East Borough is a new Vietnamese spot that opened up its second location in downtown Culver City. I was expecting to order a banh mi for dinner, but surprisingly the dinner menu and the lunch menu are pretty different. The dinner tends to focus more on small plates that are shared with your table.

This is #11 on my 2014 LA food expedition.

Note for 2022 migration: this is an old post from my other defunct blog. This restaurant is unfortunately closed.

On Friday, 3/14/2014, it was national “pi” day. Yes, that infamous 3.14 blah blah number that terrorized area and circumferences of objects. This place surprisingly has the letters “pi” in the beginning and is also on Jonathan Gold’s top 101 LA restaurants. It is best described as a peruvian-fusion tapas place.

This is restaurant #10 of 52 on my LA 2014 expedition.

Note for 2022 migration: this is an old post from my other defunct blog. This restaurant is unfortunately closed.

Sawtelle is a popular place in west LA that is like Little Tokyo where there are a slew of Japanese dining and goods establishments. For lunch, I went to this random place called Tatsu Ramen. Since I rarely go to Sawtelle, I figured it’d be good to at record what I’ve eaten.

Note for 2022 migration: this is an old post from my other defunct blog. Sawtelle is an area in the westside with a plethora of Japanese restaurants primarily in the middle/low budget tier. It’s real easy to find dinner around here, but parking is kind of a pain in that you have to park on the streets and be wary of the signs.

Culver City is suppose to be an up and coming place food, but this particular Culver City gastropub has been around for around 4+ years. From the reviews and my initial impression of the menu, I thought Waterloo & City would be a good place to try. I’ve always drove past here on my way to the marina, and I’ve always noticed a full parking lot.

This is restaurant #9 on my LA food expedition.

Lombardi’s or Grimaldi’s? That’s the age old question when it comes to pizza in New York City. Grimaldi’s is the other gourmet pizza place that often rivals Lombardi’s (see my post of it here). Grimaldi’s opened up another new location in Los Angeles (El Segundo), and I went to try it out.

This is restaurant #8 on my 2014 LA food expedition.

Note for 2022 migration: this is an old post from my other defunct blog. I remember being excited of this NYC pizza chain making its way to Los Angeles. Unfortunately, I don’t remember it being that good. Maybe it’s the LA water, but there were definitely better pizza pies back then. Not surprisingly, this restaurant end up closing in 2021.

As a borderline 2 month anniversary of my abysmal attempts at eating a LA restaurant every week, I decided to try out this place called N/Naka in Palms. The owner of this kaiseki-style restaurant, Chef Niki Nakayama, is very meticulous with the menu and presentation in her dishes. Reviewers like to compare this place to Urusawa (a very high end Japanese restaurant which is on my list before the end of the year), and they also often say the food is by far the BEST Japanese restaurant in Los Angeles. Like some of my past experiences, Fox W, a well known Foodspotter, provided pictures.

Dim sum is the Cantonese Chinese breakfast staple on weekends in LA. Lots of people flock here to wait in long lines for delicious goodness. I’ve had many dim sum places throughout my life, so the question is this one any better than the other ones I’ve been to. Let’s find out.

This is restaurant #6 on my 2014 LA food expedition.

Note for 2022 migration: this is an old post from my other defunct blog.

In Koreatown, there is this home style sober-up joint called Myung Dong Kyoja. It features dumplings and noodles and is ideal for those late evenings after you’re completely plastered out of your mind and need to recover. Unfortunately I wasn’t intoxicated at all, but it was cold and was in need of something soupy.

This is restaurant #5 on my 2014 LA food expedition.

Note for 2022 migration: this is an old post from my other defunct blog. I remember this was highly rated back when I visited in 2014. The food was definitely very homely, and one of the reasons I really enjoyed LA Korean food. It seems now this restaurant’s been re-branded to simply “MDK”.

I remember Andrew Zimmern from Bizarre Foods visiting this restaurant. And since I’m a huge fan of him and his experiences, I wanted to give this a try as well. Red Medicine from my understanding is Vietnamese-cuisine-inspired but not necessarily Vietnamese by any means. Don’t go there expecting traditional Vietnamese dishes fused with new American elements. DO go here expecting to get interesting concoctions where everything is not only pretty looking but also very edible.

A colleague of mine, who is an avid wine drinker, mentioned this place in the Santa Monica mall as a place with good drinks and good eats. I’m not a wine purist since I usually drink wine like beer. But he’s on a quest to educate me.

This is restaurant #3 on my 2014 LA food expedition.

Note for 2022 migration: this is an old post from my other defunct blog.