The Hungry Ones

Glen Kim Software Developer

by Johnny on October 24, 2011 in Interview with No comments

1. Who are you what do you do?
I’m a software developer in Silicon Valley. I work at mSpot as as backend engineer, writing software that runs on the cloud so your phone can get the data it needs to play your music anywhere. I’ve been writing web applications since I was 16, and 12 years later, I kick a whole lot of ass when I code.

2. Wheres you favorite place for lunch?
I don’t have a favorite where to eat lunch, but I have a favorite when and with whom I eat lunch. My favorite lunch is when I go back home to LA and eat with my mom. We usually go to Bann in K-town, and I always get the yukhwe, korean beef tartar, literally translated as ‘beef sashimi’; and either mulnaengmyeon or bibimnaengmyeon, different versions of korean cold noodle soup, mulnaengmyeon = water cold noodles, bibimnaengmyeon = mixed cold noodles. Some kalbi (barbequed marinated short ribs) always hits the spot too.

3. Where’s your favorite place for dinner?
Lawry’s in Beverly Hills or House of Prime Rib in San Francisco. Medium rare. Need I say more?

4. Drink of choices
Yuksu (beef broth) with my naengmyun. An iced latte from Intelligentsia on a blistering LA summer day. Homemade spiced apple cider in the winter. Mimosas with a late Sunday brunch. Vodka straight no chaser when it’s time to party. Mlik tea whenever, but only if it’s legit.

5. Last meal would be?
If I’ve lived right, then my last day shouldn’t need to be much different from any other day. After sleeping in from a late night, I’d make this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dU_B3QNu_Ks, with some bacon, smoked salmon, or steak– I’ll figure it out when I get there.

David Fung and Andrew Fung Comedian Rappers

by Johnny on October 22, 2011 in Interview with No comments

1. Who are you what do you do?
We’re both comedian/rapper…as a comic I’ve opened up for Ken Jeong and Eliot Chang, Andrew has performed at The Laugh Factory in Hollywood as rappers we’ve been featured in the LA Times (link)….Andrew also opened up for rapper Big Sean in Seattle.

2. Wheres you favorite place for lunch?
I’m fairly crowd/scene driven, and I’m Asian, hip, and in my early 20′s so I like the one $ Yelp spots with near 1,000 reviews. In LA that would be Castle BBQ (cheap kbbq), Kalbi Burger (burgers w/ a Korean twist) and Daikokuya (ramen), in SGV that’s Savoy (Hainan chicken), Golden Deli (pho), Noodle World (thai fusion), Cha Cafe (Asian fusion) and Banh Mi Che Cali (Vietnamese/Chinese hybrid), Class 302 (Taiwanese)…for dim sum I like Ocean Star in Monterey Park just because of the atmosphere and it’s walking proximity to Half N Half, the food itself is just decent there.

3. Where’s your favorite place for dinner?
For dinner I open it up to the two $$ places as well, so O Dae San (Korean bbq), Honda Ya in DTLA (izakaya), Hodori (late night after club spot), Far Bar (Little Tokyos best bar), Tasty Garden (HK cafe), JJ’s Hong Kong Cafe, Banana Bay, Boiling Crab, and Guppy House.

I eat everything but I love me some stir fried garlic dou miao (Chinese pea vines) but it’s just overpriced at most places (13.00 for veggies!) so I rarely order it.

4. Drink of choices
Ice water with lemon in it. Lime is cool too if I’m eating more tropical food.

5. Last meal would be?
I’d probably want to eat hundreds of little tapas of everything I enjoy in the world but really it’d probably be a home cooked meal from my parents…steamed fresh Alaskan salmon, homemade siu mai, and steamed dungeness crab…ain’t nothing like home cooking!

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Zoetica Ebb Artist, Writer, and Photographer

by Johnny on October 17, 2011 in Interview with No comments

1. Who are you what do you do?
I’m an artist, writer, photographer, occasional fashion designer and co-founder of Coilhouse magazine. Born in Moscow, Russia, living and working in Los Angeles, I’m currently embarking on a new series of paintings dedicated to beastly flora. I’m also working on D4RT – a mobile art class I established earlier this year that brings workshops and public art projects to impoverished communities worldwide.

2. Wheres you favorite place for lunch?
Considering the size and diversity of LA, as well as those of my palate, there’s absolutely no way I could respond to this concisely. I do have a handful of favorite places, but even that list is always changing – it all depends on what I’m in the mood for, what neighborhood I’m in, etc.

Still, though I can’t give you the answer you seek, I can tell you about a favorite recent [and recurring] lunch, which consisted of a simple but perfect carpaccio at Figarot Brasserie. Their steak is great, as well, and I love the [actually] authentic French ambiance. I’ve been coming here for years.

