The Fat Red Line

Going to another country is so exhilarating. You leave behind the comfortable routine of your everyday life and expose yourself to a new world. Unfortunately, it’s expensive and inconvenient, costing thousands of dollars and weeks of time.

Unless you live or work in Los Angeles, that is, when all it takes is a couple of bucks and a lunch hour.

for many people, the Red Line subway system is a great way to get to and from work. For us at the Food section, it (and almost everything else), is all about eating. We’ve been riding up and down the Red Line since its recent expansion into the San Fernando Valley, getting out at each stop to explore the local markets and restaurants.

What we’ve found is amazing. Hop off at the Hollywood-Western stop, for example, and you’re in the heart of Thai Town--more than a dozen Thai restaurants, markets, bookstores and sweet shops. Of course, this being Los Angeles, there’s also a Spanish-language bookstore-coffee shop and a Persian restaurant thrown in for good measure.

Depending on the stop, you may find yourself in Central America, Korea, the Philippines or Mexico. And there’s a good chunk of classic Los Angeles thrown in: Cassell’s burgers, Langer’s pastrami, Taylor’s steaks, Musso & Frank Grill . . . even the Central Library’s magnificent cookbook collection.

All of these are within a short walk of a Red Line stop, three blocks maximum. Put in a little extra effort and there’s even more: Little Tokyo and Chinatown, for example, require a slightly longer walk, and they offer incredible eating.

You won’t believe how far you can travel in just one lunch hour.

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The Fat Red Line

Here’s a quickie guide to the more food-oriented Red Line stops.

1) Union Station: Handmade Tortillas and French Dip

On the concourse of Union Station is Traxx, a cutely named California cuisine restaurant. It has a dining room if you crave quiet, but the better show is “outside� beneath the station’s arched ceiling.

Head out the western end of the station and cross Alameda Street to Olvera Street. La Luz del Dia, adjacent to the Plaza de Los Angeles, the oldest part of town, has some of L.A.’s best carnitas, and they’re a bargain, most plates $5 or less. Wonderful thick, chewy corn tortillas are made before your eyes.

From Olvera Street, head back onto Alameda and go left (north) one block to Ord Street. There, you’ll find 92-year-old Philippe the Original, the originator of the French dip sandwich.

Traxx, 800 N. Alameda St. (213) 625-1999.

La Luz del Dia, 1 W. Olvera St. (213) 628-7495.

Philippe the Original, 1001 N. Alameda St. (213) 628-3781.

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3) Pershing Square: Gorditas and Sushi

Just across 4th Street is Grand Central Market, dozens of retail businesses under one roof. Check out the selection of dried peppers at Bardovi & Kazan and Del Rey Spanish Foods, which also has a nice selection of Mexican and Central American cheeses and creams. Once you’re ready to eat, the best bets are Ana Maria, where the gorditas are crisp and overstuffed, Roast to Go for tacos and tortas, Tacos Tumbras a Tomas for tacos, tortas and sopes and relative newcomer Sarita’s Pupuseria for--what else?--pupusas, thick masa pancakes with a cheesy filling.

On the west side of Pershing Square is a very different operation, the grand old Regal Biltmore Hotel. Bernard’s, headed by chef Roger Pigozzi, is the hotel’s fine-dining restaurant; it’s good but pricey. Perhaps more interesting is Sai Sai, which features sushi, tempura and traditional kaiseki meals.

Grand Central Market, 317 S. Broadway. (213) 624-2378.

Regal Biltmore Hotel, 506 S. Grand Ave. (213) 624-1011.

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4) 7th Street-Metro: Cookbooks and Soft-Shells

Take the Hope Street exit and walk north two blocks to the beloved Central Library. There are eight levels, housing more than 2 million books. Cookbook fans will want to linger in the stacks on the third level (business and science tomes) among the thousands of cookbooks. It’s one of the best collections in the country, including rare books you won’t find anywhere else.

For a look at the downtown power scene, join the noisy lunch throngs at Joachim Splichal’s California-French Cafe Pinot, which offers indoor and outdoor seating in the library’s courtyard.

Right behind the library is Water Grill, easily the best fine-dining restaurant within walking distance of the Red Line and quite possibly the best seafood restaurant in Southern California.

