Midtown Lunch

If you’re in K-Town and craving a Korean burger chances are you’re going to hit up Kalbi Burger. Need a Korean burrito fix? Hop on twitter and see where Kogi is. Both would be perfect choices if you’re looking for well made, interesting and in many ways refined Korean food, masquerading as a fast food staple. But what if you want something a bit dirtier. A bit greasier. A place that reminds you what burgers and burritos were before they were elevated to something “better”. For a return to burger as diner food grease-bomb land (with a slight Asian twist), you have to check out Olympic Hamburger.

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My quest to find Koreatown’s best bowl of jjajangmyeon (noodles w/ black bean sauce) will likely never end.  For one thing I don’t think I would ever want to declare a best version of the Korean/Chinese specialty.  After all, as much as I love it it’s so ubiquitous, so cheap, so one note in a lot of ways, that I can’t even imagine sending anybody across the city with expectations that they will finally find a bowl of these noodles that is worthy of getting super excited about.  After all, it’s just jjanjangmyeon.

But sometimes that craving hits, and there are plenty of places ready to step up to the plate.  If I want to spend $5, but still get house made hand pulled noodles, I’ll hit up Mandarin House.  If I want a small bowl of it, paired with some cheap Chinese food as a lunch combo all for just $10, Dragon Restaurant is the spot.  Substitute the noodles with fried rice?  Al Ba Nae it is.   But if seafood jjajangmyeon is what I crave, I’m heading for Zzamong.

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Is there a better part of Los Angeles for lunch specials than Koreatown? Driving up Western or Vermont the signs surround you, touting $5.99, $4.99, even $3.99 (!!!) deals to entice cheap bastards like myself to go here, not there. I’ve discovered some pretty amazing mid-day deals over the past year, including the $10 pork plates at Kobawoo and Jang Choong Dong, the $6 menu at Mapo, and the Korean/Chinese feast you get at Dragon.  Not all of them might be considered top of their class, but they’re all worthwhile based on price, variety or sheer volume.

One place I wish I had lunch specials, but doesn’t is Jeon Ju, the dolsot bibimbap specialist on Olympic just west of Vermont.  But thankfully So Kong Dong Kyo Ja, sister restaurant to So Kong Dong Soondubu and located in the same strip mall, stepped in to save the day.

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My love of all you can eat buffets knows no boundaries, but sadly there aren’t too many of them between Downtown and Santa Monica (my primary lunching boundaries.)  Thankfully there is all you can eat Korean BBQ to fill the void, and I’ve been doing my best to sample as many of the $10 versions as I possibly can.  It’s no surprise that most $10 ayce Korean BBQ lunch specials are limited.  You usually only get pork belly and brisket, and the quality is less than spectacular.  Then again, what do you expect for only $10.  So when I discovered Choi Ga Neh, back in November, I was pretty excited.  For just $11 you not only get brisket and pork belly, but also seasoned beef, beef belly, tripe, and chawan mushi. And for an extra $1 they’ll give you naeng myun (cold noodles) as well.  Once again, the quality is not the best.  But for $11, it was hard to imagine a better lunchtime all you can eat deal in Koreatown.

That is until now.

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It’s overwhelming to think of how much amazing ethnic food there is in Los Angeles.  And while there are plenty of great modern day resources for exploring Koreatown or Thai Town or the SGV or South Bay or East L.A., there is something irresistible about asking somebody who lives in or grew up eating in one those neighborhoods for their favorites.  I know I do it.  “Oh, you’re Korean?  What’s your favorite place to eat on Vermont?”  “Oooh… your parents live in Monterrey Park?  Where’s the best place for Dim Sum?”  And most of the time people are more than happy to spout off lists of their favorite places to eat.  (Hell, musician Bill Esparza has practically made a second career for himself recommending Mexican places in the city and beyond.)

But ask somebody Filipino where to get the best Filipino food in Los Angeles and they always say the same thing:  “At my house.”  L.A. sports the largest Filipino population in the U.S. and there are plenty of places to eat Filipino food in the city, from Echo Park to K-Town to Arcadia (where I had some of the best fried pork I’ve ever had in my life.)  But ask a Filipino person which one is the best, and they’ll likely tell you the same thing…  “none of those places are as good as the food my mom makes.”  Sadly, my mom is not Filipino.  So if I want lumpia (fried egg rolls) or longanisa (sausage) or adobo or sisig (fried pig face) or kare kare (in all its peanut-y goodness) it’s off to a restaurant for me. Echo Park is the obvious choice, but there are actually plenty of places in the far more centralized Koreatown.

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Los Angeles Times’ The Find column has been on fire lately!  Two weeks ago it was falafel in West L.A., before that it was Cocina del Camaguey in Culver City, and Flavors of Belize on La Brea looks amazing.  But the one place that stood out to me the most in the past few months was their discovery of Jang Choong Dong Wong, a jokbal place in Koreatown.  Braised pig’s feet isn’t exactly on everybody’s must try list, but if you like pork you have to admit that looking at the L.A. Times photo must have stirred up something in your belly.  Having already fell in love with bo ssam (aka pork belly) courtesy of Kobawoo, jokbal seemed like the next logical step… so I was pretty excited to read in the Times’ article that even though the dinner order is over $20, they offer a $10 lunch special version.

How could I not?

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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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