WHERE: Los Angeles (DTLA) / What happened to NoHo??

THE MENU: (7/26 - 7/31)

HOW+WHY: aka "The Story"

ARCHIVES / RANDOM / GQ

Contact us (anytime!): info@starrykitchen.com

WHOOPSEE UPDATE: Forgot to mention that today is ALSO the last day for KOREAN GLASS NOODLES (Japchae) AND the PINEAPPLE FRIED RICE!  We’re changing a whole LOTTA stuff next week (but it’ll be tasty… we promise ^_^)

An Ode to Crispy Tofu Balls

(aka Please don’t hurt us friends cause we might bruise easily emotionally and physically ^_^)

As many of you already know, today is the last day (prolly only for a lil bit) for the Crispy Tofu Balls AND the Korean Short-Ribs (everyone talks about the tofu, but no one remembers lil ol’ Mr. “K/Galbi” LOL), and will be the beginning of our attempt to rotate the menu and see… just SEE if Cal Plaza can take this kind of change that we experimented with back in the “old days” of our humble apartment beginnings. ^_^

If you’re around, stop by… today we made a whole LOTTA Crispy Tofu Balls… it’s gonna be a CRISPY TOFU BALL BLOWOUT, so we shouldn’t run out too early (hopefully ;D)

So in honor of some people being very vocal about us taking away the tofu balls, here’s a short montage of pics above that we’d like to share with you… next time we’ll add a lil music (maybe some nice Journey, Air Supply or even… Lady GAGA!) , some nice lighting… and of course top it off with some more spicy mayo for good and tasty measure (damn I’m drooling just typing this up!)

And I KNOW some of you guys are like,

“Is the Starry Kitchen couple CRAZY?!?!  Why are they taking them Crispy Tofu Balls away from me? WHHHHHHHHHHHHHY?”

(ducking punches, kicks in the balls and possible tofu balls being thrown at me… but I know you wouldn’t waste our precious lil green babies like that, would you? ^^)

Well first off, it’s because we’ve already started prepping for next weeks dishes.  We’d love to have the tofu balls AND what we’re making next week (the dish is not totally a secret if you read the LA Times Daily Food Blog, link below ^_^), but if you wouldn’t believe it we still stay at SKDT until like 10p or 11p every night prepping all the food!  We’re still getting the hang of it, but making fresh food to be served FAST is no joke (but we are having a lot of fun doing it though :D)

Also because… well, we have around 50 dishes in our repertoire (I just love using that word for some reason, makes me sound distinguished!) and just maybe… MAYBE… you might like some of the other ones too.  Can you blame us for wanting to shed a lil bit of light on some of the other culinary creations the Kitchen Ninja’s crazy mind has come up with?  (Maybe I should finally get to that post about ALL the dishes we’ve done, huh?)

Plus if you’ve been by SKDT, then you’ve possibly heard my spiel about how we’re “Hot Shit” right now, but we’ll be “Not Shit” in “5 minutes” because… well, you/everyone gets bored after a while.  We gots to spice it up in Cal Plaza and see what happens.

I will say if you guys are continually vocal about it after we rotate dishes once or twice… it could come back faster than you think! (wink wink)

WHOA the press!

On a quicky note, SCHNIKES it’s pretty crazy that we’ve been open almost two weeks now, and we’ve had more write-ups (Eater LA, Grub Street LA, LA Times Daily Food Blog+Print) and foodie blog reviews (MidTownLunch, The Minty) than we thought we’d have, get or even see… but it’s pretty cool and we’ll take it! LOL

On that note, here’s a lil song I’d like to dedicate to… CRISPY TOFU BALLS by your and my friend… USHER w/ this USHER-riffic classic… oh YES!  Just imagine singing this song to the tofu balls… and HEY, if someone were to organize doing like an a capella version of this for the tofu balls, how could we say “No” to bringing it back then!?!?! LOL

Toodles,

TEAM SK

So the show must go on, and we have 3 more test-runs DownTown starting with tonight.  Read below my post below on this other blog I’m a contributor for (and if you’re in LA and on Tumblr you should join… it’s purdy cool!)

I cannot emphasize enough if you’re going to come by, PLEASE read the parking garage instructions.  It’s FREE parking at our structure tonight too.  Why would you want to pass that up, and not walking far?!?!

As it mentions below, this ain’t your NoHo suggestion donation moolah, but it’s not much more AND it’s in a legit place.  How crazy is that, right?

