04/02/2010
Chef Roy Choi's, of the Kogi Taco Trucks, newest spawn is Chego. Going against the norm, again. While traditional restaurants are considering mobile food trucks to expand their businesses, Choi opens his first sit down establishment.
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Recommended Dishes:
One Chubby Pork Belly, Tiny's Prime Rib Rice Bowl

 
04/01/2010
Bacaro's been around for a couple of years as a quiet but cool winebar. Perhaps its because I don't enjoy wine, is why I didn't look for it. But lately, I have been more daring and wanting to try more wine, with the films Sideways and Bottleshock.
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Recommended Dishes:
Bacaro Burger, Noe's Cauliflower

 
03/26/2010
Perhaps I should have made a few more visits to Bottega Louie, but with the suggestion of some friends, I knew I had to visit this place. The space occupies a prime 1st floor space on a corner in the heart of Downtown Los Angeles. When you walk in you notice why BL is the hottest restaurant in downtown LA. And I won't say much more about Bottega Louie, except that I do highly recommend a visit for almost any occasion.

Breakfast was my meal of choice at Bottega Louie. I had the breakfast scramble with spinach & cheese with a side of bacon - your typical California morning meal. Mr. B had a bagel & lox. I felt my eggs and spinach were typical and was nothing to write home about. But the bacon I had was solid and thick-cut, almost too much of a good thing. I didn't get to try the bagel & lox, unfortunately. I saw a nice offering of juices, pastries, and coffees, for those downtown power breakfast meetings.

I was able to mosey around the large airy restaurant to see the baked goods like cupcakes and muffins. Macaroons are the new "cupcakes" of a couple of years ago. You start to see them in more recipes, dessert combination's, and menu's. i would suspect that you'll see them more and more in the coming months. And Bottega Louie had a smattering array of multi-colored macaroons
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Recommended Dishes:
Breakfast, Macarons

 
03/25/2010
Holy crap . . . what a find. Did you know that Dino's has the most yelp burger reviews in Los Angeles, except for Tommy's? And Dino's doesn't even specialize in burgers.

Most of the customers order the chicken and only chicken. They prepare and cook chickens by the hen house it seems. As you walk up to order, you see a large stack of the bright red sauced marinaded chicken. You can't help but order anything else. I don't think I even noticed a burger patty on the grill. The on-the-wall menu, featured a faded breakfast selection. I only knew the price of the chicken plate from the enlarged LA Times article in the window.

With all walks of life happily feasting on the chicken, we were able to find a nice indoor window seat. When you first open up you see the 1/2 chicken on a bed of fries with the sauce - a savory, vinegary and not-too-spicy concoction. When you start in the chicken, the juices and goodness will drip - so make sure you have lots of napkins ready. This roasted chicken, with the skin, is full of flavor, that isn't too spicy, yet with the the right combination of unexplained sourness from the vinegar. It is just right. Also, the accompanied cole slaw provides the some flavor relief, if needed, from the boldness.

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Recommended Dishes:
1/2 Chicken

 
03/24/2010
Maybe I shouldn't have said "Best" in the title, but it sure tasted like it that day. With the stars aligned, with a full moon, and on my birthday the meat consumed like gods on this day. Everything was clicking like a Zeus had intended we feast on the succulent BBQ. How else could I describe this unspoken food group of BBQ.

This early lunch to celebrate my annual day of birth took us from the usual Asian cuisines in San Gabriel Valley to the Northern Pasadena BBQ joint Perdue's. With my family, we ordered one of every entree, just to try everything out, including the BBQ Chicken, Sliced Brisket, Baby Back Rib, Fried Catfish, and the Meaty Meaty Beef Rib. With these entrees, we had all the different types of sides. We had all sorts of sides with potato salad, collared greens, mac'n cheese, red beans & rice, cole slaw, sweet potatoes, and fries.

