Sample of Best Ethnic in LA for a NYCer

[mongo_jones]

hey erin,

make sure you tell us where you end up going and how it goes. if you tell us your final choices before you go we might also be able to recommend dishes if we know the place well.

mongo

[ErinB]

There will be a full and detailed report. The eating starts Friday. Definites are Udupi Palace and Ita-Cho, and some type of Chinese on Sunday. Strong possibility of dim sum.

[SG-]

For japanese I would lean more towards specialty izakaya, ramen, yakitori type restaurants which are not as common in NYC and even when available are cheaper and better in LA.

Same goes for sushi, for some shock value, bring them to Shibucho in Costa Mesa to see how well you can eat for what would amount to tips at some places at NYC.

[ErinB]

Sea Harbour on Sunday for Dim Sum is another place we've decided to go.

[ErinB]

I'm going to do a full post on tuesday night or wednesday. Things have been crazy. Only ended up going to Ita-Cho and Sea Harbor.

Sea Harbor was amazing. Ita-Cho was good, but exactly what I was looking for.

[jschyun]

Just a little note on the Sea Harbour trip, we had some pretty great things, but did not, I repeat, did not get the fois gras wontons (duck liver wontons on the menu).

I keep meaning to order that, just to see what it tastes like. But $16? for wontons? gah.

My fave this time was the sharks fin seafood dumplings, but they only put on a couple threads of sharks fin, which kind of annoyed me. Nevertheless, the dumplings are two bite wonders with juice pockets at the bottom, not as juicy as a juicy dumpling, but still juicy.

Of course the bitter melon balls are always good. With the black sesame filling, I think ErinB liked that one al ot.

Erin's friend Alicia (did I get that right) ordered an eggplant noodle dish that I had to restrain myself from grabbing from her. Her man ordered some pork chop dish that everyone liked, but I was too full to eat it.

As usual the egg custard tarts were not that great here, but this time, they sucked in a different way. This time the crust was Golden Gate flaky,with all the layers distinct, but the filling was just a pasty dot in the middle, so you mostly got a mouthful of flakes, which isn't so bad really. But they didn't suck as bad as at koi palace, so I felt better for that.

I could comment on the rest of the parade but I think my mind glazed over after the 20th dish or so.

[ErinB]

Sea Harbor

Let's see if I can remember ... We did a combination of ordering off of the menu with ordering stuff that they were carrying around. While ordering from carts is probably fun, I like that all of this stuff was pretty fresh. We also had to wait about 1 1/2 hours to get in, even though we got there at 10:30

I loved the bitter melon balls with the black sesame paste. All of the flavors combined perfectly.

The eggplant noodle dish was great, with vermicelli noodles and pieces of eggplant, very spicy. (this was not dim sum)

We ordered coconut and tarot custard, which basically was coconut and taro jello in squares. I liked the coconut, but not the flavor or texture of the taro.

We ordered these green seafood dumpling, which the dumpling on the outside was spinach and bready. The bread was a weird flavor and texture.

We ordered a fried tofu dish that was amazing, very crisp on the outside and soft on the inside. Perfectly cooked served with a sweet duck type sauce.

Ita-Cho

My friends both got soba noodle dishes, which were average, and not really worth giving a description beyond that. I told them to try the other stuff, but they weren't very adventurous and just tried the stuff I ordered.

I ordered the lotus root salad, perfectly spicy. Miso marinated eggplant was probably the best eggplant I've had ever, very meaty tasting. I also ordered a fried flounder dish, which was pretty good but ordinary. I think it was supposed to be a japanese version of fish and chips with a vinegar soy sauce to dip in.