FYI there’s a 8:30PM seating that night as well, with hopefully better pacing.
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This kinda goes back to the discussion of getting people to change their long-held notion that all Chinese food must be cheap. Who knows? Maybe this is the first salvo to be fired. Perhaps that level of jiaozi execution is as high as say, French in its style. If the same pride in preparation and authenticity in presentation are there, then…
Charging those prices for skewers, hot pot and boba, though… I dunno, I guess someone will try it and report back on the QPR.
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Good point @J_L. Certainly I have no issues if the quality and execution are there. I’d gladly pay double the cost of what Ngu Binh charges for its Bun Bo Hue because of how fantastic it is. I was only asking about these places because we haven’t seen any report prior to this (pre-Food Bowl) talking about any stellar food from these places. Maybe it’s amazing (which would be great).
I think you may have got the last available!! Hope you’re ready for some noodle pulling!!
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Dang I’m interested to see how the Somni X Central collab will go. Having been to each of their restaurants and enjoyed my meals there, but the price is insane. Basically the costs of both their restaurants combined!
Good thing you’re not wanting to go. Tickets for just the dinner are all sold out. Only $250 tickets (which includes a wine pairing) are left. And this is 5 sold out dinners.
I actually bought tix for this today, despite my concerns about Food Bowl.
Even if it is not a wise move I am interested in Mala Town and the evolution of Chinese Food in LA.
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I would be tempted, considering it is a 30-course tasting.
Yeah, @JLee, the price for the Somni x Central Collab is stratospheric… as are my expectations. It includes alcohol though, if that makes it a tiny bit better (though not much better). Somni is my favorite tasting experience in LA right now… have been three times since they opened and each time was blown away by multiple dishes on the menu. Never been to Central but some say it is the best restaurant in Latin America, so I just couldn’t pass up the chance to go.
If anyone else is going lemme know! I’ll post some pics here after.
I’ll echo what @NS1 said about whether these events are worth it. It can be worthwhile for the time savings, but generally is probably cheaper food-wise, if you are able to hit up the individual restaurants. I go through phases myself, where I’ll do a ton of events like this, and then feel like the price wasn’t worth it, and then not do them for a while.
But I was in Austin two weekends ago, and I’m sure you all know about the famous 2+ hour lines to get some Franklin’s BBQ. Add on the roundtrip 4-hour flights, a hotel, and other misc travel costs, and it cost me easily $1k to get some of his brisket and ribs. So $75 doesn’t seem as crazy.
That’s how I justified Somni x Central too. Never been to Lima, Peru, but it’d cost me at least another grand for flights, plus two 8 hour flights, hotel, etc, etc. So really, I’m saving money? LOL, I guess you can justify anything this way… “the more you buy, the more you save” 
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You aren’t wrong about that mentality. When people complain about how much cheaper food can be in Asia, well don’t forget how much it will cost to get there. So enjoy it here or shut up is my mindset.
How about the free part?
Went to the Night Market tonight. Arrived a bit before 6. No lines to speak of. Was actually a really pleasant experience. Plenty of tables. There were maybe 8 food stalls in the main area (the VIP section took up most of the space) and maybe a dozen more in a side area. By the time we left at around 7:30, it was a little more crowded but didn’t seem like any of the lines were more than 10 minutes. Tried Gwen, Bludso’s, Bunso Boys, Secret Lasagna, PhakhaoThip, Crack Shack, Bulgolgi (something), and Bistro Na’s.
Standout was PhakhaoThip, a Lao stall. They did not have their act together when we got there, so the lemongrass chicken with sticky rice and papaya salad took at least 20 minutes. My friend overheard them tell customers that their soup wouldn’t be ready for another hour. And that was at 6 pm, a full hour after the thing was supposed to start! But, it was well worth the wait because the chicken was delicious, suffused with lemongrass (but without the annoying pieces sticking between your teeth) with a hint of smoke from the fire. The papaya salad was wonderful as well, with a funky undertone from fermented shrimp . The spice hit just at the perfect level for me. I was getting Gwen’s at the time the chicken finally was done so no pictures, but my friends said the presentation was superb. The sticky rice was steamed in a banana leaf and you caught just a hint of vegetal green. Great dish.
Bludso’s brisket and cornbread was phenomenal. Gwen’s brisket sandwich was ok, but not as flavorful and smokey as Bludso’s. It really needed the accompanying bun and slaw to make it tasty. Bistro Na’s fried shrimp with shrimp chips was another standout dish. Perfectly fried so the shell is crisp and light, but not hard or chewy. I could have done without the hoisin-ish sauce.
Bunso Boys was no bueno. Their sisig was flavorless. Like, they forgot to add salt. Even the chicharonnes (sp?) didn’t taste like anything. The puncit was fine, nothing special. The only real miss out of all the ones we tried. The rest were fine, but I wouldn’t wait in line or drive to them. The Lao place and Bludso’s, on the other hand, are something special.
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Went to the Yu Bo dinner tonight. It was a nice dinner but I can’t remember anything blowing me away. Walked away kinda hungry, so got some fried chicken and bread pudding afterward.
They didn’t have their shit together at Chinatown after dark either. @moonboy403 and i had to wait an hour for their soup that they didn’t even start making until after the event started.
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Yu Bo, followed by Taco Bell.
#thebellhonorsthekevin
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Was this the Food Bowl event that was like $200? Was tax & tip included? If you had to get a 2nd dinner afterwards (fried chicken and bread pudding no less), then this is the type of tasting menu worry @TheCookie had mentioned earlier in another thread. Did you think it was worth it in the end?
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Roughly $200pp. Included gratuity & tax.
Wine pairing was an additional $60pp. I was hoping it’d be something eye-opening, what with pairing traditional Chinese cuisine with Western wines and all, but no real fireworks. Nice wines and nice pours, though.
Most people at my table felt sated after the meal (but you know me…) I was hoping to see Sinosoul (AKA @TonyC) there, but alas, the stars were just not aligned.
Definitely worth it, in retrospect, simply for the ethos that Chef Yu Bo brings to his table. There were clean tastes and complex flavors during my meal which I hadn’t recalled ever experiencing outside Asia. I will likely write it up later, but there are several more tastings to go before this series is concluded. I’ll let the next batch of Yu Bo diners experience it through their own lens before I release the writeup.
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I don’t think dinners like this would be my top choice if I only had $200, but I’m still glad I tried it, as it was different from my typical Sichuan experiences. It’s silly that I left hungry because he could have just given people some rice at the end and that would have solved the problem.
We’re essentially all guinea pigs / early adopters at this stage anyway. Some are gonna be hits, some are gonna be misses. I’d still go back to try Yu Bo one more time if he gets his own restaurant.
The Somni x Central meal was amazing though.
I still have Providence x Borago later this month.
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x2. I do appreciate the level of skills and execution though. There’s nothing like it here.
Also, Yu bo tries to Californify his menu a bit to make use of the Cali bounty so I suppose it might take some time before he can kick into high gear.
I didn’t realize that the dinner was BYOT though. 
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