What I like best about living in LA is the accessibility to almost any type of food you crave. The SGV is home to many cantonese, chinese and taiwanese establishments. Little Tokyo and the South Bay are home to delicious japanese food. Thai food in Hollywood, etc. But Koreatown has to be one of the largest ethnic enclaves in Los Angeles. Within Koreatown, there’s also a growing population of Latinos. Mmm… korean food and mexican food - such good stuff. We’ve all heard of musical mash-ups. An old 80’s song with a current hip hop track, i.e. Same goes with fusion food, which has been the culinary trend of late.

Back in college, bbqing was something that we did frequently. At this one particular bbq, we had a mix of korean bbq ribs and carne asada tacos. A few hours later, after constant binge drinking and eating, we found ourselves left with no carne asada but a gang of ribs. Yet we still wanted tacos. I thought, hey why not use the korean bbq meat. It’s still beef. Keep in mind, I wasn’t very sober. Without salsa, the only spicy thing in sight was either the trusty Sriracha bottle that never seemed to run out and the jar o’ kimchi for god knows how long it was first opened. I chopped up the korean bbq beef and added some chopped kimchi, cilantro, green onions and a nice dollop of guac. Honestly it was good… for being drunk.

And how does it taste in a sober state? I had to find out again after nearly 5 years. I marinated some beef with soy sauce, coke, black pepper, garlic, onions, scallions, sesame oil and water. I wasn’t able to find good kimchi and had to resort to the Cosmos brand - bleh. So watery. I grilled the meat at J’s place and prepared a kalbi taco the same way 5 years ago. Beef, kimchi, cilantro, green onions, guac… and to add more of a korean flair - sesame seeds. Although my korean bbq marinade sucked, it still tasted good because of the large mix of ingredients. I had to give it to Miss Taco Hunt for the final verdict.

Miss Taco Hunt: “It’s good.”
Me: “Yeah, and?”
Miss Taco Hunt: “Tastes like a cross between a carne asada taco and a pupusa. They use a pickled cabbage similar to kimchi.”
Me: “And?”
Miss Taco Hunt: “Meat is too red.”
Me: “Would you eat this again?”
Miss Taco Hunt: “Yeah… maybe.”

Would these do well in the LA/Koreatown area? Probably not. Bandini of Great Taco Hunt would probably look at me like I’m crazy. Hey! Guys like weird food. We like Yoshinoya - girls don’t! But, one day, if you happen to see a shoddy taco truck running on one spare tire, spitting out black exhaust with Korean & Spanish written on it… it’s probably yours truly. Thanks for reading.

Once seated, we were immediately served a small salad while we looked over the menu. The salad is very plain, just lettuce and dressing, but it was still nice to have something to snack on while contemplating what to order. Right after we placed our order, servers came by with a bean-based pancake and an assortment of cold side dishes, including kimchi, seaweed, and cucumbers. Each and every single one was quite enjoyable. From the moment we first sat down, we constantly had food on our table, but we were never given anything that would fill us up.

The actual entrees we ordered were the ribs soup with glass noodles ($9.99) and tofu stew with beef ($8.31). The soup looked rather plain, but appearances can be deceiving. The rib meat was good, though there were a couple of fatty pieces. My favorite part of the dish, however, was the actual broth. It had captured the full flavor of the ribs and was absolutely delicious. The tofu stew was no different than those you would find at other good Korean restaurants. The beef in it was nothing to write home about either. So why order this? There’s just something very comforting about piping hot tofu stew with rice. Especially with the cold weather and rain outside, both dishes were perfectly soothing. I will definitely be going back to try the bibimbap another time, perhaps when the weather is fairer.

Young Dong Garden
19 W. Huntington Drive
Arcadia, CA 91007
(626) 698-6198

]]> http://la.foodblogging.com/2006/12/17/1039/feed/ http://la.foodblogging.com/2006/04/16/the-corner-place/ http://la.foodblogging.com/2006/04/16/the-corner-place/#comments Sun, 16 Apr 2006 19:14:09 +0000 Zteve http://la.foodblogging.com/2006/04/16/the-corner-place/ Ahh, in the greatest tradition of cannibalizing my own articles for other sites, here is a recent post from my site about our lunch yesterday.

