Hana Sushi - on Wilshire

Rating: GAP chungbajee

I went to Hana Sushi with Hye young.  Hmm..Hye young really does crave sushi a lot.  They have 50% off happy hours. I think it is 50% all night long on the weekdays, but don't quote me on that.  And I think this place is korean owned.  But again, don't quote me on that.  There is no yellow tail on their happy hour menu!  They have an extensive happy hour menu, but none of the good stuff is on it.  We ended up getting a lot of stuff NOT on their happy hour menu. They did not even have fatty tuna at all.  The sushi was pretty good.  Basically average.  The atmosphere is relaxing and chill.  There was a diverse crowd eating sushi and having beers.  At a 50% off price, I would eat here again plenty.  

Sushi Mac - on Sawtelle

Rating: GAP chungbajee

Sushi Mac is basically cheap sushi. Probably as cheap as you can get unless you go to some buffet with ghetto sushi pieces. I went to Hye Young here one night. It is like revolving sushi, but not really. There is only sushi bar seating. You order from a menu and sushi chefs make the sushi for you. But you pay by the plate, just like rotating sushi. This concept seems better than rotating sushi, because at least you get fresh sushi and not dishes that have been going around and around the belt all night. I think each dish is 2.75. The rolls are huge. 2.75 for a full roll is pretty darn good as far as price goes. But once again, cheap sushi. The pieces of actual fish is minimal. The only thing that was really worth eating was the dynamite roll. The orignial, not the spicy. It's fairly decent. But it's just the dynamite sauce. No scallops like in real dynamite rolls.

This place seems to be considered 'trendy." Dance music is pumpin in the background. I can't even say background, because it is practically blaring. The crowd is college to yuppie types. Who else would go to a restaurant that sounds like a club.

I would go back to have cheap sushi and a beer with a friend. If you are one of those people that like sushi and only eat rolls because you are not too into raw fish, this is the place for you. If you are a sushi connoisseur, don't go here.

photo from flickr

Hurry Curry

Rating: Levi's chungbajee

I'm sorry that I do not have pictures for a lot of these posts, but I just decided to blog about these places and I didn't take pictures. After I review these, I'll make sure to take pictures for my future blogs.

Hurry Curry is a japanese curry restaurant. I have never in my life seen a japanese curry restaurant. Seems like there are quite a lot in this area. I took my mom here. I passed by it with Hye Young on the way to Sushi Mac and I didn't want to try it because I am not in love with curry. Then a japanese coworker recommended it too. So I decided to take my mom there. I of course looked it up on yelp before I went and it got pretty good reviews. We ordered the Katsu curry, house special Tokyo curry, and beef curry. It basically tastes like korean curry with different stuff in it. The chicken katsu itself was delicious. It was cooked nearly perfect. I would rather of had pork katsu, but chicken was what was on the menu! Nonetheless, it was good. The curry itself was just watever. The beef curry came out with huge pieces of tender meat. and the Tokyo curry was quite interesting. I liked it because it had a little different taste to it. It had a lot of little veggies and ground beef in it. It had the most flavor out of all the curries. But the whole time I was longing for spam in my curry and some refreshing kimchi to cut the heaviness of the curry.

The inside of the restaurant was cute. The crowd seemed like a lot of UCLA students. I would go back, but I don't think I would ever crave it. I'd rather make my own curry. Go here if you like curry and want to try something new. I gave it a Levi's rating because the food is good. Not bad at all, just not somethng I would crave...And mainly for the originality. There may be a lot of restaurants in this area like it, but as an outsider, it's definitely something unique to me.

Tokyo Curry - Photo from flickr

L&L Hawaiian BBQ - on Lincoln

Rating: GAP chungbajee

What is hawaiian BBQ?  I'm still wondering what hawaiian bbq means.  I guess I will find out when I go to Hawaii this July.  I had some platter at L&L Hawaiian bbq.  It was a combo of chicken, beef, and shrimp with rice and mac salad.  The mac salad is a little too mayonaisie.  And the beef tasted like bad bulgogi.  The chicken was dry.  The sauce they give you on the side is like a bad version of the sauce at the Texas bbq place at Tyson's mall in VA.  All in all I had a bad experience.

I had it for a second time over the weekend when the girls brought too much food home after snowboarding.  They got spam musubi, katsu masubi, and the platter thing again.  I only tried the masubi.  It was good, but too much rice.  The spam masubi made me feel like I wanted my mom's spam and dakwang kim bap.  L&L's was only good because I love spam.  It seems like Californians love this Hawaiian BBQ, but I don't get it.  I will eat this over mcdonald's or burger king and maybe take some visitors there because it is "different."  But it wouldn't be my first choice for a meal.  

IN n Out - Marina Del Rey

Rating: GAP chungbajee

Of course everyone who has been on the west coast has had IN n Out. I've had it many times.  I don't understand what the big deal is.  I had some IN n Out maybe the second week I was here.  It was NASTY. I have never had nasty IN n Out, but this time it was so nasty.  Dina kept talking about how Jocelyn likes to get double double so I thought I would try it and maybe it was better than just the regular cheeseburger. So I got a double animal style. Yuk.  I took two bites and chucked it. I don't know why it was so gross. I went to the one in Marina Del Rey on washington.  Haven't had In N Out since.  

