It's been a year or so, but I'm pretty sure Ed's still has Da La Pi 大拉皮. Took some getting used to, but it's one of those dishes that really reminds me of China.

I enjoyed reading Jonathan Gold's 60 Korean Dishes Every Angeleno Should Know. Mr. Gold, who is leaving L.A. Weekly for a new gig at the L.A. Times, penned a fun-to-read, mouth watering guide that demonstrates the wide variety of Korean food available in Los Angeles. While I'm glad we have the options we have in Chicago, it's clear that we're missing a lot, from whole, raw, marinated blue crab at Soban to Koo's hotteok, a sweet rice pancake, to several spots focusing on wagyu and other high quality grilled meats. And, while there are plenty of places in Chicago serving bossam, I don't think I've ever been offered raw oysters.

Surely I need to explore more Korean in Chicago, but it seems to me that the Angelenos have a wealth of options that aren't available here.

Ronna

I'm sure LA with it's massive KTown has stuff we don't, especially at the fancy end (wagyu). But raw oyster kimchee and crab seems common enough - used to pick it up at Clark Market's kimchee bar and Chicago Kimchee. I'd be surprised not to see it at HMart. I've seen the sweet rice cake somewhere too.

JeffB wrote:I'm sure LA with it's massive KTown has stuff we don't, especially at the fancy end (wagyu). But raw oyster kimchee and crab seems common enough - used to pick it up at Clark Market's kimchee bar and Chicago Kimchee. I'd be surprised not to see it at HMart. I've seen the sweet rice cake somewhere too.

I've had oyster kimchee before, but never offered with bossam at a Chicago restaurant. From reading about Los Angeles Korean spots, it seems that the oysters are often provided with bossam. And, the $30 raw crab dish that Jonathan Gold is talking about seems to be something very different from the teeny crabs I'm accustomed to.

Ronna

Oysters come with the bossam at San Soo Gap San. I thought it was sort of a standard deal. But no idea, really. More so than anyother cuisine, the gap between enjoying and knowing is great with Korean for me.

Here's an old article running down Chi ssam. I've not paid 30 bucks for pickled blue crab, but that's what I was referring to. One thing about LA and the huge, assimilated Korean community - less impenetrable ordering. Things that are here but (seemingly) obscure are out in the open there.

http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2007 ... pork-belly

JeffB wrote:Oysters come with the bossam at San Soo Gap San.

I was fairly drunk but last time I was there I had it and don't remember any oysters being served with it. Perhaps my memory is fuzzy, though.

=R=

You might have been gringoed, bro. Case in point. See the "boussam" listing.

http://chicago.menupages.com/restaurant ... p-san/menu

JeffB wrote:You might have been gringoed, bro. Case in point. See the "boussam" listing.

http://chicago.menupages.com/restaurant ... p-san/menu

Wouldn't be a shocker . . . or the first time, either. But again, I was fairly tanked, so let's just leave it at that for now.

=R=

To me this discussion is a bit academic, since I've yet to have an oyster at a Korean restaurant in Chicago that I haven't regretted eating.

Good point.

Ralph Wiggum wrote:Other favorites of mine would be Animal, Lazy Ox, Tasting Kitchen and Hatfields

In addition to Wiggum, I know there are other Lazy Ox fans here (I'm look at you Kennyz). FYI: the chef's out.

To be honest, I haven't seen that guy at Lazy Ox in years, but get this, the new chef's name? "Perfecto". No lie.

I will be heading out to L.A. in November with 3 buddies for a football game. We are thinking we will stay in Hermosa Beach as it is close to LAX and we were told it was on the beach, walkable and had decent drinking establishments. If anyone has better location recommendations or a definite stay away from Hermosa beach message, very open to hearing it. We will be in town for 2 dinners and 2 lunches. Knowing very little about L.A., the research for restaurants so far has been tough because I do not have a concept for how far apart things are (I have heard VERY far apart). My question for LTH is if there are any can't miss combo's for a great meal with good drinking establishments nearby for after dinner. In terms of restaurants, looking for an interesting menu with a fun vibe. Not looking for fine dining or anything overly upscale, but something of Publican or Girl & Goat atmosphere/quality (may be lofty goal) would be ideal. For the bar scene, not looking for a club scene by any means, good beer/cocktail list and a place for 4 friends who live in different cities to catch up, but also have some fun.

