Spring Break '09

For Spring Break, I visited my friend Sasha at NYU for the week. I promise you my obsession with "How I Met Your Mother" and "The Office" (the New York episodes anyway) did not influence my decision, although it couldn't have hurt. Here's an itemized break-down of what I did back east:

Saturday, March 14:
Arrive at LGA
Takoyaki at Otafuku in the East Village
High-tops & Red Mango in SoHo
Delivery from Sirtaj
Incriminating Facebook videos
3 AM Karaoke in K-town

Sunday, March 15:
Pomona reunion in SoHo
Getting lost on the B train to Brooklyn
NYU reunion in Brighton Beach
Russian/Uzbek food and music videos
Evening walk to Coney Island
P. Diddy Cheesecake & McDonald's bonding in Brooklyn
Packing for DC

Washington, DC
Monday, March 16
6 AM bus from NYC to DC Chinatown
Checking into hotel in Maryland
Return to DC for walk around National Mall, Lincoln Memorial, White House
Early dinner at Chipotle-McDonalds in Chinatown

Tuesday, March 17: Bojangles & purchasing supplies
Arlington National Cemetery
Capitol Building & Supreme Court
Thai food in Chinatown
Hotel party

New York City
Wednesday, March 18: Final visit to 7-11
Pandas at the DC Zoo
Recovering from the 4-hour drive back to NYC
Obligatory Times Square photo-op
The search for the chicken & rice truck on Broadway
Party back at the apartment

Thursday, March 19: Chinese food galore in Flushing (duck buns, pork buns, lamb skewers, noodles, shave ice, egg custard)
Obligatory Central Park & Upper East Side visit
Bulgogi at Woorijip in Koreatown

Friday, March 20: Chinese food & ice cream in the snow
The hellish trip back to California:
-Getting lost on the 1 Train in Harlem
-Backtracking to 47th to get to Queens
-Shady and expensive taxi ride to La Guardia
-Finding out flight was delayed, getting moved to a flight from JFK
-Shuttle bus from LGA to JFK
-6 hour delay in the terminal

Ita-cho Japanese Restaurant Review

(Photo Courtesy Ita-cho Restaurant on Yelp)
Having thoroughly enjoyed our culinary foray into LA's Korean BBQ scene,
a friend and I decided that it was time to tackle Japanese cuisine, with some Yelp help of course. In search of decent sushi and authentic Japanese cooking, we set our sights on a small joint in West Hollywood called Ita-cho Japanese Restaurant.

The restaurant's decor was simple and elegant, though not as swanky as other places that I've driven past. It sorta reminded me of those mom-and-pop places back in Hawaii, with an added bit of Hollywood interior design know-how.

Despite knowing Japanese food pretty well, the menu took us both a little while to decipher. Attempting to capitalize on the Asian fusion movement, a number of the dishes, though based on Japanese staples, have been accented with exotic ingredients and preparations. We settled on a plate of the Wagyu Beef with Ponzu sauce [read: thinly-sliced steak with lemon-infused soy sauce] and Tako Karaage [battered and deep fried octopus legs]. We also had to order rice separate, which I did not appreciate at all.

When the food came, we were underwhelmed. The dishes, unbeknownst to us, were meant to serve as Japanese tapas, and were not enough to serve the two of us. In any case, the dishes were quite good. The Wagyu Beef was cooked medium-rare so that it remained buttery and tender, and was perfectly complemented by the subtle tang of the ponzu dipping sauce. The tako, though battered a tad too liberally, was tasty and not too greasy.

If I'm being perfectly honest, the restaurant was a bit of a disappointment. The food was better than average, but came in portions too tiny to enjoy and at too high a price. The atmosphere was nice, but the service was sub-par. A hit and miss, but great to be out and about sampling Japanese in LA.

