Viewing entries in
restaurant

Biergarten - Korea Town - Los Angeles

March 22, 2016

Korea Town has really come a long way. Really? No, not really. They've been the same and true to keeping it real. There's still an authentic feel to this neighborhood with fantastic Korean restaurants. If you think of Little Tokyo, true fans will tell you Torrance is the place to be at for amazing Japanese food. And if you are thinking about Chinatown in Los Angeles, the people that really know will tell you Alhambra/Monterey Park/SGV is the place to be.

206 N Western Ave.,Los Angeles, CA 90004

Biergarten is a Korean Gastropub located on Western Avenue. I've never heard of a Korean Gastropub before, but I know Korean food and I know Gastropub. Put the 2 together, and you get I-AM-NOT-LEAVING-THIS-PLACE.

Um yeah, this was pretty much the 1st thing I did when I got here.

Soju... it's my kryptonite... or just one of them that I am willing to accept. These were flavored from peach, to grape, to lemon, to pomegranate. How does it taste? Easy. Which makes them ridiculously dangerous. I'm not going to like, I had to wake up at 5AM the next day to drop off John at LAX and it was not a good morning.

Before you drop your jaw, let me tell you what these are. Tempura fries, kalbi, melted white cheddar with beer ass gravy... oh and some green onions because we all need some color to make ourselves feel better. Using a fork is only necessary because you want to make sure you can grab a huge portion for yourself before passing it down. But, who the hell made the take one pass it down rule anyway? And why is sharing caring? Trust me, there are a lot of things you don't want to share with me.

Ok this was pretty much amazing. A 7.5 oz of chuck meat with roasted cherry tomatoes, onion marmalade and arugula. It sounds incredibly simple, but it was bursting with flavor. The meat had a beautiful crust to it. The brioche also stood up to the challenge as it kept composed through my many chomps. And you know I can put on a mean chomp. Delicious, I highly recommend ordering their burgers (kind of want one right now).

To me, fried rice is comfort food. Not because I am Chinese, okay, but because I love eating foods with a giant spoon. Especially when I am at home watching TV. I am the worst comfort eater. I will go all out. The worst looking PJ's you can think of, hair tied back, and hot sauce everything. This brings me back to that, but when there is kimchi involved, all bets are off. And a fried egg with a runny yolk? WHY SHARE THIS? We all know there is one yolk. And there is no way I am going to "share" that with you. #justsayin395829058092

These were really delicious. Like, extremely tasty. The daikon reminds me of the chinese daikon cake. These are spicy and packed with flavor as it is made with pickled daikon and gochujang aioli. I'm still thinking about this now, no lies. Highly recommended.

More soju game going here. They are delicious and dangerously easy to drink. So with any precautions to drinking, you've been warned.

But don't be scared. Because we are all in this together. So always cheers to a bottoms up and chase with a poutine. Because that's what real foodies do. HAH.

These chickens are LOADED. You can definitely taste the alcohol marinade in this chicken. These were free range chickens. The meat is much more tender and juicy. Their pickled jalapeno was banging. Be careful, I rubbed my face a few times like an idiot. My face was burning from different parts since I kept forgetting. Hand washing doesn't help after the damage is done. I loved the heat though. I'm just weird like that.

I for some reason left with a new nickname, Daisy the tank. Don't ask. Maybe you will find out if we are ever to dine... and drink together.

Happy Eating

Comment

Tacos Tu Madre - Westwood

March 13, 2016

LA has definitely been a taco staple exploding into different counties. What I find is there are more contemporary fusion tacos than what you would find the past decade. Tacos Tu Madre not only offer your fusion tacos like Korean BBQ or Duck Mole, but also stays within your comfort zones by offering Asada, Carnitas, Al Pastor, Lengua, and Chorizo Egg which I HIGHLY recommend.

Tacos Tu Madre - 1945 1/2 Westwood BlvdLos Angeles, CA 90025

This menu was taken a few months ago when I first visited the restaurant. This menu is located outside their take out window, but they also have one to look through for more in depth options. I've included their most recent menu to the left.

