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 ^_^

The French Crêpe Company

Farmers Market/The Grove - 3rd & Fairfax

6333 W. 3rd St.

Los Angeles, CA 90036

www.frenchcrepe.com

Of the many food choices they have at the Farmers Market, I always return to the French Crêpe Company. This time I only got a savory crêpe, but their sweet crêpes are good as well (I recommend the banana and pear crêpe with nutella)

• Beef stroganoff crêpe (~$10): this was one of the chef’s specialties the day I went, so I thought I would try it. I’ve had their other traditional savory crêpes that can also be found in France, but this one sounded good. I don’t have a picture of the inside of the crêpe, but it was pretty good. The savory crêpe is prepared in a squarish shape compared to other places that make a wedge or pizza-slice shape. Thus, when you cut open the crêpe, the contents sort of spill out. The beef stroganoff filling wasn’t too salty or chewy, the meat was tender and in finer pieces that make eating a crêpe enjoyable. It had a nice sauce with mushrooms that was too thick or too dilute. The crêpe was also paired with a nice light salad that had the typical French mustard vinaigrette dressing - the mustard flavor wasn’t too sour. Definitely big enough to share between two people, unless you’re super hungry. (Split a savory and a sweet crêpe with your date ^_-)
• French onion soup ($6.50): I always get this soup when I go. The size may look initially small, but it is quite filling. I love that it’s prepared in the true French way of putting the cheese on top of the bowl. It’s fun to puncture the cheese layer to discover the yummy soup underneath. A great French onion soup is one where the cheese isn’t too chewy or thick that it’s hard to separate and eat. Even with just a spoon, I was able to take small bits without choking on large cheese pieces. There’s also a lovely surprise in the soup with a bread layer underneath the cheese. One thing I would wish for as a slight improvement is more onion chunks in the actual soup, but it still had a good flavor that wasn’t overly salty.

Bottega Louie Part II

• Meatball Parmesan ($12) - three meatball sliders, tomato sauce & provolone: one of my friends ordered this, and enthusiastically presented in the photo. I didn’t get to taste it, but it looked good as well.
• Mini-tarts ($2.50 each)- assorted berry: the desserts are always so tempting when you walk by the cases, so I decided to try a blueberry mini-tart. It was relatively bite-size, but I got a few good, sucré bites out of it. The crust was more like a cookie consistency rather than the usual flaky crust on other tarts. The filling inside was smooth and seemed to have some vanilla bean inside. The blueberries were also fresh, not mush nor super tart.
• Tiramisu ($8): I got my desserts to go and surprisingly they traveled quite well. The tiramisu has a crust around it that keeps its shape and form and prevents it from getting all over the place. The surface is covered with the chocolate powder as well as a coffee flavor sugar gel glaze. It’s not overly rich or have too much of the liqueur taste to it. The powder on top isn’t overpowering because I’ve noticed from other tiramisus that the powder can make it awfully dry, but this one is rather moist. I also highly recommend getting their macarons - they come in different flavors too!

There’s still so much more to try….. until next time.

Side note: if you drive there, you might be lucky to find street parking, otherwise there are lots nearby (cheapest I saw was $6 flat rate)

Bottega Louie Part I

700 South Grand Ave.

Los Angeles, CA 90017

http://www.bottegalouie.com/

To celebrate the end of midterms in our second semester of dental school, my classmates and I decided to eat at Bottega Louie in Downtown LA on 7th and Grand Ave.

Here are some photos of the decor and some of the dishes that were ordered. This was only my third time to this establishment, but what was memorable from the past times I went were the calamari, portobello fries, and pizza. I don’t recommend the pasta dishes. In this first batch of photos there are the following:

• Green tea mojito: this was a non-alcoholic drink and very refreshing for only $4. It had that great minty flavor of a mojito with a lasting after taste as well as some green tea that provides the anti-oxidants. This drink also had a lemonade sort of taste, but not too overpowering. (From a past outing on the weekend, I had the opportunity to have their mango smoothie, which was really good as well. But I think they only have smoothies on the weekend T.T)
• Portobello fries ($9): the first time I had these I was in gourmande heaven, and I’ve been craving them ever since. They were just as enjoyable this time with a garlic aioli dipping sauce. The batter isn’t too crunchy or too soggy, and it still has a nice crisp with the nice texture of the mushroom. The mushroom wasn’t too chewy or rubbery either. But I can’t say how they taste once you take them home.
• Fried Calamari ($9): these are also a good crowd pleaser and make for a great appetizer. Just be warned, save room for your entrées, although I could make a whole meal out of just appetizers. They gave a mix of both calamari rings and tentacles to satisfy everyone as well with a marinara type sauce for dipping on the side. Also, that squeeze of fresh lemon is always an added bonus to the taste. The texture and freshness was good, not too thick or crunchy.
• Bianco pizza ($16) - ricotta, mozzarella, granna parmesan, garlic & rocket arugula: the main ingredient that drew me to this pizza was the rocket arugula. I’m a fan of arugula, especially the rocket kind. It just has this unique taste that isn’t like other greens. Do be warned, there isn’t any meat in this pizza and when it comes out, it may seem fit for a cow with all the greens. But it was quite and tasted rather light despite the culmination of cheeses. It tasted even better with some pepper flakes.
• Napoli pizza ($16) - red onions, mushrooms, olives, tomato sauce & mozzarella: this was the pizza that started it all. I had this one the second time I went to Bottega Louie and I really liked it….thus I recommended it for others to try. The red onions really do add a nice flavor. I should also mention that the serving size for these pizzas can serve at least 2 people if not more, especially if you order appetizers.
• Clam pizza ($16) - mozzarella, pecorino Romano, roasted peppers, thyme, extra virgin olive oil & garlic: I haven’t tried this pizza yet, but my friends seemed to like it and it looked good. Presentation is always one of the elements that I look for.