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Wanted to try Tigawok (thanks, @JeetKuneBao!) tonight. I didnât take this pic from the outside to be cute. The line went all the way from the back wall to out the front door. And, when I circled back ~1 hr later, the line was actually a little longer! Holy cow.
Didnât want to wait, so we headed to Dong Ting. On the way there, partner noticed a stand (outside the store next to Big Boi) selling arancini. Sure, why not?
Delicious! And quite large. And had a decently spicy kick. Chef (Steven Cho) said that heâs on Sawtelle 2x/mo and pops up at breweries and other places in Burbank and NoHo. Def worth checking out, if youâre nearby.
Dong Ting has changed:
All of the âoriginalâ wall art has been taken down and replaced w/ new signs. You can now see into the kitchen. And Iâve never before seen the people who greeted us and took our order.
The âshao maiâ are⌠fascinating. They are very large. The wrappers look a mess. Iâm not sure what the wrappers are made of; they seems quite thin and almost tissue-like, in places. The filling (shrimp and cucumber) taste more like something grandma would make for a quick dinner. I actually mean that as a compliment, but I wouldâve enjoyed this dish w/ just the filling on plate, as opposed to being in bao form.
My beloved dry crispy beef noodles have changed. No more choice of noodle type (as far as I could tell). The noodles are quite slippery and donât have the same Q. Taste is not as sour or vibrant. Beef quality is also not the same. Itâs not at all bad, but itâs gone from (IMHO) craveworthy to simply pleasant.
Partnerâs veg âcrystal noodleâ was really tasty, though. Sauce had great depth of flavor, and the noodles were of the width but thin variety.
Server had confirmed ownership had changed and said that a few new dishes would be added. Iâm under the vague impression that the dry chili crispy beef was kept on the menu simply to appease customers expecting the previous menu. That one dish just doesnât seem to have the same âpassionâ that it used to have. But Iâm looking forward to trying their other, new dishes.
Felt like dessert, so we went to Wanderlust. This is either the first or second time Iâve had their ice cream.
Black sesame cookies and cream was nice. It just barely had intense-enough black sesame flavor for me. Partnerâs buontalenti was very intense (I donât think I could finish a scoop of that), and his kinder was good (tasted like a less-sweet waffle cone to me).
This place is going in next to 7 Kingdoms. Anyone ever heard of it?
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Super sad to hear the dry crispy beef isnât as good anymore. It was such a good dish.
Ramen Chikumo looks like itâll be Chicken Paitan: Ramen Chikumo Bringing âThe Bestâ Ramen To Sawtelle Japantown | Toddrickallen
Toddrick says that it was founded in Tokyo, but I canât find any evidence of a location in Japan, just the two Taipei locations.
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Iâd be interested in hearing your take on the dish under the new ownership. Maybe they just need some time to fine tune it?
The server specifically asked us for our opinion of the crystal noodle dish (good and bad), but unfortunately simply asked if everything else was fine.
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I was in Sawtelle a week ago
I saw a sugarcane spot at the plaza on Olympic and a HK egg tart spot as well further up.
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not surprised - but probably not going to be happy
I liked a lot there (cold sesame noodles and the dry spicy beef)
Hope replacement/redirection works out
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Gone. (Ask me how I knowâŚ)
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How do you fucking know?
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Bubs sells at Tuesday Culver City Farmers Market.
Jyan Issac is also at Sunday Mar Vista FM.
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Honey Pig at noon is a much different experience. Had the place to ourselves. Pork belly and brisket always top notch.
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lol at the golf shoes sign. I guess they had a few accidents here. Uncles coming in after a day at Coyote Hills in their golf swag
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I need to try that place.
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Sincerely Syria (Hollywood Blvd). Very good chicken shawarma sandwich. I liked it more than nearby Doner Turco.
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I keep forgetting about this place and how itâs open late! Itâll be the perfect post Bowl snack!
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Friday was final night of DineLA, and we went to Connie and Tedâs.
OHMIGOD, the place was PACKED. Is it always that busy on a Friday night???
Food was terrific. Fry on the fish 'n chips was perfect, and the lobster was so tender (for lobster). Can sweet corn be as sweet as candy? The corn kernels in my soup were really that sweet. Apricot in the trifle was a bit too jammy (texture) and sweet for me, but partner really liked it.
Just a lovely meal all around.
Went to La Lo La at the Moxy/AC hotel for lunch the next day to test the venue in anticipation of using it for a large event. First, the good: partner wanted another lobster roll, so he ordered one. It was actually totally decent. He enjoyed his mixed drink.
The rest (including non food aspects) was disgusting. When a place drowns raw fish (the ahi tuna tostadas) in a strong-tasting sauce (this was some very red, mildly spicy, vaguely viscous sauce), I always think theyâre trying to hide something. The âtostadaâ part was them putting 6 or so pieces of blue-corn tortillas in a quarter of an avocado. Not attractive.
The worst part (about the food) was the chilaquiles. It was so drenched in some weird, bechamel-y sauce that was both fairly tasteless and totally sogged out the chips (b/c literally every square mm of the chips are been coated). There was something resembling black beans on the bottom. It looked kind black beans, but it also had no flavor and was weirdly liquidy. The whole dish was so vile that I ate a few bites and then stopped. I wouldâve done the same w/ the tuna, but the tuna didnât taste spoiled, so I felt like I needed to eat all of it.
I was a bit shocked at the bill b/c I didnât see a 20% mandatory service charge on the menu. To be fair, I didnât read the menu that closely (mainly b/c I had already looked at it on-line, and the 20% service charge def isnât mentioned ANYWHERE on the website). I donât see an exact match for the menu yesterday on Yelp, but the only mention of a service charge there is 18% on parties of 6 or more (there were only 2 of us).
I wouldâve been a little less peeved about the service charge except the person bringing us our food actually asked us, âDid you order food?â b/f setting the food down. Um, shouldnât you know if those are our dishes? We didnât move since being seated.
The service charge meant that 3 small dishes + mixed drink (w/ 2 of the dishes being genuinely sh*tty) was a whopping $20 less than our pre-tip meal at C&Tâs. Itâs kind of horrific when you have an eating experience that makes C&T look like an amazing value.
Itâs also so windy up there that your empty (plastic) cups will go flying. Much of the seating is lounge style, and the sofas were stained.
A vile experience.
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Prince St pizza in Costa Mesa. Might be our first and last visit. Located in Triangle Square. The folks manning the register and putting pizzas in the oven were not the friendliest. Weird rules. Cannot add pepperoni to pizza. Cannot order and pay for a slice thatâs not out but coming out of the oven soon. Huh?
The sauce is very good. Pepperoni chalices are great. The dough is not good. Plain regular slice was kinda like cardboard. The square slices were very hard on the outside and kinda dense. Opening weekend jitters? Maybe but I donât need to go back. Prime pizza is better. Donât even get me started with Mama Too and LâIndustrie. Itâs like those slices from 3 weeks ago were but a dream.
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Oh, wow. Those slices LOOK cardboard-y. 
Reminder that Prince St. owners (never confirmed they exited the business) are racist: Prince Street Pizza Faces Massive Backlash After Racist Posts Online - Eater LA
Crappy pizza + lame owners. Not worth your future business!
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Cassia + McDonaldâs bang bang. Pretty sure my 10pc mcnuggets had more meat than my 42$ chicken and rice⌠Itâs my fault though i knew they donât like to accommodate single diners and still went
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