I talked with Kim and Chef Bryant: The items on the menu are very though-out to balance optimal taste, portability, and affordability. Chef Bryant put in a huge amount of time in the R&D of the menu for Jade Rabbit…
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After I was hospitalized with ecoli (extremely painful and scary, I don’t recommend it), I don’t take a chance on rice when ordering takeout. Also, I was running errands and knew food would sit in car for a bit.
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I had the lamb tonight—nice bit of heat, but not overpowering. It went great with the pickled Chinese cabbage.
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This is a neighborhood restaurant for me, so yesterday the kids and I went and ordered a big takeout dinner.
Because we were buying for a group they defaulted to using tubs and takeout containers rather than making combos. This was not a cost effective way to go and our meal of 4 bases, 6 veggies, and two fish came to well over $100.
We liked most of what we got, but the major complaint was the temperature management. We had a 2 minute trip home and by the time we got there the hot items and cold items were largely indistinguishable on a temperature basis. Everything was uniformly body temperature.
We were buying at 3:50 and there wasn’t another soul in line, and the sense we got was that everything had been sitting out for a while.
The winning items with my family were the sweet potatoes, the mashed potatoes, and the cold noodles. On the other side of the ledger, the broccoli seemed wildly under seasoned, and the shrimp had long since congealed.
We‘ll give it another try at a busier hour in a few weeks.
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Just was in front of Randall Park in line place has the juice.
Also they have the chickpea curry from Cassia!
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Curious about the chickpea curry as it’s the one vegan main
Gotta try this place out soon
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The chickpeas are very similar to Cassia’s. Lots of coconut cream, lemongrass, and makrut lime. Rich and spiced, but pretty mild.
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Agree with others assessment. Beef and Broccoli was delicious. Fried rice and chow mein were the perfect base. Chow mein noodles have a great chew. Similar mouthfeel to Woon, just thinner. Pickled cucumbers were also great. Curry mashed potatoes were just ok. They were whipped into oblivion and with the curry it was one note and no texture.
Parking situation sucks, especially during lunch. No street parking on Santa Monica Blvd. Any non metered spots are restricted North of SM blvd to Wilshire. 23rd Street metered spots are almost always taken north of SM Blvd. My move at 6pm was to head South on 23rd and I found a spot just South, but if all else fails one could park on Broadway and walk a long block or two. It’s not ideal. With my kids I may have to have a plan B meal if I can’t find a close spot. It’s going to be the Achilles heel for JR unfortunately.
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Neighborhood parking north of St John’s is probably the most realistic spots to find.
edit: I went Saturday evening. I imagine it would be very hard to find on a weekday when people coming home from work
Parking in that area has always been challenging. Has been a significant issue for the restaurants and cafes there.
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I don’t know what it’s like during the day, but, when I’ve gone to Socalo, I’ve found it pretty easy to find parking west of 20th on Santa Monica Blvd. I plan to try this in the future when going to Jade Rabbit.
Still several blocks to walk, but, if spots are easy to find, easier than circling around the immediate area over and over again.
Edit: or maybe I’ll park near Vito’s (a few blocks to the east).
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Parking: I work at St John’s and the block itself that JR sits on is not park-able. As @paranoidgarliclover says it makes little sense (and is awfully frustrating) to drive mindlessly around and around, hoping to drink whiskey from a bottle of wine.
But there’s tons of 5-minute-walk spots on Arizona/Wilshire (North), BroadwayColorado (South), Vito’s /Holy Basil(soon)/CVS (East), 10 Speed Coffee/SoCalo (West)
I think the average (healthy) person will have little trouble, but I do wonder what the app delivery drivers will do. I know take-out/delivery is an important market for the JR concept to work.
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There are about 10-12 meter spaces on 23rd, south of Santa Monica Blvd, and they’re generally a better bet than the ones north of the intersection. Having said that, I genuinely don’t understand why anyone thinks they can make a business work on the stretch between the hospital and the school. If you don’t already live or work in the neighborhood, it’s such a hassle.
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I believe the answer is “there are thousands of people working in multiple large hospitals within walking distance”
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plus quite a few institutions of lower education, office buildings, tech companies, growing density around metro/bergamot station, and of course who wants to wait at the dmv without a bougie Chinese bowl.
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My understanding is that they will start catering operations in possibly few wks. I imagine they’d be very popular at the hospital and at the outpt towers for buffet-style events.
I am actually hoping to use them for an event at UCLA in early Nov, but @Moomin’s report makes me a little worried about how the food will hold up during the drive.
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Is it OK to park in the DMV lot a block or so to the south?
The DMV is much further than a block from Jade Rabbit. It’s down on Colorado at Cloverfield, about a half mile away. It’s also probably too risky to park at the DMV.
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Honestly think most of the menu is fine at slightly warm to room temperature—probably designed that way.
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Finally made it here on my way to jury duty yesterday. Man, parking is really a nightmare and that may be an issue for them. There was about half a dozen people inside when I arrived with a steady flow of office workers coming in throughout my meal. It never got particularly crowded though.
All of the food I had was good to great, but I did feel a little shorted on the proteins. They use the typical fast casual serving spoons but due to the sizes of the pieces of chicken it only ended up about 3/4 of a spoonful of mango chicken and sichuan chicken. The latter I would definitely get again, but I’ll try a different protein than the mango chicken next time. The fried rice was well seasoned and the chow mein was delicious. The cucumbers were pleasantly sweet and the Chinese broccoli was spicier than I anticipated which I really enjoyed.
I grabbed a cheese toast at the end of the line as I wanted more food after seeing the meager protein serving, but I’ll skip that next time. The mango pudding dessert really hit the spot and the milk tea was an enjoyable drink to go with the meal.
All in it was about $32 which ain’t cheap but for the quality of the food I can’t complain. I want to say I will go back, but it’s a somewhat hard place to just pop into as it’s a bit of a hike with the parking lottery in the surrounding area.
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