Wish you could build a delivery meal from multiple restaurants at once? Longing for a taste of David Chang’s fried chicken? L.A. is home to some phenomenal and famous food halls, and fortunately, most are still up and running—they’re just doing things a little differently now.
Strolling through a busy Grand Central Market is one of our most-missed L.A. experiences, and while it’ll be weeks before we can wander the historic food hall’s bustling corridors or meander through the Original Farmers Market’s maze, some of our favorite food hall vendors are pumping out incredible dishes for delivery, while pantry-friendly stalls are still in operation for quick social-distanced shopping. One L.A. food hall even launched delivery service today that lets you pick and choose from all of its vendors. Here’s how to enjoy the L.A. food hall experience even from the comfort of your couch.
Gallery Food Hall and SOCIALEATS
David Chang might’ve temporarily closed down nearly all of his Momofuku-family restaurants—including Chinatown’s Majordomo—but in Santa Monica’s Gallery Food Hall, you can still order the celebrity chef’s fried chicken. Fuku is one of the vendors still offering pickup and delivery, in addition to other celebrity chefs’ concepts, including the Voltaggio brothers’ STRFSH seafood shack and Jeremy Fall’s Paperboy Pizza.
You can order each Gallery Food Hall vendor individually via most apps (see their availability here), but if you want to mix and match from different stalls, we’ve got great news: SOCIALEATS functions like a food hall within within the Gallery Food Hall, curating many of the restaurants within, and as of today you can find all eight of SOCIALEATS’s vendors under one delivery service. That means instead of ordering from one stall at a time, you can pick and choose a delivery meal made of tacos from Azulé Taqueria, Fuku’s chicken tenders, Supertoro’s hand rolls and bento, Street Noods’ stir-fried noodles, and 50 percent off bottles of wine from Adelaide. The new SOCIALEATS service even offers free Santa Monica delivery (with a $10 order minimum), and it’s also selling produce boxes from Dialogue’s McKenna Lelah. Having trouble deciding? Our guide to the Gallery Food Hall and SOCIALEATS restaurants is right over here.
Photograph: Jakob N. Layman
Grand Central Market
If you’re looking for fresh fruits and vegetables, Torres Produce is still open for basic grocery needs, while Valeria’s Chiles & Spices is up and running to keep your pantry stocked with dried chilies, dehydrated shrimp, rice, beans, cinnamon sticks and more. DTLA Cheese is even doing Friday and Saturday curbside pickup with an array of fresh and aged cheeses, not to mention staples such as jams, salumi, crackers, mustards, pickles, pestos, and tinned fish in olive oil.
When it comes to ready-made meals, most of GCM’s talent is still turning it out for pickup and delivery: Sari Sari Store’s Filipino rice bowls and buko pie are available; Knead & Co.’s prepared pastas are at the ready, as are dried house-made pastas and fresh sauces for your own cooking needs; Belcampo Meat Co.’s butcher case is still stocked, and its hot and quality burgers are ready to feed you; Tacos Tumbras a Tomas is stewing up its incredible Michoacán-style carnitas and other roast meats for takeout-only tacos; Thai-food hub Sticky Rice is playing the hits and even adding new specials to the menu; La Tostaderia’s fresh ceviches and tostadas can come straight to your door; and G&B Coffee can still keep you stocked with locally roasted coffee beans and other goods.
Some of these spots are even offering crazy specials, such as Golden Road Brewery, who’s selling $7 six-packs of beer.
View this post on Instagram
The Original Farmers Market
An L.A. icon since 1934, the Original Farmers Market is a destination that wedges restaurants, local farms and retail shops together for an everything-you-need one-stop shop. While some of its vendors have closed for now, a number are still open; you can find the list of open merchants here, and most are available for delivery—even some of the grocery vendors. If you’re picking up, the historic market is even making it easier by offering free parking, so you can get in and out both quickly and cheaply.
Nonna’s Empanadas are still filling warm Argentinian-style dough pockets with roasted meats and sweet fillings; Neal Fraser’s fried-chicken shack Fritzi Coop are still serving crispy, crunchy fried chicken by the sandwich and the bucket; and Patsy D’Amore’s Pizza is still serving up garlicky pies, chicken parm sandwiches, thick slices of lasagna and other Italian-American fare.
Some are even using the time to offer rare take-and-bake items: Diner legend Du-par’s is still selling its famous pies and savory menu, but now for a limited time only, also its beloved hotcake batter in 32-ounce packages, so you can seriously up your pancake game (no, really, the secret recipe for these babies is locked in a safe; this might be your only chance to make it fresh at home). It’s also selling blue plate specials for a homestyle, family-style to-go feast that feeds four people for $40.
When it comes to grocery basics, the sprawling Monsieur Marcel’s gourmet food market stocks a seafood counter, pantry and jarred goods, specialty foods and prepared dishes to-go (including whole roast chickens). There’s farm-fresh milk and creamer at Farmers Market Poultry (in classic flavors as well as varieties like orange cream, strawberry and banana), as well as piles of fruits and vegetables at Farm Boy Produce and Farm Fresh Produce. Marconda’s Meats and Huntington Meats & Sausage can keep you stocked with the likes of lamb chops, steaks and whole chickens, while Michelina Artisan Boulanger and T&Y Bakery have all your fresh bread and pastry needs covered.