Plugs — Matthew Chavarria

L.A. food, drink, and leisure recs from a coffee head + LINKS

Plugs is The Angel’s recs column. Every week, you’ll get six picks—a restaurant, a bar, a shop, an ingredient, a person, and a treat—from someone in Los Angeles who knows what they’re talking about, plus a selection of Angel-curated links. (Plugs are for paid subscribers of The Angel only. Free subscribers will receive one Plug; upgrade your subscription to receive all six!)

#48 is Matthew Chavarria, a co-founder of Footwork Coffee Service and the manager of Montrose coffee shop How’s It Going To End? Matthew has deep roots in coffee, having come up through Dinosaur Coffee almost ten years ago. He’s also well-versed in wine. I first met him when he was a server at Lasita, then got to know him better while he was deepening his knowledge of grapes and terroir at Voodoo Vin. He’s had his hands in all sorts of creative projects, from retail shops to food pop-ups. Above all, Matthew is an instrinsically hospitable person with a deep love for the service industry. Better yet, he’s born and bred in the San Gabriel Valley, and so he’s got an especially trusty sense of where to eat and drink. Here are his L.A. Plugs!

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Restaurant — Bánh Mì Mỹ Tho (on Garvey Ave.)

I want to start with a few non-food-related reasons why this place is one of my favorites. First, it’s down the street from my house. Second, I love the building’s architecture (that being Wienerschnitzel architecture, of course). When a new business takes over a defunct old diner or chain restaurant and instead of renovating, just slaps on a new coat of paint, erects some new signage, and keeps it moving, I like that. That classically steep roof pitch makes the former hot dog shops particularly easy to spot. It’s very SGV and it’s beautiful. 

Thirdly, I’ve been coming here since I was a teen. My friends and I were regulars at that Wienerschnitzel, back when chili dogs were a staple pre- and/or post-basketball practice. My niece worked there for a little while too, holding down a hybrid FOH/BOH position — you know how that builds character. What I’m trying to say is, this location on Garvey has been a community hub for a minute. Now that it’s Bánh Mì Mỹ Tho (they took over in ’22), I get to keep filling up my bank of memories and good feelings there.

But about the food: it has so much soul, it’s consistent and it’s affordable. My go-to order is simply a grilled pork bánh mì and an XL iced coffee. They have three locations in the heart of the SGV: Alhambra, Rosemead, and El Monte. Don’t sleep.

Photos by Matthew Chavarria.