I was eating here, taking pictures and thumbing notes into my cell phone, when I realized Daily Gluttony already wrote up something about The Corner Place exactly one month ago to the day. Ahh, but it was the Cerritos location, and I’m eating at the OG, Old Skool, Real Killa Dilla Corner Chunk of Hole in Kizorea Tizown. K to da muthaf’ing T.

If you’re not Korean, or haole like I am, you might be a tad lost in any of these joints. Everyone will make a painfully earnest effort to communicate, but don’t be surprised if you accidentally order a clown hat full of candied eels instead of bulgogi. These kind of communication barriers inhibit unadulterated orders…and simultaneously build excitement in never knowing what you may get. Of course, I’m exaggerating…but only slightly.

I’m good about picking off what I know, and I have a vivid imagination of what the unidentifiable Korean appetizers could be. Kimchi, of course, bright red and fiery. Then there’s pickled cucumber kimchi, which also has a nice heat on it. There are some candied jalapenos which really put the branding iron onto your tongue.

Now, I think the red strings are carrot peppers soaked with chipotle ginger marinade. Uh, the white vegetable floating in ice water is some kind of jicama. There were some white shredded shoestrings that were, I think pickled shoestrings. Oh, but the best condiment is the grassy knoll that accompanies the beef.

It’s shredded and spiced green onion, cut into curly doodles. Awesome compliment to the beef. Now the last two dishes are fermented pinky toes that have blackeded from gangrene (oh, but they taste so sweet and pungent!) and marinaded sprouts. Of course, I know the pinky toes are soy beans, but I said I have a vivid imagination.

Again, one of the things I respect most of Asian food culture is the brutal honesty in which it is described and presented. Korean BBQ is a team sport, a primal exercise in community cooking and eating. The notion of paying someone to cook your own food is alien in almost all other restaurants, but look at the fun you’re missing.

The pomp and circumstance of flames dancing in the middle of your table. The spectacle of carmelized beef smoking in a steep column up to the ventilator. The random risk of touching cooked meat with the same utensils that touch the raw meat (unless there’s a trick I’m not aware of).

I’ll tell you, when that plate of slaughtered animal arrives, I almost want to gnaw a raw piece right there.

But then, you’d miss the fun of cooking it.

Now, there’s this matter of a secret cold noodle soup they make. More closely guarded than 7X, this soup has many odd and wild characteristics. Cold, sweet, sour and an undertone of musk, the noodles are firm and the broth is refreshing.

As I commented on Gluttony, I wouldn’t kill my mother for a bowl of this soup. It’s intriguing, but I’m not sure what all the fuss is about keeping the forumula secret or not allowing anybody to take any home. I do know she repeated a proffered theory they mix 7-Up in the base. Well, when I ordered a 7-Up, the lady said “Soup?” That could have been a dead giveaway.

It pairs nicely with 7-Up, and I could detect some distinct 7-Up currents, so she may be on to something.

Oh, they give you a tremendous amount of food, so if it just the two of you, don’t make the mistake of ordering two meat dishes, you’ll be carrying most of it home, except the soup…although I did get a pocketful of noodles.

Los Angeles
2819 James M. Wood
Los Angeles, CA 90006
213-487-0968
Hours: Mon. - Sat., 11 a.m. - 10 p.m.

Cerritos
19100 S. Gridley Road
Cerritos, CA 90703
562-402-8578
Hours: Everyday, 11 a.m. - 10 p.m

The Garbage Pail Food Award

This highly coveted award is derived from those notoriously gross and humorous trading cards that were banned from schools – Garbage Pail Kids. For those that may disagree with my selections, this is all in fun and IMO.

The first recipient of the GPF award goes to Yokohama Ramen in West Los Angeles. On Saturday, I drove down Sawtelle Blvd. for my usual Kinchan’s ramen. On this day, it happened to be way crowded. I didn’t have time to scour for parking, so I just took off. My friend had told me about another ramen shop over on Barrington/Gateway called Yokohama. I drove down Barrington, excited that I’d be eating at a ramen place besides the Sawtelle Trio – Asahi, Kinchan’s and Ramenya (Olympic Blvd.)

Yokohama sits at the end of an old strip mall. Looks really depressing. It’s very easy to drive by this because Gateway isn’t really that busy of an intersection. I walked in and saw about 6 out of the 12 tables occupied. Ok, not bad. Should be good. The waitress handed me an sticky and oily laminated menu – a common sign of restaurants that prefer to focus on the food rather than a clean eating environment. Wow. I perused the menu to find 21 types of ramen! Nice.

