Izakaya by Katsu-ya

Los Angeles has great food. What I love about eating in LA is that the all food is very different from all the food in San Francisco. Both are excellent but something is very different about both.

While in LA we stopped into Izakaya by Katsu-ya, in West Hollywood. Run by sassy Japanese servers, it was filled with pretty people and an overall delicious experience.

But the best was the spicy tuna, topped with a tiny jalepeno on top of a little rectangle of crisped rice.

Izakaya by Katsu-ya
8420 W 3rd St
Los Angeles, CA 90048

Pabbit donuts

I can't ever turn down donuts. Anytime anyone does donuts as a dessert, I'm getting it. All forms of donuts count too, Beignets, Churros, Donuts, any type of fried fresh dessert.

Thanks Pub and Kitchen for making it happen, bourbon apples, fresh cinnamony donuts, and the best damned vanilla marshmallow creme dipping situation.

Pub and Kitchen
1946 Lombard St
Philadelphia, PA 19146

Melona Bars

I think one of Korea's greatest exports is the Melona bar, or as Tim calls it the Melanoma bar. This tastes almost just like a very sweet Honey Dew Melon. It's hard to imagine I know, but believe it's delicious,and the box rules?!! This is sold in pretty much every 7-11 in Hawaii so it was a normal snack for me after school.

So whenever we come back from visiting my parents, I get a craving.

Lucky for me there is an H-Mart on the way to the Cherry Hill Mall, where you can pick up this and a rice cooker that looks like an alarm clock.

H-Mart

K-Town

I've found myself in K-Town a lot recently.  OB beer, kimchi, awesome food served 24 hours, there are so many reasons.   I usually go late at night after getting off of work but I've found a new reason to go, one of the best lunch specials ever at Kun Jip.  For around $15 you get dolsot bibimbap (sizzling rice in a hot stone bowl with marinated slices of beef, vegetables and a raw egg yolk) and a bowl of  doen jang chigae (a spicy tofu and seafood soup) plus an amazing array of banchan.  The banchan is so good, kimchi (cabbage and diakon), dried and shredded squid with chili paste, pea shoots, a fantastic sweet and spicy pumpkin dish and an incredible egg custard.  

Kun Jip

9 West 32nd St.

New York, NY 10001

Borscht

I've never been a picky eater, even as I child I was pretty adventurous.  Raw oysters, rare steaks, I even remember eating turtle soup with my grandparents.  There is only one thing that I recall being really turned off by and that was borscht.  I think it had something about the bright fuchsia color and the old people connotations.   

During the snow storm last week I was looking through a Russian cookbook and decided it was time to give borscht another chance.  It turned out wonderfully, the combination of beets, cabbage and braised beef finished with sour cream and dill was perfect.  Nothing like the pink sludge of my childhood.

biscuits & gravy

the best hangover breakfast of all time - except maybe creamed chipped beef on toast, which is basically a philadelphia version of biscuits and gravy. It's really easy, all you need is sausage, flour, and milk or cream and some butter, maybe some hot sauce or garlic powder if you want to get fancy.

la rosa update

I found it necessary to re-visit la rosa pizza tonight.
still delicious, still affordable, and they deliver halfway across the city.