Wednesday, May 6, 2009

Street Food, Hollywood-style

The infamous $16 pho. The $10 kaya toast that everyone loved but that I'm used to getting for less than $1 back home. These were all reasons I haven't checked out Susan Feniger's STREET until now. The concept is awesome. Street food from all over the world, all in one spot. In Hollywood. But one kitchen and how many countries? Can they pull it off?

I finally gave in and tried it the dinner suggestions thrown at me were Thai and Indian. Well, let's have both then! Both and more. So here goes. Ain't gonna compare to "real street food". Will just see how is this Hollywood restaurant faring overall.
STREET is hip-casual. Not exactly street-vendor ambiance but, hey, you still don't have to wear a tie. Besides the main dining area, you can also walk-in for the bar or counter or patio or the "lounge" upstairs. They do get crowded around 8 PM so walk-ins = long wait.

When we came we got seated upstairs where I got a nice view of the restaurant. We were also the only people up there so I can go flash-happy shamelessly :P
Besides the food, STREET also offers a variety of cocktails and also interesting non-alcoholic drinks such as three types of lassi, crysanthemum tea, etc.

I opted for the Cantaloupe-Beet Agua Fresca ($3)
I loved it. Loved it quite a bit. Not to worry, there's no strange vegetal aftertaste from the beets as the sweetness of the cantaloupe manages to take care of that. Yet the beet smoothes out the cantaloupe.

We started with some Scandinavian Beet & Apple Salad (black currants, toasted walnuts, juniper vinaigrette) - $9
Maybe it doesn't seem very 'ethnic street food' since it looks like a salad you'll get at a Californian restaurant. Regardless, it was an excellent salad. The beets were fresh and sweet. Yes, this is overall a sweet salad with the beets, apple, and walnuts. On the other hand it's not overly sweet and the texture kick from the walnuts are great.

Stir fried noodles with shrimp (pork belly, chinese broccoli, choy sum greens) - $18
This was the table favorite, but it came at a higher price than the other dishes. Very flavorful with a rather sweet sauce - oyster sauce, perhaps? The thick noodles were slippery and had a nice texture and they were generous enough with the shrimps and pork belly.

Indian Vada Dumplings (crispy dal fritters topped with yogurt sauce, mint sauce, and tamarind date chutney) - $8
Thought these were okay. The dal fritters themselves were pretty bland without the sauces accompanying it.

Vietnamese corn with pork belly - $6
The corn was very sweet and delicious! Personally I thought the pork belly was kind of superfluous. But it didn't detract from the dish, so it's okay.

Mandoo vegetable dumplings (asian veggies, sweet potato noodles, roasted honey yam, sesame dipping sauce) - $9
These were also okay. The filling was pretty small, although the dough was good and the dumplings were cooked well, but otherwise it did not stand out. Also, were these supposed to be Korean? If it weren't for the name, I can't tell.

Lamb Kofta Skewers (spiced ground lamb served over baked white beans, roasted artichokes, grilled vegetable and tomato jam) - $24
The lamb was tender and nicely flavored. The artichokes were also delicious. This was also a hit for our table, though again, came at a high price of $24.

I steered away from the pho. And while you guys should try the kaya toast, I'm waiting to get mine back home very soon since my trip home is only a few months away.

Total bill: ~$100 for 3 people.
STREET is a good LA restaurant and it does provide a fun experience for all diners with their very eclectic menu, both food and drinks. Price point is Hollywood-price, though I thought the appetizers and small plates were much better-priced than the entrees. Oh and you've read the reviews, so you know what to steer away from. Don't expect authenticity but you can expect good ingredients, good flavors with some menu highlights.

Susan Feniger's STREET
742 N. Highland Ave
Los Angeles, CA 90038
(323) 203-0500
www.eatatstreet.com
Street Restaurant on Urbanspoon
STREET in Los Angeles

Monday, May 4, 2009

Reasonable & Chic Sushi at K-Zo

K-Zo's decor can be described as chic. Hip. It seems like there's even a bar in the front, though I do think they only serve shochu cocktails. But unlike what comes to mind when I think of "hip sushi restaurant" (*cough* Katsuya Hollywood, Sushi Roku *cough*) it isn't crowded and loud and, as K-Zo has been known for, the prices are quite reasonable.
But really, my main reason for finally checking K-Zo out is a Yelp review that mentioned their sinful molten chocolate cake. I've long been searching for a good sushi joint that also offers good dessert (I mean, beyond your mochi ice cream and tempura ice cream).

But I'm ahead of myself. Let's start from the beginning.

We started with a "seafood salad" ($16) - Tuna, yellowtail, salmon, whitefish, shrimp, and albacore on a bed of lettuce with soy mustard dressing
A bit heavy on the dressing, but otherwise good. Fish and green ingredients are good and fresh and the dressing works well for both.

Wakame (seaweed) salad - $8 (hey we wanted our greens and minerals)
Nice, light and healthy. Unlike the previous salad, the dressing here is not heavy and was just perfect.