Yokohama Ramen
Kyushu Ramen
Tokyo Nori Ramen
Shio Ramen
Shoyu Ramen
Shio Ramen
Spicy Miso Ramen
Chashu Ramen…

And the prices were reasonable - $5.50 to 7 for a big bowl of noodles. So I ordered the Shoyu ramen. The waitress tried to convince me to try the #1 Yokohama special, which was ramen topped with seafood, pork and veggies. Naw. Anytime I go into a ramen shop, I wanna try the popular stuff – either shoyu or miso. You don’t go to a Vietnamese Pho restaurant and order a Banh Mi sandwich – you gotta try the pho. I also ordered some gyoza. Also on the menu, was Korean and Chinese food. Odd. Could this be one of those fake Japanese restaurants – like Kabuki, which is Korean-owned? I like Kabuki though.

10 minutes later, my food arrived. I happily rubbed my hands together and attempted to split the wooden chopsticks perfectly. Never happens. So with my retarded chopsticks and spoon, I dove into the bowl and fished out the broth. Uh oh. This wasn’t good at all. It really tasted like they added soy sauce to hot water. Did they even make their own pork stock? I then tried the noodles, which were soggy and similar in taste to Nissin packaged noodles. I then tried the cuts of spinach – they had been precooked and maybe even frozen. I could still taste old water in it. The bamboo shoots looked tasty, but had this weird smell – like it had been kept in a metal container for a long time. And finally, with one last attempt at redeeming itself as a decent bowl of ramen, I grabbed the Chashu pork slices. Ok it was tender, but there was this weird liver-like smell to the meat. Could it be somewhat rotten? I didn’t even finish this bowl of noodles. I pushed it aside and waited for my gyoza.

Before I even reached for the gyoza, I could tell they were frozen just by looking at the soggy skin. They looked like they had been sitting out under a heat lamp for a good hour before they were microwaved and dished out to the Chinese guy who just ate some really bad Shoyu ramen. Even Todai’s dumplings looked better than this. That should tell you a lot since Todai is the Asian cousin of Hometown Buffet.

There you have it. The first recipient of the GPF award. For anyone else that’s been there, I’d really like to know what you thought of their food. I still recommend that you go and try it yourself. Hey, I thought Chabuya was good - no one else seemed to like it, right?

Yokohama Ramen
11660 Gateway Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90064
(310) 479-2321

Thanks for reading.

Saketini is owned by Sung Kang who played Han in the movie Better Luck Tomorrow. In fact, it was Kang who greeted us at the door and seated us with a smile. Despite the celebrity owner and the gorgeous dark wood interior, the food is the real star here.

We started with some drinks while we waited for the rest of our party to arrive. I picked one of the two beers on the menu, Orion, which it turns out is hard to come by in the US, but is revered in Japan. Orion has a slightly sweet taste and tiny bubbles, it may just be the champagne of Japanese beer. My wife and friend opted for Saketinis, fruity coctails which use sake as a base instead of gin or vodka. They were tasty too, although a bit on the sweet side.

On to the appetizers, where our only complaint was that there were too many good choices. You could reasonably make a pan-asian tapas meal just off of the starter menu. We choose two items, first the Ahi Tuna Napoleons: fresh chopped spicy tuna placed between two crispy won-ton skins. Pictured below:

Next out of the kitchen was the yellow tail carpaccio. Sure, it’s a fancy word for sashimi, but the carpaccio did have a unique flavor. Served on a pile of shredded daikon, the yellow tail was topped with a piece of cilantro and a slice of mild pepper (shishito maybe?) then drizzled with a ponzu-like sauce:

After the appetizer, we were ready for the next course. The mango salad came packed with avocado, on top of fresh greens and topped with sweet chunks of mango. A tangy ginger dressing tied the sweetness of the mango and the light salad flavors together:

An absolute mountain of tempura came to the table. A melange of vegetables was arranged next to some sizeable shrimps (oxymoron?). The tempura was a bit different than the standard fare. It was exceedingly light and flakey. I would compare it to dry snow, if snow could be fried and coat vegetables.

