- mr baguette banh mi dac biet
- blue table roast beef tenderloin on baguette (ask for the rarest cut of roast beef if you can)
- europane egg salad sandwich
- jeff's old fashioned pastrami
- little dom's fried soft shell crab sandwich

runners up: blue palm's brewhouse el fuego steak melt and langer's pastrami.

That new toasted grains dish @ Red Medicine has the same flavor profile as the Mama brand instant ramen, pork flavor. And I don't mean that to diss the dish, it's my favorite instant ramen. (http://www.orientalfoodshop.com/media...)

I had one bad experience with the pre-cut catfish steaks here. Opened up the package and they were slimy and clearly sour :( But I do love this place and still go, probably should have known better and got the whole fresh catfish anyway.

Jeff's Gourmet Sausage Company
8930 West Pico Boulevard
Los Angeles, CA 90035

In Ktown there are 2 family owned shops that I know of. Kae Sung Market and Somseeneh. Kae Sung is spicier, more fermented, thin slurry for both the kimchi and the cubed radish (kkak). Sonseeneh has a thicker, sweeter slurry. The veggies are crisper and bigger. Two different styles and both excellent. I think they are both cash only and closed on Sundays. While you are in the neighborhood if you are also in need of sesame oil, Chong's is close by does fresh pressed.

The Old Fashioned is BACK! Just posted on their Facebook page.

+1!

If you're willing to travel to Santa Monica / Edgemont I've recently fallen in love with a tiny place called La Bonita. Chalkboard menu, hand made tortillas, and everything so far has been really tasty, except for the rice, which is never served hot enough and is quite dry (but the beans are great). I've tried the chicken breast in red sauce, albondigas (excellent), and chilaquiles. Cash only and no AC. I'll eat here over Alegria/Malo any day.

Agree with Mexicali and Ricky's Fish Tacos recs. If you're willing to travel to Glassel Park, El Taco Feliz on Verdugo Rd & W Ave 31 have a wider variety of meats and fresh masa is used for the gorditas/sopes/huaraches. Really tasty suadero, cabeza, buche, and tripas.

The tacos at the El Flamin' Taco truck at the Echo Park location are passable and IMO marginally better than taco zone, but if you're looking to indulge in a Cali burrito, the fries are fried to order every time and makes for a really awesome late night meal.

The roasted and flaming hot chilis are dumped into a heavy duty garbage bag inside of a burlap sack. A lot of people bring coolers with them to place the chilis in for the ride home. I've been fine just throwing the bag in my trunk. Once you get home I recommend taking the chilis out with tongs (they'll be too hot to touch still) and spreading them on baking trays to cool rapidly. Once cooled, I then placed mine in big zip locks, try to get all the air out, and then some go in my fridge if I'm using right away but most go straight into the freezer.

Some people peel the skins off the chili the day they receive them, which I started to do, but it will take you forever if you're doing it alone. I've found even after defrosting from the freezer the peels come right off. Next year I may vacuum seal them but I need to upgrade my vacuum sealer (old model doesn't suck very well anymore).

They're really amazing this year - they look healthier than last year's batch. Enjoy!

Totally did this based on your rec, +1 for this gut busting deliciousness!

If you can do Los Feliz The Palace has them.

There are tons of gems in the Northridge area but you picked the 3 categories I was never able to find standouts. For burgers, I always ended up at either In-n-Out or the Habit. There's a Red Robin in the area which I hear is good for a chain but I've never tried it. People love the Munch Box in Chatsworth - it's a cute burger shack but I thought the burger and fries were both very bad. Same for Bob's Big Boy. Super thin patties with no char. Both Miller's Sensational Salads & Sandwiches and Maxwell's Burger and Hotdogs are decent, especially for the price, but you gotta double 'em up to get enough beef, IMO.

Brent's is good for the pastrami mentioned in this thread but my burger was awful (though I know it has its fans). I also didn't love the burger at King's but the sushi is solid. You might want to try Fab's and get it with Hatch Green chiles on top - I would have gotten around to ordering this but I"m addicted to their breakfast dog w. mayo and hatch green chilies and never have room for much else :). You also might have luck at Daglas which has great fries but my pick there is the grilled cheese pastrami. I imagine Henris in Canoga Park might turn out a good burger as it was the most reliably tasty diner that I frequented in the area (really tasty chicken fried steak + eggs) and I remember there being a half pound Texas burger on the menu.

PIzza was another stumper but I liked LA Best PIzza, especially for delivery. D'amore's Pizza might be good in the restaurant but it did not hold up at all for delivery - thin crust got limp and soggy. If you like really thick crust you will like the San Carlo Deli pizza but I much prefer the calzone and sandwiches there.

