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

THE MENU: (2/20 - 2/24)

HOW+WHY: Our Story / LQ@SK

LQ @ SK / PARKING / CATERING / ARCHIVES

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

Hey chockos..HAPPY HALLOWEEN from Team SK!

(And check out the Kitchen Ninja, aint she cute!! LOL)

Much love,

TEAM SK

Ooops, didn’t do a post earlier today… well it was busy, can you blame me?!?!

But if you’re perusing our lil website, check out this article about… the KITCHEN NINJA does her FIRST uninterrupted (by moi) interview. YAY!

(the KN during the “old SK days” and her humble beginnings.. ain’t she so cute ;D) 

Xoxo,

TEAM SK

T-T-T-Taiwanese Fried PORK CHOPS (topped w/ flash-fried basil)!  THIS is the “Hi-hi” dish this week, and one that was pretty much an instant favorite when we first introduced it nearly 3 months ago. (I would also like to think this onepaved the way for ALL the pork dishes too… ‘cause you guys REALLY like pork!).

The Kitchen Ninja’s also mixing it up, and introducing a Ginger Plum sauce to compliment this tasty favorite… yuuuuuum! 

In addition to the TAIWANESE FRIED PORK CHOP’S tasty return, we are now introducing a Citrus-Mango Slaw today too. For those that have had our “red-headed step-child” dish (aka the delicious Seared Tuna Salad), it is the same delicious dressing that goes on that. :) 

BYE-BYE

It’s always BOUND to happen, and after this week we say LATERS to:

• CHINESE HOISIN HAMBURGER

Oh man, it really is delicious in a Chopped Salad too… I’m going to have it like that today too! ^_^

Okily dokily dudes… outta time, and that’s all I got for now.

Love ya lots,

TEAM SK

PS- Oh YEAH, if you didn’t know we’re a sponsor for the LA Film Festival and if you’re a member, we’re catering some of the events there with our food!

PPS- DOUBLE Oh YEAH, we’re also contributing to the EAT MY BLOG charity bake-sale this weekend too organized by these awesome food bloggers in town. No time to link any of this stuff, but just use the internets to find more information if you’d like. Toodles ^_^

Oh man… OH MAN!  Ramping up to launch Starry Kitchen DownTown: “A Lunch Spot… for the Community” (FYI, that’s NOT the tagline just in case you were REALLY wondering) is EFFIN… C-RAAAAAAAZY!  So sorry we haven’t updated the blog (but we’ve been updating.. FACEBOOK ya’ll).  It’s just been a madhouse.

While I’m coming up for air to type this post, I thought I would share with you a thoughtful gift that our friend and one of our MOST loyal fans, Justin Sevakis (@worldofcrap), got the KITCHEN NINJA as a belated birthday gift… yup, this CRAPPY ass dummies book that he prolly bought at a yard sale for like $.50 and upon opening this book I…

…

wait a MINUTE?  This book is… ummm… HELPFUL?!  Hmmm… WELL Justin, I stand corrected.  You ARE a good friend after all.  Don’t mind all that jibba-jabba before.  So we coo’ now?

Alrighty, gotta get back to work.  I still have a TON of posts of places we’ve been eating at… but we’ve been spending more time eating, sampling and analyzing than… well posting!

There you go chockos… the post of the week (no really, it’s the ONLY post of the week)

Xoxo,

TEAM SK

While we’re actually doing a lot of background work… here’s a picture of us NOT cooking.  (KITCHEN NINJA on the left, me = the Asian Pose GOOFBALL on the right :p)

If you wouldn’t believe it, I (Nguyen Tran) am on the Board of Directors for a non-profit called CAPE (Coalition of Asian Pacifics in Entertainment) helping out people from all facets of “the biz” to get a leg up.  This pic above (and below “acting” like I’m working) is from our annual Soiree (held last week), and yes I do like to do Asian Poses as much as possible.  Coincidentally, I’m “Asian!”

So do you read the blog, lurk and STILL haven’t come to STARRY KITCHEN yet?  Well look no further than this post.  ’Cuz here we are Cletus!

So if you see us on the street, feel free to say “Hi” or run in the opposite direction.  Either way, we’ll know this post did it’s job informing people of who the personalities are (or lack of) behind the food, blog, Facebook updates and twitter tweets.

We’re still very behind on a ton o’ posts (including one on these really cool FRESH NOODLE instant ramen pack we got the other day -> pic below if you want some… they kinda expensive though @ $2/pack!) because we gots to get this sh-t goin’ DownTown.  No time for monkey business (aka “blogging”)  ^_^

On a quick note, I was following this exchange on twitter (because I have SO MUCH time on my hands to read these tweets ^_^), and I think I might be a “Blasian!”  This tweeter is a Japanese + Scottish (aka hapa-lluja!) foodie blogger I follow (and she MUTUALLY follows us… that’s the important fact to know here my friends :D) by the name of @mylastbite (http://www.mylastbite.com/)

@ChefAustinSzu I don’t know if I said it first, but I am proud to be a Blogger+Asian=Blasian (plus a hapa at that!) : )

So there you have it.  I was never sure about my title in life, but now I know (or think) that I am a “Blasian!”  Take that CHUCK NORRIS.  You can take your Soloflex and sell those wares elsewhere to someone that needs ‘em because I don’t need it… ANYMOOOO’!

