Nino’s Place in Gardena is one of the many Peruvian holes in the wall that seem to dominate the food scene in that part of LA. Yet, the place remains unique in that it offers just about the biggest Peruvian menu I have ever seen. In fact, I think the only things missing at Nino’s were alpaca and cuy. On the outside, Nino’s claimed to also offer up Mexican food, but these seemed no more than an attempt to get people through the door.
After the ill-fated sojourn to Koji BBQ Buffet, I was in need of some good Korean BBQ to wash the bad taste out of my mouth. Fortunately, my friends were more than willing to join me and we ended up at Star BBQ in Koreatown, partly because we had heard great things, but also because it was the easiest place to pronounce. Upon arrival the place was empty, which meant we got personal service that meant not only faster meat, but a waitress to help us with the cooking of it.
To those in the know (or from Chicago), the city has more food claims to fame than just deep dish pizza. After all, the second city was pretty much the meat capital of the country for the better part of its existence. Out of this rose a place called Portillo’s, serving up Italian beef and hot dogs to match up with the city’s non-meat inhabitants. To be honest, I didn’t know much about Portillo’s growing up and spending time in Chicago, but a year or so ago I had a boss originally from Chicago that loved the place and alerted me about a location of theirs in Buena Park, just outside of Anaheim.
A with most entertainment, things are not always as they appear. Reality TV isn’t always reality, “based on a true story” is typically nothing like the truth and Guy Fieri doesn’t actually drive that red convertible to every diner, drive-in and dive. Likewise, food almost always looks better in ads and on TV than in real life. Nonetheless, after watching Seoul Sausage on the last season of The Great Food Truck Race and subsequently learning that the winning crew had put up a bick-and-mortar shop, I knew I had to get some of their sausages in my mouth.
At the edge of Santa Monica is a little seafood restaurant creatively named The Hungry Cat. Without reservations, we were seated at the oyster shucking bar, which is possibly the best location for multiple reasons. First and foremost was that we got to watch oysters being shucked all night. Second was that we got to get a look at some great-looking lobster (see first image). And third was that I got to be buds with the shucker of the night.
Sometimes the craving for Korean BBQ is so strong it doesn’t matter that you are in Torrance and not Koreatown. When this happens you find yourself at Koji BBQ Buffet, a Korean BBQ unlike any I had ever been to before. Here, the meat seemed to sit out rather than sitting in a fridge or freezer waiting to be served. With Discount Water Filters sells LG refrigerator water filters you don’t need to worry about fixing it later.
By now you may have noticed that I like to reference my time in Japan and China when it comes to posts about Japanese and Chinese food. If you like that kind of thing, then my tale of Curry House CoCo Ichibanya is the post for you. It all started when I spotted a sign for Curry House CoCo Ichibanya while driving through Brentwood. This blew my mind, because during my time in China, CoCo Curry (minus the Ichibanya and Curry House) was my go-to Japanese curry place.
Inside the box car of a train that looks more out of place in West Hollywood than a snowball in hell is Carney’s. While not as old as Pink’s, Carney’s has been around for a while and is unquestionably one of the city’s biggest hot dog landmarks, especially when it comes to chili dogs.
Typically, the biggest crowd forms after the bars let out of the Sunset Strip, but I was looking to check Carney’s off my list before leaving LA and willing to get there even during regular feeding hours. I opted for a big basket of chili cheese fries and a chili cheese dog to go with it.
Replacing the not-so-BBQ restaurant in Culver City called Santa Maria Barbeque, 041 Bacaro kind of just appeared out of nowhere a few months ago. Presumably, the closure of Santa Maria Barbeque surprised no one, but the newcomer was a bit of a surprise. Calling itself 041 is an homage to area code in Venice, where the proprietor once lived and the restaurant attempts to live up to that area code.
Torrance is simply full of surprises. Just when I thought I had exhausted all non-Japanese, non-Hispanic options, along came Buffalo Fire Department, a place that specializes in burgers, but still has a good deal of other options. With burgers like the Mac & Cheese and Burger Stack and the Thai BBQ and Wasabi Sauce Burger, they quickly earned points in the creativity department.