Oh that’s way down there by Erewhon. Almost at Agoura Hills.
Thank you!
Besides being a Valley staple since 1956, housed in a modernist Googie car culture gem that has eventually been landmarked, The Munch Box was also known as a favorite haunt of Charles Manson. Apparently he was a big fan of root beer floats back in the day, and drank them as he waited for Sadie to finish her forced shifts at the strip club across the street.
Chatsworth residents have been enjoying those floats and the messy chili burgers under that space age overhang (that is now illegal if not for the landmark status) for a long time. For the rest of the city, it was probably on the radar after Huell Howser visited back in April 2003 for his show, shortly after the building was finally landmarked. Since the early 90’s, developers had wanted to tear it down and replace it with an ugly strip mall most likely.
It is hard to miss the small yellow hut when cruising down Devonshire and hopping off the 118 on your way to Simi Valley and Moorpark is pretty easy. While the numbers next to items get a bit bigger over the years, the Coca Cola-branded menu and offerings all stay the same.
Hamburgers, cheeseburgers, and hot dogs come standard with the house chili. You can get a “hickory” burger for an extra quarter, but this seems to only be liquid smoke.
It is doubtful that a nice photo of the hamburger ($4, above) at The Munch Box has ever been taken, but the pandemic takes the ugliness to a whole new level as everything must be quickly packed to go. The beauty above has all the normal options on it (chili, onion, pickle, and tomato) and adds cheese for an additional 55 cents.
The patty used here, the cheese, and the rest of it are reminiscent of fast food chains, but much more enjoyable in these environs. The chili is the claim to fame and should not be missed. The only thing that holds back any burger here is the dry, lifeless bun that they put it on. Watching the Huell Howser episode makes you long for the days they used sesame buns and toasted them on the griddle.
For those that find themselves here without chili love, the mushroom burger ($4.25, above) is a better option than asking for no chili. This burger has the same bones but uses a mushroom gravy instead. Bonus points since it is not as messy and photographs well.
A side of fries ($2.50, below) are just your standard frozen batch, but they fry them up nice and crisp and they pair really well with small nibbles of the yellow peppers they offer with each order.
And assuming you do not already live in Chatsworth and have traveled to try The Munch Box, you might as well do as Manson did and order the root beer float ($3.15, below) while you are here. The ice cream is surprisingly satisfying and makes for a good quencher of that sweet tooth.
At the beginning of 2021 we can hope to be back on those round spinning stools in front of The Munch Box by the time summer hits the Valley.
The Munch Box, 21532 Devonshire Street, Chatsworth, San Fernando Valley.
16 Likes
Furn Saj wasn’t open yesterday at 11:00AM, which lines up with their two banners. One on the front that says “Open Now” and the other on the rear entrance that says “Coming Soon.”
I found a place that was open - and while the food was acceptable they did short me on my order, so let’s just say, thank goodness places are open for business. Thank you for the recommendations.
1 Like
Love Joes!
1 Like
Looks great.
Thanks for the tip.
1 Like
It’s been a long while since I’ve been to Furn Saj. Wifey works in the valley on Thursday and wanted to go to lunch (for in-car dining.).
So we went off to Furn Saj.
For those not familiar, here are some shots of the inside and of the menu boards.
So we got a “falafel pie” (Vegan btw) $7.99, which is 3 falafel, hummus, tahini, parsley, fresh tomato, and turnips in oven-baked mana’ish bread.
This is really huge. It was served in a 12” pizza box. If this is your entire meal, I think two could split this. My fatass couldn’t even take down a whole one.
Cross section.
This is REALLY sloppy LOL. The juice from the tomatoes and turnips and tahini will drop all over you if you eat it hot. Pro Tip: wear a bib, eat over a plate (or the box) or stand and lean in. My car interior is now dressed in pink tahini. HOWEVER, it’s really good eaten hot. DAMN is this good.
Then we got a beef shawarma plate, $15.99. Comes with tahini, turnips and two sheets of saj bread. You also get your choice of two sides. Choose from hummus, salad, baba ganoush, fries, white rice, labneh, fattoush or for $2 more you can get tabouli.
Huge. Two could split this if it was your entire meal. Really great. You can see in the photo above this is like the most enormous roll of meat I’ve seen in a long time. Crunchy pieces mixed in with tender pieces. The only thing slightly off-putting for me is every once in a while there was some overpowering tastes of allspice (I think it’s allspice).
But in the saj bread with some hummus damn so delicious.
We have an insane amount of leftovers. I’ll start eating it for lupper and some more for fourthmeal.
Btw, they have an app LOL!
