Roy Choi

3 Great Places to Eat on Spa Day: Pairings for When You Need XLB and a Foot Massage

If you don't live in Los Angeles -- and even if you do -- it's easy to get caught up in the petty and not-so-petty grievances against the place. The traffic. The fires. The economics and the repeating cliches of Hollywood. But there's a great deal that offsets all this, provides ballast and counte ... More >>

Jonathan Gold Ranks the 101 Best Restaurants in L.A.

The Los Angeles Times has released Jonathan Gold's 101 Best Restaurants today (subscription required). It's the first time the Times critic (and former L.A. Weekly critic) has put out a dining guide list since taking the job at the daily. And the list is ranked, 1-101. So what's the No. 1 restaura ... More >>

Chego Gets Up and Running in Chinatown Twitter Contest Today!

Although the official opening date isn't until this Saturday, the new Chego digs inside Chinatown's Far East Plaza has been working out their Ooey Gooey Fries, rice bowls and half-pound Chego Burger for a few days. Papi Chulo himself tweeted out a photo of the full Chego spread a few days ago, which ... More >>

Badass Chef, Meet Badass Chef

Tokimonsta Leaves the Nest

The producer's new album is on a big-time label

Kogi Truck: 99 Essential Restaurants 2013

5 Food Trends We're Thankful For: An Antidote To Whiny Food Writer Syndrome

We food writers are a cranky bunch. Given today's blog cycle and demand for daily conversation, any small nuance of the dining world is fodder for essay-length dissection, usually of the negative variety. We don't like small plates. We don't like communal dining. We think wine prices are rising. We' ... More >>

Where The Chefs Eat: Night Market's Kris Yenbamroong (Otherwise Known as Banh Mi Santa Claus)

Where the Chefs Eat is an ongoing series in which we ask a local chef to give us his or her favorite dining options. This week, we talk to Kris Yenbamroong, chef and owner of Night Market, about his regular spots. Bánh Mì My Tho / Bánh Mì Buu Dien: "There's this thing I do -- it involves dri ... More >>

Top 10 Los Angeles Chefs to Follow on Instagram

Sure, you can see the beautiful dishes that your favorite chefs spend hours making in real life. When, perhaps you go to their restaurants and actually eat their food. But since we often spend more time looking at pretty pictures of dinner than we do consuming it, the tech gods have given us Instagr ... More >>

Anthony Bourdain Coming To L.A. for Show At Pantages Theater with Roy Choi

As part of his "Guts and Glory" tour, Anthony Bourdain will be coming to Los Angeles for a show at the Pantages Theater on April 16 of next year. L.A. chef Roy Choi will join Bourdain on stage for an evening of (according to the press release) "candid, often hysterical insights about their life's wo ... More >>

Short Attention Span Dinner Theater: Your Week in Food, 10/15 - 10/19

In which we highlight the past week in food, either at home or abroad. "In a weak economy, is this the future of keeping businesses open? Move over Kickstarter." Eva Restaurant Rallies for Help to Solve Parking Debacle. "Roy Choi 'broke a lot of laws' when opening Kogi." 6 Things We Learned From ... More >>

Where to Eat in L.A. According to L.A. Residents vs. The Wall Street Journal Other Publications

The Wall Street Journal recently ran a story about our city's culinary scene titled "Finding a Food Mecca in the West," pointing its readers to Sprinkles Ice Cream, Fonuts, Umamicatessen, 800 Degrees and ink.sack. And though we have little quibble with the amazing efficiency of 800 Degrees or a cup ... More >>

Food News Roundup: Kicking the Refined Sugar Habit, Bon Appetit's 10 Best Restaurants Deep-Fried Butter

GOOD: Why banning junk food in school vending machines actually seems to work. Mother Nature Network: 12 tips for kicking the refined sugar habit. Bon Appetit: Bon App names its top 10 restaurants of 2012. (Congrats, Baco Mercat!) The New York Times: "There is no dignified way to eat deep-fried ... More >>