As you see, besides the tacos being more sophisticated, so are the prices. But, there are also more component to each taco that you order here. I brought John with me. Like myself and many of you who grew up with $1 tacos, find it blasphemy when a taco costs $1.25.

But as the economy is growing, so is everything else. That's right, a bundle of cilantro can cost 99 cents. Avocados are expensive as hell. And lemons are only used if it's a special occasion. You catch my drift.

This is my favorite from everything I've had. For $4.75, this is totally worth it. Served on a crispy tortilla shell, the ahi tuna is cut in chunks and mixed with avocados, spicy citrus yuzu ponzu sauce, chives, sesame seeds and seaweed flakes.

The only thing I can say, is I can't extract the yuzu flavor. For some reason, I tasted a lot of ginger. Maybe I have poor taste buds. Maybe they don't even have any ginger in house. But it's extremely fresh and something I would never complain about. I would definitely order 2 of these and be content.

There are options to order this in a Burrito or a Bowl for additional charges. A burrito or bowl will supplement as a meal.

In other words, the Darth Maul version. How can you not think about that just by looking at these colors. Or maybe even Deadpool. Each chip has a helpful amount of salt, but not too much. Just enough to balance the guac. I couldn't help but dive back into this from time to time. Avocados are the good types of fat, and I will keep telling myself that everything it touches will become just that.

In the platter above, there's Duck Mole, Korean BBQ, Crispy Fish, Carnitas, and Lengua. The tortillas is not your standard 2 sheets, but one presumably hand made. You gotta eat these fast because the tortillas does break apart if it sits for a while. All the tacos were packed with flavor. I ate these tacos not keeping in mind with what I've grown up eating, but to keep an unbiased opinion based solely on flavors. So yes. I will pay over $3 bucks for a taco.

Street corn is my thing and something I love to make at home. This is not your elote you would find on the streets. Mayonnaise was missed, and it seems they use red chili flakes instead of cayenne. This does make eating a lot easier, and less messier than it would be on a cob.

They have desserts like red velvet churros and frozen horchatas to help you move on with your day. The red churros were interesting and definitely had no resemblance from a traditional churro. These are much more dense. I would love the cream cheese frosting to be sweeter as well has the roll out of the cinnamon sugar that is coated.

Putting everything in thought, I would be back. Space is extremely limited, but tables turning over is fairly quick. It does help there are 2 Starbucks within a 1 mile radius. They do have street parking with meters, a lot where you need to pay, or residential which is just around the corner which is what we did. Trust me, after these tacos, you should take the walk.

Tacos Tu Madre is snuck away, but has a giant colorful mural. If you are lost, but close, it's in between to 2 Starbucks I mentioned.

Good luck.

Comment

GJELINA - Abbot Kinney

February 10, 2016

GJELINA is the first restaurant I've tried when visiting Abbot Kinney for the first time. On Abbot Kinney, there are a few blocks congested with little stores and restaurants to check out. I don't remember why we chose GJELINA that day, but I am happy we did.

GJELINA is one of those places where you might see a celebrity walk in. I've seen a few, but I'm pretty infatuated by their brunch menu to even care. I forget how good the food is here. Though I never had dinner, I can honestly say GJELINA is one of the best breakfast-brunch restaurants you can ask for. Not only is it pretty freaking delicious, but the items are priced fairly.

It was for John's Birthday that I decided to take him here to celebrate with a good brunch meal since we had to spend time with family that evening to celebrate Chinese New Years. There are a good variety of items to select from, but there are some dishes that are too hard to pass up.

I'm just going to dive right into this.

Duck Confit Potato Hash

*Potato hash, duck egg and grainy mustard*

Duck confit is very hard to find executed well. Most of the duck confit has I've had in my days were either too dry or not confit enough. And, the potatoes are so flavorful. Almost if they were based in the duck fat. There's nothing more to say I love you than a beautiful yolk with a nice tart grainy mustard to cut through the richness. Do I need to say more?