We each had our favorites among the smattering of choices, of this Texas style BBQ. My parents liked the sweet potatoes and Beef Brisket, the Meaty Meaty ones. Beef bbq - ribs or brisket has never been my favorite. I have always felt beef ribs are tough to compare to the meat-falling-off baby back ribs. Unfortunately, Perdue's is not different - beef ribs and brisket are the two things I wouldn't order again or suggest. My younger brothers enjoyed the baby back ribs and the catfish, while I feasted on the Chicken. I also enjoyed the baby back ribs and catfish. I wouldn't say the baby back ribs are the best I've ever had, but it was quite good. I would have preferred if the meat fell off the bone more easily or was more tender. The catfish, usually a Friday specialty was delicious. The Chicken was my favorite of the day, it was tender and juicy. I wish I had more. I think, but I could be wrong, chicken is often overlooked when it comes to BBQ, and it shouldn't be.

The sides were also quite good. I could easily just have sides for a meal. Perhaps a potential concept is to merge a Korean restaurant method with BBQ cuisine. Have a grill in the middle of the table - for everyone to grill their own meats for BBQ - perhaps just to warm it up rather than cook, since it would take too long. Then have banchan - in the form of the BBQ sides - like mac'n cheese, greens, potato salad (oh wait, Koreans have that already). Anyways.. . I think it would work.

Anyways. . . Perdue's is an awesome place for BBQ. But I know in this part of city, there's competition. For me saying they're the best - those are fightin' words that I would love to engage. If you have suggestions on what is the best BBQ let me know.
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Recommended Dishes:
Fried Catfish, Baby Back Ribs, BBQ Chicken

 
03/23/2010
I believe the direction and concept that The Best Fish Tacos in Ensenada (TBFTiE) is great one. Talk about what you serve and specialize in it. You also create conversation as to who has the best Fish Tacos. You could argue that Ricky's Fish Tacos, Wahoo's, or Taco's Baja might have the best Fish Tacos, but TBFTiE makes the claim as "The Best". Also, the menu items at TBFTiE are simple - you can either get fish tacos or shrimp tacos. Bottom line, claim what you do best and make it simple!

This little restaurant or shack in the Los Feliz area of Los Angeles make pretty good fish and shrimp tacos. The deep fried batter, which is made to order and fried in front of you, is light and crisp. As you bite into the taco's you can taste the shrimp and fish without the batter overpowering it. You can add the different salsas and sauces to increase the spiciness or sourness. On an empty stomach, I could easily power down 3 or 4 or 5 of these little treats.

Nice little place, but as for the claim - I believe it is quite comparable to Taco's Baja in East Los Angeles - see my post. I still need to try Ricky's, which I understand is just a cart and is close to the Los Feliz area.
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Recommended Dishes:
Fish Tacos, Shrimp Tacos

 
03/20/2010
J J's Sandwich Shop is the type of place where you could literally walk by or drive by without noticing it. Almost a cliche, the Korean owned sandwich shop, serves up sandwiches, chips, and sodas like almost any other lunch place.

But what I do like, is that they make their sandwiches right. The bread is so good that you don't even notice it. The right amount of toasted crispness on the outside, with the softness you expect to hold the meats inside. If I noticed the bread - that would mean it was too hard, to couldn't hold the meats, and was too messy. Miss I and I ordered the PRC combo, which is Pastrami, Roast Beef, and Cheese combo. It's a nice mix and was their most popular sandwich. I would match this sandwich to any sandwich from Santa Monica's Bay City Deli, their bread is a big Yuck!

Also, the owners are super nice and they give you sliced oranges after you sandwich.
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Recommended Dishes:
PRC Combo Sandwich

 
03/18/2010
This place is a find. This is probably one of the better Korean meals, I have had in awhile. Seongbukdong is known for having excellent Korean comfort food. Perhaps known for the simplicity of the dishes, they make them very well. These dishes - the Galbi Jjim(braised short ribs), Kimchi Chigae(stewed kimchi), Braised Mackerel(sorry, forgot the Korean name), and Galbi Tang(short rib in soup) are the headliners at Seongbukdong.

