Per word of mouth, there’s supposedly 1 uncontested BEST Korean tofu place in Los Angeles … Beverly Soon Tofu. Anthony Bourdain, from the CNN show Parts Unknown, also visited this place with Chef Roy Choy and described this place as “tongue-searing, ass-burning tofu soup that will make you forget every bad thing you ever thought about tofu.”

My personal favorite is Lee’s Tofu down in Gardena, so I thought I’d check this place out and compare.

I’ve been craving for seafood the last few weeks or months, and I didn’t feel like driving to Whittier to go to Portsmouth. I looked up Eater LA, and I found L&E Oyster Bar on their list of 2014 essential LA restaurants at #26.

This is restaurant #1 for my 2014 LA food expedition.

Note for 2022 migration: this is an old post from my other defunct blog. I recall back then this being a super hot spot in greater Los Angeles area. Silver Lake is a bit of a drive going cross-town and has always had that hipster notoriety.

Melisse is one of those restaurants in Los Angeles that was on my must-eat list along with Urasawa and Providence. Los Angeles has relatively very few fine dining restaurants that I’ve enjoyed, so I have very high expectations for this particular occasion. I’m hoping I won’t be disappointed as I also wanted to show my mum what kind of foods I’ve been eating outside of the valley. Fox W, a well known Foodspotter, also joined me for this and provided pictures.

Even though this place technically is not in LA, it’s within reasonable driving distance. Portsmouth is an oyster bar (with beer eventually) located close to downtown Whittier. The actual site is in a quiet location in suburbia, so it was odd to see the building. But with word of mouth, the internet, and Yelp/Eater-LA, it doesn’t really matter.

Portsmouth had just been opened for roughly a week. There was a soft opening a few weeks back. I accidentally stumbled onto this site when I was craving for seafood and didn’t want to travel to Santa Monica. As some may know, the westside is just a pain to get around. The parking is annoying, and the prices are less than friendly. Eater LA posted an article about this little place, and I figured it’d be a nice small road trip for myself. I met up with Fox W, who is a well-known Foodspotter.

I haven’t had steak in a while. I heard of this place from my buddy as a place he always wanted to try since he’s a steak guy. They do their own aging process here. When you walk into the restaurant, you can see through a window slabs of meat going through the aging process.

Note for 2022 migration: this is an old post from my other defunct blog. Around this time was when aged steaks started to be a huge thing in Los Angeles. This restaurant was relatively new, and the interior looked pretty fancy. My coworkers and I decided to try this out as an outing.

Please note: This is not a Wolfgang Puck restaurant. Wolfgang Zwiener was previously the head waiter for Peter Lugers in New York, so naturally the restaurant style is very similar. You order a cut that’s shared with your entire party.

So how does it compare?

Note for 2022 migration: this is an old post from my other defunct blog. As I reflect back at this experience, I was super excited to see some of the NYC restaurants coming to LA. I remembered bringing my old coworkers here expecting a similar Peter Luger’s experience, but unfortunately it didn’t meet expectations.

Having lived in Los Angeles the last 5 years including the South Bay/Gardena/Torrance areas, I’ve always sought after my personal BEST ramen place. The best ramen place to me must have a tasty well balanced broth and good tasting thick noodles.

Per recommendations, I checked out Ramen Hayatemaru in Torrance partly because they have half bowl sizes, so you can try more than 1 flavor.

I typically like my ramen noodles thicker because I like to slurp (excuse my manners) my noodles like Naruto. The noodles at this place are pretty good. They were cooked well where they weren’t chewy but were slightly more cooked than al dente.

No, this isn’t the clothing store on the west side. This is the Black Market Liquor Bar in Studio City. I went here with my cousin based on reviews from a friend. People and Zagat say it’s good, so we checked this out.

The decor of the restaurant was interesting. There’s a sign on top of the building that says “Victory Motorcycles Co”, so I was curious as if I went to the right place. Inside the restaurant, it had a tavern feel to it similar to some speak easy bars.

Earlier this week, I reviewed the Ink tasting menu that appeared approximately 2 months after open. Today I went to Ink again to sample his food again. I will be blunt and say tonight was by far the BEST LA expensive food that I’ve had. Let’s get straight to what was on the menu.

Note for 2022 migration: this is an old post from my other defunct blog. On this night, Michael Voltaggio was helming the meat station, so my friend and I were in awe that he touched our beef course. I vividly remember that the course was sublime, and if this was the future of the LA food scene, I was super excited to see this restaurant’s future and contribution. Unfortunately and understandably, this restaurant closed in 2017 because he had outgrew it.

In preparation for my second visit to Ink, I’ve finally got off my ass to review and post my original Ink experience. If you don’t know already, this is Michael Voltaggio’s first restaurant that he opened up here in West Hollywood. It’s his take on modern LA cuisine. I was looking forward to try some of his creations, so let’s see what it’s all about.

Note for 2022 migration: this is an old post from my other defunct blog. I recall molecular gastronomy being a very hot thing at this time, and after watching the Voltaggio brothers compete on Top Chef, I was super excited to try out this restaurant. On this night, I remember seeing him directing traffic in his kitchen.