Unless you've been living under a rock you've likely heard of Kogi BBQ,
LA's twitterific Korean-Mexican fusion truck. If not, allow me to
introduce you. The Kogi BBQ fleet, now three trucks strong, travels all
over LA, from Torrance to Glendale, on a day-to-day basis, informing
the public of their locales via everyone's new fave social network,
Twitter (@kogibbq).
On weekends Kogi occupies the kitchen at
Venice's Alibi Room. This is where I first enjoyed the delicious fare,
but as my BFF Brendan was recently in town and we decided to hit up one
of their trucks, the way it's meant to be. We accidentally arrived
early , which was a blessing in disguise as it took no time for quite a
line to grow behind us.
We kept it real by ordering two beef short rib tacos, two spicy pork tacos and their Kogi special, a spicy pork, Jack cheese quesadilla topped with Kogi's new salsa verde.
Hungry! Need. Food. Now. There are times when eating becomes the thing I have
to do before anything else. Knowing of close-to-home restaurants is of
paramount importance to me. Luckily, there’s a plethora of places in
my Atwater Village-Silver Lake neighborhood to choose from. Gingergrass
is one. I know that I can drive over and if it’s early enough, get a
table and have food in front of me within forty minutes. If it’s later
and the place is full, I can call an order in and pick it up. There’s
value in both of these.
This year on my summer vacation I actually played tourist in my own home town. I've lived in Los Angeles for 20 years – never thought I would be here this long – and have pretty much seen/done everything over the years. Or so I thought. With keyboard at the ready, I searched the Internet for attractions that would appeal to both adults (me and my sister) and our 16-year-old niece, sort of a child, until you have to pay for her. 
Joe’s restaurant on Abbot-Kinney in Venice, California is a delight and a deal. Michelin thinks so, having just given this French-California gem a star. And my entire family agrees, and we are not always the most agreeable foursome. Our recent love affair with Joe’s began when I took my husband there for his birthday lunch several weeks ago. A friend joined our table. We ordered from a three course prix fixe menu that ran about $17.00. There was also a two-course lunch with many choices that was much cheaper. The dishes were innovative and fun, reminiscent of my favorite French or Bay Area menus (Larkspur Inn, Aqua, French Laundry). Even the bread was incredible. The service was great and, important to me, flexible and easy. 
Food in New York. I used to know it so well. When I lived there
during the ’80s and ’90s, and worked in the food business I knew every
place there was to know, and I went to most all of them. It’s been a
very long spell since I lived there, and too long since I’ve been able
to really visit. A big void has been left in my New York
City food knowledge. So when I first heard about Magnolia Bakery and
how everyone was raving about it, I had no frame of reference. It was
just food-iverse white noise. (I apparently missed its appearance in
both ‘Sex and the City’ and in an SNL sketch.) I quickly got up to
speed when they announced they were opening a shop in Los Angeles on
one of the busiest streets in L.A.: West 3rd Street. With everything
that had been written I understood that this was a very popular place.
I wanted to go check it out. Some of the stories (in the L.A. Times
and on the Internet) were about how owner, Steve Abrams, was met with
complaints from the neighborhood and other businesses about how his
business would impact parking. The area was already saturated.
Parking places were impossible to find. I knew this to be very true.
So instead of driving, and battling parking: let’s take the bus!