Central Library, 630 W. 5th St. (213) 228-7000.

Cafe Pinot, 700 W. 5th St. (213) 239-6500.

Water Grill, 544 S. Grand Ave. (213) 891-0900.

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5) Westlake-MacArthur Park: Mega-Pastrami and Guatemalan

Langer’s Deli is an institution that may owe its life to the subway. Before the completion of the Red Line stop just up the block, the place was about to close. That would have been a tragedy. Al Langer’s moist, smoky, peppery pastrami is food for the gods.

Continue west on 7th Street half a block and you’ll come to Guatemala Imports, a grocery store featuring all kinds of dried and frozen Central American ingredients, plus fresh loroco and chipilin herbs.

Right next door is Paseo Chapin, one of the best Guatemalan restaurants in town. Guatemalan food tends to be more stew-like and less spicy than Mexican. Try pepian, pollo en crema or revolcado. Or get the Guatemalan tamal--longer, fatter and more moist than any Mexican tamale you’ve ever had.

Langer’s Deli, 704 S. Alvarado St. (213) 483-8050.

Guatemala Imports, 2214 W. 7th St. (213) 487-4340.

Paseo Chapin, 2220 W. 7th St. (213) 385-7420.

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6) Wilshire-Vermont: Silken Tofu, Sambals and Prime Burgers

Walk two blocks south on Vermont Avenue to the little mini-mall at the corner of 7th Street and you’ll find two of the best Korean restaurants in the neighborhood. The specialty at BCD Tofu House is soon tofu--bubbling-hot soupy or casserole-like bowls of silken tofu, spiked with anything from kimchi to clams. Ko Ba Woo House next door concentrates on noodle soups, rice dishes and mung bean or potato pancakes (bindae ttuk, gamja ttuk).

On the way is Islamic Food Mart, selling meat slaughtered according to Muslim law. It also has a nice assortment of grains and spices as well as various Middle Eastern packaged goods.

One block north and one block west of the Wilshire-Vermont intersection is Cassell’s Hamburgers, which many consider the best in this burger-crazy town. Cassell’s grinds its own Prime beef and offers a wide range of toppings and dressings.

In the second block east of Vermont Avenue on the north side of 6th Street is JayNel Dutch Import shop, which carries Dutch and Indonesian products, notably a large line of Dutch cookies.

In the corner of a strip mall one block north and two blocks east of the Wilshire-Vermont intersection is Kang Seo Myun Oak, a branch of a Seoul restaurant chain that specializes in naengmyun, cold buckwheat noodles in sparkling-clear cold beef broth.

Soot Bull Jeep is a little farther than most of our walks, but it’s worth it. Go two blocks south on Vermont Avenue and then two blocks west on 8th Street and you’re at what is generally considered the best Korean barbecue restaurant in Los Angeles. You grill your own meats over hardwood charcoal, you snack on some cold panchan, and pretty soon you’ve forgotten the walk.

BCD Tofu House, 698 S. Vermont Ave., No. 110. (213) 386-8558.

Ko Ba Woo House, 698 S. Vermont Ave., No. 109. (213) 389-7300.

Islamic Food Mart, 668 S. Vermont Ave. (213) 383-2583.

Cassell’s Hamburgers, 3266 W. 6th St. (213) 387-5502.

JayNel Dutch Import, 3115 W. 6th St. (213) 389-8807.

Kang Seo Myun Oak, 3033 W. 6th St. (213) 382-1717.

Soot Bull Jeep, 3136 W. 8th St. (213) 387-3865.

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7) Wilshire-Normandie: Steaks and Crickets

Go half a block up Wilshire Boulevard to Ardmore Avenue and walk south three blocks. At the corner of 8th Street, you’ll find Taylor’s Prime Steaks, a real old-time Los Angeles steak house. The steaks are Choice, rather than Prime, but the culotte steak is a flavorful, chewy hunk of meat.

Turn left at 8th Street and in the middle of the block, you’ll find Guelaguetza: part restaurant, part village market where you can buy Oaxacan ingredients like deep-fried crickets (chapulines; think Rice Krispies with legs). You can’t go wrong with the clayudas (kind of like giant tortilla pizzas). And the moles are terrific, particularly the stunningly complex mole negro.