Also, here’s a link to their website. https://www.furnsaj.com/ They have locations in Granada Hills, Glendora, and Calabasas (near border with Agoura)
14 Likes
fucking drooling over here
3 Likes
I agree with the allspice take. I’ve resorted to only ordering the lamb gyro meat as I’m not really a fan of the chicken either, everything could do with a bit more salt. Get the wrap and substitute with saj bread for a more singular meal if you dont want to have so many leftovers. They’d do themselves a favor if they would shave it bit thinner.
this is the plate style of it.
also, dont sleep on the adjarski
*pics from yelp bc I didn’t feel like flicking through my library.
5 Likes
That’s actually what I wanted but wifey isn’t a big fan of lamb 
Has anyone been to Kebabe Grill? It looks promising. Might be worth a bang bang to get some Saj bread and hummus, fill it up with some koobideh/soltani
3 Likes
This place has been on my radar for awhile and I have yet to go there. Agree it looks quite tasty!!
LOL!! I’ve tried. It didn’t take.
2 Likes
Halal Kitchen Café, 18112 Parthenia Street, Northridge 
After having just two dishes (Chicken Afghani and ashak), pleased to say this is the best Afghan I’ve had in California.
Feeling lazy to cut and paste today, wrote more about it here:
11 Likes
Passed by this place several times and just bookmarked it Thursday.
Thanks for the info!!
1 Like
Please report back what you eat. Besides these two dishes, I would really love to try the Pashtun-style chapli kababs and the bolani, although admittedly the latter is usually not my favorite Afghan dish.
1 Like
Birria Mi Casita, 7757 Ferncola Avenue, Sun Valley 
As the pandemic has taken a wide toll on the restaurant industry, many home-based businesses have been taking to Instagram and Facebook and growing their operations. Of course they offer good solutions locally for neighbors, but home pickups with orders placed over social media or by text have never been more desirable, making them good options for those coming from afar as well.
In sprawling Sun Valley, the home of Chef Don Javier and La Jefa Ninnette exists on an arm of the neighborhood that reaches out between the north end of the Burbank Airport and the 5. They were first open for business in 2018, where presumably word of mouth in the area kept them busy on weekends. To reach a wider audience, their Instagram and Facebook pages were created in April and May of last year, respectively, and now their business is offered to anyone in the city.
Down a residential street packed with double-parked pickup trucks and with plenty of ranchera music audible from houses during good weather, small signs in front announce both birria and carnitas available on weekends. The style here is from Michoacán, but it is also estilo Sun Valley. A bull in their logo shows that they originally specialized in beef birria, but now they also offer goat.
You can order both for $12/lb, or get a plate with rice and beans. The birria de res plate ($10, above) like its goat equivalent is good value especially because of their outstanding beans, so full of fatty umami. Large chunks of beef swim in delicious birria broth and should be blanketed by the included cilantro and onions. It already contains some citrus flavor so give it a taste before squirting more in.
Despite that bull on the logo, their birria de chivo is even tastier. Enjoy it and its consomé with a quesotaco plate ($12, above), which is also served with all the fix-ins. Quesotacos deserve to be eaten immediately off the grill for maximum crispiness, so grab at least one or two of them before throwing them in the trunk.
The goat meat to cheese ratio of these small tacos is perfect, and the deeply flavorful consomé is perfect for dunking or drinking, or both. The spicy chile de árbol salsa can really bring the heat so use it with caution at first.
8 Likes
Got a kick out of this. Like all the offshoot copycats of Tommy’s (Thoms, Tommie’s, Toms, etc), NY Chicken & Gyro is getting theirs.
This one is at Victory and Reseda.
3 Likes
new Studio City bang bang - Burosu Ramen x Beignet Box. Laurelgrove x Ventura.
Burosu does a ramen/sushi mashup that I found good but the dining party opposite of us did not like as much. Iagreed with the other dining party that the noodles could use more chew. Noodles were cooked to a very firm texture. Good option for Studio City IMO; I think I’d rather go to Jinya but they definitely have better fish options here. No alcohol.
Next door is a new spot called Beignet Box. I don’t have a lot of experience eating beignets but these were probably the best I’ve had in LA - having said that, I’d rather have just about any other deep fried sugar covered product than a beignet. I just don’t get it.
6 Likes
Just ordered Lotus & Light to celebrate a staff birthday. I love that they have options listed (ChowNow, PostMates, GrubHub, UberEats)…and of course, there’s a ChowNow with delivery. Delivery is only $5.
My only complaint is that the pork chop rice is only available in-house…couldn’t send that dish to them.
3 Likes
Thanks for the heads up. Been meaning to do takeout when I’m in the area but if they’re not doing that item takeout then…maybe not.
2 Likes