Haus Dessert Boutique

3826 W. 6th St.

Los Angeles, CA 90020

www.hausdessertboutique.com

My friends and I usually come here to study or for their coffee and tea, but this time we tried the food. This Korean cafe is a pretty hip place playing current and mainstream Kpop with a modern decor, even the people who work there are pretty good-looking, haha. But let’s get on to the food…

• bread with fresh garlic & balsamic crème/olive oil for dipping:  I know commenting on the bread may seem like a trivial thing, but the little side things really add to a meal. The bread was pretty fresh and tore easily to split. The garlic was baked or something, but it was really fresh and added a nice flavor to the bread. I could take out the cloves individually and eat it with the bread or spread it. The dipping sauce was also nice because it wasn’t just normal balsamic vinegar and olive oil, this was balsamic crème, which has a thicker consistency and sweeter taste. In addition, the bread went well with the cream sauce of the pasta dish that I’ll talk about next.
• Seafood Pescatore Linguine 해물 스파게티(~$16 dinner):  Fresh cream sauce, fresh garlic, fresh basil with shrimp, scallops, and mussels. There was also some vegetables like broccoli and onion. This was actually surprisingly good because usually I don’t expect much from pasta at cafes, especially since pasta isn’t a korean specialty. The cream sauce wasn’t too heavy, and it actually had a lot of flavor. We liked the sauce so much that we asked for extra bread just to dip it in the sauce. A fair amount of seafood was also included, which was also a plus since a lot of places skimp out. The shrimp and mussels were substantial, but the scallops pieces were a little small. The linguine was also cooked adequately without being too soft or any hard pieces.
• Petit Brownie - Cheesecake (~$6):  Considering that Haus is a dessert boutique, I expected their desserts to be really good. But I haven’t been impressed by their desserts. These little cheese cake bites were ok, but nothing special. Although it does win for presentation. These were NY styles cheesecakes that were baked. The consistency of the cheesecake was soft, and not overly firm with a crusty-cookie type layer at the bottom. After cutting into it, it became sort of messy in which the two layers didn’t mesh well together. Overall, it didn’t have that rich cheesecake taste that you look for and doesn’t compare to Cheesecake Factory.
• Tiramisu ($6):  I ordered this on a separate occasion… yet again I was also disappointed in the desserts here. Tiramisu is a pretty standard dessert, but there are still ones that are made well and others that don’t quite make it. There was too much cocoa powder on the top surface that when you go to take a bite, you sort of inhale it. In addition, the powder made this usually moist dessert a little dry. After one bite, I had to grab for water to moisten my mouth. The rest of it was ok, but it didn’t have that nice liqueur flavor that can be found in really good tiramisu. Also, the cake wasn’t as spongy as I would like, but that could just be a matter of preference. Another thing was, I didn’t consume the dessert quickly, and it sat for a little bit and started to melt or collapse.

Note: If you stop in after a meal, go for their coffee or tea drinks before ordering something else. Their drinks have been consistent in satisfaction, but sadly I don’t have any pictures to show for it.

Corea BBQ

3500 W. 6th St.

2nd Floor Food Court

Los Angeles, CA 90020

So one of the places in Koreatown that my friends and I like to go to after class or lab to get a good, cheap fix of Korean food is the City Center Food Court off of 6th between Mariposa and Alexandria. There are about 4 main restaurants in the food court, 2 of which I’ve tried that are pretty consistent and good. You can find $5 bibimbap, tofu soup, Korean bbq and more… This time I decided to try dukboki at Corea BBQ. Dukboki is like snack food that street vendors usually sell in Korea, which consists of sliced rice cake with veggies, meat, and egg added sometimes. I got mine with beef. My meal also came with a simple radish soup and some pickled radishes on the side.

• Dukboki with beef (~$7): The serving size of this dish was pretty big, but if you’re hungry and don’t mind some spice, you can finish it all =p. For someone who likes spicy, but not super spicy, I thought the spice level of this dish was decent. I had the occasional sips of water, but I didn’t need to chug a whole gallon of water due to the spice. I liked the variety of the ingredients included such as the beef, green onions, regular onions, egg, noodles and cabbage, as wel as the main ingredient of rice cake. The rice cakes were also cooked well, they weren’t too chewy or too mushy.
• radish soup: I always like simple soups like this… it’s like comfort food. It may be simple, but it tastes good. Plus, I’m a big fan of radish. The radish pieces in the soup weren’t too hard or too soft, so it had a nice texture and the soup broth wasn’t too salty.

잘먹었습니다 ^_^