But hey, if you’re on the fence coming downtown tonight… why not consider eating din dins at our place, and then get a drinkie or three at Casa, or just head to Little Tokyo or K-Town afterwards for some wholesome karaoke!  There’s plenty to do, and did we mention 2 HOURS FREE PARKING??? ^_^

Hope to see you guys tonight!

Xoxo,

TEAM SK

tumblangeles:

Hello all!

I’m new to this group so here goes a quick one time run-down of us…

(I promise future posts won’t be so verbose ^_^)

While all the taco trucks we’re running around, my wife and I started an “underground covert culinary operation” (aka Starry Kitchen) in our humble apartment kitchen in North Hollywood playing with Pan-Asian comfort food combinations, and we’ve recently been found and shutdown (no joke!)

Now 8-months, 32 dishes (and counting), and 22 5-star Yelp reviews (http://bit.ly/yelpsk) later we’re (thankfully) graduating and ramping up for the launch of a “legit” location, Starry Kitchen DownTown.

DOWNTOWN “TEST-RUN” SERVICE SCHEDULE:

Join us tonight (or one of our other scheduled times below) for one of our “test-runs” while we serve up some fun savory concoctions full of tasty deliciousness and oh so delightful Pan-Asian flavors as we move towards opening the bad boy in the new year!

• Thursday, Dec 3rd - Dinner (5.30p - 9p) -> http://bit.ly/7xZSZF
• Saturday, Dec 5th - Lunch (12p - 3p) -> http://bit.ly/8fNjD3
• Saturday, Dec 12th - Lunch (12p - 3p) -> http://bit.ly/5mNDHo

WHERE IS THIS JIBBA-JABBA YOU SPEAK OF?

It’s in the California Plaza (Water Court) off of Grand Ave. right next to Casa.  If you’re driving, WE VALIDATE and it’s $3 for 2 hours in the daytime and 2 hours FREE parking at night.  Go here for parking directions: http://bit.ly/5Icgdw

@ 8 Fish Sushi

350 S. Grand Ave (parking structure off of Olive)
Los Angeles, CA 90071

If you take the Metro, you can get off at Pershing Square on the Red Line.  Here are walking directions from the station: http://bit.ly/8uGkBF

THE MENU:

Tonight we are serving some of our most popular dishes from our back-patio. ^_^ Just choose the protein (meat or veggie) and choose the way you want it (burrito, Vietnamese banh mi sandwich, or lunch/dinner plate) + a tasty side.  Dishes range from $7 - $9.

GIANT ROBOT EXHIBIT in LITTLE TOKYO:

And not to make this post any longer, but if you’re coming downtown, you might as well consider stopping by the JANM (Japanese-American National Museum) for this awesome FREE exhibit from our friends at Giant Robot.  It runs until January 24, 2010.  Tonight it’s closed for a private event, but if you come Saturday stop by Little Tokyo afterwards to check this out:

Here we have Hawaiian late night staple, ZIPPYS. Why I haven’t tried this before, I don’t know… Cause it so good after a late night of drinking! ^_^

Don’t forget we’re serving up KALBI tomorrow night w/ KIMCHI FRIED RICE (UPDATE: just plain sushi rice… too much KIMCHI since we’re making CRISPY KIMCHI RICE PATTY for our veggie option) for all you burrito lovers too.

(beep beep beep) - as I mentioned on a tweet, a return to a modern classic that has turned the ENTIRE taco truck craze upside down Kalbi / Korean short-ribs (for the carnivores) OR stirfried Kimchi w/ King Oyster Mushrooms (for the Veggie contingent) ALL served w/ Korean glass noodles (jap chae) for Wed nite service.

Where’s the rest of the blog post? Man, I don’t gotz time for that foo’. Read an old one, and read it aloud to some random children or co-workers. That should pass the time better for you until I can get back to it.

Oh yeah, I will say this… MAN that ciabatta cheese bread is addictive. I ate FOUR. So damn rich w/ all its cheesy tastiness!

Ever thought you’d see an Anime voiced by Conan O’Brien and Andy Richter? You DID?!?! That’s total BS. What crack are you smoking, cause I gotta have me some of dat! Oh, you DID NOT? Ohhh… okay. Stricken that last comment from the record (or the internet… which ever is more important). Take a looksie!

