Cake Salon Bosco

After Park’s Barbeque, Cat, Leeanne, and I headed to Cake Salon Bosco located in the Chapman Plaza for desserts. It was our first time there, and we loved the look of the place. Cat wants to own a tea shop that looks just like Cake Salon Bosco.


The tables are cute—those are real coffee beans.

The desserts are even cuter.

They are just too pretty to eat. We ordered the raspberry milk chocolate, tiramisu, dark chocolate, and I believe the other flavor was coffee.

This is what the inside looks like:

How did the cakes taste? Well…it’s like going on a date with a hot boy. His eyes twinkle, perfect hair, dresses well, and has a killer smile that just makes you melt…and then he speaks and you realize there’s no substance, no personality, and all he’s good for is just to look at. The cakes were tasteless.

Their “Asian” Cheesecake was just as bad. It needed to be creamier; it’s more of a sponge cake that needs to soak in some more juice.

The worse part was their latte. It tasted like instant coffee. I don’t know if they have an espresso machine…maybe they used all the coffee beans for the tables instead? Cat had tea, and Leeanne had their instant “Korean” coffee, which was probably just a latte except I paid more. The total was around $30-40 –overly priced awful desserts and coffee. I guess we should have gone to Café Loft where there are Sweet Lady Jane’s desserts and makes a mean mocha…oh well, we can check Cake Salon Bosco off our list.

Address: 3465 W 6th St Ste 80, LA, CA 90020
Phone#: (213) 388-2277
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Park’s Barbeque

Park’s BBQ was on my friend and former colleague’s Leeanne’s “must dine again before I move to Switzerland” list, so Cat and I had our last supper with her last night. It was my first time dining at the restaurant, and I was excited because Park’s BBQ was the best at the Korean BBQ Festival last year. I was surprised that the interior is modern and clean, because it’s at a strip mall in the dirty part of K-town. There’s only valet parking but you can find metered parking or bike it like I did.

Park’s BBQ uses charcoal for their grilling so that was a plus.

Their banchans could have been better..


Fried tofu

Japchae

Cat was famished so she ordered for us. We had the Kalbi (short ribs w/ bones and w/out bones).

I love their meat; it’s top quality--that's the difference when you go to a non-all-you-can-eat KBBQ restaurant. I just wished they had the salt and sesame oil sauce at Chosun Galbee. We also had their beef short rib soup. It’s so good! I think I’ll substitute chicken noodle soup for their beef short rib soup the next time I’m sick.

Lastly Cat ordered the buckwheat noodles with cold broth since Leeanne has never had buckwheat noodles. It was ok; honestly, I don’t care for buckwheat noodles.

We were quite full and trying to save room for desserts so we only had half of it. I thought our waitress would have packed it to go but instead she threw it away! Unbelievable! Does she know how many starving people there are in this world? I was about to argue with the waitress but since Cat didn’t and was offering to pay for our meal, I let it go. I’ll be sure to instruct the waitress the next time I’m here.

Address: 955 S. Vermont Avenue, LA, CA 90006
Phone#: (213) 380-1717
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The Prince

My friend Kat recently moved to Koreatown, so Banana Wonder and I decided to explore in her hood. Actually I used to live there when I was missing NYC, but there so many restaurants in Los Angeles and so little time. My Turkish intern joined us too –I have to make sure she explored as much of LA as possible before she leaves on Tuesday. We picked the Prince, the most recognizable and easiest to pronounce restaurant in K-town. If you love history and Los Angeles, the Prince is a must. It has been there since the 1940s -50s and the interior remains the same. It’s a bit of culture clash, eating Korean food in an American/Italian style restaurant. They have a full bar.

We got a free pajeon. It was greasy but that’s what the Prince is known for –good bar food.

I was worried when Banana Wonder wanted to order the Kimchi fried rice because spicy food upsets my stomach, but I managed to squeeze in a few bites.

Kat picked the next dish, the super greasy Pajeon in green bell peppers. I could only handle two.

I picked the winning dish, a whole fried chicken. It was finger licking good!



Service was a bit spotty. We sat at a booth where there wasn’t a service button. I think the next time I go to the Prince, I’ll be sure to have a few drinks beforehand.

Address: 3198 1/2 W 7th St., LA, CA 90005
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Chego!

My friend Bubble Gum buzzed to see who wanted to go to Chego, and I of course could not resist. Neither could our friend AP who buzzed, “I’ll see you guys there! I am the Chegos!!!” He lives in NoCal, and I he was just as eager trying Chego too. Actually he was telling us that he was Chegos; Chego means “best” in Korean.

Chego has given life to a small strip mall in Palms. The parking lot is small so you might struggle to find parking, and the restaurant is smaller. I felt bad for the other empty restaurants but hopefully some customers might be discourage of the wait at Chego and dine there. You order the food at the corner, grab a number and a table—if there’s an empty seat…

My living room is probably the same size of the restaurant...

The wait for a table can be longer than standing in the line of the Kogi truck. Luckily Bubble Gum and I beat the rush.

Chego offers a variety of Korean drinks. I went for the Rice Punch, which is the Korean horchata that you get when you finish your meal. I’m all about having the desserts first.

