Food court of the future!
While fried chicken is often considered the domain of Southern cooking and Buffalo wings, it is certainly not exclusive to those cuisines. In fact, some of the best fried chicken I’ve had can be found Asian dishes like the Japanese chicken karaage. But Japan is not alone in this, as a Korean place called KyoChon just may have created the best chicken wings ever. Did I overstate that? I don’t think so. Continue Reading»
...and in case I don't see you, good afternoon, good evening and good night.
My buddy, DCo, is a bit of a pizza snob. It works out well for me, because he likes to point me in the direction of awesome new and old pizza places. Recently, he told me about a new place called Lago D’Argento over in Silverlake. It took a bit of convincing, but finally I had a real reason to go to that part of town and decided to make a run for pizza while there. I invited another buddy, Jeff, to join and we checked the place out. Continue Reading»
Egg and pasta as one.
Sometimes a restaurant sounds incredible, but is in a difficult part of town to get to. It lingers on your to-eat list for what seems like ages until a golden opportunity comes around to seize it. For me, this restaurant was The Lazy Ox Canteen and the opportunity was twofold. First, the Expo Line from Culver City to Downtown LA was finally opening opening and second, Blackboard Eats sent me a 30% off coupon for the place. It was the perfect storm and I rode the newly opened Metro train to Little Tokyo for a piece of The Lazy Ox. Continue Reading»
We're just doing the Ludo Shuffle.
From the casual diner to the most ardent foodie, everyone who enjoys eating out in LA has heard of Chef Ludo Lefebvre and his LudoBites pop-up restaurants that appear from time to time. Yet, while the LudoBites are impossible to get reservations for (and even when you get reservations, you don’t even pick the times), there is a Ludo Truck that roams around town dishing out Chef Ludo’s fried chicken with no reservations (thinly veiled Anthony Bourdain reference) necessary. During a time in which I was eating a lot of fried chicken, the truck came around my office. Continue Reading»
This is what happens when you Google "soul food in Inglewood."
So far, Inglewood has treated me quite nicely, but after a couple days down there I turned to Google for food suggestions. It is probably my least favorite way of finding new restaurants, as the top results are typically the restaurants with the best SEO instead of the best food. Nonetheless, I needed help for lunch and this led me to Dulan’s Soul Food Kitchen, a stone’s throw from court and with promising reviews. Continue Reading»
Uh, can I get the bigger one?
Living in LA can make you jaded. Traffic. Obnoxious Hollywood crowd. Traffic. Sometimes these things can make you forget how damn cool of a city LA can be. Case in point: The other day I was watching Iron Man 2 in anticipation of The Avengers and saw Iron Man/Tony Stark chilling inside of a giant donut, eating breakfast. Two days later, I drove by that donut and knew I had to check out its edible cousins.
That giant donut sits on top of Randy’s Donuts, an LA landmark. Aside from Iron Man 2, it has been featured in plenty of other films. Truth be told, I’ve driven past it many times; considering its location in Inglewood on the way to the airport, it is a tough landmark to miss. But never before had it been breakfast time and I was hungry. The line was minimal, and unlike its depiction in Iron Man 2, there was no interior. Continue Reading»
Everything that isn't fluorescent in this picture is a winner.
Jury duty, while one of the fundamental principles of the American judicial system, is a pain. You have to miss work, you have to sit around for hours or even days and all you have to show for it at the end of the day is 15 bucks. Yet, in my case I took my jury duty as an opportunity. More specifically, a food opportunity. As opposed to most LA jury duty, which is in downtown LA, mine took my to Inglewood. Although I spent a lot of time in El Segundo in my previous life, it is amazing how different that was from Inglewood. Continue Reading»
Why are there pickles on this plate?
My continued quest for amazing burgers took me to a place called Salt’s Cure in West Hollywood. At this particular intersection, only one of the corners lacks burgers, as the other two are populated by Fatburger and Astro Burger. And while Salt’s Cure isn’t strictly a burger place, a quick look at the high priced menu on the wall when I walked in all but guaranteed I would be eating their burger. Continue Reading»
Dem bones, dem bones.
I have a confession and this may come as a surprise to all of you: I love Brazilian BBQ. Yes, I know it’s shocking that a menagerie of meat such as Brazilian BBQ could be one of my loves, but it’s true. Unfortunately, this isn’t an easy love. Firstly, it ain’t cheap like Korean BBQ, which is equally meaty. Secondly, I can’t go without eating an insane amount of food. Sorry, it’s just how I work at such things, which means my body usually needs a fair amount of recovery time before going back. But, when I saw a sweet Travelzoo deal for Libra in Culver City, at least my first problem with Brazilian BBQ was taken care of. Continue Reading»
Fablurry
Over in New Jersey, they like to deep fry their hot dogs. When I found out about this I first thanked the heavens that the state has contributed something to the world besides Jersey Shore. Then I bided my time until I could make the journey out to Reseda to try one of these deep fried “rippers.” You see, Reseda is home to Fab Hot Dogs, where they ship their rippers straight from New Jersey. These rippers are specially made for deep frying and no normal dog will suffice. Of course, Fab Hot Dogs serves tube steaks from other regions of the country (conspicuously missing Detroit Coney Dogs), but on my first time I needed a ripper. Continue Reading»
Fries of the world.
A couple of weeks ago, The Backyard Bite invited me to The Burger Culture Clash, sponsored by Stussy (which apparently still exists) and Plan Check. Plan Check, by the way, is a sort of new (since February) restaurant in West LA with Chef Ernesto Uchimura of Umami Burger fame. As my love of burgers, especially those of the umami variety, I jumped at the opportunity.
Although I arrived alone, I was not the only lone eater. Just next to where I was seated, I met e*star LA and we decided to share a meal called loneliness, because it’s better than eating alone. We made quick friends over our respective blogs and Midwestern roots, then got to work at dissecting the special menu, which Plan Check will be featuring for the next month if anything tickles your fancy.
Continue Reading»