3. Where’s your favorite place for dinner?
With my previous answer in mind, where Im looking forward to eating again soon is AOC. It’s a French tapas and wine bar in the mid-Wilshire area – their squid ink risotto will change you.

4. Drink of choices
My non-alcoholic drink of choice remains tea and all its incarnations, many of which I’m still discovering. When it comes to a proper, stiff man’s drink, I’m a new convert to the power of a good Sazerac. As far as cocktails go and since it still feels like summer in LA, I’m especially into the Sandia del Fuego cocktail from The Edison. It includes Casa Noble Reposado tequila, muddled watermelon and cucumber, lemon juice, simple syrup, watermelon and jalapeno.

5. Last meal would be?
The biggest, most elaborate chirashi bowl in the whole universe.

Jennifer Field Actress

by Johnny on October 12, 2011 in Interview with No comments

1. Who are you what do you do?
I’m a full time actress in Los Angeles, CA, a former Miss Asian America, but alot of folks will recognize me from my attachment to the K-Town Reality Show.

2. Wheres you favorite place for lunch?
Cafe Gratitude on Larchmont, particularly because we have one in San Francisco (I’m Bay born and raised, son!). My go-to lunch dishes are the “I Am Festive” which is a raw salad comprised of sunflower seed walnut chorizo, cashew nacho cheese, salsa, guacamole, romaine lettuce, sprouts, and carrots. I was also taking the “I Am Fortified” out all the time, a quinoa bowl with kale and sautéed seasonal vegetables, topped with a garlic-tahini sauce.

3. Where’s your favorite place for dinner?
Providence on Melrose, or Water Grill downtown. I’m a seafood girl–give me a raw bar, finely crafted crab cakes, and a medium-cooked fish atop an inventive set or spicy sauce and I’m golden.

4. Drink of choices
Coffee in all its forms…from a black Columbian drip coffee to a triple vanilla rice milk latte

5. Last meal would be?
Raw oysters on the half shell, preferably Malpeques or Kumamotos

Wagyu beef carpaccio

Black Perigord Truffles

Hand caught abalone, not the kind from the Korean market, the fancy market price kind

Cucumber Kimchi (“oi kimchi”)

Steve Jobs 1955-2011

by Johnny on October 6, 2011 in Uncategorized with No comments

John Beck Executive Chef

by Johnny on October 5, 2011 in Interview with No comments

1. Who are you what do you do?
John Beck, executive chef in Room dining and Poolside Cafe at the Mirage.

2. Wheres you favorite place for lunch?
Chang’s – dim sum.

3. Where’s your favorite place for dinner?
Goyemon – all you can eat sushi.

4. Drink of choices
Peach green tea with lychee jelly

5. Last meal would be?
Boiling Crab

Jen Wang of DISGRASIAN

by Johnny on October 1, 2011 in Interview with 3 Comments

1. Who are you what do you do?
Co-founder of the blog DISGRASIAN. It’s a blog written by me and my friend Diana Nguyen. It’s sometimes called an “Asian American blog.” If you’ve heard of it, then that’s our claim to fame.

2. Wheres you favorite place for lunch?
I never go out to lunch in LA, I’m always chained to my computer. When I lived in New York years ago, I loved going to a “fancy lunch” now and then, to some place with a Michelin star or two that had champagne and oysters and was significantly cheaper in which to dine during the day than at night. In LA, I dunno. Let’s put it this way. If I drive by Pink’s at lunch time and there’s no line, I’ll always stop to get a chili-cheese dog with mustard, no onions.

3. Where’s your favorite place for dinner?
Son of a Gun. I interviewed the chef-owners, Jon Shook and Vinny Dotolo, back when they were opening Animal. I love that they’re these sweet stoner dudes quietly building a food empire in Los Angeles. Son of a Gun is their second restaurant in LA and its focus is seafood. I live for the fried chicken sandwich and the linguine and clams. The linguine and clams–which is in a creamy uni sauce with chili flakes for spice–is maybe one of my favorite dishes anywhere in the world.

4. Drink of choices
Manhattan. But pretty much anything with high-quality brown liquor is fine by me.

5. Last meal would be?
Man. This question only makes me think of Troy Davis, who was just executed in Georgia for a crime he likely didn’t commit. He refused his last meal, I think? Yeah, this question only makes me think of death-row. And when I think of death-row, I think of Texas, where I’m from. (My brother’s Boy Scout leader was on death row and then killed by lethal injection, for putting a hit on his wife.) So, I guess if I was in that scenario, I’d ask for Chicken Fried Steak. With lots of white gravy.