Ice cream - no clue!

Other recs: White Rabbit Cafe for the pork sisig burrito, Go's Mart for $$$$ but great sushi, Que Huong for Vietnamese, Small Island for chicken katsu w/curry, Tampa Garden Chinese for made to order dumplings, and Shamshiri Restaurant.

HA! Sad to hear you had to endure a bad meal but I agree with your SUGARFISH assessment and this thread title made me laugh. I didn't get hot rice at the DTLA location but it was surely too warm, fish quality not great and the butchering worse. Shunji to the rescue!

+1 for Krua Siri! The fish larb is great too.

Don Dae Gam. They used to have an intestine plate with small and large but now it's just the large intestine on the menu, I believe. Not AYCE but you get a LOT of intestine. I like eating some pieces cut open and grilled on both sides (like crispy bacon) and some pieces with just the outside ring grilled so that the inside is still melty and fatty delicious. :)

Byul Gobchang's marinade is too sweet for my taste. It's very pronounced. I also found the small intestine to be on the grisley side. Much leaner intestine than Don Dae Gam's. For me, it was a let down.

It's at the Farmer's Market Poultry stand which is just a few steps away from Puritan. Grade A is $46.95/lb and Grade B (leaner) is $36.95/lb. Hudson Valley brand.

Great list and google map!

2 Taco stops I love:
Tacos Tamix (2 Locations - Pico and Westmoreland, S Hoover St & W 20th St) for delicious al pastor
Verdugo Taco Stand - Ave 33

:(

So true, it's hard to get out under $10.

Seobu Gamjatang is reported as CLOSED by yelp.

My meal was $75 pp omakase. $50 for the "omakase" portion, $25 for the sushi portion.

My meal breakdown for 2 ppl last night: $100 omakase $50 sushi $46 sake $8 pellegrino

You describe the tairagai perfectly! That was a brand-new experience for me last night and so good. It really made me marvel at his knife work - so many little cross hatches on the top which lead to the wonderful texture that you describe.

My version of the cold soup was a puree of mountain yam, a sweet gourd, burdock root, and guava.

He did 3 different preparations of the orange clam for us last night - the nigiri part, the scallop served on its own, but my favorite was the outside abductor ring that he served in a cut roll. It was so crunchy and tasty and really showed off the quality of his nori.

And no, I wouldn't describe you as too "exuberantly sycophantic." :) After returning to Shunji's last night I feel just as strongly as you do about the wonderful food he's producing here. He is a master of dashi, and the salt level on each dish is achingly perfect, especially for his cold vegetable preparations.

Surprise of the night for me - the middle of the meal featured a cheese course! A little ball of yellow potato with one type of cheese, purple potato ball with blue cheese, and a dollop of pureed ankimo in the middle. I don't know if he recently went to France or Peru to inspire such a choice, but it was very creative.

He ended our meal with a cut roll of freshly chopped wasabi. I had never had wasabi in that form before - the first bite made my head feel like it was on fire for about 4 seconds but after that dissipated I was left with a crunchy, sweet, refreshing end to the meal.

Our meal was $228 for 2 omakase, 2 300ml bottles of sake, 1 beer, and a bottle of sparkling water.

He pre-marinates the halibut with kelp, therefore "no soy sauce needed." :)

thranduil and Ciao Bob, how much did the meals run you? I assume you both did Omakase. Loved the original Shunji's and glad to hear he's back!

Woah. I got there in the nick of time. It was fantastic!

WOW! Looks amazing. Will have to try. How much for the order?

I was done with my ramen and my brother was still working on his tsukemen. By the end of the meal there were little globules of fat floating at the top of my bowl but I was finished. I guess that is pretty gross, sorry! It's definitely served hot enough.

I agree that Bun Me is not totally authentic because of the bread, although the owner is trying to convince customers on yelp otherwise. The bread is so much squishier, more like a sub roll than a baguette - none of the malty flavor or crunch. I prefer to order sandwiches on the special (longer, thinner) baguette from Sandwich Express. Was always curious about the place in the same shopping center as Vinh Loi Tofu and La Baguette, but never had a chance to try. Seems like many more Viet shops are popping up around this area, which is exciting, though I'm no longer working around there.

Their charcuterie at Bun Me is solid though, and the pate is surprisingly livery, which I like. They also make a really excellent bo kho.

Just ordered my half from Elite, and resisted the temptation to order a whole. Thanks for the rec, really looking forward to piggy!

Others might like to know that you need to order it in person at the restaurant and pay when you order. Keep receipt for pickup.

Is it too late to change? I'd like to change my under $25 to

Pailin Thai
Krua Siri
Tsujita
Shen Yang
Ikemen