Westwood Village lunch options?

I’m fascinated by the proliferation of fast casual joints that hail from Washington, DC. When I lived there years ago, that was not one of the city’s strong points.

Mobbed today, apparently they are giving out free food.

+1, grabbed some yesterday.

Fast casual, or Cava Grill specifically?

Yeah, I almost went but figured they might be. Might check them out this weekend. Just realized a similar place called Yalla recently opened in Culver City. Looks promising, too.

Fast casual. Last time I lived there was around 2000, though. Apparently, much has changed.

Just walked by Yalla yesterday - Hummus, right?

i think yalla is a chain. went to one near the empire center in burbank. meh city.

Yeah, in the old Daphne’s space. They advertise themselves as Greek, but the menu looks almost Israeli. My interest was piqued because they do shawafel (shawarma and falafel on the same sandwich) and will put fries on the sandwich.

I believe it is. That’s disappointing to hear. Do you recall what you had?

it was quite a while ago, but i think i had a salad w/falafel. i apologize for not remembering more.
it was early days, and the staff wasn’t quite together. the place kinda ran like tender greens.
if i recall, the food looked good, but it didn’t taste all that great. it was freshly made in front of you,
for the most part. don’t think the falafel were freshly fried, though.

Cool. I may take one for the team just to confirm.

I forgot Musashiya Udon. Darn good udon, nothing else there is very good but the udon.

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I need to check it out. Marugame appears to have replaced their entire kitchen staff recently…

Marugame and Oumi Sasaya are my udon flag-bearers but for the neighborhood Musashiya is a gem.

Have you been to Marugame recently??

November. Did not notice anything slipping at that time.

Downhill alert during my visit couple weeks ago… they are using the std. Japanese chain LA playbook bait and switch. Replace the entire kitchen staff after 6-18mths .

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Thanks for the warning @Sgee. Ugh, that’s really sad if Marugame Monzo has indeed done that. :frowning:

It’s baffling, but I guess so many of these owners never learn their lesson. I remember it happening with Ramen California (Torrance), with famous Ramen Chef Shigetoshi Nakamura from Japan, coming in and opening up… only to have him leave (and his whole staff), and replace them with new trainees who did not make the Ramen anywhere near as good as when Chef Nakamura was still there. Night and day difference.

Same with Mottainai Ramen, same with a bunch of places over the years.

If that’s true, then no more Marugame udon for me. Thanks for the warning.

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If you have not been to Oumi Sasaya in Lomita get thee there. Both JL and I have previous posts detailing their glory. And they are a well established 2nd generation family business - nothing is changing.

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Stumbled upon Oumi a few years back, it’s definitely my favorite in LA. I love the classically styled Japanese interior. Unfortunately it’s generally too long of a drive for me or I’d dine there every week.

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Thanks @CiaoBob. Oh I definitely remember your wonderful post on Oumi. :wink:

I drove down there just to try it, only to discover it was a 45 minute wait. :frowning: So I had some delicious Cream Puffs next door and went somewhere else, sadly. Next time for sure.

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