Reviews

4/12/2010 Reviews Los Angeles

Kogi Does Rice at Chego! (RELOCATED)

EDIT: Chego has relocated to Chinatown. Perhaps someday it will get a review of its own.

With the resounding success of the Kogi BBQ trucks and the Kogi location at the Alibi Room, the people behind Kogi are looking to revolutionize the foodscape of LA once again, with rice. Well, not just with any rice, but with fanciful rice bowls from a real location in Palms called Chego! Their website describes their food as “Chillax peasant food from the soul” and while the word “chillax” sends shivers of discomfort down my spine, I had to see if Chego! carried on the Kogi magic.

Beef Kogi Korean Los Angeles Meat Palms Restaurants Rice Rice Bowls

4/8/2010 Reviews Los Angeles

Un Poquito Mas, Por Favor

Near my office in North Hollywood is a Mexican taco stand called Un Poquito Mas, which means “a little more” in Spanish. To call it a taco stand is a little misleading, since it’s a bit bigger than a stand, yet hasn’t outgrown itself. I went in without knowing much about the place, other than the fact that they had Mexican food. A glance at the menu above the counter showed me some pretty basic, but decent-sounding items. I didn’t think tacos could feed my appetite, so I decided to get one of their steak burritos.

Burritos Los Angeles Meat Mexican North Hollywood Restaurants Un Poquito Mas

4/7/2010 Reviews Culver City

Baja Fresh and Convenient

Living in Southern California, I haven’t really had any need for places like Baja Fresh. There are just too many good local Mexican places. Yes, I know I have an unhealthy infatuation with Taco Bell, but that is fast food, something that Baja Fresh does its best to avoid being. Nonetheless the Culver City location is right down the street from me so I couldn’t avoid it forever.

I walked in and had a hard time deciding what to order. They had a good amount of choices, but most of them had a fair number vegetables. I did find one burrito, though, that was free of veggie invaders. It was called the Nacho Burrito, and despite the oxymoronic nature of the name, I ordered it.

Baja Fresh Burritos Chains Chicken Culver City Los Angeles Mexican Restaurants

4/6/2010 Reviews New York

Real New York at Lombardi’s

While Artichoke represents the new trendy side of New York pizza, it wasn’t really quite New York style pizza. You know, the kind you have to fold a bit to eat and everyone says tastes better because of the water. Yeah, Artichoke wasn’t that type of place, but Lombardi’s sure was. Apparently Lombardi’s is a pretty big deal and they claim to be the first American pizzeria. It is quite a boast, and apparently it does a good job of filling the seats, but we got there around 3:00 (on the way to Uniqlo of course) and only had to wait about 10 minuted for a table to open up.

Italian Lombardi's Manhattan New York New York City Pizza Restaurants Soho Travel

4/1/2010 Reviews New York

Tasting the Other Side at Artichoke

On stop two of our late-night food binge (after Pommes Frites), we headed to a little pizza shop called Artichoke. Here they specialized in, wait for it, artichoke pizza. Apparently therseI felt uncomfortable just being there, but I was told that this was some of the best pizza in New York. That it quite a claim, and after a stern talking-to, I was convinced to try some of the artichoke pizza, even against my better unvegan instincts.

Artichoke Italian Late-Night Manhattan New York New York City Pizza Restaurants Travel

3/30/2010 Reviews New York

Almost Canadian at Pommes Frites

After a few drinks, our tour guide (aka the girlfriend’s bro) took us to a little hole in the wall called Pommes Frites. Here, they specialized in cones of Belgian fries served with some crazy sauces like Pomegranate Teriyaki Mayo, Irish Curry and more. These seemed all good and well, but I saw something on the menu that tickled my fancy even more: Poutine.

For the uninitiated and un-Canadian, poutine (pronounced pooh-teen) is a gloriously unvegan treat consisting of fries topped with cheese curds and gravy. This combination creates something spectacular, yet rarely found south of the Great White North. It had been a long time since I was in Canada and I was with a couple poutine virgins, so we ordered a large one to split for six bucks.

Canadian Fries Greenwich Village Late-Night Manhattan New York New York City Pommes Frites Poutine Restaurants Travel

3/29/2010 Reviews New York

Porking Out at DBGB

For a fancy little evening on the town in Manhattan, we took a trip to Bowery Street to eat at a swanky place called DBGB. I’m not sure what the entire acronym stands for, but I’m pretty sure the D and one of the Bs are the initials of Daniel Boulud, some big time chef in NYC. We had a big party, so we made reservations beforehand, yet still had to wait a good 15 minutes before our table was ready. In that time, we headed over to the bar, which had a huge mirror on it and a ton of beers listed. One would think that these mirror beers would be the available beers, however, we were told that the mirror was out of date and handed a menu. Too bad, because one of my life goals is to order beer from a mirror and that will have to wait.

Daniel Boulud DGBG Manhattan Meat New York New York City Restaurants Sausages Travel Wurstkuche

3/25/2010 Reviews Great Neck

Finishing the Cow at Cafe Rustica (CLOSED)

After recovering from my lunch at Shake Shack, I headed to Great Neck on Long Island to see some family. The meal was set for an Italian place called Cafe Rustica. Although the menu was limited for the event, there were plenty of options, including a few different veal dishes. Although I’m not the biggest veal fan for flavor and loosely moral reasons, I still felt like this would be a good way to go after eating every other cow product for lunch. I chose their veal parmigiani since it didn’t come with any vegetables.

Cafe Rustica Great Neck Italian Long Island New York Restaurants Travel Veal

3/24/2010 Reviews New York

Attack of the Shake Shack

On a rainy Friday morning, I arrived in New York City for the first time as a meat blogger with one goal: to eat. Most importantly, I had to eat at the Shake Shack. I had heard much about the Shake Shack from the New York-centric food blog known as Serious Eats, yet there are plenty of good burgers in LA, so I never felt an overriding desire to get a burger at Shake Shack. Then I heard that Shake Shack was run by none other than Danny Meyer, the famous New York restaurateur. More importantly, though, is that Meyer is a fellow alum of Camp Nebagamon, the greatest place in the world (if you don’t believe me, read this). No doubt, his restaurant skills draw upon his experience at Nebagamon and I made sure to get to Shake Shack as early as possible to see what those skills had created.

Burgers Camp Nebagamon Danny Meyer Duluth Hamburgers Lake Nebagamon Manhattan New York New York City Shake Shack Travel Upper West Side

3/23/2010 Reviews Culver City

The Hidden Treasure of Jasmine Market

I’m not totally sure how it happened, but at some point in the last year I heard about a place called Jasmine Market in Culver City. Unfortunately, life happened and it took me until recently to finally get to pay the place a visit. Jasmine Market is unique because it is both a market and a restaurant, but even more interesting than that is that they serve Burmese food. Never heard of a Burmese restaurant? Well neither had I. In general I’ve avoided things related to Burma (Myanmar) for fear that anything I did would seem like I support the military junta there. But you don’t find a Burmese restaurant too often, so I knew I had to try it out.

Asian Aung San Suu Kyi Burma Burmese Culver City Los Angeles Myanmar Restaurants

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