FYI - I made reservations at Lazy Ox and Baco Mercat already, but open to cancelling. For lunch, Langers is definitely on my radar and one of the people in the group swears by El Taco Loco, but I have not heard that mentioned elsewhere.

Thanks so much for the help.

Assuming it's a college game in LA and you will be going to the Coliseum or Rose Bowl, and you are interested in good food, I wouldn't stay down in Hermosa. You could stay downtown, which has bounced back nicely in the past few years and is near more of the LTH-type 'hoods and places, or in Hollywood (not West Hollywood), which is very centrally located and an interesting neighborhood. I've had good luck with the Roosevelt, which is a bit of a scene but a nice place in Hollywood with a good bar and occupies a classic old Moorish fantasy building, or the Standard downtown, which is sort of the same deal in a mid-century highrise and has a great roof deck bar. Downtown is most convenient to Pasadena and the Coliseum. Both neighborhoods are very close to the concentration of Thai, Armenian/Persian, Korean and Japanese places, plus Langer's and the french dip spots, and cooler, less touristy LA neighborhoods such as Los Feliz and Silver Lake (which will have your G&G type places).

Trying to stay near the airport in LA is like staying near the airport here, NY, Miami or any other big city -- why do it? It's convenient exactly twice, whereas being central to the places you are eating, drinking and going to the game is more relevant IME. I will say that the greatest obscure Japanese places in the US are south of LAX, but I doubt you want to stay in Torrence or wherever.

Bperellis wrote:We are thinking we will stay in Hermosa Beach ... but something of Publican or Girl & Goat atmosphere/quality (may be lofty goal) would be ideal... For the bar scene, not looking for a club scene by any means, good beer/cocktail list and a place for 4 friends who live in different cities to catch up, but also have some fun.

FYI - I made reservations at Lazy Ox and Baco Mercat already, but open to cancelling. For lunch, Langers is definitely on my radar...

Depends when you will be in LA. Lazy Ox and Baco Mercat are in Downtown, which is a freakin' HAUL from Hermosa Beach if you happen to be driving during rush hour (as is with any other city). Langer's is just west of DTLA, so if you plan on doing all 3, do it in 1 day. Just note DTLA meter prices rose to $5/hour in 2012, and parking tickets are now $65. Cocktail bar hopping is the de rigueur these days in both Hollywood and DTLA, Yelp would yield decent search results.

Near Hermosa Beach, MB Post will fall right into the G&G/Publican category. Food's lovely; it's loud, rambunctious, multi award winner. From Hermosa, Torrance/Gardena will be highly accessible. For a football reunion, getting lubed on watery Japanese beer while coursing through skewers of yakitori and bowls of oden at Torihei could be most brilliant.

Per JeffB's rec, I'd also stay in Hollywood or DTLA. For a beach city, check out Santa Monica+adjacent, though hotel prices are ridiculous in SaMo.

JeffB wrote:Assuming it's a college game in LA and you will be going to the Coliseum or Rose Bowl, and you are interested in good food.

It is a USC game in the Coliseum I believe. Game time is still TBD on Saturday. Definitely interested in good food.

Thanks for the recommendations so far JeffB and TonyC, very helpful information.

Bperellis wrote:

JeffB wrote:Assuming it's a college game in LA and you will be going to the Coliseum or Rose Bowl, and you are interested in good food.

It is a USC game in the Coliseum I believe. Game time is still TBD on Saturday. Definitely interested in good food.

Thanks for the recommendations so far JeffB and TonyC, very helpful information.

