KOREAN

where: seoul garden
area: koreatown
when: wednesday, october 15, 2008
how was it: a truly chinful experience

• have come here many times, but tonight was the first night in roughly a year or two...
• ...and was it fantastic!
• the breakdown: 1) little salad with a ginger base dressing, 2) whilst prepping the middle table's cauldron of beef stock over a flame, 3) then come the side 반찬 (pahn-chan) dishes, 4) and the raw thinly sliced brisket and vegetables, 5) dump little by little in beef stock and watch the instantaneous cooking occur, 6) eat eat eat, 7) with leftover stock, udon noodles are prepared within, 8) and finally, the coup de grace, rice, sesame oil, egg, and dried seaweed are thrown into the last bit of beef stock to make instant "risotto!!!"
• referred to as "jin-ghees-khan" (진기스칸), it is essentially shabu shabu... but with so much more!
• this is a paradigm of korean "survival cooking" - meaning, koreans will use every last scrap of everything to consume
  

AMERICAN

where: the counter
area: santa monica
when: thursday, october 9, 2008
how was it: chin; too chinver-rated

• the counter - a chain burger joint that allows you to pick whatever toppings you want. has an interesting selection of sauces and pretty standard fare toppings
• me: beef patty + hot pepper jack cheese + lettuce/tomato/onion/pickle + fried egg + white bun + horseradish sauce on the side = A'IGHT. thought that a good judge of the burger "goodness" required a standard, layered selection of toppings
• hillary: beef patty + crumbled blue cheese + lettuce/tomato/onion/pickle + bacon + white bun + spicy sour cream sauce on the side = A'IGHT
• sweet potato fries were quite tasty (as they would be anywhere), and the deep fried dill pickle chips were quite delicious as well. never in my life did i ever think that i would ever try "deep fried dill pickle chips." i think that's as american as you can get
• very clean establishment and the concept is cute, but i doubt i will return. the discovery of a burger that is better than in-n-out is ever elusive
  

KOREAN

where: home
what: packaged kahl-gook-soo (칼국수 - korean noodles, literal translation "knife noodles")
when: monday, october 6, 2008
how was it: chins

• bought this at korean market, from a very insistent and convincing lady. "just heat it up like ramen," she says
• surprisingly quite tasty. both efficient and good
• added egg and dried seaweed for extra flavor
• overall a good experience, but nothing to go crazy about
  

MEXICAN: Dia de los Tacos

on october 5th, 2008, a sunday, james, hillary and i decided to go on a little taco hunt. ever on the search for the elusive "perfect taco," we journeyed to multiple locations in downtown los angeles, koreatown borders, and lincoln heights. here are the results:



where: carnitas michoacan
area: lincoln heights
when: sunday, october 5th, 2008 - 1st stop
how was it: chin-ulous

• the al pastor was on a spit - just like the blogs claimed
• the blogs also claimed this to be the best al pastor in los angeles. i don't disagree completely, but i still hold a verystrong allegiance to el super taco's al pastor
• only salsa roja was available, but luckily it was quite tasty. it had a nice chipotle like smoky flavor. pretty unique
• neighborhood not my fav, but who gives a shit the tacos were tasty! will definitely return!
  

where: king taco
area: downtown los angeles
when: sunday, october 5th, 2008 - 2nd stop
how was it: chin'ight (get it? like "it's a'ight")

• our 2nd stop on dia de los tacos
• not much can be said, other than... it's pretty overrated
• i'm sure back in the days of its taco truck roots, the tacos were quite delicious. but as with all popularized chain-like locations, quality is replaced with convenience and cleanliness. which is saying a lot, but in the end, all i want is tasty-ness
• i wish i didn't order so many tacos here (which included carne asada, lengua, al pastor, and suadero), because...

where: the surfer taco
area: downtown/koreatown border
when: sunday, october 5th, 2008 - 3rd and final stop
how was it: chin-batable. requires second serving, but 1 taco consumed was quite chin

• despite our over-stuffed-ness, we carried on... and drove by the supposed location of this truck. lo and behold, was it there! we had to get at least one taco, since we were all the way out here, right?
• it was great... but i was way too full at this point to really give it a fair assessment
• the blogs noted that this truck actually had a pineapple sitting atop the spit of the al pastor, which is impossible to find, no less al pastor available on a spit. i couldn't actually see the spit, so was unsure, but after finishing the taco i asked the worker if they indeed had a pineapple atop the spit. he said "yes. wanna try a piece?" i said "sure," as i wondered why he didn't give me a piece to begin with...
• after munching on the semi-warm piece of pineapple, i thought to myself and discussed with my companions, "this would have been frickin' awesome with the taco! little chunks of pineapple similar to the onion/cilantro atop the taco woulda been grand! we must return and eat it as such!"