What he said, +1.

Also avail at Stella Barra Hollywood. Looks something like this when being eaten: http://distilleryimage5.s3.amazonaws....

A couple of elderly Chinese adults nearly spat out the ZJM at BPH. Just another data point.

yup. 70+ reviews on yelp for a wholesale deli in an industrial strip in BFE nowhere? I think that's a LOT of (deserved) love.

c) pick neither

only the granola/yogurt + sandwiches were avail to-go. the other items were for sit-down.

no matter, the english muffin sandwiches are $1 cheaper to-go, and were just absolutely top notch, especially when there are regier farms stoned fruits to serve as chasers.

how, exactly?

Handsome (barista champ) & Demitasses roast beans. G&B (barista champ) has hipster cred. Spring for Coffee is friendly + lower cost. Dulce has coffee + house-made donuts + seating. Barista Society claims to be "first" in financial district, which is to say what exactly? Don't get me wrong, I DIG elabrew, especially the redec'd CNN stand, but, still -- curious how it's better.

it's overpriced CAFO'd beef on top of iceberg, all drenched in liquid smoke. add to that there's shat parking and an annoying wait? which part of that sounds "best" of anything? Apple Pan is perpetually battling Pie n Burgers for the most undeservingly praised burger shacks in LA (also applies to Hinano, 26 Beach, ad nausea.).

pretty sure everyone grew out of these 80s food disasters.

banh bot loc la is one of my favorite banh snacks, ditto to banh cha lua; they make their own pork loaf there, I like to compare it more to a French headcheese/pate than spam, as no one dies from brain diseases after making it. OTOH, i can't stand banh nam in general.

for photos of some must-do dishes, check ex-Chower ErikM's photo set from '08: http://www.flickr.com/photos/22982768...

Little has changed in the menu since then. Their nem chua Hue is some of the best (and most expensive at $1/pc) nem chua in all of SGV, and keeping it in the bamboo leaves, instead of being wrapped in saran wrap, imparts a fragrance not found in other nem chua sold at deli counters (Saigon Baguette, BMTT, BMCC, etc

I liked the green papaya / jerky salad more so than the jackfruit salad, which seems a bit more mundane. They also have a bun with jackfruit and they bring out a side of stank shrimp paste with it. Also really enjoyed the com hen "rice salad", which is a bit evocative of Jitlada's Songkhla rice salad, and relatively difficult to find in SGV these days. OC's central Vietnamese food wave didn't survive in SGV.

If forced to choose the current "b"est Vietnamese restaurant in West SGV, w/o a doubt this should everyone's number one over Golden Deli/Vietnam Restaurant//Nha Trang/Nem Nua Ninh Hoa, etc.

curious why not bump your own thread from '05? http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/70543

the horse already died.

try the place linked here: http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/7764...

chow math: $9 orders of paiche ceviche gets you 1.5 hours at Kiyokawa.

(to others: please, don't flag me bro)

Kiyokawa omakase slots in at $90/pp

Guess after working for the Japanese for years, one gets used to the caste system.

The chicken is good tho, and in the hopes of possibly getting some ass, one of my favorite things, I sometimes go back.

"pride", "confidence", "prerogative"?

History shows Fox is adroit with vegetables. Maybe burgers aren't his thing, so he doesn't like cooking them? Maybe when you order the off-menu burger now, you get the grillardin saying to himself: not another gdamn burger?

Flat white - Bronzed Aussie
Flat white w/ a side of cafe racer/thumper porn - Deus Venice
Flat white with a long black: 2 Guns Espresso

You win at this thread.

Isn't amazon prime $79/year though? http://www.amazon.com/gp/prime

Maybe they can deliver to the office? And then you take home?

A request for fun $ joint defaults to Honda-Ya. Alternatively, if he likes chicken & beer, Kokekokko.

"freshest"?

Green Shower Organic Farm, usually picked previous day, sometimes even same day.
http://www.greenshowerorganicfarm.com/

As far as lemongrass/Asian basils go -- grow your own. Doesn't get fresher/cheaper than that.

and the sweet potato starch.

karaage uses katakuriko which is just potato starch. huge difference in the "fluff" texture, IMO.

there's a place for both, but the bias in the thread is... obvious.

http://la.eater.com/archives/2013/06/...

