Hopper and Burr (Downtown Santa Ana)
Chai Tea Latte with house Almond Milk
Holy shit! Ehh location is not So Cal strip mall convenient but damn. Bye Portola
Chai Tea Latte with house Almond Milk
4 Likes
Those tortillas look really good.
Restaurant Ham Hung, Koreatown.
Since Los Angeles is in the middle of another October heat wave, the brilliant dishes of summer are still roaming through the city’s craving cycles. A recent visit to Koreatown’s long-running Ham Hung, named for North Korea’s second largest city, gave another chance to satisfy these offseason midsummer needs. You can of course do this all year long here, unlike back home where a cold noodle joint is likely to be closed in the country’s very bitter winters.
North Korea’s most delicious contribution to what is just thought about as “Korean food” is naengmyeon, now eaten all over the Korean peninsula and by food lovers worldwide. A dish always served cold, it consists of thin buckwheat noodles. Each recipe is slightly different with the addition and subtraction of various ingredients. Normally the noodles are cut immediately by the server to make eating the thick, chewy mound a little easier.
The gogi naengmyeon ($10.99, above and below) is served with beef and pork slices, some fatty, some lean, but this is never really the reason to order. The focus of the dish is always the greyish-brown buckwheat noodles that are thoroughly laced in a gochujang-based dressing too thick to call a sauce. The perfect noodles are made here at Ham Hung, and each order is extruded and boiled on the spot for incredible freshness.
These noodles are thin like vermicelli and stick together firmly, so the bowl will be scissored into quarters when it arrives. While there is no “right” way to eat your naengmyeon, there are a couple additions you may see others making and are recommended.
A little jar of (possibly homemade?) horseradish-spiked mustard shows up and should be approached with caution. Just a little portion on the spoon goes a long way. On each table will also be a bottle of vinegar and a squirt of this should be added as well. Give everything a real good mix before proceeding and check your levels. Feel free to add more.
As is customary with spicy naengmyeon dishes, a hot broth will be served alongside your order. At Ham Hung this arrives in a tea thermos and can be replenished as desired. Rather than using this in the bowl, spoonfuls or warming sips on the side can be a good back and forth from the cold spicy noodles.
7 Likes
Visited Sri Siam in North Hollywood last weekend for the 2nd time - it was my backup after finding out Tel Aviv Grill and other kosher restos were closed for Sukkot.
Avoiding the paste-based curries, I ordered:
papaya salad; shrimp paste chili dip rice w fried mackerel with apple salad; pork jerky; steamed mackerel with lime chili sauce (like a salad): and ruam mit dessert.
I’ve had pork jerky before at Jitlada and Luv2Eat Thai and I’ve come to the conclusion I’m not a fan of Thai jerky - would rather have pork sautéed.
Other than that, I enjoyed everything and wanna go back for the fried trout w apple salad and steamed fish curry cup (looks like a savory custard).
PS: “Medium spicy” was not spicy enough for me.
11 Likes
one of my favorite dishes in town - though its been at least 8 years since I have had it
No crispy rice salad?!
2 Likes
Pizza Wagon of Brooklyn - Large pie with half meatball, half pepperoni. The meatball was very good.
Verve Coffee - Went to their new shop in the Arts District. Ethiopia Sakaro pour over and an iced latte. Beautiful atmosphere with plenty of seating. Probably because they don’t have power outlets and turn off the wifi.
Forgot to snap pics:
Chori-Man - Got the breakfast burrito with red chorizo, and four tacos with the other meats. I thought the red chorizo and chipotle beef were the best. Corn tortillas for the tacos were surprisingly good and slightly crispy. Also enjoyed the habanero salsa. With the maple habanero chorizo, the maple was a bit overpowering and I thought a little too sweet. Argentinian chorizo was fine, a little plain in my opinion. Best chorizo I’ve ever had. I will certainly return when I’m in the area but not sure chorizo will ever be drive-worthy for me.
El Huarache Azteca - Always drive-worthy. Got an asada and a chorizo huarache. Red salsa is excellent. Green is fine, nothing special.
Donut Friend - There wasn’t much of a line at 3pm Sunday. Got the Custard Front Drive which is a chocolate glazed donut filled with bavarian creme, an apple fritter, and some glazed donut holes. Donut holes were ok but had an odd chemically aftertaste, apple fritter was solid, but the stand-out was the bavarian creme. If it were in a regular donut shop it would sell very well. I have no clue how they made it vegan, perhaps witchcraft? I almost want to bring an egg and dairy allergic friend to test if this is some sort of lie.
9 Likes
Dear johns- ribeye rack of lamb and a bunch of starters and sides. Such a fun environment with very well done elevated classics,
will definitely return.
Alta Adams- fried chicken, egg shitake soft scramble with potatoes and little gems salad.
Food was very good/well priced. Front of house/service left something to be desired. Will return for dinner
carnevale from desano like a stuffed crust pizza on crack always a good spot when you can’t get into mozza or John and vinnys
7 Likes
Hi @joy,
Glad you enjoyed Chori-Man - we love their chorizo as well! 
I just wish they were closer. And you made it out to Pizza Wagon of Brooklyn as well.
Thanks for the reminder! I need to go back to DeSano for this soon. 
A while back (jeez, damn near 10 years now) a friend and I were watching the NBA playoffs and ordered it delivery. The guy who delivered brought it basically in a full steam tray and came into the apartment and showed us how to eat it. Pretty fantastic. My usual go-to there is still the crispy rice salad though.
good to know they still serve it.
1 Like
How much? It seems like a large portion compared to what Ham ji park does.
This is their “small” size which I believe is $33. Also comes with free bossam if you pay cash.
Like free bossam on the side? Or just pork belly within the gamjatang?
Full on portion of bossam on the side with the fixens.
3 Likes
Dang Im into it will have to check it out.
Got the Real @Gr8pimpin!
House-cured, No Smoke, Atlantic Salmon Belly (farm-raised) Gravlax. Whole Foods on 3rd & Fairfax.
By the pound at the seafood counter, also in small containers in the Cheese/Charcuterie case (I’d get it from seafood counter).They sell pre-packaged Cured/Cold-Smoked Lox, but the House-cured is the ticket. I looked and don’t think you’ll find cured-only anywhere else in the vicinity. It was a delicious Saturday breakfast.
At $24.99 per lb I bought $7.50 and it was a satisfying meal for two.
4 Likes