Business Lunch: Fundamental LA Offers Good Eats Quickly

Even on the busiest of workdays, you still need to eat. For those looking for a quick bite that doesn’t come prepackaged from a drive-thru, Westwood’s new lunchtime hot spot fundamental LA offers delectable sandwiches that are served in a jiffy.

“Everything is scratch made in-house, and once ordered, sandwiches are delivered to guests in less than 10 minutes,” says fundamental LA partner Woogene Lee.

The eatery opened its doors June 13 and has been serving a steady crowd of lunches daily, Lee said. The restaurant appeals to businesspeople in search of a fast break from the office, informal meetings over a sandwich, and those with very limited lunch hour breaks.

“We do a lot of sandwiches a day—the torta and porchetta get the most love, especially between 12 and 1:30, when we get our biggest rush and there's often a line to the door,” Lee said.

Fundamental LA has a continuously changing market-driven menu that features a variety of artisan sandwiches and salads served with fresh ingredients from local farmers markets. Sandwiches range from $8 to $13 and menu options include buffalo sweetbreads (bleu cheese, shaved crudite, brioche), chicken torta (braised chicken, heirloom tomatoes, butter lettuce, cotija, crema, pickled jalapeños, and garlic on bolillo bread) and short ribs (curried eggplant, dandelion greens, lime yogurt on sourdough). Salad choices include options such as lyonnaise (frisee, hickory smoked bacon, poached egg, mustard vinaigrette, brioche) and the vegetable cobb (carrot, fava, sprouts, cauliflower, peas, burrata, red wine vinegar).

Side dish options such as pickles, Chinese long beans, chips and warm potato salad accompany entrees. A variety of fresh baked desserts such as delicious chocolate covered strawberries with crème fraiche and chocolate chip snickerdoodle cookies are also favorites among visitors.

Lee says the most popular sandwiches for weekday lunches are the chicken torta and the soft-shell crab po'boy (soft-shell crab, lettuce, tomato, okra relish, on brioche). The fundamental LA menu is ever-changing and is updated on the restaurant’s website.

Fundamental LA’s clean and minimal decor makes it a great place for a casual business lunch. Seating is split between bar and communal seating, which is offered at long white oak tables set to accompany larger parties.

Fundamental LA does not offer free Wi-Fi and parking is limited to street parking; however, Lee says that the neighborhood to the west of the restaurant is a great place to snag free two hour parking.

Fundamental LA, 1303 Westwood Blvd. Westwood, CA 90024, 310-444-7581. Hours: Lunch is served Monday – Saturday: 11 a.m.  – 3 p.m., dinner is served 5-10 p.m. Monday - Thursday and 5-midnight Friday-Saturday. Closed Sunday.