That's ridiculous. Don't disown your opinion. Torihei's karaage is a-ok by us, especially when the rest of the menu is so strong. Give Hayatemaru's version a try when you have a chance.

Your opinion is equally as important as someone else's a*hole.

This post, just like the LAT post, will generate traffic, and income, for CHOW. Your post matters; don't apologize.

"They also use garlic and 5-spice, which are pretty Chinese flavorings."

Garlic isn't essential, white pepper powder is; fried basil makes it phenomenal.

Taiwanese salted crispy (popcorn -- do I dare?) chicken is salty, peppery, spicy, and juicy. Karage is.. expensive and fit for cosplay obsessed otakus.

The Night Ryeder was the win for me out of the "flight". The growler, being a growler, was flat after 2 days. Highly NOT recommended unless you can finish off a 4 pints of the same beer in less than 2 days. I found neither of the IPAs that appetizing, as the stuff being brewed is far less exciting than the offerings in North County.

The taco trucks were, as per usual, absolute shat the last 2 times. The Belly Bomb? Being the worst of/in the lot.

FWIW, it's a brewery, but they allowed under 18 and dogs to roam the premises.

"Ruined."

Wrong word. "Whited".

Can anyone else chime in on the Costco king salmon availability by location?

"I remember going to a place in MP almost 10 years ago, think it was on Garvey, closer to Atlantic side, red brick like building"

Still there as "KT Cafe". Though it seems to be slowly losing to JJ Cafe a block East since the beginning of the decade. If you prod, I may even admit someone in my household really loves the sizzling beef udon there.

It's sad this restaurant "concept" got press on LAT. It's also rather disgusting the piece was accepted by whom I assume to be the respectable Mr. Russ Parson and his Team. I also assume (since I haven't read) the list consisted of pathetic renditions of the great HK "tea" cafes, with Face Cafe being the worst of 'em all (there being no "b"est of them).

The "HK milk tea" being served at both Yum Cha -- a relatively new item there -- and Jim's Bakery, is literally Lipton with condensed milk or creamer now. The rest of the tea cafes are offering no better. There's no pride in that shit. But it's really not about pride, it's about bullet #4: "quantity and cheap price". Per the Youtube videos, the 626 youngsters love it, and the blame is to be laid squarely on their parents.

Ultimately, the Western SGV HK diaspora has long since stopped giving a damn about the quality of their non-dimsum tea food, and the LAT piece is a good summary of the current state of soy-drenched USF-sourced poison that is being dished out from Monterey Park to Rosemead. Alas, the Taiwanese rendition (JJ Bakery & Cafe, etc.) is hardly better, or if better at all. Still, all this beats going to say... IHOP, or Chego, < / soapbox >

"BBQ", even.

"over the last".

Ugh FTLOG, release the edit feature.

http://baike.baidu.com/view/272409.htm
NB: not meant to detract from K K's body of work on CH. The HK movie trivia/references are always fantastic.

I've been to 冰室 in Guangdong burbs (euphemism for ass backwards towns), and they look nothing like Mido Cafe, which is not saying Mido Cafe is some kind of glam setting. They're just shitty lil covered shacks with chest freezers, a large refrigerator, and the requisite errant stray dogs.

Anyway, the question that begs to be answered: how did the pond-crossing of HK cafe translate to the absolutely horrid food served in such locations in SGV? Can we blame America's agricultural policy? Or is it really inconsequential to the overall Chinese food movement currently traversing through the region? (I'm going with the latter).

This isn't a rumour. it's been observed by several people, and is, afaic, a fact. Couple this with the inane pricing for nampriks, as well as their removal of so-called "difficult" dishes, has turned "Spicy BQQ" verboten. Yet the board, and LA food "personalities", keep propping this sad excuse of an Issan place up.

The subject has been beaten several times over in the last... 5 years.

"My last couple of experiences at Park's have been less than stellar"

expound, please? I haven't been to Park's in ages, but I can't imagine anyone leaving Park's upset.

Anywho, Genwa's set menu here: http://www.genwakoreanbbq.com/menu.html (though price excluded). My fave part: soju included.