TEAM STARRY KITCHEN

Is it FINALLY… TACO TRUCK TIME??? We don’t know, but that seems to be the trend, and many here think we should finally do it. What do you guys think? Many think our food is better than Kogi’s and we could give them a run for their money. (btw Kogi fans, we give total props to them for popularizing this Asian taco craze… it’s a whole lotta fun)

We did set out to be aggressive when we first started, and that was barely over a month ago when we decided to just do it and three days later we were serving our “thit kho” tacos up that Sunday! It’s kind of scary, but I think we’re ready. We got 5-6 solid dishes, and our resident Kitchen Ninja (she hates being called “Chef” btw) has like almost another 10-20 ideas brewing in that creative culinary noodle of hers. Why should we stop her? You guys seem to like it, and we aim to please.

FYI - We gotta go raise some dough to do it though, but if any of you know someone that wants to back this (yeah, I actually am asking you) please let us know.

“All the things I could do if I had a little money…” (you betta know we love us some Abba… okay, okay- I LOVE ME SOME ABBA… WOO HOO)

Oh YEAH, you’re probably wondering what the pic is WAY above. It’s your next hint for Sunday’s service dish du jour! I was wondering if that looks a little strange in a picture, but I said “F it” ‘cause it tastes so damn good I might as well tempt you to figure it out or try it yourself (you’ll be more successful with the latter ^_^)

Weekday Service UPDATE

If it helps cushion the blow (YOWZA!), Tues night we’re serving our version of the kalbi short-ribbed tacos which was repeat from a couple of years go.

Sorry, not as much irreverent, non-sensical and sometimes non-sequitur humor this time around. More serious reflection on an exciting and yet scary road ahead of us. Life’s short and it’s about time for Kitchen Ninja Thi Tran to play HARD too!

So let me ask all of you again, and please feel free to comment:

Do you think Starry Kitchen is ready for taco truck land?

Hola SK fans,

So tonight, we’re back (6-9p) and we’re bringing something old and something new:

Something old = KALBI/KOREAN SHORT-RIBS (aka “the meat”)

Something new = CRISPY KIMCHI RICE PATTIES (aka “the veggie”)

I tried these CRISPY KIMCHI critters last night, and OMFG… hot diggity dawg are they tasty!  If there was anything that could convince many of our carnivorous patrons to switch to the “veggie” side, this could be it.  These are DEFINITELY in limited quantity, so if you want some let us know or ROLL the dice and see if we still have ‘em when you get here.  I can’t stop salivating like a dog in heat (yup, that’s the image I’m going with here) just thinking about the crunchy rice infused w/ eggs (yeah, EGGS), parm cheese (CHEEEEEESE) and kimchi topped with this awesome-tastic tangy sauce we just created for this.  I just have to say “SHAM WOW!”

ALL dishes served with a side of yummy JAP CHAE (Korean glass noodles)
We ALWAYS sell out of the KALBI, so if you want some show up early or pre-order (via twitter, email, facebook, phone or messenger pigeon).

See ya here tonights!

Xoxo,

Team SK

Oh me…oh MY… And HOLY CRAP was tonight FRIGGIN’ busy YA’LL. Who woulda thunk it??? I mean- would people…could people… SHOULD people come find us in an extra secluded, outta the way, “underground” and enclosed apartment complex where some of the neighbors STILL don’t know we do this (seriously, how do people not know still… do they think that incredibly delictable scent of Pan-Asian spices is coming from JUST anywhere?!?!) to find some yummy-riffic Pan-Asian Mexi-mix concoctions that were merely an idea… a conversation… a dream… and now closer to reality than anything else? My answer to that incredibly long and nearly incoherent question would be:

“I think I love you (STARRY KITCHEN)… so what am I so afraid of (not STARRY KITCHEN)… I’m afraid that I’m not sure of (like showing up and all the food’s sold out)… a love there is no cure for (until you find STARRY KITCHEN!)”

for the pop-culture dotards (‘cause the word “retard” is frowned upon in some circles.. but it’s appropriate when someone you know is acting like a total DUMMY and then it’s appropriate to call that NO TALENT ASS CLOWN a “retard”… or “Michael Bolton”… whatever works, right?!?!?) here’s the clip from the PATRIDGE FAMILY where these lyrics come from

TWITTER!!!

So what was the deal today? Outside of people just gettin’ themselves some STARRY KITCHEN kalbi lovin’, we also got some Twitter user traffic too! Which is kinda sorta AWESOME-TASTIC FOO’S! I have to say, I was happily surprised, and impressed that maybe… just MAYBE this stuff is workin’! I mean, we only have like 70+ twitter followers (feel free to refer us ^_^) and now 230+ Facebook friends, so we not big time yet. But you know what Chuck? “What Nguyen?” I’m glad you asked Chuck Norris, Texas Ranger!