Taylor’s Prime Steaks, 3361 W. 8th St. (213) 382-8449.

Guelaguetza, 3337 1/2 W. 8th St. (213) 427-0601.

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8) Wilshire-Western: Beef Dumplings and Cool Noodles

Cross Wilshire Boulevard and you’re at the gorgeous Wiltern Building, home of the Wiltern Theater and the Atlas Supper Club, a hot music scene that serves pretty good food. Particularly notable is designer Ron Meyers’ decor, which features amazing cast-iron sculptures by artist Joshua Triliegi.

A couple blocks south, you’ll find You and Me, a tiny Korean cafe specializing in all kinds of dumplings, notably mandu, which can be stuffed with anything from beef and pork to kimchi.

Almost directly across Western Avenue from the Red Line stop is Woo Lae Oak, a Korean restaurant that may not be the most deeply authentic place in Koreatown but offers a good introduction to the cuisine in an upscale atmosphere.

Atlas Supper Club, 3760 Wilshire Blvd. (213) 380-8400.

You and Me Restaurant, 701 S. Western Ave. (213) 388-1717.

Woo Lae Oak, 623 S. Western Ave. (213) 384-2244.

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9) Vermont-Beverly: Indonesian Meets Salvadoran

One block west of the stop is Agung Indonesian Restaurant, with a large menu of Indonesian food, including beef rendang (stewed with coconut milk) and opor ayam (chicken in coconut milk broth).

Keep going another block and you’re at Atlacatl Restaurant, a Salvadoran restaurant in a house surrounded by banana trees. The long menu features many types of pupusas, casamiento (rice and black beans with cheese and cream) and a plate of nuegados (yuca fritters) served with bananas and sweet potatoes in syrup.

One more block west takes you to Panaderia El Salvador. Check the counter display of Salvadoran pastries, breads and frosted cakes. Specialties include salpores, a sort of cross between a biscuit and cookie, and quesadilla, a sweet cake flavored with cheese.

Now cross Beverly Boulevard. Almost opposite the Panaderia El Salvador is the Guatemalteca Bakery, which sells Guatemalan-style breads and pastries and serves food to eat there (there are only a few small tables) or to take out. Dishes include hilachas (stewed shredded beef), Guatemalan-style chicken sandwiches and longaniza sausage.

Agung Indonesian Restaurant, 3909 W. Beverly Blvd. (323) 660-2113.

Atlacatl Restaurant, 301 N. Berendo St. (323) 663-1404.

Panaderia El Salvador, 4015 W. Beverly Blvd. (323) 665-5890.

Guatemalteca Bakery & Restaurante, 4032 W. Beverly Blvd. (213) 382-9451.

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10) Vermont-Santa Monica-LACC: Filipino and Middle Eastern

At the northeast corner of Santa Monica Boulevard and Vermont Avenue, you’ll find a large shopping center that includes a Filipino market, restaurant and bakery.

The aptly named Seafood Market is loaded with really fresh fish. It also stocks Asian produce and imported ingredients such as crab fat paste, sauteed shrimp paste (ginisang bagoong) and coconut gel.

East of Seafood Market is a take-out place named Ilonggo. The menu changes daily, but it might include adobo (meat cooked with soy sauce, vinegar and garlic), kaldereta (goat stew) and ginataan kalabasa (yellow squash cooked with coconut milk).

Right next door is V’Valerio’s Family Bakery, which sells the Filipino dinner roll called pan de sal, either plain or stuffed with chicken. It also makes sweet breads such as pan de ube, filled with a purple yam paste.

Bezjian’s is a small market packed with Middle Eastern and Indian foods and terrific breads. It’s a good idea to call before stopping by; the hours are quirky because the owner may be off selling his bread at farmers markets.

South on Vermont Avenue, right across from L.A. City College, is Vito’s Pizza, which makes a classic New York pizza with a thin, chewy crust full of sweet fresh-bread flavor, its leathery bottom mottled black and brown and gritty with cornmeal.

Seafood Market, 1100 N. Vermont Ave. (323) 953-2689.

