Forget Brunch: Why Lunch Might Be the Best Meal of the Day and the Best Places to Go in California

A New Way to Think About Lunch (My Experiment)

I used to treat lunch the same way — fast, functional, forgettable. Then I started paying attention to how the rest of the world does it. In Spain, lunch is the main meal of the day, eaten between 2pm and 4pm, unhurried. In France, the two-hour lunch is not a luxury but an expectation. In Japan, lunch is where some of the finest restaurants reserve their most accessible menus. The rest of the world figured something out that American culture has been slow to acknowledge: lunch, given proper attention, is often the best meal of the day.

Below are a few of my recent lunch discoveries—from rich ramen in California, to wood-fired pasta in San Francisco, to tacos by the beach in San Diego.

Hiro Nori Craft Ramen: California Comfort in a Bowl

HiroNori Craft Ramen is a California chain — and I use that word not as a diminishment but as an honest description of a restaurant group that has managed to maintain quality across ten locations without the usual compromises. The founders named the restaurant after themselves: Hiro Igarashi and Nori Akasaka, who set out to make what they call "the best ramen in California."

Shoyu Ramen

The shoyu ramen at the Irvine location makes that claim plausible. Pork chashu cooked low and slow until it yields completely, a soft-boiled egg with a yolk still trembling at the center, bamboo, green onion, spinach, and kaiware sprouts in a broth that is clear, savory, and deeply considered. Add the garlic sauce and the house spicy sauce — both complimentary, both essential. This is not a bowl that needs apology.

Cotogna (San Francisco): A Wood-Fired Lunch Worth Planning Around

Cotogna, located in San Francisco's historic Jackson Square, is known for their hand made pastas, wood fired pizzas and spit roasted meats. 'Cotogna' is Italian for 'quince,' the name of their fine dining, sister restaurant next door. With a menu that changes daily based on what is farm fresh, you're always in for a delicious surprise.

Carbonara Pizza

This was not only delectable during lunch, but for breakfast the next morning as well. Bacon (guanciale) and eggs? It's all there on the hand tossed, wood fired dough.

Tagliatelle All'uovo "7" Meat Ragu.

The tagliatelle all'uovo arrived with a seven-meat ragù that had been simmering long enough to lose any individual identity and become something unified and deeply savory — the kind of sauce that exists only because someone had the patience to wait for it. The pasta was hand-rolled, thicker than you might expect, with enough structural integrity to hold the weight of the ragù without dissolving into it. I ate it for lunch and thought about it for dinner. The carbonara pizza — guanciale, egg, pecorino — I took home and ate the following morning. It was, if anything, better for the rest.

Oscar's Mexican Seafood (San Diego): Lunch on the Beach

Oscar's Mexican Seafood's original location is in San Diego's Pacific Beach neighborhood. This hole in the wall restaurant is located near a smoke shop and a dive bar, just blocks from the beach. The portions are big, the prices are low and the food is creative and fresh.

With frequently long lines, you are lucky to get a seat at the counter. Getting the food to go is always an option, or you can visit Oscar's other San Diego locations which have larger dining areas.

Smoked fish taco with cabbage, avocado, cheese and a drizzle of their exquisite salsa.

The ceviche, tortas and burritos all get glowing reviews but, tacos take center stage at Oscar's.

A note on timing: all three of these restaurants are best visited on weekdays, when the lunch-hour crowd has departed and the kitchen still has everything on the menu. Cotogna in particular transforms at lunch from the dinner reservation everyone wants into a relaxed neighborhood Italian restaurant that anyone can walk into. That accessibility is part of what makes lunch the most democratic meal of the day.

Brunch gets the aesthetic. Dinner gets the occasion. But lunch? Lunch might be where the best meals actually happen.