Midtown Lunch

Exploring other cultures through their cuisine is one of the most fun things about eating, and one of the most exciting things about L.A. is how many restaurants you can find who are making food from other continents without dumbing it down for the American taste buds. But not all adapted dishes are bad… and hybrids can end up being just as delicious as something that is supposedly “authentic” (after all,  if you look back far enough every dish we call “authentic” today likely has roots outside of its country of origin.)  If the Chinese didn’t try to make Chinese food for Americans, there would be no orange chicken from Panda Express (it’s horrible to even think about it.)   Japanese?   Spicy mayo *is* delicious on everything!  And Mexico?  Well, if you haven’t tried the hard shell goodness of Tito’s Tacos you haven’t lived.  Oh, and don’t get me started on New York pizza.

The best part is, we’re not the only ones that do this.  In Korea they have their own version of Chinese food that is awesome (jjanjangmyeon anybody?)  And they have their own version of sushi (kimbap) and a bibimbapped version of the chirashi bowl (hwedupbap).  Kimbap is something I’ve been eating for awhile, but I’m kind of new to the whole hwedupbap thing- raw cubes of fish served salad style over rice with veggies and red pepper sauce.  Sadly- just like sushi, the best versions of hwedupbap are going to be over $10 (like the one at Guru approved A-Won).  So when I heard that Ssing Ssing (on Vermont & 7th in K-Town) made a good version for $9, I was pretty excited.

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The New York City me would punch the Los Angeles me in the face for saying this, but damn it has been cold lately, right?  It almost makes me want to stop wearing short sleeve t-shirts and flip flops.  Almost.  Yesterday morning seemed particularly chilly, although I don’t have any empirical evidence of this since I don’t really check the weather report that much (in contrast to when I lived in NYC, where checking the weather is a required morning ritual in the wintertime.) I also felt a bit of a sore throat coming on, so that could only mean one thing… soup day!

The last time I was sick, Ramenya proved to be an inspired choice. Pa Ord is where you want to go if you have a stuffy nose that needs clearing up. And I’ve always thought kal gook soo from Myung Dong Kyoja would be the perfect replacement for penicillin.  But now that I’ve been to Mountain Cafe (or San as it’s called in Korean) I think I have found a replacement for my Grandma’s matzoh ball soup.  (Sorry grandma!)

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What is there to really say about Papa Cristo’s that hasn’t already been said?  Situated across from St. Sophia’s (home of the gigantic annual L.A. Greek Fest), it’s pretty much the consensus best Greek lunch in L.A. Squid Ink called it the best gyro in town,  Jonathan Gold (aka The Guru) has mentioned their roast chicken a number of times over the years, and Los Angeles Magazine called their lamb sandwich one of the best in the city.  Hell, even the Food Network’s Meat & Potatoes has been there!  (But mostly those other three things.)   With everything I had heard, expectations were pretty high, and yet none of that prepared me for the excitement I felt when I saw this…

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After seeing this blog post back in August, Wako Donkasu immediately went on to my “list”.  I could say I’m a huge fan of katsu, but quite frankly who isn’t a huge fan of katsu?  It’s boneless meat cutlets, breaded and deep fried.  How can that be bad!?  And even though smart money would send you to Sawtelle or Little Tokyo for the best Japanese food between Downtown and Santa Monica, Wako Donkasu is actually in Koreatown.  Thankfully I learned pretty early that when deep fried meaty goodness is involved, it’s better not to ask too many questions.

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Last month The Guru released his annual 99 Essential Restaurants list, and naturally I scoured it with an eye towards under $10 lunches.  One in particular that caught my eye was Kobawoo, a Koreatown bossam specialist.  Their signature dish (the bossam) is a big $27 plate filled with slices of boiled pork belly, a special kimchi, and possibly raw oysters?  As great as it sounded it’s waaay out of the ML price range- but I was super excited to discover that they have a lunch special portion of bossam for under $10!!!

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I think the car wash lunch is one of my favorite things about Los Angeles.  I’m not sure why, because admittedly I’ve never actually had lunch at a car wash.  It just excites me that they exist.  I live in Culver City, so Outdoor Grill at the Handy J Car Wash on Washington is on my list (even though I’ve heard it’s terrible.)  And somebody told me there is car wash sushi (how could I not!)  But my first car wash lunch happened last week when I stumbled upon Crunchy Sea, a newish car wash shack specializing in $1 fish tacos in of all places, Koreatown.

How could it be bad?

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My love of jjajangmyeon, the Korean/Chinese black bean sauce over noodles dish, is well documented.  So you can imagine how excited I was to read Lunch’er “Christine’s” profile a few weeks ago where she mentioned that you could also get also get jjajang rice at a place called Al Bae Ne (in Koreatown.)  That’s the same black bean sauce, served over fried rice instead of noodles.  How awesome is that?  (I discriminate against no carbs!)

Kristine graciously agreed to take me to her leader the delicious sounding black bean sauce rice.

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