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help me feed my jury duty blues...

I have jury duty for the next 3 weeks! Yikes! I don't know downtown eateries that well, but if I'm down there that long, it's time to explore. I'm in the Spring street courthouse, which puts me pretty close to Chinatown. Any Chinatown places I shouldn't miss? Either for a lunch, a takeout meal, or a cool market I wouldn't normally venture into would be great. And, anything else in the neighborhood that could be a few blocks away I should visit? Surely something besides the strange little underground mall feeds all of LA's jurors, lawyers, judges, etc...help!

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  1. Empress of China is great, catch the dash for 25 cents and get to Little Tokyo or financial district and you will find LOTS of great choices. My favorite is Lula kabob http://www.yelp.com/biz/lula-kabob-lo...

    4 Replies
    1. re: barcelona

      Empress of China is in San Francisco Chinatown--you probably mean Empress Pavillion?

      Walking distance for quick cheap dim sum is Yum Cha Cafe almost all items are $99/order and soups for $2.99--walk down Broadway and its just past the huge dragon sculpture hanging over the street.

      There's Grand Central Market. CH favorites are Ana Maria's and Tacos Tombras A Tomas.
      317 S. Broadway

      1. re: monku

        $99/order - Wow, it must be good!!!

        1. re: LesThePress

          Ooooops....99 cents/order. Watching CNB this am.

        2. re: monku

          I second Grand Central Market -- I went every day. Monku is right on. The Birria Tacos from Tomas are fantastic, and don't miss the Chile Relleno Burrito from Ana Maria's. I like the Torta's from Roast to Go, you can browse and see what meats look best to you at the counter. Enjoy! GCM is the best part of Jury Duty Downtown. Good luck.

      2. Actually, just a search of the word "jury" on the LA Board should yield multiple threads over the last 5 years. . .

          1. If you have the $$, treat yourself one of those days with a visit to Patina for their business lunch - and a glass of paired wine. I found that the best remedy to jury duty blues.

            1 Reply
            1. re: paulfromla

              I second that motion! I just got my summons for jury duty next month, and am planning
              to do exactly that--like I did last time. It's actually a fair price, and puts me in a pardonable mood!

            2. As you will certainly learn if you follow any of the older threads on this subject, Olvera Street is even closer than Chinatown. There are quite a few places there that are popular with this crowd, mostly the cheaper taco-stand kinds of places at the south end, though I've seen plenty of recs for La Golondrina at the other end, a pricier white-tablecloth place. I had a pleasant jury-duty-day meal at the joint directly across from LG, but I can't remember the name - the food was merely on the Good side of Okay, but it was an intermittently rainy Spring day and I was sitting in their large covered patio. Lovely.