As we continue to evolve and grow this, we don’t want to lose the excitement and challenge of pleasing new people with our concoctions… and pleasing old fans with new dishes too. As I always tell people (you listenin’ Chuck), you HAFTA eat… why not enjoy it? And if we have something to offer to make people happy, is it so wrong that we want to continue making people HAPPY! I mean, think of the children (and your stomachs too!)

WHEW, I feel like it’s been a while since I’ve put some useless commentary on a page for me to showoff to friend’s that don’t care and act like I’m reading at their place so they can “accidentally” stumble upon my seemingly clever writing and completely un-funny, but somewhat lyrical poetry… that is our blog. ^^

Thanks to everyone that showed up including (here’s another Romper Room like shoutout): Amy, Cliff, Art, Linda, Art+Linda’s daughter (sorry, forgot your name… I’ll remember NEXT TIME), Heather and Chris. We really appreciate you guys coming out and giving us a try… oh yeah, and your $5 per plate donation too. That ain’t too shabby.

SUNDAY!!!… we don’t know what we’re serving! But that’s no different from when we DID know what we were serving and we chose not to tell you until the day of. Remember those days (two months ago?!?!). We’re not asking a lot, but we’re asking that you trust us and we’ll let you know when we make our decision. Until then- Sunday is ON from 12-3p. Quantity is going to be limited, so come early and take it to go… we don’t care… as long as you like it!

Until then, today I’d like to share with you the opening animated sequence/song of one of my fav F’ED UP animes of all time: NEON GENESIS EVANGELION. Just trust me when I say this show is MESSED UP, but is an incredible piece of anime history too. It completely took Japan by storm back in the late ’90s… and guess WHAT? It’s come back in the form of a total overhaul, re-animated and re-told set of movies of which the second is out NOW. I seem to remember reading somewhere it’s doing on par or similar numbers as TRANSFORMERS 2: Revenge of Michael Bay on my eye-balls. But anyway, it’s a catchy theme song, and a great show to look into. A classic big-robot anime with a LOT more story than you would ever think you could handle in one show (but only in the last half of the series for some reason). TOODLES:

TEAM STARRY KITCHEN

Lady and gentleman (yes, that lady is singular because the only lady I can’t ever offend is my mother…”Hey Mom, don’t leave yet I’m just gettin’ started”), please allow us to introduce you to the friend, legend, self-proclaimed “self-taught” chef, recently booted off Next Food Network Star cast member and founder of FOODS4DUDES- EDDIE GILBERT!

IT’S DISH-LICIOUS

That’s him in the pic above scarfing down a delcioso dish-iso (that’s a word…KINDA): Korean Kalbi / beef short-rib burrito with spicy-tastic (definitely a word too) kim chi fried rice and the fresh-est crispy-est and crunch-tastic veggies around. Let that last part flow off your tongue as if you were singing the lil diddy of yesteryear ‘Bibbidi Bobbidi Boo’ from Disney’s Cinderella.

WHAT? You either don’t know this or don’t remember this children’s classic. Where do you live anyway? NEW JERSEY?!?!? (tee hee hee) Do not fret “Young Skywalker”, to help you out I will tap into a magic so great with an awe-inspiring power equivalent to 100 Care Bear (and this next link is different from the previous because you MUST know the secret weapon of these cute cuddly creatures… damn you Care Bear’s and your…) STARES…

YOU TUBE of course! Take it away Fairy God Mother (and by “Fairy” I’m obviously not making any kind of derogatory homosexual reference… that’s what she’s called… and I have like a gay friend or two… so I’m coo’, I’m coo’… I think ^^)

MO’ JIBBA JABBA

Okay, enough jibba jabba. Let’s get to the important stuff:

FIRST, it was another sell-out… SUCKAS! w00t w00t! What was that? You couldn’t make it??? Betta luck next time… chocko-roos! You missed out on the meticulously marinated (from scratch too foo’s) morsels of meaty goodness w/ overflowing FLAVA and juice with every Pac-Man like chomp that our food inspires (in unison too… okay, not really).