BCD Soondubu - Western b/w 8th & 9th

Rating: Levi's chungbajee

*edit* soondubu = spicy tofu soup

This was my first meal in LA after the move. After I landed, I headed to my new place and then met up with Hye young and Dorothy for some great korean food. We finally decided on BCD for some soondubu. I have been here many times years ago when I used to party in Cali. But that was mostly after a drunken night, so I don't remember much from back then. I was pleasantly surprised to have massive amounts of banchan (small dishes) come our way! We got our own personal fish, gaeran jjim (steamed egg), and the usual other banchans. The ojinguhjut (spicy picked squid) is to die for. I love it. You can buy it there by the jar too. The soondubu itself was normal soondubu. It's good, but not amazingly mouth watering. You can find soondubu like this at any good korean restaurant you go to. I give this place a Levi's rating only for the awesome banchan which always makes a meal so much better. and of course - 24 hours. My favorite is at the end when they pour boricha (barley tea) into the stone pot with leftover rice. Yum. My mouth is watering just thinking about eating soondubu.

The company made the meal great too. After a sad goodbye to my lovely friends in DC, I landed in LA to see some very friendly faces! Thanks girls! Had a great first (and not so lonely) night in LA - nee duk boon ae!

KkoGgiRi - Western & 9th

Rating: Gap chungbajee

Koggiri is in ktown. Translated, it would be called Elephant. I went here before when I was 16. I am now 28. WOW - it is STILL there! It has the usual korean food. Kind of fast food style. When I was 16 I remember it being pretty good. This time around, it sucked. From all those great korean restaurants in LA, why would anyone want to go here? It's an ok place to go for a quick korean food fix, but won't be going there again. I'd rather go to Korea Plaza and eat for this kind of food. i don't even remember what I ate. Maybe yukehjang. I went with james park and company when they were visiting. The only really good thing about it is that it is 24 hours. Which is why we ended up here in the first place. Big minus - CASH ONLY!

Who can compete with Yelp

I love yelp. I never eat anywhere new until I read yelp and see what's good and what's nasty. I decided I should start yelping too, but lisette insisted I write it on my own blog instead. So here is the start to my own reviews on eating, playing, living, and anything else in Sunny California. I will attempt to go back and review all the places I've been to so far to start off.

Get this party started!

So the girls have all arrived! But I am at work slaving away. Wonderful!

Will have a great post next week!!!

Disappointing Loss

Gosh KOREA! Why did you lose? Why did you let that ichiro get all those guys home? UGH! UGH UGH UGH! After a brilliant save in the 9th inning. you just disappointed me.

but i will have to say that ichiro is pretty good lookin! and the japanese players are way better looking than team korea. but still. KOREA! UGH!!!!!

did you notice how they kept showing the stadium in korea? what was going on in japan? glad i didn't go to the game! I woulda been more upset! KOREA!!!!! GOSH!

Going Bananas

So my mom has been here since last friday helping me move in. it's great! my mom said she is like my pachoolboo. well she used a different word but i can't remember. jangmo?

so she packs my breakfast and lunch every morning and makes me coffee.

when i went to az last week my mom was making sandwiches. do u know what she made? banana and jelly! what the! hahahahaha. i said "UMMA it's supposed to be banana and peanut butter not banana and jelly!" and said "we dont have peanut butter" So i made fun of her all day.

so right now i open my lunch. and im excited for my turkey and swiss on croissant sandwich. and guess what else is in the middle! just guess. BANANA! WHAT THE! OMG my mom is obsessed with banana in sandwich. and so i just called her and said WHY is there banana in my coissant?!?!!? and she just laughed and laughed. so i had to pick out banana. AHAHHA. not even normal banana. the baby banana. so my sammy is a little sweet today. puhaha.

I'll start posting pictures and updating more about cali when i'm all settled in and mom leaves.

***THANKS Rob and Jin for helping me move in!

Orange County

So I finally went to the OC last night. Deng it's far! I went to Aliso Viejo. Is that even considered the OC? but it's nice! I love OC. just like FFX. It's like LA is baltimore and OC is nova. great - i live in baltimore. G-Hetto! I definitely cannot live there though. This morning i left at 5:30am. It took one hour with no traffic and driving 80 miles an hour. No thank you! I don't know how in the world people live in winchester and front royal and work in nova. There were even people at my old job that lived in WV. ew. HAHAHAHA.

Speaking of jobs. I love my job! It's not fun and exciting or anything but compared to my last job where I was for six months it is 1000% better! I feel productive and feel like what I do is somewhat meaningful. My last job i did JACK! Did what I had to do in 2 days when they gave us 20 days. Sat there for 18 days a month doing jack. and the stuff I did do, no one even looked at it! I hated that job with a passion.

Today is move in day! YES!!!!

First month in LA review

So it's been one month since I've moved to LA.   Above is a picture at santa monica beach when I went with Hye Young.

So views on Cali so far...

Cons: 

-still living out of a suitcase till saturday

-everything is expensive

-everywhere seems ghetto.  nowhere like fairfax

-traffic everywhere - can't tell if it's worse than nova. just more lanes and more cars

-less friends. no booral chingoos

-no ARA

-california taxes are INSANE!

Pros:

-beach

-mountains

-farmers markets

-diddy riese

-close to home and sora

-meet new people

-more culture than DC metro (not better than NYC). Lot of people chasing their dreams. It's inspiring even though I will probably stick to my safe salaried job

Those are my thoughts about Cali so far.  Nothing too impressive or too disgusting.

I think things will fall into place once I finally move into my apartment and settle in.

Here's to California!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MICHI!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MICHI! This post is just for you!

AND I started this blog because you told me too!

Thanks a lot dina for including me you BEEP!