Ilonggo, 4627-C Santa Monica Blvd. (323) 913-1939.

V’Valerio’s Family Bakeshop, 4627-B Santa Monica Blvd. (323) 662-6110.

Bezjian’s Market, 4725 Santa Monica Blvd. (323) 663-1503.

Vito’s Pizza, 814 N. Vermont Ave. (323) 667-2723.

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12) Hollywood-Western: Thai Central

The Red Line Station at Western Avenue and Hollywood Boulevard is close to the heart of Thai Town. Two blocks west of Western is a cluster of small Thai restaurants. The seafood section of Thai Seafood’s menu includes spicy mussels and shrimp nam prik pow, also spicy.

Pailin Thai Cuisine offers things like blue crab salad, roast duck curry and a vegetable curry with curry.

Rodded Restaurant leans more toward Chinese-style dishes. It’s famous for ped pa lo (duck stew). like duck stew.

Cross Gramercy Place and on the corner is the Espresso Mi Cultura Coffeehouse, which has the usual coffeehouse fare, but also has a large selection of Spanish-language books.

Thai Seafood, 5615 Hollywood Blvd. (323) 462-7678.

Pailin Thai Cuisine, 5621 Hollywood Blvd. (323) 467-7715.

Rodded Restaurant, 5623 Hollywood Blvd. (323) 962-8382.

Espresso Mi Cultura Coffeehouse, 5625 Hollywood Blvd. (323) 461-0808.

The real heart of Thai Town is east of Western Avenue. On the second block is Thailand Plaza, which contains the Silom Supermarket, a good place to look for Thai ingredients, cooking utensils and traditional Thai blue and white china.

At one end of the Silom Supermarket’s enclosed rear parking lot is Dokya, a large Thai bookshop with a varied stock, including Thai-English dictionaries and a lot of cookbooks, a few of which are in English.

Immediately east of the market is New Hollywood Plaza. At the front is Palms Thai Restaurant, notable partly for weekend appearances by the Thai Elvis, but mostly for its amazing food, particularly the catfish salad and the spicy pad Thai.

Next to it is Bhan Kanom Thai, which specializes in Thai sweets and snacks. Especially interesting are the miniature fruits: They look like marzipan, but they’re made of mung bean paste and coconut milk.

Across the parking lot in this same mall is Ruenpair, which stays open until 3:30 a.m. for people who want a late bowl of kao tom (rice soup). Further east on Hollywood Boulevard is another rice-soup restaurant, Hollywood Thai Restaurant, this one open until 4 a.m.

Just past that is--surprise!--a Persian restaurant, Shahsavar. It serves kebabs and other dishes such as fesenjan (chicken in a walnut and pomegranate sauce).

Continue east to Kanomthai Ramsong, which produces a great variety of Thai sweets and snacks, including freshly made khanom beuang, small rice flour pastries lined with meringue and filled with sweetened egg yolk strands or spicy coconut.

Cross Hollywood Boulevard to the small corner shopping mall that contains one of the most popular Thai restaurants in Los Angeles, Sanamluang Cafe. Foodies come for the noodle dishes and salads, like larb (ground meat mixed with roasted rice powder, onions, hot peppers and lime juice).

Beside Sanamluang is the Bangluck Market, a small place jammed with everything needed for Thai cooking, plus Thai sweets packaged to go and, beyond the meat department in the back, a section of cooked dishes for takeout.

Silom Supermarket, 5321 Hollywood Blvd. (323) 993-9000.

Dokya Thai bookshop, 5321 Hollywood Blvd. (323) 464-7178.

Palms Thai Restaurant, 5273 Hollywood Blvd. (323) 462-5073.

Bhan Kanom Thai, 5271 Hollywood Boulevard. (323) 871-8030.

Ruenpair, 5257 Hollywood Blvd. (323) 466-0153.

Hollywood Thai Restaurant, 5241 Hollywood Blvd. (323) 467-0926.

Shahsavar Restaurant, 5229 Hollywood Blvd. (323) 469-8434.

Kanomthai Ramsong, 5185 Hollywood Blvd. (323) 667-2055.

Sanamluang Cafe, 5176 Hollywood Blvd. (323) 660-8006.

