Post 50

Hoot hootums. I've grown a small little garden of posts here, and through the process, I've learned that the more I write about food, the more I realize how little I know about it, and I hope to learn more about food as time goes on. Anyone have suggestions for cookbooks or books about food?

Having this blog has also led to many fun food adventures, which leads me to the main topic of this post:

Kogi BBQ.

The Korean taco truck that's currently the L.A. craze. After a huge disappointment a few weeks ago, I had to have it. You know how it is. If you're denied something, you want it even more. I decided to go on Wednesday night, gambling that since it was was weekday, the lines would be shorter.


They were coming to the Golden Gopher on Hill and 8th in Downtown L.A. at 9, so we got there about an hour early. There were two people waiting at the front of the "line," so we decided to go inside the Gopher and started drinking. Draft beers were $6 and mixed drinks were $8. A pretty nice place to chill and drink while we waited.


I peeked out every so often, and the line slowly started to grow. Around 8:50, we decided to wait to come out of the watering hole, since there were a good amount of people waiting, although this was nowhere comparable to Rosemead's wait.


A little past 9:00, we see a truck slowly creeping up and honking. They were on time! +1 star.


Almost there. We waited about 30 minutes in line, which again, was nothing like our previous Rosemead trip. Plus we were happily buzzing. At least I was. I ordered 4 tacos: tofu, spicy pork, chicken, and short ribs @ 2 bucks each. I asked what their special was for the night and the guy, whose name was Steve, told me Kimchi Quesidilla ($5). Also got a can of Shikhye (korean rice punch) for $2 bucks. All canned drinks are $2. Total came out to be $15-$2 (free taco coupon I got) = $13.


Chef Roy doing his thing.


I'm sorry. I know this picture is ugly and even gross. But this is my only testament to waiting in line twice to get these things, so I had to post it. One jumbled mess because the sides of the box were slanted.

Topped with a salad of cabbage and lettuce a bit like the salad you get at the korean bbq joints. The tofu was pretty good. Honestly, we ate in a darkly lit place, so it was really hard to see what was what. For the others, I felt like I got too much of the salad mix and not enough meat, so the salad dressing pretty much overpowered a lot of the other flavors. I could taste the short ribs however, and it was a bit on the sweet side. As to the chicken and pork, I couldn't tell what was what. The tacos could be eaten in two or three bites. I liked them, but I only wished I could have gotten more meat and less salt.


Kimchi Quesadilla. That's what it was: kimchi and cheese in a tortilla with some of their salsa roja on top. This was something I didn't really like. Yes, there really was kimchi in this thing, and it wasn't bad, but the main problem was that this was way too salty for me.

At the same time, they've only been around for 2-3 months and are probably working the kinks out. I would try them again, but I wouldn't wait two hours again. Hopefully with the second truck that started its rounds, the lines will be shorter. Steve was a pretty friendly guy, and I saw Chef Roy outside talking to a bunch of people. The atmosphere was definitely alive here.

There's some saying about how eating together with friends makes food taste better, and that was definitely the case, as we happily ate, using my friend's car roof as our table.

Overall, it was a fun trip, although I have to admit I was partly disappointed, being sucked into the hype. I really thought this was going to be the best damn thing I've ever had in my LIFE. Still, I'd give it another go sometime.

Kogi goes all over L.A.
Locations can be found on their schedule on www.kogibbq.com


You know me. That meal just wasn't gonna cut it. Stopped by for some post munchies at In N Out on the way home. Cheeseburger with onions, grilled onions and pickles. Delicious.

21133 Golden Springs Dr.
Diamond Bar 91789