The Unvegan

Le Dinner at Le Basil

February 25th, 2011 Tweet Facebook Digg Stumble Reddit

Le Pad See You

In the hotbed of food culture known as Palm Desert, California, we went off to dinner with my aunt and uncle, who were craving some Thai food. After some extensive searching using the newfangled interwebs, we found a place called Le Basil. Rather than being confined to Thai food, Le Basil expanded to another area of Southeast Asia and integrated Vietnamese food into their menu. Although this only covered 2 of the 11 sovereign nations of Southeast Asia, it was enough for Le Basil’s menu to claim Southeast Asian cuisine (come on, where’s the balut?). Continue Reading»

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Coachella Valley, Curry, le basil, meat, Palm Desert, restaurants, southeast asian, Thai, Travel, vietnamese

Triped Out at Super Pho & Teriyaki

January 27th, 2010 Tweet Facebook Digg Stumble Reddit

Any signs of organs?

Recently a little pho place opened down the street from me and called itself Super Pho & Teriyaki. Anything that starts with super must be pretty cool, so I took a stroll down the road with my friend so we could get ourselves a taste. The place is pretty tiny and nondescript, but had enough tables open for us. We ordered at the counter and I decided to get their House Pho. This included meat balls, brisket, tendon and tripe. A few more organs and I would have had enough to build a whole cow from scratch in my stomach. Continue Reading»

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Asian, Bigfoot West, Los Angeles, Palms, pho, restaurants, soup, Strange Eats, super pho & teriyaki, tendon, tripe, vietnamese

Promoting Mispronunciation at Pho Show

October 27th, 2009 Tweet Facebook Digg Stumble Reddit

Wings are a good place to start.

Having been to Vietnam, I found it very strange that when I moved to LA, everyone considered pho THE Vietnamese food. I hadn’t even heard of pho before and certainly don’t remember encountering it anywhere in Vietnam. Nonetheless, I decided it was about time I found myself some pho. Just my luck, a new place had recently opened in my neighborhood, called Pho Show. I found it strange that anyone would choose to name their pho shop this way, as all pho connoisseurs know that the word is pronounced “fuh” rather than “foe.” Nonetheless, I went to Pho Show to see what it was all about. Continue Reading»

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Asian, Chicken, Culver City, Los Angeles, pho, pho show, restaurants, soup, vietnamese, wings

Almost Deja Vu at the Nom Nom Truck

August 27th, 2009 Tweet Facebook Digg Stumble Reddit

Like a shiny beacon of Vietnamese-ness.

A little more than eight months after my first taste of Kogi BBQ, I found myself once again standing in the parking lot of The Brig, eager to take on another food truck inspired by the fusion of Asian and Mexican food. If so much hadn’t changed in the food truck scene of LA since that first taste of Kogi, I would have felt some intense deja vu. Since the arrival of Kogi, it feels like a new food truck is unrolled every week. From the architecturally inspired ice cream sandwiches of Coolhaus to the beautiful women running Baby’s Badass Burger truck, I almost feel like LA offers more food on wheels than it does in restaurants, with more coming. Nonetheless, the official opening of the Vietnamese and Mexican fusion Nom Nom Truck was exciting for me, and I made my way to The Brig in Venice to see if I would have a new friend on wheels. Continue Reading»

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Chicken, fishlips, food, kogi, meat, Mexican, Mobile, nom nom truck, Reviews, taco trucks, the brig, vietnamese

Rants and Raves

Do Burgers, Not Drugs

August 3rd, 2011

Crime doesn't pay. Except in burgers.

I don’t do drugs, but if I did I wonder how upset I would be if I were Timethy Delarrance Morrison. Morrison recently attempted to buy some pot, but when he opened his bag of contraband he instead found a bunch of hamburger meat. Maybe the dealer accidentally swapped his bag of munchies with pot, but Morrison was not amused.

Going Global at Plan Check

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.