Warrior: 6.5/10. I’ve ordered from Himalayan House seven times or so, and never appreciated anything except the momos (Nepalese dumplings), until this delivery. Tonight, I liked all the dishes. I enjoyed the complex flavors and the interesting main ingredients, which included black eyed peas, bamboo shoots, and jackfruit. We ordered “medium to spicy,” which was plenty spicy for me.
Peony: 6.5/10. The food has very strong and interesting flavors. The black eyed pea, bamboo shoot, and potato stew has a good mixture of herbs and spices. The sauce for the fish curry worked really with the fish. My only problem with the food is “medium to spicy” is too spicy for me, as I am used to mild or medium level spice.
Dune does use Bub & Grandma’s ciabatta for the beet sandwich (which is a delicious sandwich but difficult to eat logistically), but they also use Bub & Grandma’s house loaf for their toast.
Warrior: 4.5/10. I ordered this for Peony because she likes it and she is busy today. Although I enjoy soy meats, I am not fond of this restaurant. Basically, they took real Thai food and removed the fish sauce, shrimp paste, and almost all the chiles, adding nothing to compensate for those losses. My own view is that the life of fish consists primarily of swimming around with their mouths open swallowing other fish alive, the cruelest act imaginable. Accordingly, the most compassionate thing we can do to prevent future generations of fish from suffering is to eat as many fish now as we can. My views on shrimp welfare are more complex. Regardless, one’s compassion for aquatic life doesn’t excuse making such bland, boring food. There were almost no herbs to be found in this food desperately in need of flavor. On the positive side, this restaurant does use good ingredients, tonight’s asparagus being the best example, and the cooking is fine.
Peony: 6/10. Declined to review because she is too busy. But she said “today was not their best work.”
Warrior: 8.5/10. I think Kismet’s chef is one of LA’s most talented chefs. I used to enjoy her falafel and salads at the underrated (and missed) Madcapra, but Kismet is obviously in a different league. I loved the unusual combinations of flavors and ingredients in tonight’s dishes. It’s amazing how well the black cod, corn, sliced turnips, and whey worked together. The meyer lemon broth for the clams was simply delicious; I drank straight from the bowl after we were done with the clams. All three vegetable dishes—tomato-peach, cucumbers, and eggplant—were excellent. I should make note of the great ingredients used in these dishes (e.g., two kinds of Asian cucumbers and delicious heirloom tomatoes). Peony and I complained that the food was too salty when we dined at Kismet earlier this year, but the salt level tonight was perfect. Overall, high-class and unique food.
Peony: 8/10. The food was really good tonight. I liked all the dishes. I liked the clever use of the sauces and the spices. Very good food for delivery.
Warrior: 6/10. Badmaash has solid Indian food. The best dish tonight was the mushroom vindaloo, which had refined spicing and legit heat. The daal makhani was good, but I prefer versions with lots more butter and smokiness. The fish moilee was decent, but bland compared to more authentic versions. I didn’t like the saag paneer, which tasted too much of dried mango powder. The jeera rice was good.
Peony: 6.5/10. I feel all the food was good today. The ingredients were good quality. Good food for delivery. My favorite was the daal makhani.
I didn’t even realize that dal dishes were made with butter, but I see that Dal Makhani literally means buttery dal. Is all dal made with butter or just this particular version? Here I thought I was eating something relatively healthy when ordering dal. Sigh.
P.S. @PeonyWarrior - I greatly enjoy your delivery chronicles, although sadly many of the places are outside of my delivery zone.
Warrior: thank you both for the good words! Sorry to break the bad news about the use of ghee in daal dishes. From what I’ve read, Indians traditionally think of ghee as healthy.
Peony: 6/10. Decent food. Good ingredients. Some of the dishes are more well-prepared than the others. Good enough for delivery.
Warrior: 4.5/10. This food showed solid effort, but it just wasn’t consistent with my palate’s expectations. I found both the gumbo and the etouffee overly sweet and lacking depth of flavor. The potatoes, even though they had chunks, reminded me of horrible childhood memories of instant mashed potatoes. The macaroni and cheese was too mushy. The catfish was undersalted and needed more blackening on the outside. Sorry, I cannot recommend this food. I’ll also note this meal cost $100+, around the same price level as Kismet.
Warrior: It’s disappointing that we can put a man on the moon and create silicon chips with billions of nanoscale transistors, but health scientists still aren’t sure about basic things like whether butter is healthy.
Warrior: 6/10. I thought the BBQ whole chicken was excellent. Great flavor and tenderness. Everything else, including the BBQ chicken links and jackfruit, was just okay. It’s a nice gesture to have jackfruit on the menu, but I think the seasoning was too strong. I would have preferred no seasoning at all. I found it difficult to chew through the very tough casing for the links. The sides were basic and uninspired. Still, the chicken was so good that I give the restaurant a passing grade.
Peony: 5.5/10. I feel this is what I would expect from barbecue food. Maybe I’m fussy. I was not impressed.
Warrior: With rare exceptions, we only eat red meat (pork included) when it is unavoidable as part of a tasting menu or used in small amounts for seasoning.
The first time I tried Bludso’s it was a couple of rib tips from the Compton locale. I love pork but try to keep my consumption to a minimum, so haven’t had them at the La Brea locale. Are they as good? The Bloody Mary with the rib tip garnish looked insane… insanely good.
Yep. I actually think they’re better at the new location than what they were doing at the Compton location. Like a lot of legit BBQ places, there can be variability from batch to batch, but when they’re on top of their game, those rib tips are amazing.
Warrior: 7/10. As I recall, Colori Kitchen opened in DTLA around the same time as Yxta and Wood Spoon, about 13 years ago. It’s great that this trio of restaurants has survived all this time, and it’s well-deserved, because they all do a good job. The food at Colori Kitchen is basic but enjoyable. I wish the spaghetti were more al dente, but it’s passable, and the pesto sauce was delicious. I wish the salmon were cooked more rare, but it was tasty nonetheless. I really liked the mixed grilled vegetables—my favorite dish of the night. The minestrone was a bit too sweet and not savory enough for my taste. My controversial statement of the night: I like this restaurant slightly more than Maccheroni Republic.
Peony: 7/10. I enjoyed this food a lot. Good Italian food for delivery. My favorite actually was the soup. It had the perfect combination of vegetables and was just very tasty and comforting. The pesto sauce was outstanding.
Hatin’ aside, I got delivery from Kogi the other day. Surprised to see it on the app, think they set it up based on wherever the truck parks that day. Still owns. 10/10.
I love pork but try to keep my consumption to a minimum, so haven’t had them at the La Brea locale. Are they as good? The Bloody Mary with the rib tip garnish looked insane… insanely good.