I'd still stay in the beach cities, there is a ton of good Japanese food in the Torrance/Gardena area, MB Post, as mentioned before, is very good, and you'd enjoy yourselves more the rest of the time in Hermosa than downtown.

I live in Torrance and work in Redondo Beach, so I know the area pretty well, if there's something specific you're looking for, let me know.

Plus you can always leave early for the game at the Coliseum and make a stop at Langers Deli, not too far from USC.

Will be in LA for a few days . . . need a little help. Will almost certainly hit Jitlada b/c we just don't get the southern Thai food in Chicago. Also deciding between Animal and Lazy Ox . . . thoughts? Also going to Pizzeria Mozza.

I might also hit up a sushi spot in WeHo or the vicin if there's some place where the fish is pristine and prices not through the roof. Ideas? Also, anyone been to Spice Table, and if so, your thoughts?

And finally, if there's a great dim sum place (or a place with noteworthy XLB - but not the giant ones) in SGV, please advise (Elite? Wang Xing Ji? Elsewhere?). Thanks!

BR wrote:Also deciding between Animal and Lazy Ox . . . thoughts? Also going to Pizzeria Mozza

Lazy Ox. Pop media may also suggest Baco Mercat, followed immediately by the new Mo-Chica. I prefer Blue Cow Kitchen.

I might also hit up a sushi spot in WeHo or the vicin if there's some place where the fish is pristine and prices not through the roof. Ideas? Also, anyone been to Spice Table, and if so, your thoughts?

Kiyokawa & Shunji's omakases fit that bill, though will still be $80-$90/pp. Jinpachi is probably the most popular omakase in WeHo, but at $100/pp, it's nothing but a house of toro. "LTH" visited Spice Table exactly a year ago. happy_stomach's comment on the dinner is still relevant.

And finally, if there's a great dim sum place (or a place with noteworthy XLB - but not the giant ones) in SGV, please advise (Elite? Wang Xing Ji? Elsewhere?). Thanks!

Elite is still my go-to for a great compromise between comfort/expeditiousness/rowdiness/taste. NBC up the street seems busier now. For pushcart experience, Capital Seafood. It's a slice of Hong Kong with its cheap(!) dimsum and Cantonese retirees reading papers at 10am. WXJ does not have Cantonese dimsum.

Thanks TonyC - we'll probably keep our reservation at Animal merely based upon location . . . still might hit one of the others you mention though, but Spice Table is off the list. Also mildly considering Hatfield's.

Thanks for the Japanese recs - all look promising.

As for SGV, Elite seems to be the likely pick - I don't need the cart experience. But are there any truly special XLB in the area? (I'll always put that above dim sum) Jonathan Gold's comments on WXJ don't make the XLB sounds particularly worthy of detour. What's NBC? Noodle Boy?

BR wrote:
But are there any truly special XLB in the area?

Why not Din Tai Fung? Small, succulent XLB -- probably the best I've ever had. Their other stuff is at least decent, but really it's all about the XLB.

cilantro wrote:

BR wrote:
But are there any truly special XLB in the area?

Why not Din Tai Fung? Small, succulent XLB -- probably the best I've ever had. Their other stuff is at least decent, but really it's all about the XLB.

Tempting - I might . . . I really hadn't heard that they were THAT good. The one appeal of Wang Xing Ji is that they also offer the giant XLB, something I've never tried. I'll be dining with a rather finicky eater though, which may prevent me from visiting all three in a single visit (the third spot being Elite).

BR wrote:But are there any truly special XLB in the area? (I'll always put that above dim sum)

It is really hard NOT to like Din Tai Fung. I'm not sure when you'll be visiting, but you may want to read this quick interview with one of the DTF managers. (disclosure: I wrote it, so it's loaded with grammatical mistakes).

OTOH, my go-to for xiao long bao remains Dean Sin World. It's much closer to Elite than Din Tai Fung.

BR wrote:What's NBC? Noodle Boy?

