A quick retro-post on Dine LA week, fueled by the last bit of coffee caffeine-fueled energy from three hours ago, and after hours of staring at this screen and starting to feel like my eyeballs are going to fall out.
Dine LA graced our presences once again these past two weeks, with prix fix menus that gave us quite a bang for our buck. our? Anyways. A friend and I took advantage of the last day of Dine LA week 2, determined to go to a restaurant offering the most exotic fare.
Our choice? Starry Kitchen in Downtown LA. On the lunch menu - appetizers included pandan chicken, crispy kimchi rice cakes, mac & cheese (w/ bacon, shiitake mushrooms, jalapenos & caramelized onions ), entrees - spicy korean black pork belly, braised vn beef, lemongrass tofu, desserts - pandan flan, young banana & warm tapioca, durian flan cheesecake.
Started I believe as an illegal restaurant operation in the apartment of the owner, now they have a nice little spot in the somethingsomething center in Downtown, which is also home to one of the Mendocino Farms locations (had a gruyere and steak melt on a pretzel roll here, it was fucking delicious. I would never normally pay $10 for a sandwich, but this one was worth every penny. Anyways, I digress.) Or so this is the story I believe I heard. It's 1am, delirium has set in, don't take my word for it.
But getting to the meat of the matter. Firstly, ambiance was nice, simple but homey feeling, the owner was even there to take orders and provided recommendations and made sincere small talk (can small talk be sincere?) and told multiple people that they don't fuck around here and mean business with their food. That, I appreciate. Also the ladies working at the counter were so nice and were so nice about giving me water refills (I am a BIG proponent of customer service making all the difference)
I got the mac and cheese (sucker for mac and cheese, and it was "exotic"), pork belly and durian cheesecake. Durian, definitely a polarizing fruit - you'll either look past the horrible stench and appreciate the odd sweetness of the fruit's flesh, or you'll think it both smells and tastes like asshole. I personally, am quite a fan - brings me back to my days in Singapore.
The mac and cheese was alright, a bit of a disappointment to be honest. The cheese part of the mac and cheese is CRUCIAL to get right - and although this claimed to have a 5 cheese sauce, I think it was more sauce-y than cheese-y. The flavors of everything else in it was quite delicious though and made sense in the dish (whowouldathunkit), I think I would have enjoyed it immensely if it were just a bit creamier.
The pork belly was fairly good, although my experience with pork belly is not very extensive and was not totally sure what to expect. Had a pork belly bun from Flying Pig truck once, and that practically melted in my mouth. This, on the other hand, was a little drier, and now thinking about it, not particularly memorable. It was served with an option of spam rice, regular rice & singaporean noodles or brown rice. The singaporean noodles were alright, although I'm not really sure what flavor profile they were going for. The sauce seemed to cover the noodles more than be a PART of the noodles. You know what I mean?
Durian cheesecake. Very intriguing. When you first bite into it, the cheesecake flavors hit, then the durian comes in at the end of it through the aftertaste. I think this dish would have been better as a plain flan, a more jello-y texture. The creaminess of it threw it off a bit for me, but I would definitely order it again.
Other things that were ordered that are worth nothing: the kimchi rice cakes (they were really more rice balls, but technicalities, technicalities) were DELICIOUS. It was just the right amount of kimchi flavor held together with rice and a touch a cheese. By far the favorite thing I tasted in that meal. Also I had not realized until that meal that young banana was distinctly different from regular banana, and that I enjoyed warm tapioca pudding.
Would I go back? maybe...? You can definitely get a meal for less than $10 there and be completely stuffed, and there are definitely things on the menu I would go back to try, but as of now, there are far more places I'd rather try out, and why go back to something if you don't absolutely mouth-wateringly crave and love it.
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