some meals in l.a

[mongo_jones]

got back to boulder yesterday after 24 days in lost angela. our original 2 week trip got extended for not particularly happy reasons but on the positive side we managed to get a lot more eating at our favorite places out of it. really, i spent the trip reading (11 novels in 24 days) and eating.

pictures will follow but here's a list of some of the places we ate at, in decreasing order of number of visits. i will spare you the list of novels i read.

multiple visits:

1. aladin: my favorite bengali/bangladeshi dive in l.a (vermont, between 2nd and 1st). ate here 4 times. almost better than the food was the news that they have started wholesaling frozen bengali fish to a pakistani grocery in denver and are fairly certain that these people also sell goat meat.

2. chungking: our favorite sichuan (and all around chinese) restaurant in monterey park (garfield a couple of blocks south of garvey). ate here twice. the first meal (monday night dinner) was almost disappointing. either they have a different chef on weeknights or the new waitress practising her limited english on us decided to tell the chef that we wouldn't be able to handle the heat. after we sent everything back to be done properly the second meal the next weekend was perfect (my lower intestine just twinged in pained acknowledgement of that statement). got their kung pao chicken for the first time on this trip. it will now be on our regular rotation on return trips.

3. hodori: i've stated on many occasions my love of this 24 hr, staffed by grim middle-aged women koreatown standby (olympic and vermont). ate here twice. got an excellent bibim naeng-myun on the first visit and their equally excellent yook-gae-jiang on the second.

one-time only's:

1. shik-do-rak: our favorite duk-bo-sam bbq place in koreatown. did not disappoint. olympic and hoover.

2. chung kiwa: went to this bbq place (olympic, a couple of blocks west of wilton) for the first time on mrs. jones' cousin's recommendation (said cousin is the undisputed queen of koreatown eating, twenty-something division). she said they have the best naeng-myuns in koreatown. we went with an army of friends and sampled some naeng-myuns and some pretty good bbq. pleasant surprise: they do duk-bo-sam as well. regrettably it was only after we finished gorging that any of us noticed the prominent signs all over the place for something call "red deer bbq". next time we will check this out--hopefully it is in fact venison and not an euphemism for warthog-penis.

3. nrz seafood: this has taken the place of the shilla seafood buffet place on vermont (between james m. wood and wilshire). went with aforementioned cousin for korean style sashimi. for $40 you get a platter of two kinds of "live-fish" sashimi--they kill and slice it up after you order--before the sashimi arrives you get a ton of banchan and a porridgey thingy with clams, a fish-chigae, rice and a grilled pike mackerel arrives after. more than enough for three people--but being greedy we also got yellowtail and salmon sashimi (sliced much thicker than at japanese places). you don't have to do the live-fish sashimi if you go there, they also have platters of assorted sashimi. both kinds can be got in $40, $60 and $80 platters.

4. myung-dong: this is our favorite place for samgye-tang (a large steaming bowl of goodness that contains chicken, huge chunks of garlic, ginseng, chestnuts, mushrooms, noodles etc in a clear broth--add appropriate seasonings and ignore jonathon gold related generalizations about koreans and bland soups). in fact we're not sure why they serve anything other than samgye-tang. every time we've visited every single diner has had a bowl of it in front of them. this place is hard to find, however, for those who can't read korean. while their bi-lingual menu has their name on it, the sign outside is only in korean. however, interested parties should not let this stop them, should take irolo north from olympic (it starts out as normandie but stay on the main part which becomes irolo) and turn right into the strip immediately after the light at 7th street (if you hit wilshire you've gone too far). they are between the cleaners and the hair-salon and a few doors away from what may be the only moroccan restaurant in koreatown.

5. chunju-han-il kwan: speaking of places that don't have their names in english on the outside--these people don't even have a menu in english (unless they only bring it out if no one in your party is korean). pointing and ordering can't take you too far astray if you're an omnivore but it helps to take a korean speaker along. we were treated to dinner here by mrs. jones' aged grandma and we ate heaps of pork bulgoki, seafood pancakes, spicy cod-fish and most importantly bul-nak jun-gol (this was my first time eating this and i'm obviously relying on what the name sounded like when i asked the taciturn spouse--jschyun, skchai, please correct my transliteration). they apparently do a whole series of jun-gols (a spicy broth with noodles etc. in it) but the one we got had strips of beef bulgoki and octopus in it, hence the bul-nak. right, where is it located? the small strip at the corner of 6th and kenmore. it is to the right if you stand facing the restaurant/karaoke-joint that anchors the south end.