Top 5 Reasons Not to Eat Meat on Mondays

5. You work at the USDA (or maybe don't anymore): And thus got an internal memo last week, which helpfully pointed out that "one simple way to reduce your environmental impact while dining at our cafeterias is to participate in the 'Meatless Monday' initiative." (Meatless Mondays is a 2003 non-profi ... More >>

The Corner Door: 5 Simple Rules for Opening a Gastropub

Sometimes it's helpful to imagine that there is a unspoken checklist for every stylish small-plates joint opening in Los Angeles these days -- a collection of requirements floating in the subconscious of every restaurateur looking to start what constitutes a "gastropub" these days: 1. There must be ... More >>

Food News Roundup: Death by Walk-In, Animal Dudes Talk Foie Vintage LA Restaurants

If you've ever worked in a restaurant kitchen, you have undoubtedly had the irrational fear that you won't be able to get out of the walk-in, and you'll die in there. Turns out that fear isn't so irrational: Huffpost Food reports that a restaurant owner in Tennessee was found dead inside his walk-in ... More >>

Bon Appétit Introduces L.A. 'Grub Crawl' Tour

Bon Appétit magazine has come up with the foodie answer to the weekend music festival: a monster 3-day tour of restaurants, bars, and music venues they're calling the "Grub Crawl." It's debuting in three cities this summer: Brooklyn (natch), New Orleans, and, to our pleasant surprise, Los Angeles. ... More >>

Short Attention Span Dinner Theater: Your Week in Food, 5/14 - 5/18

In which we highlight the past week in food, either at home or abroad. "Animals have been talking to me. And any shaman will say that that's not that weird." Q & A With Roy Choi: Slinging Tacos at Midnight, Calling Out Jamie Oliver Choi's Vegetable Moment. "After all, in Los Angeles, nothing ... More >>

Alice Shin: Curbing Our Appetite

One of the fascinating Angelenos featured in L.A. Weekly's People 2012 issue. Check out our entire People 2012 issue here. When Alice Shin's brother-in-law phoned her to say that he'd gotten his hands on a truck they could use to begin peddling tacos filled with Korean-style barbecued meats, as the ... More >>

Food News Roundup: Food Safety Bill, Eating With Ozomatli Saveur's Food Blog Awards

The Washington Post: The landmark food safety bill signed by President Obama more than a year ago is stuck in limbo. Gourmet Live: Ozomatli's global musical tastes match their culinary appetite. Saveur: The Best Food Blog Award Winners. Because "In their infinite variety and extraordinary depth, [ ... More >>

Mike D of the Beastie Boys on Curating His New Show at MOCA

Mike D, Beastie Boy, recent Rock 'n Roll Hall of Fame inductee, mad collector of modern furniture and in general, the man with all the fly juice, has now found the time to curate his own museum show. "Transmission LA: AV Club" is a free, 17-day festival of art, music and food, opening to the publi ... More >>

L.A. Weekly Food: New Hires and Big (Exciting!) Changes

Let's start by stating the obvious: There have been big changes to the L.A. Weekly's food section recently. And there are even more on the way. After our longtime critic Jonathan Gold departed for the L.A. Times, we've been nibbling on this and that: a reflection on cookbooks from Roy Choi, a piece ... More >>

Short Attention Span Dinner Theater: Your Week in Food, 2/20-2/24

In which we highlight the past week in food, either at home or abroad. "So much can happen between two slices of bread." 10 Best Sandwiches in Los Angeles. "Maybe Jazz will give you some more Thai tea and pat your hand. Maybe Matt Groening will draw on your napkin." 5 Stages of Grief: The Jonat ... More >>

Korean Cheesesteak & Bacon Doughnuts at Cafe Dulce

Cafe Dulce gets plenty of attention for its pourover LAMILL coffee but rarely does a place with such refined and precious caffeine offerings (we're big fans of the cold-brewed ice coffee), deign to try its hand at something as pedestrian as a doughnut. Located in the center of Japanese Village Plaza ... More >>

