I’m loving that substack. It’s wonderful
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Water Grill (DTLA).
Excellent oysters, as good as anywhere.
I found the swordfish a little gamey, which made me question its freshness. The spaghetti squash stuff underneath was just okay.
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Water Grill just changed their corkage policy from no corkage to first bottle is free, all additional bottles are $50. I get it as a business stream, but damn, it’s getting harder to find places for my group.
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Japanese fruit parlour culture arrives in LA as Elly Amai (yes, the same company which brought us the Erewhon strawberry) launches a month-long popup along toney Montana Avenue in Santa Monica.
The fruit chirashi allows diners to enjoy most of their luxe fruit offerings all at once . There is an omakase option as well. Matcha drinks are legit. The highlight (as it should be) is their musk melon (and any of their parfaits). Huge bites!
Reserve a seating on Resy…
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A few Mexican food things to share.
El Ruso
Not totally sure how I feel about this one, though it’s pretty good. Game kinda passed them by, but they’re back on Hillhurst outside Albertson’s. I watched the taquero hand stretch my sobaquera, and they’re back to grilling over charcoal (though I got Coloradito)
Los Gardunos
Barbocoa in Lincoln Heights. Haven’t had enough barbacoa recently to compare, but this was good, especially the gratis pancita tostada.
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Took my animals to Galpão (Irvine) with the OC Restaurant week special and to try Bill Esparza’s rec.
Solid experience. Service was exceptional…they even offered a tableside bag hook when they realized it was slipping from the corner of my chair. Drinks refreshed without request, and the service captain patrolled the room to ensure any protein desires went direct to tables.
The market table had lots of interesting items like leek salad, green apple salad and deviled eggs. Sorry, @js76wisco, no hearts of palm for your chowpup. The hot market items had salmon, cooked vegetables and a variety warm rolls…in addition to table pão de queijo. The pão here are giant…and great for sopping up the delicious meat juices.
Noteworthy was the caramelized pineapple coming from the kitchen. Made for an excellent palate cleanser.
Proteins were very good. Nicely seasoned. The spicy pihcaña wasn’t spicy, but it did have extra flavor, which was nice. The bacon-wrapped chicken and ribeye were particularly memorable. They do have a gold leaf covered pihcaña that they’ll sear on a hot salt stone for you…I abstained.
Caipirinhas were not well-made here. There was a thick layer of sugar at the bottom of the glass that had not been properly muddled with the limes. Not a fan.
Dessert was fine. Nothing to write home about.
The chowpups had a great dinner. We had a nice family night out. Would definitely return.
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Is this where Agora Brazilian BBQ used to be?
Across the street…caddy corner to it?
Wasn’t Agora in the high-rise corner building on Main & MacArthur? I never went to Agora.
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Yeah that used to be the Agora’s.
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Mapo ramen from a popup by https://www.instagram.com/zaknoodle
Really delicious with a great balance of spice and sansho. Making their own noodles (really almost everything) from scratch. A love letter to obscure ramen styles from Japan.
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Drool.
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If you reach out, they might still have room next weekend.
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Do you know how they normally announce the popups or is it a message to find out situation?
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I would message them, that’s what I did after their last popup and signed up to be notified for the next one. They’re still running this next weekend I believe
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Oh, reminds me of this! I thought had a more recent post about mapo tantanmen, but I can’t find it easily.
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I haven’t been there but having met the brothers at a dinner a couple of years back, discussing their passion for ramen ( I believe it’s mostly chuka style ramen), seeing their ramen eating list from Japan, and following their insta journey I would say that if any ftcers are able to try it, it would be highly worth your while.
it’s been on my to do list for a long time but it’s hard for me to sneak up to sm on the weekends.
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Little Fish (Echo Park)
The fish is delicious, but I wish it had been seasoned more and there was more sauce. It ate a little dry.
The tuna sandwich was delightful! Lovely acidic and slightly spicy dressing that made the tuna pop.
Ramen Nagi (Costa Mesa)
Even with the tare level reduced, the squid king was still a little salty for me. Great bowl of ramen…even more so since I had partied much of last night. A solid bowl of ramen will cure all your ills. Love the fact that the bowls come with bibs…I definitely would have gotten my inky black soup all over my clothes.
If you select kukuni, that braised pork belly will remind you a lot of Vietnamese thit kho.
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Snack and a cocktail at Mírate. Cocktail was excellent and lamb barbacoa flautas were good -wish the sauce had a little more bite to it (was good tasting it by itself but got a bit lost with everything)
Smashed avocado was super mid. I’m annoyed at myself for ordering it.
Love the space.
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I haven’t been to one of the Zak noodles popups but I know they sometimes do knife cut which is for sure rare here in the states. As for mapo tofu ramen being obscure tho- that’s been on the menus at old school shops like kouraku and umemura here in Los Angeles for decades!
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I’m not a ramen expert, so I’m not really doing justice to the specificity of the type of ramen. It’s not just a mapo tofu ramen, it is a re-creation of Ramen Gojyuban’s version that apparently is somewhat well known? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lTNsamtFmM
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