NBC Seafood: http://www.yelp.com/biz/nbc-seafood-res ... terey-park . It is, along with Elite, 888 and Sea Harbor, one of the busiest dimsum houses in all of LA. It's not bad, it's not good. It just IS. But it's packed because the setting is decent, and the bill low.

BTW, I understand everyone insists on visiting Jitlada. I love Jazz, I do. Their success is heartwarming. However: Crispy Pork Gang & Darabar "Secret" Thai represent the new wave of Thai restaurants in LA. Darabar is of special interest to me. It's like TAC Quik years ago, when he just started. Owner Kevin's mom is from the North and she holds down the kitchen. They will literally cook up any N. Thai dish for you. The som tam pu pla-ra is offered with blue crab or old fashioned salted black crab. This som tam, even 2 day old, was Thai nanny approved. The gaeng som can be doctored up with deep fried seabass into faux gaeng som pae sa. They also have khanom jin nam ngiao, the other signature noodle of Northern Thai cooking (also available at Pailin Thai). And the hostesses are hot. I mean, like.. frilly BOOTIE SHORTS, perfect skin with Thai style make-up hot. Not that it adds to the food, but... the whole package feels like a trendy Bangkok cocktail lounge with stupidly good food. Tasting Table LA has written it up twice, but the menu seems so much deeper. And they put thought into desserts which are just like the Bangkok street carts, similar to Vietnamese che.

Sorry for the rant, I've been meaning to talk about Darabar Thai somewhere, with somebody. But everyone in LA is all... Night+Market/Spice Table blah blah blah blah

Enjoy your visit!

Thanks again Tony for all of the help sorting out the Chinese options. Darabar looks intriguing, and had they offered Kaeng Hang Le it might have been tough to keep me away, but I just get very few opportunities to try southern Thai food which is the biggest appeal of Jitlada for me.

BR wrote:Thanks again Tony for all of the help sorting out the Chinese options. Darabar looks intriguing, and had they offered Kaeng Hang Le it might have been tough to keep me away, but I just get very few opportunities to try southern Thai food which is the biggest appeal of Jitlada for me.

Hi, BR.

Jitlada is a good call. I wasn't blown away, but I really liked it and have no doubt you will, too. And I liked it about 100 times more than Crispy Pork Gang. Wait, scratch that. 1000 times more.

For XLB, I enjoyed both Dean Sin World and Din Tai Fung. I could see going to DSW for XLB and maybe one more dish, and then DTF for XLB and much more. That way, you'd get both the hole-in-the-wall mom and pop experience and a more refined, upscale option.

For Japanese, if you're not limited to West Hollywood, I had a great two-stop lunch earlier this year at Tsujita (ramen and tsukemen) and Kiriko (sushi). The two restaurants are a block from each other. Tsujita has truly solid ramen, but also Tsukemen, which I've never seen in Chicago. Kiriko's sushi was impressive - - my only disappointment was letting the sushi chef choose for me, and he picked far more smoked salmon then I would've liked.

Safe travels,
Ronna

What are the colors of the Crispy Pork Gang? I don't want any trouble.

Winding down here in LA - my travel companion getting sick has slightly derailed plans, but not that much. We visited Langer's for breakfast/lunch one day. I really enjoyed their knish. Pastrami was very good, but not my favorite. It was juicy and fatty enough, and perfectly tender, but not really noticeable smoke and I thought a little lacking in the pepper/coriander department. Don't get me wrong though - I enjoyed it quite a bit.

We had dinner at Pizzeria Mozza, and oddly, our favorite items there were everything but the pizzas. They have a terrific eggplant caponata - just the right amount of acidity and pine nuts mixed in. It's the third eggplant caponata I've had out in the last month and probably the best, and I liked it much more than the one I had at Next Sicily. We enjoyed it with some terrific house made bread rubbed with garlic oil. And we also shared some smoked cod fritters which were also excellent - flavorful, crisp and delicate, plenty of fish and just beautifully fried. They were served with what appeared to be a lemon aioli. But although the pizza crusts were great (crisp, flavorful, bubby), the toppings not as much. Tomato sauce seemed to be totally lacking seasoning - it tasted of only tomato. And perhaps this was our own fault, but the pizza with guanciale and bagna cauda (among other ingredients) was just too salty (from the guanciale) and the garlic overwhelmed (perhaps the latter could be expected). Torta della Nonna for dessert was just outstanding though, and overall it was a very nice dinner.