We started off with the 3PM Meatballs (“Korean-fried, shaved green onions, sesame, polenta patty”). I think it’s called 3PM because you only get 3 meatballs. We loved it. I wished it was 6PM Meatballs.

Another satisfying appetizer is their Kogi Fries. It tastes like Belgian fries.

Bubble Gum ordered the Buttered Kimchi Chow with “hot and buttered with fried egg, gaenip, red tofu, chicharrones.” I’m not much of a fan of kimchi since my stomach can’t handle spicy food but the Kimchi bowl was manageable.

My Sour Cream Hen House with “grilled with fried egg, Chinese broccoli, sour cream, sambal sauce” was better than the Kimchi Chow.

I like the sour cream touch, it’s just too bad it didn’t cool of the spiciness -- I ate my leftovers in two parts. Overall both bowls were greasy and heavy. They were ok, nothing to rave about. You do definitely get your moneys worth. The bowls range from $7-9 and the portions are huge. It’s good food after a night of drinking but then again they close at midnight. They close on Sundays and Mondays. Sorry Chego is not Chego.

Address: 3300 Overland Ave, LA, CA 90034
Phone#:(310) 287-0337
www.eatchego.com
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LA FuXion

What make LA FuXion unique from the other KBBQ food trucks are their tuna tostados. They are addicting. The sauce is not spicy but sweet. I almost want to say there’s mango in the sauce? They're a little bit on the pricy side--$3 for one tuna tostado, so best to do the combo meal: 2 tostados, 1 side and a drink for $8.

For the sides, definitely do not order their Asian sweet potato fries. Like it says on the menu, the fries are “Asian,” and that means they’re not fried and crispy, but fried and soggy.

I’ve only had their short rib tacos, and they’re not bad. It just makes sense when the cooks are Korean. But you really come to LA FuXion for their tuna tostados.

Service was off last Friday. For some reason three other people, who ordered cooked food after me, got their food before I got my raw food...

On Friday, April 23rd they will have a permanent location in the evening at 4430 W. Pico Blvd., LA, CA 90019 so for now…

Stalk ‘em here!
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Maitreya

I made a fool out of myself earlier this week. I had tweeted to find out if Starry Kitchen was opened for dinner as I was meeting up with my friend for dinner this past Wednesday. Starry Kitchen started out their apartment in North Hollywood and my friend confirmed that they’ve moved to Downtown so I assumed that they were opened for dinner, but then I saw that they open ‘til 3pm on their FB page and you never know if websites are updated…so I tweeted. Sinosoul pointed out “they've never been open for dinner ;)”…I am sure there were a few snickers from him and from others…and I am now noticing that there is a phone number...sigh. So I searched and searched for another restaurant and decided on Maitreya.

Maitreya is located in the heart of K-town at the semi-new City Center mall. There’s free 2-hour validated parking if you come on a weekday. We walked to the restaurant since we live close by and also we were going for their happy hour. Translation? Happy hour = comfort food = heavy = walk off meal.

The restaurant’s décor is modern. I like the bar area. You can totally imagine what this place looks like on a weekend –a bunch of Korean men dressed all Euro and Korean women scantily dressed with their LV purses.

We went to the back where the dining area was or was it the front if you’re coming in from the mall..?

So Maitreya’s happy hour deal is half off on their tapa menu, selected pastas, well drinks, and house wines. My friend and I weren’t feeling the vodka so we went for their wines. They only have a house cabernet and a house chardonnay. If you go for the cabernet, let it air out in your glass for ten minutes before taking a sip.

We started with their French fries. It came with their homemade white sauce that was supposed to have Gorgonzola cheese but we think they forgot it since we couldn’t taste it and it was very watery… tasted like milk . It was so bland that I added salt, pepper and lemon juice to it.

The next dish was their popular Ahi Tuna Tacos. We really enjoyed this dish. I would have been happy if we just ate the ahi tuna tacos for dinner. It was light yet filling.




Our next dish was their margarita pizza. As you can see it’s not a traditional margarita pizza with ricotta cheese. The crust was interesting…thin, not greasy…reminded me of those cheap frozen pizzas that you buy at the supermarket for a dollar. The waiter said they make their own crust but then again he had thought their pastas were homemade.


For dessert, our waiter recommended their Classic Tiramisu. I was surprised since Maitreya restaurant is a Korean restaurant but he pointed out that most of the dishes are Italian. Hmm…he’s right but the chefs are Koreans. He was pretty confident so we ordered it. Like the margarita pizza, the tiramisu didn’t look like a “classic” tiramisu as it was heavy on the ricotta…

but once we got to the middle, it looked like a “Classic” tiramisu. It was actually not bad. Be careful on the first bite though because you might choke on the cocoa powder.

Our waiter was kind enough to let us try their homemade (for real) Focaccia bread. It was pretty good. I dare say it was better than their ahi tuna tacos.

Overall, we would go back for Happy Hour. It’s cheap and close. By the way, if you’re not allergic to crustacean like me, you should order their lobster spaghetti. Everyone in the restaurant was eating it.

Address: 3500 W 6th St, Suite 101, Los Angeles, CA 90020
Phone#: (213) 389-0200
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