Grand Central Market: our eats

^ sopes. bomb

^ well that was good

my hot lunch date :)

As part of our awesome day exploring DTLA, Zack and I stopped for lunch at Grand Central Market, which was originally appealing to me after seeing it mentioned in the NY Time's 52 Places to Go in 2014 (it's number 5, and the video is lunchers enjoying some Eggslut).  My initial hunch of thinking it'd be a great lunch option was only confirmed after we walked through during our tour on the way to the Bradbury building... Zack's eyes almost popped out of his head as he said, "Let's eat here" at about every stall we walked by.  Since I woke up at 6:30 am and worked up an appetite touring around, I eagerly agreed and proposed we return when the tour was over.

The market, which opened in 1917 and has operated continuously, is a mix of fresh produce stands, prepared food, and small food trucks/stands.  Over the past few years it's been slowly renovated, and has attracted several new purveyors & food trucks or stands looking for a more permanent home.  The market layout and open kitchens make it ideal for wandering from one end to the other and choosing whatever looks the best.  After a brief walk around, we decided there was no way we could choose just one, so we did a tapas style tour of three different places.  We made our decisions through rigorous research... seeing how long the lines were, what smelled the most delicious, and what we were in the mood for.

For our first stop, we settled on Roast to Go, a Mexican stand, and devoured carnitas tacos and a chicken flauta.  This place got major points for presentation--check out the sopes plate and taco plate pictured above, which only cost $3 and were covered in generous portions of meat, pico de gallo, and salsas.  Next up was Sticky Rice, a take on Thai street food, which given my two month stay there in 2012 and Zack's recent visit in January, was up against some seriously high expectations.  We ordered the BBQ chicken, which came with papaya salad & their namesake, sticky rice.  The verdict?  SO. GOOD.  Amazing.  The bomb dot com.  I want it again right now!  Don't know how they make something as simple as BBQ chicken so tasty but major props!  Maybe it's because we don't have anything similar in Santa Barbara but I was so pleasantly surprised.  The cozy bar seating + flavored herb water + attentive service were all bonuses.  For our dessert, we took heed of our tour guide's recommendation and made our way to DTLA Cheese for a bit of blue cheese.  They were super friendly and able to accommodate our request for a pretty small slice (we were so full already).  Check it out if you're looking for nice picnic supplies. (Or just any occasion for cheese, do you ever need a reason?)

All in all we were stoked on Grand Central Market.  Cheap & quick, lots of options, and some seriously good eats... what else could you ask for?  Stop by next time you find yourself in DTLA.