Best meal though was undoubtedly Jitlada - as good a Thai meal as I've had. I hadn't gotten to explore much of southern Thai food except when I was touring a small fishing village outside of Phuket, where I first learned of the quest to make the greatest shrimp paste on earth. We had a small meal there where we enjoyed a couple of terrific curries but I felt the food had been faranged! Anyway, I think I found what I had missed at Jitlada.

Most everything we tried was fantastic. Although we were only two people, we ordered for 3 (or 4). Sadly, I forgot my camera for this meal and my camera phone just wouldn't cut it, but there are plenty of Jitlada pictures all over the web. We had the spicy beef curry with cassia leaf, the crispy morning glory salad with shrimp, the spicy fish kidney curry with shrimp, an omelet with crab and the Songkhla rice salad. Part of the success of this meal was the marriage of extreme heat with sour, sweet, funky and a base (the omelet). My favorite dish was easily the fish kidney curry - extremely spicy, quite funky, but just altogether delicious and one of the very best dishes I've ever tasted. And when it got too spicy, the rice and omelet were there too help. I also thought the beef was just terrific thanks to one of the best curries I have ever enjoyed. The morning glory salad reminded me quite a bit of the crispy on choy at TAC (although somewhat different) and I liked it every bit as much. And the rice salad was excellent too, a little sour and a little sweet. The omelet on its own was the worst of the dishes - it was just boring - but worked well with the spicy heat from the fish kidney curry and beef curry. But overall, it was an outstanding meal and the best of our trip so far.

Yesterday, we visited Din Tai Fung and enjoyed it quite a bit, but I'll post separately.

Din Tai Fung was quite good. We started off at their original location where we were quoted a 2-hour wait. So we moved around the corner to the newer location and there we waited just less than an hour. First, I have to say that I love their little mascot:



Of course, we were there for the xiao long bao:


Xiao long bao


The XLB were filled with pork - they steered us towards the pork, and away from the crab and pork. Someone w/ more experience here may know the difference and whether one is better than the other. I've traditionally preferred ones with crab and pork. Anyway, there was a lot to love about these XLB - very thin wrappers that did not stick, easily manageable, and very tasty. As good as they were, I found them to be a little lacking in soup - there just wasn't that much soup filling, although what soup filling I could find was very tasty. My personal gold standard is still Nan Xiang in Flushing (haven't tried Joe's yet, but will this fall).

We tried several other items. Pork and sticky rice dumplings were probably prettier than they were tasty. Just slightly lacking in flavor, but nothing that sauce couldn't fix. Like the XLB though, the wrappers were again fantastic.


Pork and sticky rice dumplings


We also tried pork and pork & vegetable buns. The buns were really exquisite - light, fluffy, not the least bit dry and just perfect. The fillings were also very tasty. The bun with pork and vegetables was heavy on chive and very interesting tasting. The one with just pork tasted so much like the XLB (but w/o soup). Here are pictures, but unfortunately none from the inside:


pork and pork & vegetable buns


Nothing magical about the Shanghai rice cake noodles, but I always find them so comforting, and this version was no exception:


Shanghai rice cake noodles


We then had a few of the sweet items, which proved very interesting. First, this beautiful sticky rice with fruits, which was tasty and featured many fruits I couldn't identify, and some fruits of the type you'd find in a fruitcake.


Sticky rice with fruit


The steamed red bean rice cake was also very interesting - light, a bit airy yet dense, and pretty flavorful. It really was not different from most red bean desserts, except the texture obviously a little different. One other comment: I loved the red bean paste here. It just seemed to be a tad less sweet than most I've tried.


