Weddings and Korean BBQ
Weekend trips to LA always means at least one night out in Korea Town. This was actually a healthy improvement over all the other time my friends and I come to visit. We would do nothing but lunch at a Korean place, dinner at a Korean place, drinking at a Korean place, and top it off with BCD, a staple in Korea places here. This weekend though, was for a friend’s wedding out in Camarillo. So we split our time in West LA and Ventura County. Yeah, not quite Los Angeles, but I won’t cover the wedding here. You’re here for the lowdown in eating around Los Angeles.
Friday night, we arrived at hell on Earth LAX and I needed to drag my friends to Waterloo & City. It’s the gastropub that I measure all others to. Yeah, I set the bar pretty high. I mean, not only was the food fantastic (try any pizza and have a go at the pate mousse and see) but the service was great. The host personally sought us out at the bar when our table was ready. And even last time when I was here, we had a pizza that was a little too spicy for us to finish and they took it off our bill. Good service wasn’t about doing what’s good for the costumer, but it was about being consistent on how you treat everyone. Seemed to be ingrained in all that worked there. Hats off to you!
Well, the night continued on to some other bar in Venice beach then it was off to, as you might have guessed, BCD Tofu House to top off the night with soberness. Please thank your designated drivers! Because you may note that the police are setting up sobriety check points around Koreatown these days. Just sayin.
Saturday was the wedding and yes, I did go to the outlets out there. Can’t help it. The outlet malls were right off the highway and somehow I “accidently” forgot my dress shirt. Seriously!
Anyways, Sunday was a going away party for a friend back in LA. Lucky for me it was at Soowoon. It’s not an all-you-can-eat place. It’s a place that concentrates on quality and oh boy, they nailed it. I’d have to say the beef was the highest grade meat I’ve had in Koreatown so far. Surprisingly though, my friends said there was better. And no, they’re not the “gotta one-up on you” types. They aren’t foodies. Just typical people with taste buds. So with that, I decided not to rate the place and added the typical cough out phrase of “so far.” I’ll only do this once solely because I believe my friends. Really, I do. And what better a reason for an LA return than to try out another Korean BBQ place in KTown.
Who can ask for a better setting than a nice quaint area out in Camarillo.
The banchan at Soowoon were solid. Good variety with some unique ones.
I mean, cakes, or cupcakes. The newest trends in weddings. Let me see if I can remember what was there, red velvet, bundt cake, and oh bundt cake. Those were so sweet and decadent that I couldn’t stop myself from them!
Don’t let the name put you off. This combination was great with some nice cold Hite beer. You may think it’s an odd match, but the almond almost gives the minced dry fish more of an umami taste. They need to package these things up!
And here comes the pork belly into the mix. Not bad, but I’ll stick with the beef.
It’s marinated kalbi at it’s finest. No matter if you have it medium rare and well done, the flavors come through. A light soy based sauce with what I imagine was a splash of rice wine.