Los Angeles Asian Food Recommendations

My coworker asked me for Asian food in Los Angeles recommendations and I spent a long time making a list.  I go to a lot of new restaurants every weekend, but the ones below are good enough for me to return to.  I love LA.

Chinese

 - 101 Noodle Express (San Gabriel Valley)- for Beef Rolls, Dan dan mien

 - Green Zone (San Gabriel Valley)- for Hainese Chicken

 - Szechuan Impression (San Gabriel Valley)- for NICE Szchuan food (good service)

 - Pine and Crane (Los Feliz) - Hipster, organic refined Taiwanese.

 - Huge Tree Pastry (San Gabriel Valley) - Taiwanese breakfast - Fan tuan

 - Jazz Cat (San Gabriel Valley) - Individual hot pot

 - Atlantic Seafood (San Gabriel Valley) - for cheap dim sum (in a very modern Asian plaza with a daiso)

 - Elite (San Gabriel Valley) - Better quality dim sum (no carts)

 - Newport Seafood (San Gabriel Valley) - for that lobster

Korean

 - Bud Namu (Koreatown) - for CHEAP AYCE KBBQ - new facility, $12

 - Hae Jang Chon (Koreatown) - for stone grill style kbbq

 - Yu Chun Chic (Koreatown) - for Korean cold noodles. 

 - Eight Korean BBQ (Koreatown) - 8 different types of pork including ginseng, garlic etc. - pretty unique

Japanese

 - Silverlake Ramen (Silvelake) - for dipping noodles

 - Monzo (Little Tokyo) - for creamy udon

 - Kush (Echo Park)- for $$$ Japanese tapas

 - Coco Ichibanya (Koreatown)- Japanese curry.  Some people like Curry House better

 - Jist Cafe (Little Tokyo)- Cute cafe.  Get Chashu hash + rice.  Large portion

 - Sushi Enya (Little Tokyo) - American sushi rolls.  Get "no rice" rolls. They come out in bite sizes. Mmm

 - Tokyo Fried Chicken (San Gabriel Valley)- A different take on fried chicken with amazing ponzu dipping sauce and sides.

Indonesia

 - Simpang Asia (West LA)- general Indo food

 - Borneo (San Gabriel Valley) - Amazing nasi campur

Vietnamese

 - Golden Deli (San Gabriel Valley) - Very east, but probably the best 

 - Thai Lai (Hawthorne)  - For their Hu Tieu and Mi Quang

Thai

 - Luv2Eat (Hollywood) - For their jade noodles (dry)

 - Ruen Pair (Thai town)- Everything is amazing here.

 - Hoy-ka (Hollywood) - MMM Thai Noodle Soup

Eating Out April

Thai Lai - Lawndale - Banh Khot
Buff Wings - Glendale - Winggggs
Coco Ichibanya - Koreatown - Pasta Curry Katsu
Tatsu Ramen - Melrose - Naked Ramen + Egg
Nickel Diner - DTLA - One of the best biscuits and gravy ever!
Cugurt - Los Feliz - Spicy Feta Bowl with Gyro
N.A.O Ramen - Monterey Park - Ramen
Monzo - Little Tokyo - Build your own Toro roll

MMMMM

My hair was doing funky things in April.  :P

January Recap

hat a food adventure in January!  This is where I explored:

Lobsta Shack - Lobster Rolls - Chinatown
Monja Tailker - Noodles - Rosemead
Belly & Snout - Filipino Fusion - Koreatown
Dai Ho - Noodle noodle noodle - Temple City
Jazz Cat - Golden Fishballs - San Gabriel
Whiz -Burger - Koreatown
Jasmine Market - Coconut Lamb Curry - Culver City
Jazzcat - Jurassic Meat - San gabriel
88 Beef Noodle - Arcadia

Angel City Brewery also provided much entertainment encouraging us to bring our own board games and importing snow... for kicks.

The Line Hotel is really dishing out posh venues.  Commissary a greenhouse restaurant that serves $12 carrots and a new 80's themed bar that's on my to-do list.

What really annoyed me about this place is that it served my lychee cocktail in a miso soup tupperware.  My eyes were rolling so far behind my head I can see the Inside Out characters in my brain.

Other things:
- Took my cousin out to the Abbey for the first time.  I made her touch the go-go boys and she told me she felt like she was cheating.
- Checked out "Dance Yourself Clean" at the Satelite in Silverlike which was uber fun.

