Archive for 'Hollywood'

Fukurou Replaces Krua Siri With Best Ramen Deal of All Time

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Bad news for fans of Krua Siri’s catfish laab and papaya salad. The 3 year old Thai Town dive with the hidden Issan menu closed a few months back.  The good news is, it’s been replaced by an equally divey new ramenya, serving up a small menu of Japanese noodle soups and sides for ridiculously low prices.  There’s a tonkotsu ramen, a miso ramen, and a shio ramen with a pat of sea salt butter, all for $7.50.  But the really crazy deal is their combo.

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L.A. is Having an Israeli Falafel Moment (Capped Off by NYC Chef Einat Admony’s Visit This Week!)

Between Pico’s Kosher corridor and the Valley there has never been a shortage of good falafel in Los Angeles.  And the past few years have seen some new spots worth getting excited about (Joe’s Falafel in 2012, Hummus Bar Express in 2013). But since the beginning of the year there has been an explosion of new and delicious Israeli falafel joints, enough to make it feel like L.A. might be on the brink of having a falafel moment.  Here are four new’ish falafel places all worth checking outm and, if that isn’t enough, the chef behind New York’s best falafel is doing a series of dinners  in L.A. week.  Details about that are at the end of the post…

The Newly Expanded

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IMG_9606Name: Ta-eem
Address: 7422 Melrose Ave, Los Angeles
Phone: 323-944-0013
Falafel in Pita Price: $6.95
Laffa: Yes ($9.95)
This popular but tiny falafel shop on the lunch (and t-shirt) wasteland that is Melrose Ave. isn’t tiny anymore. At the end of last year this small lunch counter with limited seating took over the hair salon next door, and morphed into a full fast-casual restaurant with plenty of room and loads of places to take a load off.  The one thing that didn’t change? The delicious menu of shawarma, kebabs, merguez and, of course, falafel, topped with their vast assortment of salads, and all served on fluffy Israeli style pita or laffa.

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The New Oinkster Should Rename Their Signature Item; Burger Week Coming Soon

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If you are one of those people who always felt like Eagle Rock was too far to drive for pastrami sandwiches, pulled pork and crazy burgers, you’ll be excited to discover that The Oinkster just opened a new Hollywood location on La Brea just north of Melrose.  The menu from the original has made it over mostly intact, complete with sandwiches, salads, fries and milkshakes. The rotisserie chicken is still Eagle Rock only, but to make up for it they’ve made some of the more popular specials from the the original location into permanent menu items at the new branch- like the Thanksgiving Burger (a turkey burger topped with celery sage relish and cranberry sauce) and the pork adobo burger (a burger topped with pork adobo.)

But is this is your very first visit to the Oinkster, you’ll probably end up going with their namesake sandwich.

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4 New Bits of Thai Town News You’ll Want to Know About

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1. Pa Ord has now taken over Ganda –  Since opening in 2010 Pa Ord has been on an expansion tear.  First they doubled the size of their original location on Sunset and Hobart by taking over the empty space next door. Then, they moved west into the heart of Hollywood- taking over Thai Foon, on Sunset and La Brea.  Turns out they weren’t done, and their latest takeover is the most shocking.  Yesterday Ganda, the steam table place famous for their crispy catfish, became a 3rd location of Pa Ord… just one block away from the original!  I love Pa Ord as much as the next guy, but did they really need to get rid of my favorite place for crispy catfish!?

Or did they…?

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Adam Perry Lang’s Backlot BBQ Brings Serious Barbecue to Hollywood

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I don’t know exactly when this happened but at some point in the last year NYC barbecue chef Adam Perry Lang (founder of Daisy May’s BBQ) quietly moved to Los Angeles! Apparently he’s got a lot of different ideas for potential permanent projects here in L.A., but our first taste of how lucky we are to have him here is a lunchtime bbq pop up that opened two weeks ago in the parking lot behind Jimmy Kimmel’s studio.  APL set up a smoker in the shadow of Jimmy Kimmel’s outdoor stage and is serving “Serious Barbecue” Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays from 11am to 3pm.  Each day he only offers one option, but that option will change each week.  Last week it was beef ribs w/ Texas toast.

Check it out after the jump…

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My 5 Favorite Lunches Near Amoeba Records (For After You Get Free Ben & Jerry’s Today)

Today from Noon to 1pm Food is the New Rock will be at Amoeba w/ the L.A. Street Food Fest and the Ben & Jerry’s Truck giving out free froyo and tickets to the L.A. Street Food Fest.  For a lot of people in L.A. we know that free Ben & Jerry’s would constitute lunch, but not for us. Normally lunch would be in Thai Town when we’re in this area, but if you only have an hour you’ll need to stay pretty close.  So here are my 5 favorite lunches to grab near Amoeba for when you’re done scoring your freebie…

Murakami

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This might be the most underrated sushi place in all of L.A.  It’s always tough to find that cheap sushi sweet spot between price and quality but these guys nail it. You’re not going to find the quality or variety of a place like Sushi Gen, but for $11 you’re not going to do better than this1714 N Wilcox Ave. 323-467-8181

Not in the mood for sushi?  Four other options are after the jump…

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The New Pa Ord is a Thai Town/Thai Foon Hybrid

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At this point it’s common knowledge that Los Angeles is home to the most culturally diverse food landscape in all of the country (possibly the world.)  But to call it a melting pot would be a little misleading, since most of the best versions of each cuisine represented in L.A. can mostly be found in their own specific neighborhood.  Thai food in Thai Town, Korean food in Koreatown, and so on.  Good Chinese food outside of Chinatown and the San Gabriel Valley?  Good luck.  Naturally, there are exceptions.  And as more and more people become interested in following Jonathan Gold to the next foreign treasure it only makes sense that more treasures are creeping outside of their own enclaves.

Boyle Heights’ Guisados opened up a new Echo Park location less than 3 miles away from the original. A second Mariscos Jalisco truck?  Same deal.  And now there’s Pa Ord, the boat noodle specialist from Thai Town who recently bought Thai Foon on La Brea and Sunset.  Close enough to Thai Town to make you consider just going to the original, far enough a way to make it conveniently worth it not to.

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