Inaba
tempura counter is back open
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Bari is a stones throw from me so I’m pretty excited for them to fully open. I stopped by for some bites the other night.
My favorite bite for sure was wrapping the artichoke with coppa. Started with a Julep and followed that with a glass of Aglianico.
Focaccia Barese
Bari style focaccia with olive oil and sea salt
Burrata e Alici
Imported burrata with anchovy and fried breadcrumbs
Capocollo
Carciofi
Olive oil poached artichoke with mint
(I took a bite of one before taking the picture)
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avoid smorgasburg, at least for now.
while waiting for the gates to open, I felt like I was outside a best buy on black friday trying to get a discounted oled tv.
I’m a sucker for filet-o-fish and will sometimes do stupid things to try them. and that was the only reason why I was here, to try the fried fish sandwich from little fish and gtfo.
striped bass fried fish sandwich, pickles, american cheese, kewpie mayo
this was pretty good, but I think i prefer a breaded filet over this beer battered fish, also I wanted more tang provided by the tartar sauce in a fof.
my favorite elevated fof are still at honeybird and the now closed little tart.
also caught the elusive @Chowseeker1999 in the wild, picking up his little fish.
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I had feeling it was going to be a total cluster f*k down there today. One of my best buddies wanted to go for the re-opening and I said “I don’t think so”. I thought it would be way too crowded and hot and I’m just not ready to mix-n-mingle with that many people-- even outside. I think I’m going to wait until the fall when it’s cooler and hopefully not as packed with people.
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I brought my niece - visiting from NYC, I had no choice.
Horrible lines were obv - but to add insult to injury, after waiting more than 30 minutes on the que for arepas, they told us it would take 30-45 minutes to get the food. They really should find a way to point that out to waiting would-be customers sometime before reaching the window. We split without ordering.
Did get the little fish sando. Thought the fish and bun and cheese were great but there was way too much kewpie mayo for me. Agree a different sauce would be preferable.
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I’m just bummed we lost our quiet, kush, outdoor spot downtown. Oh sigh. But can’t complain - it means things are better pandemic-wise.
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I’ve seen it like that during some peak summer 2019 weekends, but I thought this one would be particularly packed. It was the perfect storm of 1st weekend back + holiday weekend + great weather.
One of my buddies went and had a similar experience to other here (even down to getting Little Fish) and I’m a glad I stayed away. Always something to look forward to in the future!
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I’ll wait until the fall.
Thanks for taking one for the team @PorkyBelly! Honorary mention to @CiaoBob for being forced into it!
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Tried interstellar in Santa Monica today for lunch. Was actually quite good. Had the Oyakodon, which really hit all the flavor points I’m looking for in that dish. Menu is eclectic and all over the place but I’m excited to try more. Because I didn’t take a picture, here is a pic of the dish from yelp–scallion omelette on top, hiding really tasty chicken and fluffy rice beneath.
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For the past couple of months, the onion ring posts on this board had given me an onion ring craving.
This was remedied this weekend after a visit to Majordomo.
Pickled Onion Rings!
Onion rings on crack…as the thick slices of pickled onions are covered in a light tempura-like batter and fried. Perfectly perfect with a significant crunch and zero grease. The buttermilk ranch was nice, but honestly, not needed.
Many thanks to @PorkyBelly for making this happen. Also wonderful to share a table with @TheCookie and @moonboy403 …y’all are a delight!
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Strings of Life - WeHo
Breakfast burrito
Chopped salad w/ salmon
Little Coyote - Long Beach
Papa Joe
Antipasto salad
106 Underground Seafood - Lennox
Marlin tacos
Ceviche marinero
Borrachos
Brodard - Fountain Valley
Nem Nuớng Cuốn (grilled pork spring roll)
Gỏi Bò (spicy beef salad)
Bánh Hỏi Brodard (Brodard crepe noodle)
Tire Shop Taqueria - South Los Angeles
Tres tacos, un de asada, un de chorizo y un de cabeza
This was the same day that LAPD blew up the neighborhood with the illegal fireworks and fucked me in traffic going north on San Pedro. Good thing those tacos and my mulita (not
Ggiata - Melrose
Classic Italian - good flavor ruined by extremely chewy bread and ice cold lettuce
Hippo - Highland Park
Hippo rolls - really good, good be a dessert with adding the honey butter
Shaved brussel sprouts - lovely
Celery root triangoli (no picture) - this was fantastic!
Bucatini w/ guanciale (no picture) - really good pasta however the dominant tomato flavor masked the rest of the ingredients
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This post is YUM! I had already had dinner, but find myself hungry, again.
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hopefully we only need to avoid the locusts on sundays
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Omg 
thats looking so amazing and delicious, I think I also need to taste this because its looks so delicious, I am going to California in 2 weeks and I will definitely taste this
Can you kindly tell me is it really delicious or just looking in picture?
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I thought it was pretty great. I would get it as a lunch/brunch.
Glad I waited a week to return to Smorgasburg. My friend (who went last week) confirmed it wasn’t as busy, so we were able to grab a few things in a short amount of time.
Love Hour
My buddy rides for Love Hour, so it was our first stop. The double burger instantly reminds me of In ‘n Out, but better. The sauce is fantastic (I considered just getting side cup extra of it) and the smashed beef patty has a great textural crisp to it. The pickles are also essential.
Motzburger
To our surprise and delight, George Motz and his crew were parked right next to Love Hour and were actually doing a special combo: one Love Hour burger and one Motzburger all on the same ticket. With the combo we scored a double. I’m not a burger/smashburger afficiando, but from passing I know that Motzburger is one of the standards. It is indeed a knockout. There were multiple groups of people crowding the stand to get videos of Motz heaping sliced onions and smashing them into burgers on the grill.
The execution of the burger patty itself is unsurpassed—it’s thin and crispy and laced with a hearty amount of caramelized onions. In totally though, I felt like there was a bit too much cheese, because while it helps hold everything together so it doesn’t fall apart, it overpowered the other flavors. It also came with only three slices of pickles, and that extra hit of acidity might have helped balance everything a bit more. That said, it’s still a top tier burger.
When it comes down to it though—and this is a snap back to back judgement—but I prefer Love Hour. Maybe it’s the extra bite from the raw onions from Love Hour versus the massive amount that still managed to get lost in the Motzburger, or the feeling that the Motz burger definitely needed more than 3 slices of pickles, or just the supreme power of the Love Hour sauce that just puts it over the top.
At any rate, the fact that both of these smash burger standouts teamed up to offer a combo that has both burgers is something to be celebrated. No idea if they will keep teaming up, but if they are it’s one of the best deals at Smorgasburg.
Goat Mafia
After hearing of very long lines at the Goat Mafia stand last weekend, we were a bit surprised to see no line when we walked up—and we even asked if they were sold out. I just did the birria taco, which is an easy 3 biter and pretty packed with flavor. I personally wasn’t crazy about the cheese and didn’t feel it was necessary because it sort of smothered the flavor from the meat, but the tortilla was surprisingly good. If the lines stay this way, Smorgasburg is probably the most efficient taco crawl in LA.
In the grand scheme of things, it’s definitely nice to have Smorgasburg back.
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