6. india sweet house: as i've said before the place for alu-parathas and chola-bhaturas in southern california is on pico a couple of blocks east of crescent heights. they also do, as i've noted before, the best sag-panir in town. you can eat like a particularly greedy pig for less than $15 (two people), and we felt it would be rash not to. i was supposed to return for a repeat engagement with a friend but he pulled a last minute strategic switcheroo on me and dragged me out to pasadena to eat a respectable but unremarkable buffet at a cookie-cutter north-indian by the name of mezbaan. my heart warmed to see that the great tradition of using the exact same sauce base for two dishes, but putting pieces of chicken-tikka in one and malai kofta in the other has not been abandoned by these people. they were sweet and unpretentious folk there though and it was good to hear some hardcore punjabi accents again, and i should not carp.

7. 888 seafood: on west valley in rosemead, east of san gabriel. went for dim-sum with other friends the same day that foodzealot, jschyun etc. were there. didn't eat with them but we connected (by which i mean only that we had a nice conversation, not that we entwined body-parts in any way). i don't know if there's any significance to this but foodzealot has a huuuge camera.

8. hide: sawtelle, between olympic and santa monica. in my opinion the best reasonably priced sushi west of robertson. did not disappoint.

9. menori: 1/2 block north of pico on robertson. in my opinion the best reasonably priced sushi on/east of robertson. did not disappoint either.

10. versailles: went to the culver city branch. mmm plantains and beans and rice and halibut in garlic sauce.

11. el cholo: went to the western branch with ex-work friends only because we used to go there from work. they do what they do, and they do it reasonably well i suppose. the food was not the point of the evening.

12. casablanca: bizarre l.a kitsch in venice. we only go there for the glorious freshly made tortillas. eating those with the tomatillo salsa was always a much better experience than eating anything on the menu, and so it proved to be again.

now that i'm getting into the not-so memorable meals part of the story i'll stop. we ate out some more with diminishing returns, but we also had some great meals in the homes of relatives--i've probably forgotten some other good restaurant meals too. all in all it was a good trip for food. it was also nice to meet jschyun and foodzealot and i hope to meet more l.a egulleters whenever it is we get there next. i will drag you all to aladin.

photos to follow anon

edited to clean up grammar and correct an inadvertent anagram (shtick:kitsch)

Edited June 7, 2004 by mongo_jones (log)

[FoodZealot]

7. 888 seafood: on west valley in rosemead, east of san gabriel. went for dim-sum with other friends the same day that foodzealot, jschyun etc. were there. didn't eat with them but we connected (by which i mean only that we had a nice conversation, not that we entwined body-parts in any way). i don't know if there's any significance to this but foodzealot has a huuuge camera.

Oh, there's some significance, alright...

Great to meet you, and I'm looking forward to reading more details and seeing your pics.

[jschyun]

dude, pics.

Wow, sounds like you had quite a trip. but now you are safely back in boulder.

my brother's friend's family owns chung kiwa (have places in l.a. and oc) so I'll be sure to tell him you liked it. yeah, a lot of places do dduk bo sam these days, esp barbecue places. i guess it's all the rage these past couple years.

--oops, I was wrong, they only own an OC location. there are a bunch of chung kiwa's and I was so sure they had an l.a. location. my bad.

bulnak jeongol is right. It basically means you got bulgogi and seafood in your big bubbling pot o' food.

--octopus not seafood, to be more precise. but then you knew that.

I envy you. I've been eating at the joints in Oakland and SF a lot. Not much to pick from, but I just had some decent jjampong at this one chiachangmyun (zazangmyun) place. the chiachiangmyun was not as good as OC/LA though.

By the way, i am also getting a huge camera...

