happy september.
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Where this?
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Looks like Kato to me, but I have no idea what that dish is.
Might be this? Anajak Thai (Sherman Oaks)? - #125 by Clayfu
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Sweet Corn Basque Cheesecake from Sorrel
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winner winner cheesecake dinner.
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Truly popup was great, nice structure and crunch factor on the crust.
Kato Budonoki collab was all hits; incredible uni toast, general tso’s octopus, char siu, corn soft serve.
Conveniently located for a bang at Casa Leo. The Lardon coca was tasty, classic pan con tomate, great escabeche with trout. Will def return without a prior dinner next time to try more.
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Bad experience for me at the Truly Pizza popup. The pizza was ok to good, with no particular huge bites. Crust was good to very good. Toppings on the four pizzas I ordered weren’t bad at all - just kind of pedestrian (admitted, I am spoiled by Chef William here in LA). The soft serve was excellent, though…
The service was very inattentive. Ruined the meal for me. Yes, it’s “just a pop-up", but having absolutely no one check in on my table for such a long time pretty much ruined the energy / vibe of whatever they were trying to convey at the pop-up. It felt to me as if I was invisible. I was hoping the food would somehow salvage the meal, but alas, no. No one from management came by to ask how my meal was going either (not that I was expecting that, but it seems like every other table got way more attention).
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Were you a solo diner?
Yep. Would that somehow factor into it?
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I am sorry to hear that. We were there yesterday early evening and had outstanding experience. Service was very competent. We had 2 pizzas - cheese and vodka - crust was outstanding!
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I think it’s easy for a mediocre FOH team to overlook a single diner. Also a missed opportunity to make someone who is really only there for the food and hospitality to feel special
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Budonoki/Kato popup super fun.
Our first dinner out with the baby (okay, we sat at 4 so late lunch) so we were in and out quick but loved the Lu Rou Budo-gnocchi soooooo much. Wings, Octo, tuna, curry pan also wonderful as well. Corn sundae with the Kato boba - delish.
Mostly just happy to be eating dinner out with our 3 month old who was a champ even though she had a blowout before dessert and proving to ourselves that it was possible.
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Congrats keep on going glad you guys took the plunge! Kids are super adaptable.
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So far she’s been crushing lunches! Either chills or naps the whole time and we’ve been able to do…
Yang’s Kitchen, Holy Basil, Cafe 2001, Sqirl, bub and grandma’s. Dinner def felt like a plunge and we’re hopefully going to be able to do a 5:00 din soon after her evening cat nap goes away but thrilled with the progress hahaha
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Yeah I think solo diners are more likely to get overlooked, which I feel is completely backwards as solo diners are most likely there because they absolutely love food and want to enjoy it even without company as @aaqjr pointed out above.
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Sorry to hear that. We were a party of 3 and had excellent service. We also had a manager ask us about the food towards the end of the meal. Our pizza was excellent, and that soft serve - I’m gonna try and do a version with softened vanilla ice cream and a fruity olive oil soon!
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Service there was spotty for us (2) as well. Though, I was more peeved not knowing about their thin crust almost tavern-style pizza that was off menu. Saw them being ran to tables around us after we’d already ordered, looked good. It is on their brick and mortar menu, the Ciccio.
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Jade Rabbit:
If Panda Express and Mendocino Farms had a baby that didn’t feel corporate and had been to finishing school, this might be it. Partner and I were both quite pleased by what we got. The few times I’ve had elevated Chinese “comfort” food, I sometimes find it to be a lacking in, um, flavor. Not so here. My favorites were the kale salad, cold noodles, and choc chip cookie (more on that later), but I’d easily order everything again. Yuzu lemonades were bright and refreshing. Cilantro/bird’s eye chili side sauce very good on the brown rice (it overpowers the mains). I forgot to have some of partner’s fried rice, but he really liked it. And the toast really does taste like a (higher quality) version of what you’d get at Sizzler’s.
Portion size is quite respectable.
About the choc chip cookie…. It is OUTSTANDING. PERFECTLY crisp bottom and sides, but the “top” was still chewy w/o any hint of being underbaked. Kind of a platonic ideal of crisp vs. chewy. Depending on how seriously you take your choc-chip cookies, this cookie might actually be worth going out of your for (esp if they’re freshly baked [we lucked out w/ timing]).
I think parking on SM Blvd. just west of 20th might be the way to go (parking in the immediate area is a bit of PITA).
I could see this being a regular-rotation kind of place and think it’s a great addition to the neighborhood.
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