Grub Street Diet: Jason Concepcion

@nymag
 on 2021.09.16
8 Places
@nymag
"When Jason Concepcion moved to Los Angeles, he had a revelation the first time he ate Night + Market’s pad thai. “It’s something you have a million, billion times from any number of places,” he says. “I just was not aware that the dish could actually taste like that.” In L.A. this week, he made spaghetti with pesto sauce, ordered his preferred comfort food (fried rice) from his regular Chinese restaurant Northern Cafe, and ate a whole lot of peanut butter." Edited by Chris Crowley --- For Jason's full Grub Street diet, click the link below.

sweetgreen

Health food restaurant · Downtown Los Angeles

"That afternoon, after recording my podcast, Takeline, I had a chicken-pesto-parm salad from Sweet Green. I’ve gone through phases where I order this exact salad three or four times a week."

Shake Shack

Hamburger restaurant · West Hollywood North

"For lunch, I have some Shake Shack chick’n bites and fries. As a New Yorker who recalls having to log into the webcam to check the length of the line at Madison Square Park, ordering Shake Shack on my phone and having it arrive in a reasonable amount of time is bizarrely thrilling."

Night + Market

Asian Restaurant · WeHo

"Coming from New York, tacos and Thai were the two revelations around L.A. cuisine for me. Everything they do at Night + Market is amazing, and just kind of changed what I thought Thai food could be."

Luv2eat Thai Bistro

Thai Restaurant · Hollywood

"Luv2eat, on Sunset in Hollywood, is another one. If you are a person who is not prepared for heat, just hold on to your horses."

Osteria La Buca

Italian restaurant · Larchmont

"For dinner, I made spaghetti with Osteria la Buca’s pesto sauce. (Their pesto is really, really good, and it is an extreme pain in the ass for me to make. I also just don’t have that much basil around.)"

Backyard Bowls

Organic restaurant · Beverly Grove

"Breakfast was a PB&J bowl from Backyard Bowls, a place that’s like the avocado-toast meme in physical form. They do have avocado toast, and it’s great."

SUGARFISH by sushi nozawa

Sushi restaurant · Golden Triangle

"I skipped breakfast and, since it was Friday, splurged for lunch: a Nozawa Trust Me sushi spread from Sugarfish. It came in a handsome tray-shaped take-out box which had detailed instructions printed on the inside of the lid."

Northern Cafe

Dumpling Restaurant · Hollywood

"For dinner, I ordered Chinese from Northern Cafe: fried rice with chicken, stir-fried green beans, soup dumplings, and pork-and-fennel dumplings. Chinese food is one of the things I really miss about New York. I like rice dishes, and fried rice in particular."