN Uncle John’s Cafe is now serving HK style waffles!? [Dig Lounge]
• DOWNTOWN Chichen Itza‘s pork edges out Flor de Yucatan [Squid Ink]
• DOWNTOWN Another lackluster reveiw of the Charcoal Grill [Noms Not Bombs]
• WEST L.A. Ramenya offers some of the best noodles west of the 405 [Squid Ink]
• WEST L.A. Sweet Rose Creamery is finally open [Savory Hunter;EAT LA]
• FAIRFAX The preztel roll at Delibar looks amazing [Eating L.A.]
• MOBILE A Ludo Fried Chicken truck is in the works [Grub Street]
• MOBILE A profile of the Dim Sum Truck [Serious Eats]

Since I moved here from NYC in January I’ve been attacking the street food scene like a man who hasn’t eaten in a year (a starving yet incomprehensibly fat man.) The debate over what city has the best street food in the U.S. is too much for me to take on today, but there is one thing I have noticed- despite all the difficulties trucks in this city face every day, it is still far easier to operate a truck in Los Angeles than in New York. And to prove it, the popular Le Gamin Truck (an offshoot of the constantly in flux chain of small NYC bistros) has just spent the past week driving cross country to set up shop in sunny Los Angeles.

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Man, this city loves their chicken.  It seems as if every go-to, fallback lunch spot in town has some kind of white meat boneless chicken breast option, as a sandwich or salad, and more often then not topped with avocado. Don’t get me wrong… in the right hands, a boneless chicken breast can be made into a drool inducing Midtown Lunch that still haunts my dreams a week later.  But not everybody cooks like Jon & Vinny.

Of course the boneless white meat chicken breast is only one side of the massive L.A. chicken loving food scene.  On the other end of the spectrum you’ve got the Midtown Lunch’ish chicken spots.  The on-the-bone, skin wrapped whole chicken spots whose economics defy all logic.  Your Zankous, your Pollo ala Brasas (on Western), and of course Dino’s Burgers- the Pico institution where most people ignore the namesake item for their real signature dish:  a pile of french fries, topped with a red spice marinated greasy half chicken.

Check out the delicious red mess, after the jump.

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Uncle John’s Ham & Eggs, the 35+ year old diner on 8th btw. Olive & Hill, is not exactly a hidden Downtown gem.  But it isn’t Philippe’s either. It lives somewhere in between, and for those who work or live or breakfast downtown, it’s borderline legendary.  For me, it’s a no-brainer Midtown Lunch.  The idea is so simple in its genius, that some might be confused at first by its brilliance.  On one hand its unfamiliar, on the other it’s so familiar you can’t understand how this place isn’t a nationwide franchise.  Breakfast diner + Chinese food.   That’s it.  Think Chinese roast pork with eggs, hash browns and toast.  Or corned beef hash and eggs over fried rice.

I first heard of Uncle John’s last month, when Dig Lounge (run by yesterday’s profiled lunch’er Matt) reported that Uncle John’s would be opening a second location on Grand btw. 8+9th, in the Stillwater Hotel.  I couldn’t wait that long, and immediately rushed to their original location… only to find it closed! For good (so sad).  Thankfully their new location on Grand opened last week, so on Monday I headed over for some over easy egg topped salt and pepper pork chops.

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