Fundamental Los Angeles

*Post by Mark.

In an era in Los Angeles where it seems like a new gourmet burger joints pops up every day, it's refreshing to note the sudden uptick in gourmet sandwich shops around town. Michael Voltaggio just opened ink.sack in West Hollywood, but on the west side, Fundamental LA is leading the charge. 

We hit the sandwich spot for lunch with Nick of TreasureLA after a local hike. Located in Westwood, this small shop serves hearty sandwiches for lunch and dinner, with an assortment of interesting sides, salads and desserts and even a full list of beer and wine. The clean, bright interior is sparsely decorated with long communal picnic tables aligned to allow diners a clear view of their sandwiches being made in the open kitchen. 

Nick decided to hit the beer menu, opting for the Spaten Optimator ($4), while we - still parched from our morning hike - decided to stick to the water. If only we'd been in the beer drinking mood: Fundamental's beer list (below) actually has a great assortment of bottles ranging from local to import.

The lunch menu features several sandwiches which are known to change frequently. On occasion you may be lucky enough to find thick porchetta or foie gras being served. At night, the menu expands to offer more sides, like hush puppies ($4) and fresh shucked oysters ($2 each).

For lunch, we were satisfied with some of their more routine sides. The homemade potato chips ($2, below) with salt and pepper really kicked things off to a good start. Light and airy, yet with a satisfying crunch, these were some of the best chips we've had in a while.

The warm potato salad ($4, below) was hearty, but not heavy. Served warm, the potato salad here attributes its creaminess not to the typical mayo blend, but to crème fraiche and blue cheese. The bacon bits added a really excellent textural contrast. Definitely not your run-of-the-mill potato salad. We were all pleasantly surprised by Fundamental's twist on the classic side dish. 

The pork meatball sandwich ($10, below) is a gut-bomb, but a tasty one that features sweet peppers and onions. Heavily buttered brioche bread soaked up a lot of the meaty red sauce, almost to the point where the just-cooked-through and perfectly seasoned meatballs threatened to break through the bottom. The taleggio was nice, although the bold flavor of the sauce could have withstood a stronger cheese.

Next up was the famous chicken torta ($9, below), with which Nick had fallen in love on a previous trip, and for good reason. This messy, glorious combination of shredded, crisped chicken, tomato, lettuce, cotija, crema, pickled jalapenos, and guacamole is sandwich-making done right. Served on a crusty bolillo bread, this was quite possibly, our favorite of the day.

Completing our trio of sandwiches was the turkey melt ($10, below). This deceptively simple sandwich uses caramelized onions, arugula, swiss and roasted garlic mayo to pack a whole lot of flavor between two pieces of very buttery, grilled bread. The highlight? Thick slices of succulent roast turkey.

For dessert we split the "evoo brownie with sea salt," ($3) a dense, just slightly sweet square of chocolate. Assorted cookies ($2) are your other lunch-time option, and at dinner the prospect of churros with butterscotch ($4) is enough to plan a return visit. 

While we loved all of our selections and would gladly order them again, we were excited to see that Fundamental changes its menu regularly, continuously creating new items to drool over. My only complaint might be the butteriness of some of the sandwiches, but the portions are plentiful and even though you order from a counter, the attentiveness of the staff goes above and beyond what you'd expect. Given that Fundamental continues to stuff sandwiches with quality and occasionally inventive ingredients, I will happily consent to their over-buttered brioche again and again.