Funkiest Dish West of the 405: Moo Moo Thai's Yen Ta Fo

Did your new year's resolution involve sampling strange cuisine from across the city? If you're the type who scours the San Gabriel Valley like a Sichuan-studded Star Map or can quickly rattle off every birrieria in the barrio then probably not. But if you're perpetually stuck in a quaint Westside f ... More >>

Anthony Bourdain on The Layover, L.A. and Jonathan Gold

Via the Travel ChannelAnthony Bourdain at the LudoBites truck.​We elbowed our way into the Travel Channel's crowded media conference call to speak with legendary chef, food writer and TV personality Anthony Bourdain about his new show, The Layover, premiering this month. When it was finally o ... More >>

Jonathan Gold's 99 Essential L.A. Restaurants 2011

Art from the streets: L.A.'s most exciting chefs are reimagining street food, from the ramen bowl to the cheeseburger

My Last Supper: The Next Course, At Least For Albert Adría Roy Choi

amazon​In My Last Supper: The Next Course, author Melanie Dunea's sequel to her first book by the same name, the pedigreed photographer rounds up a new crew of 50 high-profile chefs and includes a recipe from each in the book's appendix. The main draw here is the same as in her first edition ... More >>

International Food Blogger Conference 2011: This Year, Blog on the Beach

​If you're a Los Angeles food blogger, you might want to plan on spending the weekend of November 11-13 scribbling on your iPad and uploading pictures of chocolate-dipped madeleines in Santa Monica, rather than in your kitchen somewhere else. No, Roy Choi is not holding a pop-up kimchi and tac ... More >>

Top 5 Weekend Food Events: Ribfest, Soda Tasting, Food For Thought, Live & Dine LA ColLAboration Beer Garden

ColLAboration Beer Garden Forget Bastille Day. In honor of Belgian Independence Day (actually celebrated on July 21st), ColLAboration will theoretically have Belgian brews on tap at its third summer beer garden. Technically, ColLAboration is a members-only club. For members, admission is free f; f ... More >>

10 Restaurants Off the 10 Between Downtown and Santa Monica Where You Can Escape Traffic and Regain Your Sanity

Click for the Google Mapped version of the list.​ We've been there. It's rush hour. Or, Obama's in town. Or, there's a terrible hip-hop band on the freeway. Or, everyone decided to leave work at the same time. Whatever the reason, the Google Map's all red, you're not going anywhere, and y ... More >>

Kogi Meets Googie

Graphic design helps food trucks get attention

Jonathan Gold Reviews Lukshon

Ricardo Zarate Wins Food & Wine Best New Chef The Rest of the Winners

Anne Fishbein​ Last night Food & Wine announced their awards for this year's Best New Chefs. The ten winners, picked from around the country, included one chef from Los Angeles: Ricardo Zarate of Mo-Chica, who can now add this award to his accolades, which include showing up on Coca-Cola billb ... More >>

Fries Beer: Frysmith Opens Inside Hollywood Bar Loaded

Photos courtesy of Frysmith.​Roy Choi already has two restaurants (Chego, A-Frame), but this Friday, a non-Kogi food truck will open its first-and-mortar location. Frysmith (@frysmith) is moving into beer-centric Hollywood rock 'n roll bar Loaded, offering optional "loaded" versions of all the ... More >>

Sang Yoon's Lukshon Is His Most Fully Realized Concept Yet

New eatery livens up Helms complex

First Bite: Lukshon, Sang Yoon's Latest

F. FriesemaJonagold apples​ We can be forgiven for surmising that something's up at Lukshon, can't we? Because we are at a Sang Yoon restaurant, nobody has tried to tackle us on the way to our (reserved!) table, and we are drinking Singapore Slings or an Beaujolais-style Canary Islands wine ca ... More >>

