Midtown Lunch

When Bella Vista, the Brazilian rodizio (that’s Brazil-talk for all you can eat!), opened in Culver City back in April my mood could only be described as tempered elation.  All you can eat pizza sounds good to me.  Pizza topped with salted beef or potato sticks and beef stroganoff sounds even better.  For a limited time the all you can eat pizza deal cost $9.99, just inside the ML price boundaries, but that didn’t last too long.  And after a short amount of time the regular price settled in at $12.99.

Well, this past weekend they listed a special deal on Yelp… $16.98 for two diners to partake in Bella Vista’s all you can eat pizza smorgasbord. Dine in (naturally) and only for lunch.  That works for me!

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It only took one visit to Tahoe Galbi for me to rethink my position on the ubiquitous $10 All You Can Eat Korean BBQ lunch.  It’s not that I thought I wouldn’t be down with all you can eat Korean BBQ (how could it possibly be bad!?)  It was more me lamenting the fact that there weren’t any proper under $10 Korean buffets in Los Angeles.  I’m an old school buffet enthusiast, not just for the all you can eat aspect but also for the form itself.  Like carts at a dim sum palace, much of the joy I take from eating all I can eat is the buffet line itself.   But even though Tahoe converted me to this new way of gorging myself, it was clear it wasn’t going to be the end all be all $10 Korean BBQ spot of my dreams.  Room for improvement seemed possible, and it was then I decided I would need to try *all* of the $10 AYCE Korean BBQ spots in Koreatown before I’d be truly satisfied.  (You know… for science.)

Back in May Lunch’er “djjewelz” recommended Choi Ga Neh in the ML Forums, so I figured that would be as good a place as any to continue my quest.

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When I launched the L.A. branch of Midtown Lunch back in February one of my very first lunch trips was to the area of Fairfax known as Little Ethiopia.  The lunch I had at Rosalind’s was great, and I especially liked how even though everything was under $10 and ordered as individual lunch specials, the food still came out family style.  But as we left I couldn’t help but think we might have chosen wrong when I noticed the $9.99 all you can eat Ethiopian buffet sign across the street at Rahel’s.  “100% Vegan” is never something I enjoy seeing, but if there is one thing that will overrule the words vegan, or healthy, or salad bar, or pork-less,  it’s my four favorite words in the English language (when strung together): “All You Can Eat”.

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As much as I love, and have done serious research on, all you can eat buffets across the country, there is one gaping hole in my canon of face stuffing experiences: all you can eat Korean BBQ.  Every time I drive through K-Town I stare lovingly at all the signs touting meat feasts of epic proportions- and the best part is, a ton of them are under $10. And yet, for some reason, I’ve never been able to the pull trigger.  Part of it is my allegiance to the true all you can eat buffet (like Hansong), where all the food is laid in one giant smorgasbord, ready to be defeated at the hands of my rather large gut.  Admittedly a real all you can eat master wouldn’t let that technicality stand in his or her way, so I’m forced to admit that the real reason I haven’t been to one of these places is sheer intimidation.  Not only are there too many places to choose from, but I wasn’t sure exactly what happens when one enters one of these places.  Yes, many have $9.99 lunchtime options- but with upgrades avaialble (that allow you a better quality of meat) was the $10 ayce Korean BBQ deal really worth it?

So, when a Korean friend offered to accompany me to one of his favorite spots, Tahoe Galbi (on Wilton & Wilshire), I jumped at the chance.  Not just to fill the gaping hole in my all you can eat buffet resume, but also the big gaping hole that pops up in my stomach every day around 11:45am.

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As much as I love the Asian food here in Los Angeles, there are two things that really bother me.  First… why have all the great dim sum places in the SGV started to favor menus over over carts!? (Carts is the best part of dim sum, damnit!)  And second, why is it that none of the all you can eat Korean food spots in K-Town are buffets?  What does a short fat Jewish guy have to do to get a proper Korean buffet in this town!?

Now, I know what many of you will say (on both counts).  “Wouldn’t you rather have food that’s made fresh?”  As a matter of fact, I wouldn’t.  I like the element of surprise in my dim sum, and the variety that you get on a great buffet.  So when I heard that Hansong, “Best Beef” winner at this year’s Korean BBQ Cook-Off, was a proper all you can eat buffet in Koreatown I got pretty excited.  And not even a $17 price tag could keep me from trying out this lunch.  (Desperate times call for desperate measures people!)

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To truly understand Midtown Lunch (and me, for that matter) it might be helpful to go back and read my Guide to Beating the All You Can Eat Chinese Buffet.  It was written a few years ago, inspired by the only all you can eat Chinese buffet near my work (the only one in all of Manhattan, as far as I know).  To say I’m a huge fan of all you can eat buffets (especially those that serve Asian food) doesn’t really do justice to how I feel about the buffet.  Maybe the word “student” is more appropriate.  I have studied, and thought about, buffets for all my life.  And one day I hope to fulfill my dream of eating at a Chinese food buffet in every single state in the country.

Sadly, there aren’t many under $10 all you can eat buffets between Downtown L.A. and Santa Monica… unless you include Koreatown- but  those aren’t really buffets.  They’re just all you can eat- so you lose out on one my favorite parts of the buffet experience:  the variety.  Back in 2005, when I lived in L.A. the first time, there was only one all you can eat lunch buffet option near where I worked (on Miracle Mile).  On Fairfax, across from CBS, Chao Krung was my one buffet outlet- and while I remember it being just ok, I was excited to find out that it’s still there.  And still buffeting it up during lunch, for $9.99.

So yesterday, I headed over to put it to the test… and surprisingly, unlike most things I’ve tried again after 5 years of eating in NYC, it was far better than I remembered.

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