Lunch List

While doing my taxes, I came face-to-face with a mound of receipts. In my lunch stack, I was pretty surprised by the sheer number of times I ate at a handful of places. Since I write about food so much, I'm always on the hunt for "new and exciting." (Or at the very least, off the beaten path.)

Looking at them as a group, I see that what they have in common is an easy "grab-n-go" vibe. Here's my top five (all of which you may have already read about in the Flyer's Recommended Dish section or on Dining with Monkeys):

5. Whole Foods. I find it very hard to drive past the store without stopping in for a spicy tunacado roll. I can be in and out in 5 minutes. (Yes, I eat the roll with my hands while driving. The rice is doused with sesame oil so no soy sauce is required.)

4. Elliot's. A group of us celebrated "Monkey-less Mondays" at Elliot's for a good nine months before everyone got too busy or moved East. Nine times out of ten, I get the Santa Fe. (One out of ten is the hamburger.) Getting stuff to go here is easy too, but I almost always eat in because my reason for being there usually revolves around someone else suggesting we meet there. (Harry, the owner, used to clip my CA column to the bulletin board when I was a regular. On my last visit, I noticed that the column was two months old!)

3. Fino's. If I'm out and about in Midtown anywhere near lunch time, I make a point of stopping at Fino's for a half of a prosciutto cotto. I get it to go a lot, but I also like eating in. There's always someone famous there like Coach Cal, Harlan T. Bobo, etc. (I love that they wrap their sandwiches in paper and use paper bags. If only they would nix the styrofoam cups and soup containers!)

2. Sekisui. Even though the Sekisui downtown is really just a scaled down version of the other Sekisuis, I love getting a spicy tuna and a spicy crawfish to go. They know my voice on the phone now so I don't even have to identify myself. I do eat in on occasion, and if I'm feeling fancy, I get the tekka ju, which is a bowl of sushi rice with raw tuna on top.

1. Flying Fish. I would say my Flying Fish habit is verging on addiction. I seriously have withdrawal if I don't get the fish tacos (w/grilled tilapia, snappy) once a week. We had a few Monkey-less Mondays there, but I normally go with my friend, Chip, who is hooked on the tacos and the oyster po-boys, or I get it to go. (They are a bit crazy with the styrofoam so I avoid the to-go scenario if at all possible.)



Coming in at a close six, was Miss Cordelia's. Had they started carrying Umai sushi a bit earlier, they would have been in the top three for sure.

What are your regular haunts?