Moroccan Baked Eggs

Merguez, Chili, Tomato Sauce, cilantro & Spiced yogurt

I highly recommend this as well. A beautiful tomato sauce with chilies and lamb sausage cooked in, baked on top with 2 eggs. The spiced yogurt is everything you need to bring out the beautiful flavors of the merguez. The toast looked intimidating at first because it's fairly large, but just enough to finish this dish.

But wait, there's more.

Pizza Pomodoro

Nothing beats a good Neapolitan Pizza than from GJELINA. They do it well. The crust is insanely thin, crispy, nice cushion crust, and that beautiful yeasty tang we ALL love about a Neapolitan pizza.

Comes out piping hot with some fresh basil tore on top, a dash of oregano and some more condiments on the side for you to play with. Yes, I dipped the crust into my Moroccan eggs.

Is it Christmas already because everyone is say Hallelujah up in here.

Happy Birthday John.

Comment

Little Beast - Eagle Rock

February 9, 2016

Little Beast

1496 Colorado Boulevard, Los Angeles, California 90041

I've heard about Little Beast for quite some time now and having had lived in Eagle Rock for over 10 years, it definitely feels like home every time I am back in the area. Little Beast was highly recommended by friends all over. This just felt like the right place to celebrate John's birthday. He didn't want a big party or dinner so I promised him I wouldn't throw him a surprise birthday party like I had the past few years (whooops).

Little Beast is located on the corners of Colorado and Loleta Avenue. There is valet parking as well as street parking on Colorado if you are lucky. We arrived 10 minutes before our reservation, but there wasn't any trouble at all to seat us. We were seated outside in their patio which was lovely. There is a canopy outside to shield you from the rain if any, and heat lamps to keep you warm if chilly. Glancing through the menu, I already knew I wanted the Crudo and the Octopus from their small plates.

First things first, drinks.

Beer for my brother and I, and Stumptown coffee for John (french press).

It wasn't long at all before our small plates came flying out from the kitchen.

California Sea Bass Crudo

The crudo is composed of blood orange, cucumber, radish, yuzu vinaigrette, crispy wonton in between and topped with a frisée poof. This was definitely a palate opener. It was pretty hands down that this was the best rendition of this dish we had. As simple as it sounds, I think the most important part of a crudo is having an extremely balanced acid ratio which was beautifully balanced by the yuzu and the slight spiciness of the fresno chiles. I'm sure we can order 2 of these next time.

Indian Butter Octopus

To be honest, we didn't expect the octopus to come out like this. The "Don't judge a book by its cover" is playing hard on this one. That first bite I took, I felt my eyes roll back. The spices were beautiful and complimented the octopus so well. The fingerling potatoes seemed roasted or fried before it was tossed into the sauce, the flavors were harmonious. The brussell sprouts were also drizzled lightly with a simple vinaigrette which cut through the slight richness of this dish.

Charcuterie

Charcuterie is always a fun item to order. The meats were beautifully laid out on a wood board with delicious pickled condiments like caperberries (one of my favorites, great on carpaccio) and cornichons. We also received a plate of bread to go with out meats and I can't believe how much of it we actually ate.

Hickory Smoked Spicy Pork Meatballs

Ok. So you might not believe it, but I think these are the best tasting meatballs that I've ever, EVER put in my mouth. Let me tell you that the sauce on it's own is dynamite. I've never had smoke executed so perfectly like they did with these meatballs. I could have this in a jar. Buy it frozen. If I lived across the street I would be here for this a few times a week and THAT WOULD BE DANGEROUS. I think this was the best thing we had that night. And the reason why I say that is because it's a meatball. How can one meatball taste so different from another? I think, that if you can make one item that is extremely universal to our tastebuds, and then slug a curve ball like "WTF that was not what I was expecting!" it deserves to be the best thing of the night. They were moist, smokey, spicy little balls and I guarantee you will love it.