Robby Utmos of Beat Swap Meet

by Johnny on September 30, 2011 in Interview with No comments

1. Who are you what do you do?

My name is Robby, some people know me as Utmos. I represent the Battle Monkeys Crew, and I own & organize the Los Angeles Beat Swap Meet (www.beatswapmeet.com)

2. Wheres you favorite place for lunch?

My favorite place for lunch, if I eat out (cause I eat at home a lot), is Octopus in Downtown Long Beach. I live out here and work from home, so I try to jump on the local lunch deals as much as possible. Octopus has some great sushi lunch specials & their sushi is b-b-b-bomb. Yellow Tail Belly, Tropical Roll, & Red Dragon rolls are usually what ends up in my stomach.

3. Where’s your favorite place for dinner?

I gotta be honest, I don’t really have “favorite” lunch or dinner places, or “favorite” dishes. I eat when I’m hungry, I don’t wait for meal times. I eat several small meals throughout the day. My favorite meal is breakfast. I only eat land meat on the weekends, veggies & ocean meat on the weekdays. My “favorite places to eat” would be anything healthy and cheap. When I’m hungry I don’t fiend for specific dishes, I fiend for nutrients. I’m not picky about my food, just thankful to have food.

With that said,

My favorite place for dinner, would have to be Messob in Little Ethiopia (Los Angeles). Ethiopian food is DELICIOUS & light. Every Ethiopian restaurant in that area, that I’ve tried, is really good. It usually consists of “injera”, this spongy-like flatbread, you use it to wrap around different stewed meats, soaked in traditional Ethiopian sauces – BOMB.org !

4. Drink of choices

Right now, I’m on this wine binge. Beer kept messing with my belly, and liquor kept getting me toooo wasted. Red & White wines, I don’t discriminate. White during the sunshine, Red for the moonlight. I’m learning to avoid cheaper wines cause I feel like they make me sleepier and are more likely to give me a headache. Francis Coppola’s, Puerto Viejo’s, and many others, their all delicious. Check out District Wine in Downtown Long Beach, where the bartender is also the DJ.

5. Last meal would be?

Hmmm.. LAST MEAL? I’d run over to White Rabbit Cafe in Canoga Park, and ask for the biggest Pork Sisig Burrito they got! I don’t get to eat at White Rabbit much, but EVERY-TIME I do.. maaan, so good. A Sisig Burrito is a burrito with shredded pork, garlic fried rice, and an over-easy egg. Too good to be true. (www.whiterabbitcafela.com

Jen Kwok Comedian, Writer, Actor, and Musician

by Johnny on September 27, 2011 in Interview with No comments

1. Who are you what do you do?
I am a comedian, writer, actor and musician! My main gig is musical comedy, and I have a few viral videos out, including “Date an Asian“!

2. Wheres you favorite place for lunch?
The best lunch special in NY has got to be Peter’s Since 1969 in Williamsburg. $7.95 gets you soup or salad and a quarter chicken with two sides (huuuge portions!!) and a corn muffin. And it all tastes amazing.

3. Where’s your favorite place for dinner?
I love Chiyono in the East Village. It’s Japanese home cooking, and a lot of the ingredients are grown and flown in by the chef’s relatives in Japan. The slow cooked pork is amazing, but my suggestion is to just get the Omakase, which is a chef’s choice pre fixe.

4. Drink of choices
Black velvet! It’s Guinness and champagne – the best of both worlds.

5. Last meal would be?
Dim sum. I love chicken feet and a good turnip cake.

Raman Gulati of Internships.com

by Johnny on September 26, 2011 in Interview with No comments

1. Who are you what do you do?

My name is Raman and I’m the product manager for a startup called Internships.com. You may remember us as the hosts of the Charlie Sheen internship search in March 2011. I am also a photographer and a co-founder of the I Just Wanna Dance culture show.

2. Wheres you favorite place for lunch?
My favorite place for lunch is Bay Cities Deli in Santa Monica. You have not truly lived until you’ve had a Godmother on an Italian roll with the works.

3. Where’s your favorite place for dinner?
My favorite dinner spot is always changing. At the moment I’d pick Don Cuco’s in Burbank, because I’m a sucker for great Mexican food and they give a LOT of it. A simple two enchilada combo with rice and beans is more than enough to satisfy my cravings!

4. Drink of choices
My drink of choice is a Jack and Coke about 95% of the time. The other 5% would involve some other coke-based alcoholic drink, a sweet white wine, or perhaps a tasty margarita.

5. Last meal would be?
My last meal would be the cheesiest lasagna you’ve ever had in your life with a side of enchiladas and an animal-style double-double from In ‘N Out. Mmmmmmmmmm.