- Check out a gay night at Grand Star Jazz Club in Chinatown which turned out to be a lesbian night called Rumours.

Oh what a month.

Eating Out July

July wasn't the best month for food... or at least food documentation.  This is all I found in my cameras.  To compensate I added a little more flavor to my food listings.  Happy eating!

Rock 'N Fish (Manhattan Beach) - When Mony visited I wanted to show him the beach life in LA so I took him to Manhattan Beach.  "It's so white," he declared.  I completely forgot how the percentage of PoCs dropped in this area.  And so does flavoring your food.  VERY overpriced large fish stick and bland, "spicy mac and cheese."  As spicy as my water.. we will be joking about this place for years.
The Bossy Wife (West Hollywood) - We were in the area, why not?  Pretty pricey, but it matched the neighborhood.  I like that this option is available here, but I wouldn't return.  Breakfast and Indomie.
Pa Ord (Thai Town) - A local favorite.  #5 - Tom Yum noodles with pork spare rib and the best crispy pork belly ever.
Tatsu Ramen (Sawtelle) - Though the ramen was one dimensional for my food buddies, my "Naked Ramen was on point.  I'd get this again.
Escala (Ktown) - I blogged about this place.  All about the vibes.
Tatsu Ramen (Sawtelle) - Also got the buns.  It's aiight.
L.A. Chapter (DTLA @Ace Hotel) - It's a hotel restaurant.  But these dumplings were pretty good!
Bourbon Steak (Glendale) - Lobster Pot Pie.  It's a gimmick.  I'd rather go Chinese.
United Bread and Pastry (Silverlake) - This hidden Filipino Grocery and catering place is a hidden gem.  They are known for their Turons - "Filipino snack made of thinly sliced bananas and a slice of jackfruit, dusted with brown sugar, rolled in a spring roll wrapper and fried.  Heaven.  But here is a picture of giant plantains that I thought was amusing.  Places like these are going to be demolished in a few years.  It's sad.
Wexler's Deli (Grand Central Market - DTLA) - Over priced lox.  Yawn.
Cugurt (Los Feliz) - Our new go-to casual Mediterranean place.  Large portions, great flavor and price!

Eating Out August

A little late to the party.  This is what I consumed in August.

Green Zone (San Gabriel) - Mini Spicy Wontons.  I loved this dumplings, but the skin was too thick for my meal-mates.  I loved thick skin so I was pretty happy.
Homemade - Charles made this for Ern/Erik's pre-house warming party. Hiyashi chūka - really great summer dish and a winner at the party.  Pretty easy to make if you can find all the ingredients.
Kim Hua Hue (El Monte) - I made the guys drive all the way here for middle region Vietnamese food.  It wasn't worth the drive, but it was nice to see a place east of LA rather than going to the OC.  That's banh ram it and a sample platter.  More about it in my linked Yelp! review
Green Zone (San Gabriel) - Organic Hainan Chicken Rice.  The star of the show.  Jimmy felt that this dish was cleaner and less oily than Savoy who seems to own the market for Hainan chicken rice.
Auntie Em's Kitchen - (Eagle Rock) - After writing a lukewarm review, the owners reached out to me to give them another shot with a gift card!  This definitely made everything taste better.  The biscuits and gravy were solid... as in solid lard in your gut.  Guilty pleasure and please don't finish it in one sitting.
Teresa's Family Restaurant - I wanted to like this place, but for $10 we got a microwaved breakfast.  Look how sad those sausages are!
Bottega Louie (DTLA) - Burrata and roasted vine - I was blown away at how refined and delicious this simple dish was.  Highly recommend
Pizza Studio (DTLA) - I'm in love with the build your own pizza unlimited toppings revolution.  Always double garlic all the time
Mamita (Glendale) - Lomo saltado!  Yes yes yes.  A little pricey, but a great date spot.
Kim Hua Hue (El Monte) - This bun bo hue was confronting, but nothing to drive to
Bottega Louie (DTLA) - This eggplant parmesan was hard to eat.  Good, but it's aiiiight.
Jist Cafe (Little Toyko) - Chilaquiles.  Wasn't that great, stick to their amazing chashu hash skillet!
Mamita (Glendale) - This mixto ceviche was amazing.  They are very generous with the seafood and I was thrilled.  So happy!
Saap Cafe (Thai town) - Jade noodles.  Yes.  Order this.