Mains

Roasted Mushroom Rissoto

The mushrooms used were king oyster, maitake, and porcini. The risotto also included thyme, black truffle, and parmesan. The flavors were creamy with a sharp roasted mushroom funk you would expect in any mushroom risotto dish. Black truffles always leave a nice touch to any dish no matter what it is. It's totally necessary.

Braised Short Ribs

The polenta was nice and creamy that balances the saltiness of the sauce that was used to braise the short ribs. The short ribs were also a good portion considering all the items we've had so far. It was definitely fork tender with nothing much for you to do but to spoon the meat around the polenta into your mouth. The veggies were carrots, turnips and asparagus.

Caledonia Prawns

The Caledonia Prawns were served over fried wild rice with porkbelly, edamame, carrots, cilantro and a honey soy vinaigrette. This was from their special items menu. The flavors were definitely different from what we had all night. John and David weren't too fond of the wild rice, but I loved the texture. Also, the honey soy vinaigrette was money. I can totally see this sauce glazed over a roasted pork belly. UGH!

I HiGHly recommend Little Beast whether you are from the area or visiting. Little Beast definitely made a bold statement to the neighborhood that you don't need to travel an hour through traffic to have fantastic food. They definitely know what they are doing, you just better make your reservations to find out.

1496 Colorado BoulevardEagle Rock, CA90041 (323)-341-5899

Instagram: @littlebeastrestaurant

Twitter: @LittleBeastEats

Comment

Breakfast with Dad - Ledo Cafe - Rosemead

January 9, 2016

It's my first meal with my dad for the New Years. How's everyone feeling about 2016 so far? Even though it's already been over a week, I am really feeling like I'm living into this year already. I am feeling pretty positive and ambitious for this year. I don't really know what to expect this year, but I'm going to make sure it's going to be a whole hell lot of fun with family, friends, and new faces.

I called my dad this morning like every Saturday morning to have breakfast. I mean, it's pretty obvious where my dad wants to go, but it's always nice to confirm because once in a while he will throw a curve ball at me and suggest a different restaurant. Not today. He's been craving his steak from Ledo Cafe in Rosemead.

Open 7AM - 2AM

8168 Garvey Ave, Rosemead, CA 91770

Chinese Hong Kong cafes in this area is the spot for us around here. I don't know what it is besides cheap eats and some nostalgic feels for our hometown. The food is "alright". Not just saying for this place in particular, but just all across the board. From cafe to cafe, you will literally find the same items on the menu: steak and eggs, instant noodles with spam and eggs, spam and eggs sandwich, preserved egg congee with your choice of: soy egg noodles with sprouts, chinese donuts, chinese radish cake, etc, you get the point.

But my dad loves the steak at Ledo's. He's also saying the same thing EVERY time his order comes. He would raise his glasses above his head and look at his steak very closely. And picks up that one piece of rosemary and say "They use rosemary" (in cantonese) and smile thinking it's super fancy. I'll give it to him though, after eating a bite of it every Saturday from his plate, their steak is starting to grow on me as well.

He orders his steak medium rare with over easy eggs. He grabs a toast, spread a little butter, put one egg in, squeeze the toast in half so the yolk oozes out, and eats it like an egg sandwich.

When you order chow mein, unless you are chinese, they probably won't ask you if you want it "2 face golden". Which basically means the noodles are fried on both sides. If you don't speak any cantonese, say "learn-mein-wong" and they will understand. If they look at you like you cussed, just tell them in english noodles fried on both side.

By having the noodles golden on both sides, it doesn't just create texture, but it adheres to the sauce better. The chow mein here wasn't bad either.

I ordered a cup of 1/2 coffee 1/2 tea called "yean-yern" which basically means ying yang. My dad just ordered coffee.

The rest of the conversation we had though, is classified. He did mentioned to me where he took this hot shot of himself:

Happy 2016!

Comment

Wine & Dine

Biergarten - Korea Town - Los Angeles

Tacos Tu Madre - Westwood

GJELINA - Abbot Kinney

Little Beast - Eagle Rock

Little Beast

Mains

Breakfast with Dad - Ledo Cafe - Rosemead