5 Songs for Shitty Days

Now I don't like to use this blog as a platform for my whining (that's what xanga was for), but as far as days go, today scrapes dangerously close to the bottom. I sometimes believe that optimism is one of my strong points--don't tell me otherwise, I'll be saddened--but it's hard to keep your head up on a day when all this goes down:

1) Woke up 15 minutes late and had to rush to prep for my commute
2) Realized 30 minutes into the drive that I had forgotten my laptop and made the decision to turn back for it
3) Was burdened the entire day with stomach pains from that lingering virus
4) Took 1 hr 30 min to drive from Beverly Hills to downtown
5) Fought downtown traffic to arrive an hour after Panda Express had closed
6) Found that the Honor Fraser Gallery was closed after planning to see the KAWS exhibition for weeks
7) Arrived at Starbucks needing to use wi-fi just after it closed; Sat outside hoping to get a free signal, but couldn't connect
8) Driving aimlessly around looking for a Coffee Bean only to find one without any parking in a 2 mile radius
9) Having to steal wi-fi from some random apartment I was parked outside of
10) Looking for the Kogi BBQ truck on twitter only to find out it had closed just minutes prior

I tell you this not so that you take pity on me. Trust me, I've given enough of that to myself today. I tell you this because I'm laughing at it. Yeah it sucked and yeah I would like do-overs on basically everything, but to tell you the truth, I don't know if I would gain any more if the day had gone perfectly. Change my perspective and I see a pretty not-bad day at work topped off with a tour of the city with a friend that will not be seeing the city for a while. As for all the stuff I missed, that'll be there for tomorrow's adventure.

In case you might need them, 5 songs for shitty days like this one...
1) Modest Mouse - Float On (The View also works here)


2) Emiliana Torrini - Today Has Been Okay


3) The Shirelles - Mama Said


4) The Weepies - Can't Let Go


5) Phantom Planet - Lonely Day

Must Try Kimchi Quesadillas

Last week, I mentioned my sudden urge for Korean BBQ after overhearing a couple of coworkers discussing Korean food they picked up from a truck outside of the office in Beverly Hills. Today, I see that the impetus for my own Korean food craving has actually made it to The New York Times. Here's something I've gotta try...

The mobile restaurant is called Kogi Korean BBQ-To-Go. The Los Angeles-based lunch truck is really stretching the limits of California fusion cuisine by mixing traditional Korean flavors with Mexican stand-bys. Their menu includes everything from spicy pork tacos to kimchi quesadillas. It may sound strange, but judging from the omg-this-is-so-good histrionics I heard from my coworkers, it's definitely worth the try.

Kogi is also one of the most high tech lunch wagon operations out there apparently. They notify die-hard fans of their location as they move from spot to spot via their twitter account, and maintain a blog chronicling the development of the company. Korean-Mexican fusion via twitter? What a brave new world this is...

Korean BBQ @ Beul Dae Po

(Photo courtesy Cathy K. on Yelp)

I met up with a friend last night after work, and after hearing some of my co-workers discussing the Korean BBQ they got from the truck outside our office on Thursday, I had a hankering for some of that greasy stuff. So, I turned to Yelp (a very cool resource I started using this summer when looking for places to get pizza downtown).

The place we chose was Beul Dae Po in Koreatown.

Walking into the place was bit intimidating. The decor in the restaurant I think is supposed to be reminiscent of your run-of-the-mill BBQ stand in Korea. The walls were done in corrugated metal roofing, smoke pretty much filled the entire hall and at each of the tables metal piping fueled gas grills. All the signs were in Korean. The television was set to Korean TV. Everyone around us was chatting in Korean. (Mind you, neither I nor my friend know a word of the language). We were greeted upon entry by a Korean woman who immediately addressed us in Korean; I'm presuming she asked us how many people were dining. I put two fingers up and she sat us.

We ended up ordering (mostly by pointing at the menu in a sorta confused way) one plate of beef brisket and another of pork ribs. And it must've been our lucky day...we got a free plate of marinated pig intestines--apparently a house specialty. Took a little bit for them to get the food to our table, but once it did it was fantastic. We grilled our own food at the table, badly charring some of the beef slices and under-cooking others. With the three dipping sauces (one sweet, one salty and one like spicy gyoza sauce), the meat was great. The intestines, I must say, were a bit difficult to deal with at first because of the thick, gritty goop on the inside, but I guess they grew on me.

And although I still smell like Korean restaurant, I am already thinking about going back. Next time, I think I'll take one of those phrasebooks with me just in case.

Spam on the rise.

