Gold Dig #36

Grand Central Market isn’t so much a restaurant as it is an experience. It is an indoor market in Downtown LA, filled with stalls of cooked food, fresh produce, breads, cheeses, and spices. I have somewhat mixed feelings about it being part of Jonathan Gold’s 101 Best Restaurants list. I understand his love for a diversity of generally high quality food all gathered into one place in a fun market atmosphere, but I struggle with the notion of judging such a varied offering against establishments with a singular focus. Nevertheless, I do love Grand Central Market and strongly suggest people check it out.

The Dish

With all of the options in Grand Central Market, it’s highly likely you’ll find something to love. Getting to try a little something at a wide range of different places is pretty much my idea of a perfect meal – one that you can stretch out for hours and hours. We managed to try eight spots in one day. The easiest way to get a sense of the place and the variety of food offerings is just to come along on our journey…

G&B Coffee

If you’re going to spend the better part of a day eating your way through as much of the market as possible, it’s probably a good idea to fuel up. We got ourselves going with the Almond Macadamia Latte at G&B Coffee. We tried both the iced and hot versions – hot was the winner in my book. You can get it sweetened or unsweetened, though they suggest sweetened because they feel they’ve perfected the recipe with just a touch of sweetness. The super friendly fireman at the counter next to us gave us a sip of his sweetened version to try before making our decision. They were right – it was fantastic… Thanks Mr. Fireman!

Villa Moreliana

The thing to get at Villa Moreliana is the carnitas. Literally. It’s the only thing they offer. No menu. Just massive hunks of incredibly juicy roast pork which they chop up before your eyes and stuff generously into tortillas. Ordering involves nothing more than telling them a number – “three please”. They hand you the tray with however many tacos you ordered, and you step over to the toppings bar to dress them yourselves. It was our first stop of the day and we were over-excited… If you’re going to restaurant-hop, just order “one”!

Eggslut

People go to Grand Central Market just for Eggslut. It’s what everybody talks about. I have to admit I was skeptical. Can it really be worth it to stand on that absurdly long line for some eggs and bread? Everyone raves about Eggslut’s egg and cheese sandwiches. You can get them with sausage or bacon. We chose bacon, which comes with chipotle ketchup. I have to admit… It was a pretty darn good breakfast sandwich. The bacon is substantial and smoky, the egg is soft and smooth, and the brioche bread is actually something you notice rather than just a vehicle to transport egg and cheese into your face.

The other Eggslut item that everyone raves about is called the Slut. It is a coddled egg on top of potato purée, served with baguette slices. Undercooked eggs on mashed potatoes doesn’t sound all that appealing, but it turned out to be one of my favorites of the day!

You’re supposed to stir the egg and potato together and then spoon it onto a slice of baguette. It’s hard to describe, but works weirdly well – just try it.

Bombo

Bombo is a seafood spot known for their Seattle Fish Stew. It is lobster broth with shrimp, mussels, clams, squid, and salmon on a bed of rice. You had me at lobster broth. They also have housemade lemonade and limeade that is totally worth getting. We had the passion fruit lemonade and the ginseng, honey, and mint limeade. I especially loved the limeade.

Madcapra

Madcapra is the other Grand Central Market eatery that you hear about all the time. If it wasn’t for all the buzz about it, an all-veg falafel place would not have been on my list. I had my doubts that it would live up to the hype, but I have to say it stood up pretty well. You can choose red, green, orange, or yellow falafel (different veg depending on the color) either as a sandwich or salad. We decided to go with yellow, which had feta, harissa, cucumbers, pickled sweet peppers, and parsley. The falafel are dense cubes with crisp outsides, and it comes with four different sauces that were all quite good and different. It was a nice fresh break between all the bread and meat we were consuming.

Belcampo

Belcampo is a butcher shop and restaurant that raises and processes its own meat. They have several locations in the LA area and SF Bay Area. Jonathan Gold said that Belcampo’s burger is “agruably the best hamburger in town”, so of course we had to try it. I don’t know if I’d say it’s the best burger in LA, but I will say that the quality of the meat is what makes it a darn good burger – as opposed to most burgers that derive their flavor primarily from the toppings, the deliciousness of the meat is what shines through in the Belcampo burger. If you get it with a house-crafted soda (which you should), you can get sweet potato or regular fries free.

Roast to Go

A gordita is a thick masa tortilla stuffed with meat. We’d heard it’s the thing to get at Roast to Go. I asked the Roast to Go guy which meat filling he recommended, and he said the carnitas were the best. So that’s what we got. I think that might have been a mistake after eating the carnitas from Villa Moreliana, which are hard to compete with. The Roast to Go carnitas were not as juicy and flavorful, but the masa shell was tasty with a crisp yet chewy texture and a nice bean spread. And as you can see, they stuffed it generously.

Valerie Confections

I like to finish every meal with dessert, even if that meal has gone on for hours and included more than a handful of destinations. So before we called it a day and tore ourselves away from Grand Central Market, we made one last stop at Valerie Confections. We got the Blum’s Coffee Crunch Cake. The cake itself was light though somewhat unremarkable, but the cream was delicious and the real winner was the coffee crunch topping which was crisp yet airy in a surprisingly pleasing way. Nice way to end the day, though it was tempting to go full circle back to G&B for another Almond Macadamia Latte to accompany the cake!

Ever since that epic day, whenever I am near Grand Central Market I am tempted to stop in. And of course I have to try new spots. So here are some of the other food stalls I’ve tried.

China Cafe

China Cafe is one of the longest-running eateries in Grand Central Market. I was somewhat hesitant to try it given the popularity of its Chop Suey (which my Chinese grandma never cooked and didn’t consider Chinese food). But since China Cafe is such a Market institution I figured I ought to give it a go. I ordered the Hong Kong Style Chow Mein, because meat and veg over pan-fried noodles is usually pretty yummy. The flavor was pretty on par with typical Americanized Chinese takeout, but the portion size was enormous and they were very generous with all the meats. I almost felt that it was a bit short on noodles relative to all the toppings! The volume of food for your money definitely keeps this place popular.

Sari Sari Store

I love the baked goods by Margarita Manzke at Republique, and it’s well-known that I adore pie. So when I heard that she had a Filipino spot in Grand Central Market with something called Buko Pie that everyone was raving about, I had to get some in my face as soon as possible. It’s a coconut custard pie, but instead of the shredded coconut you see in a typical coconut pie, she uses discs of young coconut. Unlike anything I’ve had before, but insanely good. I almost went back to get a second piece immediately after finishing my first. At some point, I’d like to try some of the savory Filipino dishes there as well, but the Buko Pie is enough of a reason to go.