My main dish was Japanese Lava Cod. Cod tends to be rich and I wasn’t sure that I was up for it that night. I’m glad that I made the choice though, because the dish tasted even better than it looked. The fish was cooked perfectly, placed on top of asparagus, mushrooms, onions and bok choy, then flavored with a tasty sauce. There was also a dallop of green goodness on the fish. I assume that it was some sort of mild wasabi-potato mixture. It was mild, but definitely flavored with the japanese horseradish.

I was impressed with every aspect of the meal, from the drinks to the appetizers to the main course. We were too stuffed to sample the dessert menu, next time I am going to have to plan better.

Saketini also has a tasting menu and I asked Sung Kang about it. He suggested that you call ahead to reserve for the tasting menu and the chef would keep an eye out when he shops for that day. Fresh is definitely important at the restaurant and it’s not unusual for them to run out of dishes for lack of ingredients.

I have yet to try Saketini for lunch, but there is an enticing day time menu of items priced under $10, as well as take away bento boxes.

So there it is, the best kept secret on the Westside is now out of the bag.

Saketini
150 S. Barrington Ave.
Brentwood, CA 90049
(310) 440-5553

So, I have very limited experience with Korean food and would like to begin exploring some spots in Koreatown to expand my horizons? Any reccomendations for first stops/places that will give me a sense of what Korean food is all about?

I too am quite the novice when it comes to Korean food, I would be interested to know what our readers have to say. If you can help us out, head over to the forums and chime in!

Welcome!

Dong Il Jang Restaurant is on 3455 West 8th Street.

It was a mid-week evening and I had a craving for Korean BBQ. I had heard that the really swanky place for Korean BBQ is Chosun Galbee. To read reviews of Chosun Galbee, go here, here, here and here. I have not been yet so perhaps one day I will go and review unless one of my fellow LA.foodblogging reviewers beat me to it.

Most of the time though, I’m not in the mood for swanky. So where to go on a typical weeknight?

Dong Il Jang came to mind.

I have heard generally positive reports about the place. In particular, renown food blogger, Sarah seemed to like the place. If you want a more detailed report, a lot more (and better) photos and comments from a Korean perspective, then be sure to check out her excellent review.

Street parking is hard to find as is typical for Los Angeles. I did find a space in the lot in the back which was very close to full.

Me and my buddy were probable the only non-Korean folks there so it is usually a good sign that in an ethnic restaurant, most of the people are from that ethnic group!

We ordered up Korean BBQ (of course) with chicken and beef.

I can confirm that all the reports of the waitresses wearing brown dresses are true. In one of the reviews on Citysearch, there was a complaint about the service. My experience was more positive. The wait staff was not chatty by any means but the service was attentive but not intrusive.

And do I have to say the food was pretty good?

Tax and tip, dinner for two came to $49.

Dong Il Jang Restaurant
3455 West 8th Street
at Hobart
Los Angeles, CA 90005-2517
(213) 383-5757

Luckily, as I was driving up Western Ave. I spied BCD Tofu House. I had heard rave reviews about this place from my sister and her friends so I decided to give it a try. From the outside, it looks like a generic Asian quick-eats place. It was even complete with one of those take-a-number dispensers, which was used to determine the order of seating.

We waited for about 5 minutes and were given a table. The first thing I noticed was that instead of plastic or wooden chopsticks, we were given metal chopsticks, which was definitely a first for me. Things were looking good.

The menu itself is pretty simple, with a section for tofu, combinations, and meat dishes. Most of the dishes are priced around the $10-15 range. Being extremely hungry, I opted for the bulgogi combination with the assumption that it would be the most food as well as the most varied. My girlfriend got the kalbi combination.

First came out a bunch of appetizer dishes. There was kimchi (spicy, but not too), lettuce with a vinegar type dressing, pieces of potato soaked in a spicy and sweet sauce, pickles, and finally a whole fried fish. My favorite would have to be the fish, since I’m a seafood person. While it wasn’t freshly fried, there’s something about room temperature fried salty fish that appeals to the Asian in me. You’ll need to be careful if you’re not used to eating a whole fish since there are bones to worry about.

After these dishes came the main parts of the meal, which were a stone pot of rice, a stone pot of tofu in a prawn-based soup, and our orders of beef on hot stone plates. My bulgogi was very tasty though a little tough for my taste. I prefer my meat medium rare but other than that, it was good. It came with grilled peppers and green onions, which provided for excellent sides.

