Midtown Lunch

It appears as if Erik Black (Campanile, Osteria Mozza) and Joe Marcos (Rustic Canyon, Campanile, Pizzeria Mozza)  have found a semi permanent home for Ugly Drum, their pastrami incubator that first popped up back in September at The Spice Table downtown, a restaurant they both worked at.   Chef Judy from Mendocino Farms noticed, and invited the guys to use her kitchen to do another pop up back in March; which has now turned into a full fledged smoked pastrami tour.  It started yesterday at the Mendocino Farms on Fairfax and 3rd, and will travel in 2, 3 and 4 day chunks to each Mendo Farms branch through the middle of May.

For $12.95 you get thick cut pecan smoked pastrami, with an apple cole slaw, on Il Dolce Forno’s excellent rye bread. There’s also a side of mustard and you can add swiss for $1.  It’s a bit more expensive then the already expensive typical Mendo Farms sandwich, and it won’t necessarily replace Langer’s as your favorite pastrami sandwich in the city, but it’s pretty damn good and worth checking out at least once when the tour passes through your local branch.  (Good luck hitting it up just once.)   The guys are working on opening their own restaurant and there’s talk of this becoming a permanent item on the Mendocino Farms menu after the tour ends.

Check out the full schedule after the jump…

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If you missed out on the 2011 Grilled Cheese Invitational two weekend ago, there are plenty of recaps for you to drool over.  But it doesn’t mean you can’t taste some of the winners.  Oaks Gourmet (who won a few prizes) has a Grilled Cheese night every Wednesday, and if you get lucky you just might happen upon the Grilled Cheese Truck’s fried chicken grilled cheese as a special.  But if you want one for during lunchtime for under $10 that’s guaranteed to be on the menu you’ll want to hit up Mendocino Farms this week for their Grilled Cheese Invitational champion pick: The Whole Enchildada by The Cheezy Nerds (a group of Firefighters from around the LA area).

It features roasted chicken breast smothered in house made enchilada sauce with cheddar and pepperjack fondue, pickled red onions, crema, and black olives on a rustic white bread with a side of smashed avocados for $9.25. Available at all Mendocino Farms locations from May 2nd-6th with all proceeds going to the American Red Cross to benefit victims of Japan’s Earthquake and Tsunami.

Looking around at all the people in the Marina Del Rey Mendocino Farms yesterday I thought to myself what an amazing place M.F. is.  It’s one of the few places in L.A. where the fatties and the anorexics can find a common ground, and have a fast casual lunch together as one.  Sure, they have your standard L.A. salads and various vegan offerings- but there’s also the pork belly banh mi.  And the occasional draw dropping special… like the current Duck Conit Sandwich.  Sadly it’s a whopping $12.50 (!?!), aka too much for this cheap ass.  But yesterday and today they’re offering it for $9.50 if you quack like a duck at the register (and yes, they really make you do it.)  A small price to pay for this gutbomb.  Check it out in all its glory, after the jump.

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Last week the good folks at Mendocino Farms (one of my favorite sandwich spots in L.A.) emailed me to let me know that they had added the PB3, a peanut butter, banana and bacon sandwich, to their permanent menu and offered me a gift certificate to come try one on the house. I told them I didn’t really like taking free food from the places we post about, but I’d gladly take it and give it away to you guys! Want free lunch at Mendocino Farms? All you have to do is post a comment below letting me know why you deserve the gift certificate, and you’re entered to win. Consider it an early Christmas gift from your good friends at Midtown Lunch (and Mendocino Farms.)

Speaking of Mendocino Farms, there is a bright side to all this rain. When it’s crappy out you get a discount on their ham and gruyere grilled cheese sandwich from 10:30am until 2pm.

If you work Downtown or on the west side you are probably well aware of how amazing Mendocino Farms is.  What you may not be aware of is that every month they have a different off-the-menu “secret sandwich” that you only find out about if you sign up to receive their emails.  I got on this train months ago, but there hasn’t been a special sandwich yet that sounded good enough to unseat my go to order: the pork belly banh mi.  That is until this month…

Meet “Andrea’s Beef Bourguignon Dip”: Marsala braised short ribs with roasted fall mushrooms, parsnip puree, balsamic onions, sauteed greens, and arugula on toasted ciabatta in jus, served with a horseradish crema.

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