I'm getting hungry.

Kush Sake Bar

I usually do a what-I-ate monthly round up, but I thought I would try something different using my camera phone pictures and VSCO cam app and focusing on a restaurant.  I wanted to treat out Jimmy this Monday evening by taking him to Kush.  A new sake bar in Echo Park that opened just two weeks ago.  It's exciting to be an "early adopter."  Is this tech term transferable to food?  Anyway, we thought it was just going to be overpriced Japanese bar food on sticks, but we were delightfully surprised by every dish that we ordered.

While I was enjoying my usual tsukemen at Silverlake Ramen last week, the server handed me the menu to Kush - a restaurant closer to my house by the same owner.  I felt like I was getting tipped off on a brand new exciting place! I love Silverlake Ramen - despite the implications of its name, Silverlake Ramen is not water-down Americanized ramen.

Anyway, we drove 1.5 miles and found residential parking and sat at the booth.  Only one other person was there.  We started the meal with mushroom with truffle salt (4) which was the perfect appetizer.  Jimmy looked up at me with surprise, "this is really good."

The dips that come with the meal are great to enhance the flavors, but everything was very well seasoned.  The dips included: pepper/salt magic, sweet Japanese mayonnaise and soy sauce daikon.

Jimmy loved the chicken liver pate, brie cheese, honey on toast (4.50).  The berry on top added perfect sweetness.  The japanese pumpkin with honey sauce (3) was tasty and a good filling dish if you're worried about getting full.

The Japanese Meatball (9) which is a chicken meatball, poached egg and mashed potato was so savory and amazing.  We licked the bowl clean.  We also ordered marinated pork belly (3.5) which is always a winner.  I found myself really savoring each bite and dipping it in each dipping piece to see how the flavor would be enhanced.  The pork belly is definitely better than the wagyu beef (6) probably because it was fattier.

Kush is really pushing to be a sake bar and offered tastings of the "Mirror of Truth-seiko."  This was recommended to us by the server as the best pairing to our order.  Jimmy declared that it was really refreshing and perfect.  We will order this next time we come!  We also had the hot sake which warmed our bellies!

The bill came in this cute vintage cigarette box that looks like it came from the Rose Bowl Flea market.

5 stars! Trendy, classy and very affordable for refined and exquisite taste.

http://www.yelp.com/biz/kush-sake-bar-los-angeles-3

Eating out June

June was a very colorful month for food. MMMMMM.

Cha Cha Chili - Alhambra - Spicy Pork Sliders.  Next to Chengdu Taste, a casual spot that's not too popular
SweetSalt - Toluca Lake - Salad with duck on top
Pink's Taco - Century City - Lobster Enchilada... tastes like it sounds
Samosa House Sunset - Silverlake - Pakora
AOC - Plate of bread stuff
Chicken and Rice - Cypress Park - The appeal in New York is that's is available and quick and open when youre drunk.  This store front is very unknown and tastes pretty much the same.  But the experience is quite different.
Ramen - Somewhere in the South Bay... Ramen is blending together
Square One at the Boat House - Patty Melt at the lake... delicious
C & O Trattoria - Marina del Rey - Great Italian food, fun vibe
Isaan Station - Northern Thai cuisine, got their Khai Yang Ob Oong (Charcoal grilled turmeric marinated chicken) so good
Cha Cha Chili - Alhambra - Kim Chi Quesidilla
Samosa House Sunset -
Taco Bell - Joe got me this waffle breakfast thing for my birthday
Rock N Brew - El Segundo - it's like a Yard House.  These Hawaiian tacos were alright.
Coffee Chop Place by Soul Cycle - Sunset Strip - Pizza... expensive pizza
Lemonade - Manhattan Beach - Tuna in Avacado.  My go to healthy snack