I must admit that I should have ordered the kalbi. The bulgogi paled in comparison in all aspects. The kalbi was juicier, tastier, and more tender. Additionally, it came on a bed of white onions, which were slowly grilling underneath, which accentuated the flavor of the ribs.

The soon tofu provided a great complement to the beef. While the beef is somewhat sweet, the tofu soup is spicy. I ordered it medium and found the level of spice to be perfect. You also get a raw egg that you cook in the soup, which provides for a slightly different consistency.

Overall, considering that BCD was my back-up plan for dinner, I was very pleased. The food was great and came out quickly. The service was a sub-par, but considering that there were only a couple servers for the entire place, it was understandable. The nice thing is that they have locations all over LA county. But the clincher for me is that BCD is open 24 hours (at least at certain locations, check the website). Thus, if you ever have the late-night munchies and don’t feel like scarfing down greasy or heavy food, consider this place if you’re nearby.

Deep in the heart of Koreatown lives one of LA’s most ideal udon stands. Located inside the Hannam Chain Super Market on Olympic by Vermont, Yanusa is a no-nonsense, diamond-in-the-rough Japanese/Korean-style restaurant.

Although many Westerners might find the concept strange, supermarket restaurants are not uncommon in Asian culture. Noodle shops are standard fair in marketplaces; in Japan, one can even get a nice bowl of udon at a gas station.

Yanusa’s menu is straight-forward. Standard-grade sushi, rolls, udon and oden. Don’t bother with the sushi and rolls; you’re here for soup. Look around at the other tables and you’ll see you’re not alone.

The menu items are numbered to make ordering quick and efficient, a hallmark of Korean food service. The oden (#11) is good, but go with udon as most of the udon bowls include a fish cake or two. The baked mussels (#12) are an interesting mix of seafood and a mayonnaise-like sauce. When the weather is unbearably hot, I pass on udon and go with the Fish Rice (#13), another favorite of the regulars.

As you wait the few short moments for your order to arrive, snack on an endless supply of kimchi and oshinko. When the bowls of hot udon do arrive, take a second to breathe in the smell of the beefy broth seasoned with a generous helping of green onions. Sprinkle in some red pepper and then dive in. Once you have eaten the firm, precisely-cooked udon, lapped up the last drop of broth, and patted yourself on the stomach, acknowledging that you have just finished up a surprisingly good meal, take a look around you and realize that you have just had one your most enjoyable dining experiences in recent memory inside of a supermarket in Koreatown.

Yanusa Sushi is located in the Hannam Chain Super Market by Vermont @ 2740 W. Olympic Blvd, LA, CA 90006

A drive down Valley Blvd in Alhambra and some places you will see overflowing with people standing around waiting for a table spilled out into the street. And there are some places where the lights are on and not so many people are inside and you wonder, how long can they last?

My parents, as I have mentioned before, like what they know and know what they like. And so here is another blog post about a place they have introduced me to.

Baccali Cafe and Rotisserie isn’t a gold mine because it is a fancy place with highly attentive service. It is overflowing with people because it has a ridiculous variety of good food at a good price. I suppose perhaps the atmosphere (noisy and crowded) may bring back memories for some of the 24/7 buzz of Hong Kong.

What kind of food is it you ask? Is it Chinese since it is in Alhambra?

Well, yes and no. It is Chinese in that the cooks and wait staff are Chinese. It is Chinese in that most of its patrons are Chinese. It is Chinese in that the menu of 200+ items contain some very typical Chinese dishes. But it is also, well, a little bit of everything else. For instance, you can also order seafood chowder, caesar salad, a New York cut steak, club sandwich or pizza.

So if you find yourself in that part of town and are looking for a light but warm (with cooler season approaching) evening meal, go there and order #166, Rice Porridge with Preserved Egg with Shredded Pork (or any other item in the Rice Porridge section). This would be a very “Chinesey” choice!

Or if you want to eat a bit more just look through the long menu and you are bound to find something you know that you would like. No worries about an order gaffe by picking “fake Chinese food.” It is just about good food and pleasing you with that and a good price so you will come back and bring friends. Be sure to go for the Red Bean drink and you’ll seem like a real pro! 8-)

Baccali Cafe and Rotisserie
245 West Valley Blvd.
Alhambra, CA 91801
626-293-3300 (phone)
626-293-8090 (fax)