But the Galbi Jjim is what will keep you begging for more. Large enough for two people, the beef is braised so long that the meat literally falls off the bone effortlessly. The sauce is not too thick nor to condensed in flavor which makes it go well with steamed white rice. They also off a soft of fried rice with bean sprouts, kinda like a Bibim-bap, but we didn't order that. The beef cut with scissors in larger than bite size chucks was quickly gobbled up by our party of 5. As I scanned the dining room, with less than 9 tables, I saw almost everyone had the familiar over-sized white bowl of goodness.

It seems Seongbukdong attracts both young and older Koreans with comfort food, just as do Americans like mac'n cheese and fried chicken. in my humble opinion, the Balbi Tang - the short rib in soup was the 2nd best dish on our table. With the same meat, this hearty soup with glass noodles, was served in its milky white broth. You can tell it has been cooking for a long time since the bone marrow is starting to breakdown to give this milky white color.

The braised mackerel and the kimchi chigae were also exceptional as well. Not all too spicy, yet with the right amount of kick, these two dishes, along with the other two, was enough for the 5 of us. The mackerel with the large fish chunks and the kimchi chigae, though had similar flavoring with the broiled kimchi, which was my only issue.
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Recommended Dishes:
Galbi Jjim, Galbi Tang, Braised Mackerel

 
03/16/2010
Dong Nguyen is a neighborhood favorite in San Gabriel. Their menu features languages in Vietnamese, Chinese, English, and Thai. You could say this is the All American restaurant of different nationalities.

On the strong suggestion from Mr. B, this is one of the recommended restaurants on his list. Located in a shopping mall, you'd miss Dong Nguyen if you weren't looking for it. Inside, the place seems like a typical hole-in-the-wall Chinese restaurant that you would find in this area.

Mr. B strongly insisted on the Hainan Chicken. Biased with Savory nearby, I was a bit hesitant. But I was wrong. Dong Nguyen's Hainan Chicken was actually very good. The chicken, on bone, was tender and tasty. I might make an argument that Dong Nguyen might be on par with Savoy's. I would recommend this place is Savoy was too crowded.
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Recommended Dishes:
Hainan Chicken

 
03/15/2010
I've been dying to try Mac & Cheeza ever since they had their soft opening during Downtown LA's Artwalk in February. Stalkingly, I have passed by their little shop about 3 times in the last 30 days or so, just to see if they had opened their doors. And finally, with an email notification, I found out that they opened their doors this past weekend for the March Artwalk.

So, we all piled in my car and hastily made our way there. After looking at their menu on the wall, I realized that each order was made-to-order, as it should be. We all had different combination's in the small portion - of the baby mac size, starting at 5 bucks. We shared a ham & black olives mix, a sausage & mushroom combo, a hot links one and my chorizo mac & cheese. Each of the orders had regular Cheese base, rather than the Soy base and regular mac noodles. I thought the Soy base and rice noodles offering would be too weird, but I guess it'll work in LA. I am more of a traditionalist.

The different additives of meats and vegetables went well with the melted cheese and mac. I liked how they ingredients that looked fresh rather than frozen. The spicy chorizo and hot links gave a nice mild kick. I also liked the savory black olives. I think Mac & Cheeza is a fun concept where you can make your own meal. But I know they haven't officially opened. Mr. S's combo was a bit cold in the bottom center. And personally, I would have liked more different selections in cheese. With different cheese you can get different flavors and wider range of combination's. My first experience with an All Mac and Cheese concept was in New York at S'Mac. Joshua, one of the owners, and their staff did indicate they planned to roll out other cheeses. Anyways. . . I know Mac & Cheeza will improve and I am looking forward to it.
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Recommended Dishes:
Baby Mac with Regular noodles with Hot Links, Baby Mac with Regular noodles with Chorizo