The Spice Table Opens for Lunch

A few days after I checked out the Spice Table for dinner, they started serving lunch. I couldn’t resist going back to try the chicken wings, the only item from dinner that is served at lunch. While it’s full service for dinner, it’s more of a fast-casual place for lunch. You order in the front from a menu of banh mis (Vietnamese sandwiches) and then pay around the counter. At dinner, I had wondered where the Vietnamese influence was but at lunch, it’s clearly the dominant cuisine with an assertive cold cuts banh mi.

The cold cuts banh mi features Vietnamese ham, pate, headcheese, garlic mayo, pickled carrots, pickled daikon, cucumber, cilantro and jalapeno. There were five of us trying various sandwiches. I also had a taste of the pork belly, catfish and lemongrass chicken. I was too full to taste the curried eggplant but did wish I could have tried the meatball.

The shrimp and spicy sweet potato chips are served in paper bags. After ripping open the bags, I surveyed my artistic “plating.” It’s bit architectural, no?

I grabbed a ginger beer for lunch but since the Spice Table does sell beer and wine…I wonder if it’ll be a boozy DTLA lunch next time?

The Spice Table

114 S. Central St., Los Angeles, CA 90012 – 213-620-1840