Death Match!
A few fellow FTCers and I were able to try some upcoming dishes currently being worked on, as focus shifts toward items that had to be put on the back burner because they were meant for consumption immediately and on-site.
Locally Caught Ridgeback Prawns with Ginger Scallion Soy Dipping Sauce
Razor Clams
Lamb Claypot
Chicken and Lap Cheong Claypot Rice
Steamed Kinki
Highlight. Tragic that it had to be shared with three other people. (jk <3 u guys )
Buddha’s Delight (Fresh water chestnuts, snap peas, bean curd skins, mushroom, celtuce, Taishan cauliflower, shallots, and mung bean noodle)
Doufu Fa with Cinnamon Ginger Syrup
I would never have the coughs if my syrup tasted like this. Available this weekend for takeout!
Calamansi Cream Pie from Lasita provided by Laroolou
Special thanks to @attran99 for the pie pick up.
The NY Times agrees that Chinatown is one of the best places to eat. PEEEE ARRRR DEEEEE!
Amazing to see substantive NYT piece on Chinatown. I hope they provide a Chinese version of the article soon. Not doing so will be a huge miss by NYT.
I said this already
This sounds and looks like a better version of the lamb bing I had at Bing Bar in Vegas.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CSxpFxJle3m/?utm_medium=copy_link
Indeed. Legendary chef lineup:
Chef Boyardee ------------------&-----------Chef PRD
Finally made it here for a late breakfast.
So good. Best to eat immediately.
All good but, damn, those noodles. The best I’ve had of that style.
Did you get a chance to say Hello to Sergio at PRD?
I don’t know.
Come early.
I was there at 5pm and when I left 20 minutes later with my food to go there was quite a line.
Hotate Kakiage & Ankimo Monaka
Loved the kakiage, especially the sweetness of the corn. Ankimo was luxurious.
Sabazushi
Not peak season saba, but still good.
I expect tomorrow will be even busier.
I’m not sure if today was busier than yesterday. But by 6PM, they were running out of items. I put in our order at about 5:20 and the scallops and saba were already gone . Damn work…I was supposed to be in line by 4:30.
We got OOE except the Ankimo Monaka…we got 2 of those because we didn’t want to share.
Kamo Negi Ramen
Everyone was telling us that improvements were made to this dish and it was really good. Broth, negi and noodles are everything you could hope for in a ducky soup. Duck was a little chewy…my dining companion wishes the fat had rendered a bit more. Traffic delayed my companion so the duck might look a little over, but it was perfectly medium-rare when it arrived. Would I eat it, again…definitely.
Kamo Oyakodon
Perfectly seared duck, creamy eggs, sweet onions, and rice. Comfort in a bowl. Due to traffic, this one sat a little too…and honestly, because it did, the mix of it all reminded me of risotto when we got to eat it. All the flavors and components really married with the rice.
Ankimo Monaka
Liver…let me count all the ways that I love thee. I love liver in pretty much all forms. This ankimo is stupendous. It is both salty and sweet. My companion said the pickled greens inside weren’t necessary. I wanted to call it an Ankimo Oreo. We both agreed we could have eaten 10 of these.
White Peach Mascarpone Kakigori
Divine. Who doesn’t love beautiful white peaches turned into a fruity syrup to top powdery fresh shaved ice? The mascarpone made this dessert rich, and to be honest, we could have eaten or drunk the peach syrup by the gallons…it was so good.
Bravo to Chefs @JLee (and his great team) & Ai Kennedy & Laura Hoang for a fun Friday night.
Bonus round:
It was steak frites night at Amboy. We couldn’t help but drop by to split a picanha to go. Came with a house pan sauce and Amboy mole…pan sauce was the winner for me. The mole sauce made me want to wrap the steak up in a tortilla with some cheese. Fries continue to be excellent.
Wow those steak frites look incredible
Pearl River Deli chef-owner Johnny Lee plans to open a restaurant this fall in the former home of Vivian Ku’s pop-up Today Starts Here in Chinatown. Lee intends to reformat Pearl River Deli, his Cantonese-leaning restaurant in Far East Plaza, to be more fast-casual and focus the new restaurant on full-service dinners with dishes such as clay-pot rice and whole steamed fish.
Fuck the Iron Chef,
@JLee is our Ironrock Chef
Nice to see someone new writing for LA Times Food. Since the whole Meehan-Escarcega etc meltdown there haven’t really been any new voices as far as I can tell.
Breijo started in January.
I wouldn’t conflate Meehan’s departure (profound mismanagement) and Escarcega’s (failed to inform herself about her union’s seniority rules).