WHAT? You no believe-th in what we speak-eth!?!? WOW, you got SOME balls “don’t you TREBEK?” This blog is supposed to be a generally passive medium in what is supposed to be a supportive atmosphere, and you got SOME nerve hiding behind your anonymous screen and keyboard… MISTER CHUCK NORRIS! And if you think we some jive talkin’ foo’s who just grew up in the burbs of Big D (Goooo C-TOWN) who don’t know how to “walk the walk” with all our “talkie MCTALKIE”… WOOO WEEE! You are surely mistaken! BUT, we accept your feeble challenge! So BEHOLD- the wonderment and excitment of our resident KITCHEN NINJA (ninja SLIIIIICE), Thi Tran, showing you that she’s not only the chef “but also a client!” See people, we enjoy the food as much as we think you do too. And because I’m an internet narcissist, there’s also a pic of me below showcasing my horizontal taco consumption skills. If I were James Earl Jones hanging out in a sound booth taking a look at these pics I would say, “Impressive..MOST Impressive.”

From Blog Pics

From Blog Pics

WHO IS THIS ‘KOSHER PIG’

SECONDLY, you might be asking “why are Trix just for kids?” Well foo’s, this is the wrong forum for a complex answer like that. I mean, I could probably spend the rest of my life writing a multi-thousand page dissertation on how to answer that, but I won’t. The question you SHOULD be asking is “Who’s this Eddie Gilbert guy?” And most of you should already know not to ask “What does this have to do with anything?” Good reader! Well, that Eddie question has two simple answers (as you admire this pic of us with my now softer and emo-like haircut these days… what am I thinking???):

From Blog Pics

#1 - He’s a good Jew that doesn’t have phrase “Keep Kosher” in his vocabularium (which is like an aquarium… but FULL of vocabulary… duh!) ‘cause he loves the porkity mcpork pork (aka Pork) too much. Hey, he admits it himself so I’m not throwing him under the bus (yet).

#2 - He’s a friend from back in the day when I actually used to work at the oldest talent agency in the business, the William Morris Agency. Willy Mo’ for short… or as I like to call it- Willy Mo’ - No Mo.’ This will also be the title for my opening blog posting on (cue cheap plug…3…2…1) theinstitution.biz (don’t go there ‘cuz ain’t nuthin’ there yet). NOW if someone steals that… it’s cool, ‘cuz you saw it right here that I coined it first and I’ll always have that (while someone else takes all the glory….:p)

In short, Eddie (aka “The Kosher Pig”) went on a soul searching trip, stumbled upon the culinary arts, and figured out recently that food and culinary creations are his passion. I invite you (like Robin Leach would invite you to rich people’s pads back in the 80’s… click his name for those that didn’t get that reference..sheesh, you should pay me for a pop culture course!) to check-out his blog at www.foods4dudes.com, and be on the look out for him at events and maybe with us too! Not only does he have a handsome mug (if I weren’t straight, married and did I mention straight?), but he has a genuine appreciation and passion for food. No one can be faulted for that… NO ONE!

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YOU MUST BE BORED AT WORK TO READ THIS ^^

Whoa, this got REALLY long and verbose again. WELL, I’m trying to make up for lost content which you can find on the outtakes and special features of our DVD… wait a minute… these are just printed words and not a motion picture DVD!!! (did I lose anyone yet…”Bueller…Bueller“…bah, who cares!)

IT’S AWARDS TIME!

On a final note, as co-founder, -owner and -burrito/taco artist, I have taken the opportunity to create a most useless award of the week and use my AWESOME photoshop powers to recognize one very special surprise cameo guest appearance this evening. No, it wasn’t my childhood fantasy Morgan Fairchild (and she’s weirdly still hot now in a scary way…”think un-sexy thoughts, think un-sexy thoughts”) or Mikhail Gorbachev (GLASNOST!), but it was Eric. Since I don’t remember your last name… I’ll call you “White” Eric. WHAT? Don’t you have a friend you call “Black” Phil, or “Asian” Tom or Indian “George”? No? Well that means you’re still living in NEW JERSEY (which pretty much has the largest Indian population in the US… but who doesn’t like to make fun of NJ?)

Why “White” Eric? Mainly because he’s the only other person that reads blog (outside of me when I re-read it and laugh to myself ^^), and showed up unexpectedly with his sweet Hmong fiancee, Maipa. “White” Eric, get ready for about 2-3 secs of internet fame, fortune and riches as I have bestowed upon to you, the greatest singular award any foodie can receive from STARRY KITCHEN (thus far): The ‘Pan-Asian Taco Consumption Specialist of the Week!!’

From Blog Pics

It’s a great honor to receive this, and please user your powers for good, not evil. That’s all we ask. That and a cut of all endorsements and talk show apperances you receive from this obviously incredibile opportunity. Other than that, you’re free and clear :)

WOW, are you STILL here? Okay, one last thing. We’re still serving this Sunday from 12-3p. It will be chicken, and it will be good. ‘Nuff said.

From Blog Pics