Eating Out May

Pine and Crane (Silverlake) - Dan dan mien... it didn't do it for me.
Suberba Snack Bar (Venice) - Homemade pasta... so good.  so chewy!
Cafe Vida (Culver City) - White sangria
Pho Broadway (Chinatown DTLA)- Duck in Egg Noodle Soup
Grimaldi's (El Segundo - Tiramisu.  Probably the best I've had
Bun Shop (Koreatown) - Just buns... over priced
Tsujita Annex (Sawtelle) - Tsukemen which gave me the shits.
Ruen Pair (Thai Town) - Blue Crab Papaya Salad
Cha Cha Chicken (West Side) - Their fried chicken special.  Could use more SPICE!
Pho Cafe (Silverlake) - Tumeric Fish on Vermicelli
Wako (Koreatown)- Tonkatsu
Suberba Snack Bar (Venice)  - Toast with Balsalmic drizzle and gooey cheese
Suberba Snack Bar (Venice) - Squid Ink somethannng
Pappa Rich (Koreatown) - Laksa... yumz!
Bun... not sure where.
Jazz Cat (San Gabriel) - Veggiessssss

I'm starting to get lazy... you guys can google this stuff.  But damn, I ate well in May!

FOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOODDDDD

April Recap

Spring Cleaning

I'm always impressed when I find out that my friends are talented.  Will had an art exhibit in Little Tokyo called Monochromatic where he featured his paper designs.  The detail is amazing.

California Through My Lens blog sent us on an adventure through Murphy Ranch in Santa Monica.  Well actually Brian gave me the initial idea, but I found this blog very helpful to find the hidden spots.

This building is always changing with graffiti artist constantly cover over others' work.  When we arrived we noticed some kids enjoying 420 and painting the inside.

Phil actually went again another weekend and found this place fenced off and the graffiti painted over.  Looks like we visited just in time.  He also found a rope swing and other painted areas.

The hike itself involved many stairs.  And there was really a clear path to the buildings, but we were able to ask around.

We supported our friends at the CalTech 2nd Annual drag show.  It was very entertaining.  And very different.  Wilton was the perfect MC and the greatest drag queen doing a death drop during his performance.  It was also fun to watch drag Kings.  The after party was awesome at the karaoke bar The Boulevard.

My car stereo was damaged.  My coworker asked the guy she was dating to if he could fix it because he works on race cars.  He dismantled my dash and found a shit ton of extra wires.  He told me that someone tried to install a woofer which I thought to be odd since I bought my car in 2012 from a car rental place.  SHADY.   We were able to get the sound to work, but the stereo lights no longer turned on.  I guess I'd rather have sound than light.  LOL.

I was lucky, he didn't have the correct wrench, but someone across the lot was working on a motorcycle and had the tool.  SCORE.  He saved me a lot of money.

We checked out the Brewery Art Walk which I've gone to a couple times before already.  Again, it was more about the living space than the art itself.

Aww - me and Alysia at Yelp! Elite Event in Pasadena.

I'm curious what this is for.

EATING OUT APRIL

Myung Dong Grill (Sunnyvale) - Seafood Pancake
Lasa Filipino Pop Up (Eagle Rock) - Pork Cheek Kaldereta.
Cinco de Mayo (West Side) - Drunk tacos
Trencher (Each Park) - A sandwich
Banh Cuon Phu Ho Tay (San Jose) - Bun and Grilled Fish
Perilla (San Francisco) - Garlic Noodles (Joe's FAVORITE!)
Neat Bar (Glendale) - Neat Bourbon and "Chaser" which was more of a mixed cocktail $12!
Badmaash (DTLA) - Poutine Masala - sop it up!
Banh Cuon Phu Ho Tay (San Jose) - Bun Mam.  Ppl always impressed that I like this.
Badmaash (DTLA) - Random other dishes
Heywood (Silverlake) - Game changer and Caliente - If you want to pay $10 for grilled cheese

Yes - I would like my Spam Musubi loco moco style!!!!  Gravy and with an Egg on it!  Thank you Aloha Cafe in Little Tokyo!

March 2014 - Recap

Catching up!  Lot's of random things in March and here they are in no particular order:

Discovered Pour Haus in DTLA which offers an affordable flight of wine and board games. There's this strip in the lower part of the Art's District with fancy restaurants.  It's a interesting area; very industrial.  The new Santa Fe condos are going to change the feel of district once completed.  Good bye parking!

Below are the neighboring restaurants that are $$$

Bestia
Church and State
The Factory Kitchen
Test Kitchen 2012
Little Bear
Fifty Seven
Daily Dose Cafe

Exploring a Stay on Main, a hotel in DTLA popular for backpackers.  I'm curious about the history here.

Happy birthday Andrew!

