LASA Returns to Take Over the Lunch Game at Far East Plaza in Chinatown

Though construction is still wrapping up for the formal dining room of star Filipino dinner project LASA, brothers Chad and Chase Valencia are already on hand inside the kitchen of what was previously Unit 120. They’re slinging lunch from the takeout window there, right around the corner from Howlin’ Ray’s, and doing a pared down, dialed up version of some of their favorite casual dishes from the Philippines.

You can catch the early soft opening lunch menu below, which includes classics like the egg noodle bowl known as pancit, plus lumpia, and the above dish called adobong puti. Everything is a cool $10, with egg and avocado add-ons running $1.50 more.

The move to jumpstart LASA’s full-time Chinatown arrival with lunch is a smart one, as it not only gets money in the door while the rest of the place is coming together, it continues to introduce the kitchen’s flavors to folks who just happen to be walking by. Despite the recent success of Filipino food across Los Angeles and elsewhere, there’s still a learning curve to some of the flavors and ingredients that you don’t get from, say, an upstairs ramen restaurant.

Soft opening hours for the LASA lunch window are Tuesday through Sunday, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Dinner service should resume next week in the redone dining room attached to the takeout window, with Alvin Cailan’s own original concept for the space, Unit 120, moving into larger digs further down the plaza.

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