The Thursday Edition: A Roundup of Newspaper Food Stories

SapphireBlue22stack of newspapers​What's the country reading today food-wise? Here's a roundup of some of the food-related stories from other newspapers, many of which print their food sections mid-week. And remember, even if you don't actually buy papers these days (or not; this paper is free ... More >>

[Updated] The Gold Standard 2011: So Much Food, So Little Time

​ Update: The Weekly just announced a special presale for this year's Gold Standard tickets, starting today. Save $10 on both regular and VIP tickets. Enter promo code GOLD 11 when purchasing online or calling 1-888-878-9651. Discount available only until 10 a.m. on Thursday, January 20. The ... More >>

Year in Review: Top Food and Pot Stories of 2010

N. GalutenThe famed KFC dispensary, which even spawned a South Park episode​Marijuana has been in the news a lot this year. Prop 19 brought the legalization debate to the national forefront, even though it never had much of a shot at passing (despite our Governator's well-documented use during ... More >>

Short Attention Span Dinner Theater: Your Week in Food, 12/13-12/17

In which we highlight the past week in food, either at home or abroad. "A duck carnitas taco is about as much happiness as $3 can be expected to buy." Ask Mr. Gold: Quelling That Carnitas Craving at Cacao Mexicatessen. "Nancy Reagan (of all people) maybe put it best: 'Just say no.'" Mother Su ... More >>

[Updated] No Parking for Food Trucks at Venice First Fridays

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Short Attention Span Dinner Theater: Your Week in Food, 11/29-12/3

In which we highlight the past week in food, either at home or abroad. "The refrigerator is swept of leftovers, the bowl of cranberries has been scraped clean, and the half-gallon of superconcentrated turkey stock in the freezer doesn't begin to compensate for the loss." Ask Mr. Gold: Take a Dip ... More >>

More Fun With Chile & Chocolate: Chego's Sriracha Bar

D. GonzalezDouble Chin Dessert's Sriracha Bar​ Chile and chocolate. Yes, it's been done. So while it was intriguing, it was hardly shocking to see the introduction of the Sriracha Bar on Chego's menu board late this spring. Nevertheless, like all the dishes at Chego and Kogi before it, Roy ... More >>

Test Kitchen: Never-Ending Experiment

Invented anew every night

Kogi BBQ World Cup = ESPN Match Truck, Launching Tomorrow

Does Los Angeles need another food truck? Probably not. But sometimes the marketing people come up with something better than Fred Astaire selling vacuums and combine things that actually make sense. What better than hybridizing the cult status of Kogi BBQ with World Cup fanaticism? Enter the ESPN M ... More >>

What Would Arianna Do: Huffington Post Launches Food Section

Today, in fact about an hour ago, The Huffington Post launched their new food page. You knew this one was coming, right? The Atlantic has a food page, as does Tina Brown's The Daily Beast. And I bet Arianna Huffington makes a mean skordalia. HuffPost Food editor Colin Sterling says that the new se ... More >>

Short Attention Span Dinner Theater: Your Week in Food, 4/5-4/9

In which we highlight the past week in food, either at home or abroad. "The way things are going, we'll probably see a camel-hump truck parked out behind the Brig within a month or two."

Kogi's Roy Choi is First Food Truck Chef Named "Best New Chef" by Food & Wine

Anne FishbeinChef Roy (far right) and the crew​ Roy Choi, more intimately known as Papi to his Kogi BBQ co-workers, is the first food truck chef to be named "Best New Chef" by Food & Wine. The 22nd annual award, announced yesterday by Food & Wine Editor in Chief Dana Cowin, highlights ten ris ... More >>

Web Surfing: A Roundup of Posts from LA Food Blogs and Newsletters

-- Cooking oysters with lemon air and egg 63 with Marcel Vigneron (and Ludo) at Sur la Table. (foodshethought) -- Love your food truck enough to get the name tattooed on your arm? Kogi's Roy Choi does. [Deep End Dining] -- Chin-Ma-Ya in Little Tokyo, or where to go if the line at Daikokuya is too ... More >>