Edited June 9, 2004 by jschyun (log)

[mongo_jones]

at this one chiachangmyun (zazangmyun) place. the chiachiangmyun was not as good as OC/LA though.

pics coming, i promise. i have relatives in town and am only getting on the net fitfully between outings. but speaking of chiachiangmyun, i forgot about the great korean-chinese dinner we ate at shin-peking on olympic and hobart (?). they do a mean chiachiangmyun. have you eaten there? and does anyone know what the relationship is between the korean chiachiangmyun and the shanghainese version?

[mongo_jones]

this is my first time uploading pictures, so this first one is a test--please let me know if i need to shrink it down some more.

this is the dim-sum spread at our table at 888 seafood in rosemead

dimsummers.seated from left to right: foodzealot, jschyun and man from northern california. standing: mongo jones

aladin's breathtaking entrance on the most fashionable section of vermont

bengali style chicken curry at aladin (note the protective layer of oil--really, it is good for the heart)

bengali-muslim style goat-meat biryani at aladin

aladin's great layered porotha (the bengali word for "paratha") and a portion of bata-machher jhal (bata is a tiny silvery fish, jhal=hot/spicy). you wouldn't eat the fish with the porotha--they just happen to be next to each other on the table.

names of available bengali fish and the prices on their wall (the american flag made its appearance after sep 11, 2001--they're down the street from an islamic center that was attacked). as per the owner i should now be able to get most of these in denver.

more to be edited in later

Edited June 9, 2004 by mongo_jones (log)

[Behemoth]

this is my first time uploading pictures, so this first one is a test--please let me know if i need to shrink it down some more.

this is the dim-sum spread at our table at 888 seafood in rosemead

I WANT!!!!

[jschyun]

mongo_jones is currently being hunted down for his opinions on the "New Indian Cooking" movement, therefore must hide his face.

[mongo_jones]

plus i'm in the smartass protection program

there's more pictures to come, by the way. i just realized that i should start a new reply each time i add in a bunch since if i just edit them into the original post the thread doesn't rise back up to the top and people who've seen the early pics may not realize that i've been inserting new ones as well.

[mongo_jones]

the remaining pictures:

the menu at han-il kwan--not a great picture but you can see i wasn't kidding when i said there's no english names or descriptions of dishes on it:

some of the food at han-il kwan; i would have taken more, better pictures but my in-laws were completely befuddled by my food photography and i decided to let it be rather than explain egullet to them. visible in this pic are 1)the spicy black-cod 2) the seafood pancakes and 3) over on the end of the table the main attraction the jun-gol steaming away on its own burner. another quick reason to go here: they have the best banchan.

the banchan etc. at nrz seafood (the korean sashimi place). as you can see there's edamame, kim-chi, marinated cucumber, blocks of steamed tofu with soy sauce and some tangy greens. also on the table are the cross between rice-porridge and clam chowder i mentioned (don't know what this is called), and hot chilli paste, peppers and garlic. i don't know if this is widely prevalent, but at this place sashimi is eaten the same way that bbq is in many korean restaurants--rolled up in a lettuce leaf with chilli paste, raw garlic cloves etc.

the sashimi itself. i believe it was red snapper and cod/halibut--we had some translation issues since no one present knew the english names of the fish. also interesting, and you can see this right below the lemon circle, is that in addition to the sashimi they serve cuts of the chewier parts of the fish closer to the bone. i kinda liked that.

and this is the spicy fish soup and grilled pike mackerel that shows up after you get done with the sashimi. once again all of this costs $40--and three can eat well.

and finally away from the restaurants a home-grilled galbi meal. also present on the table: kim-chi, marinated cucumbers, lettuce, kochu-jang, bin-dae-tok (sp.? a green-onion and shrimp pancake) and rice steamed with a red bean of some sort.

i'm also tempted to throw in a picture of my friends' cute little boy. going through the trip pictures i see the two major themes are food pics and pics of various breeding friends'/cousins' little children. but they're not edible (or at least so that fancypants judge said) and so i'll restrain myself.

well, that's it for the pictures. i apologize for the low quality of some (all?) of them, and if their size has caused anyone connection/page-load problems. let me know if you would like a full-size version of any of these for a closer look and i'll email them to you.

Edited June 10, 2004 by mongo_jones (log)

[FoodZealot]

Tremendous. Thanks for the post.

[skchai]

This is some amazing stuff - don't know how I didn't notice it the first time around. Will have to try aladin too when we're in LA. . .