Apparently, the current economic downturn is forcing more and more people to turn to Spam to, as the NY Times put it, put "something that resembles meat on the table." The Hormel factory in Minnesota has been cranking out cans of the "gelatinous 12-ounce rectangle[s] of spiced ham and pork" by the millions non-stop since July to keep up with the demand. Who woulda thunk it given this NY Times description of the delicacy:

Spam, a gelatinous 12-ounce rectangle of spiced ham and pork, may be among the world’s most maligned foods, dismissed as inedible by food elites and skewered by comedians who have offered smart-alecky theories on its name (one G-rated example: Something Posing As Meat).

And just for the record, the Spam article does not once mention Hawaii. I guess these New England journalists just don't care about how the rise in Spam prices is gonna lead to a decline in local utility. Alonka.

Spam Musubi!

Sometimes when I've been away from Hawaii for a while, (borrowing a line from the ever-sad-he-moved-away-from-Hawaii singer Justin Young) I tend to long for familiarity. Having gone through a spring semester and summer internship in LA and three months in Europe, I have not been back on Maui since January, so it's nice to have some taste of home.

Without Sam Sato's or Da Kitchen nearby, I just had to make do with what was available: spam, nori, rice. This was really my first time (outside of 'Iao School home ec.) making Spam Musubi, so the recipe for preparing the spam (basically, frying it in one part shoyu, one part sugar and a splash of mirin) was sorta made up along the way. The good news: it actually tasted like Spam Musubi.

Okay, maybe Miyako Sushi is slightly better (yeah, Sandy, you're welcome), but all in all it was pretty good. And it was nice to have a taste of the islands, even though I am 8,000 miles away.

Also, The New York Times published this story about plate lunches and President-elect Obama. Go read um yeah.

Oyako-don.

I made Oyako Donburi last night, and it actually tasted pretty good. Makes me miss Hawaii/Japanese food even more though. Here's the recipe a la my mom:

OYAKO DONBURI

1Tbsp oil
1/2 tsp salt

1 1/2 cups chicken, sliced thin
1 C green onion or round onion

1 1/2 cups chicken stock
5 eggs

4Tbsp shoyu
cooked rice to fill 6 bowls

2Tbsp sugar
1 can sukiyaki no tomo or bamboo shoots

Saute chicken meat in oil. Add stock and cook until chicken is tender. Add little salt and green onion. Beat eggs slightly, pour over chicken evenly.

Cook over low fire until eggs are coddled (Cover the mixture after you pour the egg mixture on. Keep checking and if the egg mixture looks cooked then it is done).
Fill bowl two-thirds full with cooked rice. Cover with the chicken-egg mixture and pour sauce over all.
Serve immediately.

The Deep-Fried Mars Bar

A Scottish invention and symbol for national health problems, the deep-fried Mars bar is a sight to behold. It is exactly as it sounds: a Mars Bar (think the heavy caramel and nougat of Snickers minus the peanuts) dipped in heavy batter then cooked in hot oil, most likely lard. To borrow a line from Campbell's: Mmm Mmm Good! And good for you, no doubt.

Aside from Haggis, this deep fried treat is among the most publicized of Scottish must-try's, served in tourist-frequented Royal Mile "chippys" (shops that will deep fry really anything--we're talking seafood, pizza, kebab, and, shockingly, potatoes). Having had a deep friend Twinkie at the Maui County Fair once, I was expecting something akin to that sour, greasy mess of a heart attack, but it was actually quite nice...initially. The melty chocolate and crispy batter coating made the bar taste sort of like the fudge-y crust of a deep fried ice cream sundae. And, included in the cost, came the free after taste of animal fat, a ubiquitous film of grease and a feeling that can be described onomatopoetically as "blehhhhhck."

Don't know if I'll be doing that again anytime soon. But, being in Scotland, I guess it was worth a try.

Spam & Beans

So this may not be as important as the sudden collapse of the NYSE or an important financial merger, but it's a breakthrough nevertheless. I cooked my first proper dinner for myself tonight. Okay, some might argue that cutting up a can of Spam and grilling it with green beans might not count as cooking, but I totally do. Especially when you add in the microwave rice, which, by the way, was not as bad I thought it might be. And yes, I was given weird looks by my Scottish flatmates for eating Spam, but that's just par for the course.

On an entirely unrelated note, you need to watch this clip. I don't mean to pick on Sarah Palin or anything, but with Tina Fey returning to SNL, how could I not post this. My favorite line: "I can see Russia from my house." Please excuse the Youtube clip being ripped from Fox News. It was the best I could find.