Steamed red bean rice cake


Finally, the simple red bean bun, which was great. Again, the perfect bun and a great red bean filling.


Red bean bun, which I cut open


Overall, I really enjoyed Din Tai Fung and the XLB were quite good. I just wish there had been more soup in them. Still, far better than any I've tried in Chicago so well worth the trip. Thanks for the recs guys!

Forgot to mention that we also ate at Ink Sack, Michael Voltaggio's sandwich shop. There I had the Jose Andres, which was serrano, Spanish chorizo, lomo, manchego and briny red peppers. The sandwiches are small - 4 inches - but this one was weighty in flavor. The bread was on the heavier side but didn't overwhelm the flavors inside. The meats were all terrific and I thought the ratio of meat to cheese to peppers to vinegar just right. I really loved this sandwich. $6 might be pricey for a 4-inch sandwich, but not this one in my opinion.

I also tried both the pork rinds and house made potato chips. The pork rinds were really terrific - porky, greaseless and a nice, not overdone, bbq seasoning. The house made chips themselves were terrific, crisp and greaseless, but the Old Bay-type seasoning was a bit overdone and a little too salty, even for this salty chip-loving person.


Ink Sack
8360 melrose avenue, los angeles, ca
Can call orders ahead at: 323.655.7225

BR, you didn't make it to Animal?

Seems like still lots of good eating. I ran into p'Tui at an event this weekend which reminded me I have not eaten at Jitlada since July 2010.

TonyC wrote:BR, you didn't make it to Animal?

Seems like still lots of good eating. I ran into p'Tui at an event this weekend which reminded me I have not eaten at Jitlada since July 2010.

Back in Chicago now - no, we didn't make it to Animal. We had a late reservation Sunday night but my travel companion was sick most of Sunday and Monday so we cancelled the reservation and also skipped our plans for Japanese food. He wanted to rest in our hotel room and heal so I brought in some In 'N Out.

On our way to the airport, we visited Randy's Donuts which I always enjoy. Their buttermilk donut was as good as ever, one of my favorite donut types. But a maple donut tasted like curry - not sure what happened and because we got it to go we couldn't ask what happened. I wondered whether some flavoring agent got mixed up - weird!

During our short trip, my friend had just one food request. He wanted to visit one of the many retro diners we kept passing. We saw one that looked pretty cool (can't remember which one), but we went inside and there was absolutely nobody eating there although there was some garbage on the floor in the host area, setting off some alarms. They didn't even say anything to us as we went in and then left in less than a minute. So we drove a few blocks away and saw a place that also looked cool, but with people waiting to get in. And that's how we ended up at Norm's on La Cienega (near West Hollywood/Beverly Hills). We didn't realize it was a small area chain (although this was apparently their original location), but it looked kind of interesting and what my friend was looking for.




I particularly appreciated the interior and the Brady Bunch-esque stone wall seen in the distance:




And the clock on the wall with the forks as hands on the clock:




The food ended up being perfectly adequate breakfast food, well . . . better than adequate actually. I had steak and eggs and though I expected a hockey puck of a steak, it turned out to be more flavorful and juicy and pretty decent. It came with eggs, hash browns and pancakes. All were fine - eggs over easy as ordered, hash browns standard but well cooked, and the pancakes were particularly fluffy and tasty. The only thing that could have made this $7.99 breakfast better would have been real maple syrup.



Steak and eggs, hash browns and pancakes - $7.99


My friend had the breakfast special of eggs, sausage, bacon, hash browns and pancakes topped with apples, which was $5.99 as the sign in the second picture says. He enjoyed.




So overall, Norm's proved better than the mere serviceable I might have expected.

Link to Norm's website

I was only mildly disappointed we couldn't make it everywhere planned because overall we ate pretty well and had a good time (outside of my friend's illness). Thanks again to those who chimed in with suggestions, particularly TonyC who keeps gracing the board with his terrific knowledge of the area.