Downtown Los Angeles - Philippe The Original and Grand Central Market

On our way to Mexico City, we Amtraked it up to Los Angeles for a few days. We stayed downtown at the Biltmore and did all of our visit either walking or using public transport.

One important item on our todo list was a visit to Philippe, The Original for french dip sandwiches.



You order at the counter, and then sit to eat at long communal tables amongst other contented patrons of numerous ethnicities from assorted walks of life.



They have a number of different sandwiches, but I knew from my research that I wanted a lamb sandwich, double-dipped. We also got a beef sandwich to try for comparison, and the mandatory $.65 lemonade.

The lamb sandwich was the clear winner. It is the only sandwich that they still hand-cut the meat for right in front of you so you get nice fresh chunks instead of pre-sliced meat. Not too pretty to look at, but delicious.



One morning, we visited the Grand Central Market, a great old-style market downtown.



It was breakfast time, and the various meat and seafood tacos didn't appeal so we had a breakfast sandwich and a breakfast burrito from Jose Chiquito where they cook your meal to order in a little stall that couldn't have measured much more than a dozen square feet.



The most popular place by far, though, was this chinese place. Most of the people were eating soups of some kind, individually seasoned with the red chile paste and fresh lime wedges scattered along the counter top.