Bangluck Market, 5170 Hollywood Blvd. (323) 660-8000.

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13) Hollywood-Vine: Hipster’s Farmers Market

The best food source near this busy corner is the Hollywood Growers Market, held one block west and one block south each Sunday. The produce and the people-watching are stunning. You never know who might turn up, from bleary-eyed rockers to baseball-capped movie stars.

exIncendo is a charming place on the ground floor of the historic Taft Building. Among the pizzas, pastas and sandwiches at lunch you’ll find roasted duck legs with homemade barbecue sauce served on fennel mashed potatoes and steamed baby bok choy. An adjoining housewares department sells many contemporary place settings.

exIncendo, 6282 Hollywood Blvd. (323) 465-3257.

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14) Hollywood-Highland: The Immortal Musso

There’s not much to eat in this neighborhood, though that might change once the construction is cleaned up. The notable exception is three blocks east of the intersection: Musso & Frank Grill, perhaps the archetypal Los Angeles restaurant, dating from 1919 (and, seemingly, still employing some of the original waiters). Everybody has to eat at this landmark at least once. Great bartenders; great meat.

Musso & Frank Grill, 6667 Hollywood Blvd. (323) 467-7788.

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16. North Hollywood: Chilean Hot Dogs and Biryani

The attraction here is the NoHo Arts District. There are a few restaurants--nothing fabulous but good enough if you happen to be in the area.

Roy-Roy Chilean Restaurant is a modest place serving sandwiches, including a Chilean-style hot dog on freshly baked bread and Chilean dishes, such as pastel de choclo, a corn pie with ground beef, olives and chicken. In the same block is Salomi Indian and Bangladesh Restaurant, serving curry lunches, biryanis and other typical Indian dishes in a rather fancy setting.

Continue down Lankershim Boulevard to Pit Fire Pizza Co., a spacious place with indoor and outdoor dining serving a great variety of pizza and pasta dishes.

Around the corner on Magnolia Boulevard is Jarin Thai Cuisine, which serves a wide variety of popular Thai dishes, including pad Thai, the crisp sweet fried noodle dish mee krob and the rich panang curry.

Return to Lankershim Boulevard, cross the street and walk down to the Eclectic Cafe, which offers pastas and pizzas, seafood and chicken dishes, salads and sandwiches as well as wines and micro-brews.

Roy-Roy Chilean Restaurant, 5251 Lankershim Blvd. (818) 752-2966.

Salomi Indian and Bangladesh Restaurant, 5225 Lankershim Blvd. (818) 506-0130.

Pit Fire Pizza Co., 5211 Lankershim Blvd. (818) 980-2949.

Jarin Thai cuisine, 11235 Magnolia Blvd. (818) 763-8767.

Eclectic Cafe, 5156 Lankershim Blvd. North Hollywood. (818) 760-2233.

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the fat red line

Times: First eastbound train leaves North Hollywood at 4:48 a.m.; first westbound rain leaves Union Station at 4:30 a.m. Last eastbound train leaves North Hollywood at 11:55 p.m.. Last westbound train leaves Union Station at 11:33 p.m.

Be aware that there are two different tracks west of Vermont/Wilshire. One follows Wilshire Boulevard to Western, the other goes to North Hollywood. Look for the sign in the window of each westbound train to tell you where it’s going.

Frequency: Trains run every 15 minutes until 6 a.m.; every 10 minutes until 8:30 a.m.; every 12 minutes from 8:30 a.m. until 6:30 p.m.; every 15 minutes after 6:30 p.m.; every 20 minutes after 8:30 p.m..

Tickets: One-way $1.35. Round-trip $2.70. Tokens available for 90 cents each in lots of 10. Weekly pass $11. Two-week pass $21. Monthly passes $42.

Cash fares available at ticket vending machines at every station.

For more information: (800) 266-6883 or https://www.mta.net.

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This story was researched by staff writers Barbara Hansen, Charles Perry, Mayi Brady, Donna Deane, Jennifer Lowe and Russ Parsons. Additional contributions were made by Jet Tila, Cecilia Hae-Jin Lee and Pete Metzger. It was designed by Judy Pryor.