Korean BBQ: Dong Il Jang

A Korean bbq festival was in town, but since we had to miss it, the boyfriend and I decided to have a little celebration of our own. We got a list of recommended Korean bbq restaurants from a friend of a Korean friend who lives in Koreatown and opted for a non-all-you-can-eat bbq restaurant: Dong Il Jang.

The restaurant boasted of many traditional Korean decorations, brown maid dressed waitresses, and wooden benches with a built-in tabletop stove. There was even a different section where you can take off your shoes and eat on the ground, I guess the traditional way.

The menu had the traditional bbq dishes including those I was familiar with--bulgogi and kalbi. The prices ranged from $20-25 per portion, however, you would have to order a minimum of 2 of the same dish (a minus in my opinion especially if its a small party). The boyfriend and I decided to go with the roast gui, a dish other yelpers recommended.

To start off, they brought out about 10 delightful and fresh appetizer dishes. I'm a big fan of kimchi (pickled spicy cabbage), and their kimchi was pretty tasty. The fishcakes were also a personal favorite.

Our main dish came out next, and it was disappointingly brought to us as a plate of frozen sliced beef. For $25/portion, I had hoped for fresh beef.

Next, our waitress turned on our skillet, slapped on some butter, placed a few slices of beef on the pan, and left us on our own to enjoy our meal. The boyfriend and I (non-Koreans) looked at each other, then down at our sauce, then at each other again. At this point, I had wished I brought my Korean friend to show us "the way" to Korean dining. We wanted to make sure we did things right.

Luckily, we figured it out (I think). We cooked the meat ourselves to our liking. The meat can be eaten with sliced green onions and dipped into the provided sauce. The flavor overall was pretty decent, but I thought the meat itself was lacking in...texture. It was pretty chewy for a meat that was thinly sliced. Perhaps I was more used to the marinated pork and beef, that without the strong flavors, what's left to criticize about the roast gui was the meat itself.

Lastly, when we were done with our meat, our waitress came by and asked us something. I had remembered my friend telling me about the kimchi fried rice at the end, so right when I heard "kimchi" from our waitress' mouth, I eagerly said "yes yes! Kimchi fried rice!!"

She smiled and came back with several ingredients to make our final dish: rice, kim chi, sliced meat, and spicy sauce. She started putting the ingredients together, and at the end, she packed the rice on the pan to let it sizzle on the bottom.

This was the best part of our meal. The mixture of slightly crunchy rice, pickled cabbage, meat, and special sauce pleased my palate. It was the flavor that I had been looking for. Overall, I thought the roast gui was okay, service was pretty good, great atmosphere, tasty kimchi dishes and the kim chi fried rice was freaking awesome. The latter had especially made my night. =)

Orange Grove Dog Park

Having lived in San Francisco for 3 years with my dog Chewy, I've become so appreciative of their dog parks and how friendly and well trained the pups (and owners) are there. It was one place you can bring your dog to, unleash him, and let him run off to sniff Fido, Fluffy, and Foofoo's butts without a worry. I thought to myself...how can I find something like that when I leave SF?

Lucky for me, I found an LA version: Orange Grove dog park. It's located off Sierra Madre exit north of the 210 in Pasadena. They have 2 gated areas for dogs--one for the big dudes, and the other for the small and special-needs pooches. They even have 2 gates that you enter before coming into the dog park to allow you a chance to unleash your dog first. Well planned, I must say!

I took Chewy to the little dog side. As we entered, there were so many happy dogs excited to greet this new kid on the block. They exchanged their butt sniffs and were instant BFFs. Chewy immediately went off on his own to play--every now and then, he'd come back to his Mom (me) to make sure she's okay. Makes me think--shouldn't it be the other way around?

Well, to take care of the pups' parents, there's plenty of plastic chairs and shade around the park for people to sit in and relax in. I brought some reading material but quickly found that watching the dogs so much more fun. I'd say there were probably 30 dogs on the small dog side alone!

To take care of all the pouncing paws, they have a water fountain for dogs and trash bags all over just in case Rover or Odie makes a little doodoo.

Overall, I'm very impressed by this place. They have everything you need to keep both you and your dog happy.

I'm beginning to think that I can probably find anything in SF in LA.
I would just have to drive. A lot. In traffic.

PCC Flea Market

Pasadena City College (PCC) hosts a flea market on their campus every 1st Sunday of the month. It's free to get in. The flea market consists of vendors all throughout the Bonnie & Del Mar parking lot structure and the Bonnie & Colorado open parking space.

Vendors sell things such as little trinkets, old records, cds, clothes, antiques, dishes, furniture, jewelry, shells, and more. If you're thirsty or hungry, there's a few vendors that sell drinks and food. The flea market is like a bunch of garage sales that come together for this one day to sell their..."collectibles" and things they don't need anymore. I walked out empty handed and full-walleted. Ok wallet may not be that full...just untouched.

I personally think a lot of their stuff is old clutter waiting for a home to become new clutter. But who knows, if you like collecting things, or old stuff, you might want to check this place out.

Vietnamese sandwich: Banh Mi My Tho

The French, Chinese, and Southeast Asian influences in Vietnam has brought together many different flavors in Vietnamese dishes. Although not necessarily a dish, the banh mi, or Vietnamese baguette is one example.

Banh mi starts off with a French baguette that is spread with mayonaise and pate. Inside can be either a combination "ham", bbq beef, meatball (nem nuong), or even vegetarian meats. Pickled carrots and jicama, cucumber, green peppers, and cilantro is typically added to add more flavor and freshness to the sandwich. When eaten together, you would expect a bite into a nice chewy bread followed by flavorful meats and tart and spicy vegetables.

I decided to pick up some banh mi at Banh Mi My Tho in Alhambra for a picnic with my cousins. This place is a small mom and pop shop and is meant for to-go orders only. The shop was cluttered with many Vietnamese packaged goodies such as soi (sweet rice), cha gio (eggrolls), and banh (desserts). Along with the clutter is a a crowd of 5-6 people waiting for their orders.

I decided to order 4 banh mi thit nuong (bbq beef sandwich #8) and 2 skewers of nem nuong (meatballs). Total came out to be $12 for everything.

We ate the food about 1 hour I bought it, yet the sandwich still retained its flavor. The bread was fresh and a little chewy as expected, with the crust crumbling down my shirt with every bite. The bbq meat was slightly sweet and has a nice charcoal bbq taste. It complemented the pickled vegetables, although I would have preferred a little bit more meat. Overall, this is a pretty decent sandwich...probably among my top three sandwich places (my #1 is Banh Mi Ba Le, the sandwich shop I grew up on in San Diego).

Nem nuong means "grilled ground pork" in Vietnamese and usually consists of ground pork with fish sauce, sugar, garlic and other ingredients to flavor. The one presented here is in a form of a meatball skewer. The nem nuong at Banh Mi My Tho can probably be eaten by itself, as none of the flavors are too overwhelming. It makes a great snack or appetizer, or would even go great with Bun (vermicelli).

The owners of this place have a few jokes up their sleeves too. I asked in Vietnamese "Can I have 2 meatball skewers" and they replied "You can't have it, but I can sell it to you". =)