Besides the standard sushi menu, K-Zo also has a specials menu featuring the rarer/seasonal fishies. I ordered some wild salmon.
The color is much darker than your regular salmon, and as you can probably tell from the lack of thick white stripes, this is a much leaner piece of fish. It was fresh, the fish/rice ratio was just right. The fish cuts are narrow so the portion isn't huge, but it's fair and big enough for a bite. A nice first impression of K-Zo's sushi.

As a comparison we also got the regular salmon sushi ($5/2pc order)
A fattier cut (but I like fatty too). Again, a good and fresh piece.

Speaking of fatty, I of course got my o-toro fix. I was very happy with the prices of toro here, which I think was only ~$10.
That long tail just means more fish for me ... This was a pretty fatty and smooth, melt-in-your-mouth toro. While not the best o-toro I've had, this was definitely one of the good ones, and at this price point, I was perfectly happy.

We like to end our sushi meals with some eel. This time to compare we got both the freshwater and seawater eels.
Freshwater Eel/Unagi ($5/2pc)
Seawater eel/Anago ($6/2pc)
Most Japanese people seem to prefer anago, and it is also higher priced. The unagi tends to be sweeter, which kind of provides a nice end to the meal, IMHO.

The chocolate molten cake I was looking forward to finally came. It was pretty small though! As you can see, it was only the size of an ice cream scoop.
It's small but packs a punch. Definitely rich and sinful. I also like the sesame ice cream quite a bit, but by itself. In this case the whole is less than the sum of the parts ... This small ramekin dish of chocolate cake is definitely enough. For one person, that is. As we were sharing, we're glad we had another dessert coming.

The lychee tart's portion was also pretty small.
Richer and denser than what I was expecting for a lychee tart, as it was a bit eggy. An enjoyable dessert, though I thought the taste and freshness of the lychees got lost in the rich eggy tart base.

Overall a very reasonably-priced sushi dinner with high quality and fresh ingredients. The dessert selections are much more interesting and varied than most of its counterparts (especially with the disappearance of Jinpachi's famous desserts). The dessert portions are on the small side, but might as well ... I shouldn't be eating so much anyway :P
Add on top of that free parking in the public structure right next to the restaurant, K-Zo is winning lots of points with me!

K-Zo
9240 Culver Blvd
Culver City, CA 90232
(310) 202-8890
K-Zo Japanese on Urbanspoon



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Friday, May 1, 2009

May Events!

Sunday, May 3. AMMO kicks off their Farm-to-Table series with a four-course dinner featuring Jerry Rutiz of the Rutiz Family Farms, famous for their Frais du Bois strawberries. $55 per person. 1155 N. Highland Ave. Los Angeles, CA 90038
www.ammocafe.com


Saturday-Sunday, May 9-10. LA BBQ Fest comes back to town. To be frank, I didn't fully enjoy last year's event. Stood in line for about 2 hours to get my 'cue and most of the good beer ran out in the first 2 hours or so. But this year they did promise shorter lines, more BBQ, more beer. So it maybe worth checking out? Santa Monica Beach (next to the Pier). http://www.labbqfest.com/

Sunday, May 17. 5x5 Chef's Collaborative continues at Melisse, featuring guest chef Gabriel Kreuther from The Modern (New York). $150 pp.

Wednesday, May 20. Top Chef's contestants Fabio Viviani and Stefan Ritcher will have a friendly cook-off at The Grove! This event is FREE and will start off with cooking demos and food samples from the restaurants at The Grove. RSVP is required. http://lamag.com/promotions/detail.aspx?id=14854

Friday, May 29. Perhaps one of the most unique and exciting food events in Los Angeles, Tables of Ten is coming back for its fourth year!
Fifteen tables of ten will be manned by one designer and one chef each, who will create a unique experience for each table. This event is so much fun because each designer creates an exhibit out of the dining table (and of course, the tabletop!). Plus you'll be seated with both the chef and designer! The lineup includes chefs Neal Fraser (Grace), Evan Kleiman (Cafe Angeli), Mark Peel(Campanile), Mirko Paderno (Cecconi's) and David Lefevre (Water Grill).

The experience doesn't come cheap. A seat goes for $750 and a table goes for $5000, but it does benefit Inner City Arts, and when else would you get to dine with the chefs while sitting around an art piece? Pacific Design Center. http://www.avenuesartdesign.com/access_39.php

Sunday, May 31. Let your inner child out with the Gourmet 5 Year Old Party. We're talking 'mac n cheese with lobster, ... sloppy joes made from Kobe beef" and lots of "juice" (wine!) and (of course!) a magic show! Benefiting Meals on Wheels. The website says $60pp but brownpapertickets says $40pp, choose your poison. 1-4 pm. The Renaissance Hollywood Hotel, 1755 N Highland Ave. http://www.drinkeatplay.com/fiveyearoldparty/



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