Midtown Lunch

The Best Things I Ate at Coachella: For those who care, I went to Coachella this past weekend and ate all the things for Food is the New Rock and Tumblr.  I also made a corn dog butterfly.  And then I picked the 5 best things I ate and wrote about them for Los Angeles Magazine.  And in case you're wondering, this is the thing I most regret not eating.

Watch Me Get Gross at Escondite, Donut Friend & More: Since Zagat put out that first "Gimmick Testing" video featuring Lesley Balla and I eating at Panda Express Innovation Kitchen, 4 more videos have been released.  Check us testing out the crazy burgers at The Escondite, the ridiculousness that is Barton G in Beverly Hills, the now closed Choco Chicken in DTLA, and the musician influenced donuts at Mark Trombino's Donut Friend.

ChocoChicken Hears Our Cry: Back in July I had an entire conversation with myself about ChocoChicken, the new Umami Burger-related chocolate chicken concept that opened in DTLA. Well, apparently somebody was listening because they got rid of pretty much everything but the chicken this week. Check out the new menu over on Eater.

Talking Quesaritos and Shophouse w/ Nate Appleman: Remember when I kind of went off about the Chipotle's off the menu quesarito a few months back?  Well, last week we had Chipotle's Culinary Manager Nate Appleman on the Food is the New Rock podcast, and even though we normally talk music with chefs I couldn't help but bring it up.  Hopefully I made it up to him by talking about how great Shophouse is.  Hopefully.

I Love Doughnuts: I mean, who doesn't.  But should we really be excited about Dunkin Donuts invading Los Angeles?  I got to discuss this important issue with Dan Pashman (of the Sporkful Podcast) on KPCC yesterday. (Spoiler: I think Munchkins might replace Fonuts as the Angeleno in Denial's doughnut of choice.)  Listen to the interview here>>

Ink.Sack Celebrates One Year w/ Free Chx Sandwiches: Seriously can't believe it's been a whole year! Michael Voltaggio's sandwich annex Ink.Sack opened one year ago this week and to celebrate they'll be giving away a free cold fried chicken sandwich free with every single order. See you on line at 11am?! [via Grub Street]

Tomorrow is the Last Starry Kitchen Lunch For Awhile: Just a friendly reminder in case you missed it last week... Starry Kitchen, the great Asian'ish, (mostly) lunch spot in the DTLA water court, will be closing tomorrow.  They plan to relocate at some point, but if you want your last fix of tofu balls or dan dan noodles for a while today and tomorrow is your final chance. There will also be some kind of dinnertime pop up at Tiara Cafe, but that doesn't help us lunchers now does it!