"Always on Top" - Improv group

Jimmy is being cute in Silverlake

Caught Andrew acting wild at the USC Fisher Museum of Art. #security

Andrew caught fish at the California Science Center.

Caught these boys playing a drinking game

Happy Birthday JV!  Roscoe's Chicken and Waffles!  I'm glad to always catch this guy's birthday.

Hermosa Beaching

Hermosa Beach sunset right before the St. Patrick day crowd rolls in.  Doucheeeees

Echo Park Lake paddle boating.  $10 an hour a person... or was it $12?

Jimmy's family doing a traditional Indo dance for his brother's wedding reception.  One of Jimmy's friends came up to me and asked me to dance.  We slow danced like middle school.  I was thankful that she noticed my awkwardness.  I appreciate people like that.  People who notice things and approach people.  Very admirable.  I love her for it.

Sort of celebrated Persian New Years at the LACMA.  Need to explore Persian food.  Need to understand more about that region of the world.  And the differences in delicacies.

Reflections at Cha Cha Lounge in Silverlake.  There's a wednesday gay night... but it wasn't very gay.  I had the best michelada there.

This is how we do late night.  Tacos on a car trunk.

Absurdly long line for one of the ramen vendors at the Ramen Festival in Santa Ana.  Come early, it's not worth it otherwise.  We broke off into groups and each had 1.5 bowls of ramen... for a lot of money.  We decided that Haraiya Miso Wonton-men was amazing and that the Mattou Seimen Szechuan ramen fell flat.  Both from Japan!  Hmmm... I should post pictures huh?  I should snag those from Jimmy.

A really fun game of Pictionary.  The neighbor told us to be quiet at 9PM.  So we had to whisper.  Made the game more interesting.

Enjoying a parklet in Highland park.

The good thing about living in a loft in DTLA is that you have access to your own epic roof top.  This view is out of the Union Lofts.

Enjoyed #artivism in downtown LA.

Lazertag birthday in Sherman Oaks!  The Alhambra location is larger!

We said our good byes to MJ's bar in Silverlake.  It was sad, but it was time.  We hadn't gone to MJs in a while.  I'm sad I missed out on more foam parties and glow parties.  That night was odd.  The bartenders were lazy, there was only one go-go boy.  It really was dead.  

Sunny moved 1 mile from me.  She has this amazing roof top porch.

After drinking, I took a lyft to Sean's place.  He made me an epic quesadilla with a ton of meat and then drove me home.  What a homie.

Eating Out March

Ramen Yamadaya - I love dipping ramen- tsukemen, but this place missed the mark.  It should have known; it's not their specialty.
Mario's Peruvian - A classic.  Lomo saltado fantastic.
The Black Sheep - Burger and Bar joint in DTLA
Paciugo Gelato - Gelato in Hermosa beach
The Highland Cafe - The best chilly cuties AKA chilaquiles I've had.  Crispy!
Isaan Station - Do NOT order standard thai dishes here.  And it's spicy!  Still dreaming about what we ordered.
The Highland Cafe - Also ordered an amazing bulgogi sandwich and kale salad, which I enjoyed surprisingly
Singapore's Banana Leaf - Get it Indo style!  Comes with fried egg!
Seongbukdong - Yummy Korean seafood pancake
Salju Desserts - This Vietnamese Iced Coffee snow is unreal.
The Black Sheep - With flash this time
Piper's - The Denny's of Koreatown.  Cute patio...
Papparich - Laksa! With thicker noodles.  Mmmmm
Fickle - Bone Marrow... it was okay
Flemings - Happy Hour... pretty good and perfect for straight after work
Square One - Expensive brunch, but one of the best Benedict I've had.  Need cheese for the grits.

I've reviewed most of these places on Yelp!  #elite!

Gay Men's Chorus of LA 


The "God Save the Queen(s)" concert was a tribute to the UK.  This concert had skits and choreo.  Elaborate costumes, set changes.  It was broadway and fabulous.  There was a James Bond skit, Adele and One Direction songs and a serious and touching rendition of Imogen Heap's "Hide and Seek."  During a silent part of this song, someone in the row behind us forgot to put their phone on silent and the familiar trill of a Grindr message alert went off.  Surrounding gays could not stop chuckling.

Max Studios Karaoke



Andy is so talented.


Annnnnndddd that was March!