(pssst - just because I have a blog and I update it slightly regularly… I’m a blogger, right?  I’m pretty sure I have the Asian category down… I’m “PRETTY” sure at least ^_^ LOL)

Toodles,

TEAM “BLASIAN” (aka SK)

So MAYBE you didn’t see the @NYTimes article that included us.. so we thought MAYBE we would just go ahead and link it today if you didn’t. I mean, how SWEET is THIS! All the other places mentioned on here, pretty fancy-schmancy and then there’s… US! NICE! (and btw, it’s an honor… but enough of that mumbo-jumbo!)

And if you didn’t know… DIN DINS (aka “DINNER) is back on tonight & tomorrah (6-9.30p)! You can get some of these delectable morsels… and more!

Hopefully see ya tonight! And if you didn’t make it to TEST KITCHEN and haven’t seen any pics of that yet (why haven’t you?!?!).  Here are some “choice” pics! ^_^

Toodles,

TEAM SK

PS - and yes, I’m in a tuxedo AND banana suit. It’s what winners wear… right?!?!

Haaaaappy AUGUST 16th!!!

(I know, *yawn* it’s August but we’ll get through this together, m’kay? ^_^)

First off, I want to thank Project by Project for inviting us to work their Plate by Plate tasting benefit this Saturday.  We had a lot of fun, and thankfully it gave us the opportunity to expose us to even more people that didn’t know about us… AND continue on with the “BALLS” jokes (because we of course served our Crispy Tofu Balls) as demonstrated here by our volunteers and booth (yup, THE booth!) YAY!

Awww yes… I think that’s enough “Crispy Tofu Ball-foolery” for today. Let’s continue, shall we? (Doh, you left the blog already didn’t you… why Jebus… WHHHHY!)

So another week, another rotation, right? WRONG! (but still “technically” right LOL).

Let’s start w/ the “BYE-BYE” first:

• SK KARA-GE

Otherwise known by it’s horribly anglicized (by ‘moi’) name: Japanese Popcorn Chicken (but it’s still KARA-GE in my chockos!). This one has proved to be very popular especially with its yum-tacular Housemade Ponzu + shredded Ginger sauce-liciousness. Thanks guys! (but it’s still gotta GO ;p) 

Hello… HELLO!

“Don’t call it a come back son” (even though again “technically” it IS a come back) because my favorite-st dish of all of ‘em is back after a near 6 MONTH hiatus!! We didn’t plan it that way, but that’s just the way it happened!

(SK disclaimer: even though it’s MY favorite dish… it doesn’t have to be yours.. and I think most of “us” here understand that.. I just want to make sure to let you know “it’s COOL kiddies… it’s COOL!”)

• BRAISED COCONUT PORK (aka in that-there Vietnamese lingo - “Thit kho”)

Maybe it’s ‘cuz I’m Vietnamese (I’d probably say it’s not JUST a maybe), but I love me some of this. You don’t know how LONG I’ve been asking the Kitchen Ninja to bring this back (so you see, she DOES make the decisions), and now we have it in all it’s PORKY and sliced HARD-BOILED EGG deliciousness.  Either way, I know some of ya’ll will agree with me on this (especially one by the name of JAMES who ordered this almost EVERY DAY when we first had it… WOW).

On top of that, we’ve brought in a special rice combo just for this dish:

• COCONUT RICE

Now, even though BOTH have coconut in the names, I assure you that BOTH do NOT have coconut flavors so they can actually compliment each other with each bite and juicy morsel in your mouth!

Alrighty, I think that’s enough for now. Have at it, and… PURDY PLEASE come back in and see us! ;)

Xoxo,

TEAM SK

If we haven’t said it before, “we <3 you @chefludo + @frenchchefwife (aka in the “REAL” world as Ludovic + Krissy Lefebvre!) You guys EFFIN rock!!! *MUAH*”

And what does this have to do with at all with the pending and “temporary” removal of the NOM NOM PORK (only 1 more day left ya’ll), and to THAT I say “is it wrong for one couple to emphatically and platonically express their love for another couple in a forum that maybe 6 or 7 people read anyway??? I think not” (but don’t forget the NOM NOM PORK is going away.. maybe for 2 months LOL)

SOOOOoooo, we’ve met a lot of people that we’ve inspired by our “crazy” antics starting from our apartment, and I just thought we’d to take a moment to show you who has inspired us! (I’m sure I just lost about all our readers now… damn you guys are a fickle crowd!)

If ya want to know more about Ludo, check out his personal summary HERE OR his pop-up restaurant sensation (LudoBites) HERE. There’s enough of him on that/there internetS that you’ll get the gist. (and if you find any of the Top Chef Masters episodes he’s in, watch ‘em… and let the HILARITY ensue… weeeeeeeee!)

(here he is… the guy w/ the birthday cake… they just HAPPENED to celebrate his birthday this Saturday when we went… COOL!)

Long story really short:

I twitter-stalked them, reached out and they actually responded!

Long story made a LIL bit longer:

As we were slowly growing (which I STILL can’t believe to this day), I was reading more about the food biz and all the different personalities and all of a sudden I kept on seeing Krissy and Ludo’s names poping up (no pun intended) LITERALLY EVERYWHERE on the internet.  He was and is seriously the Dining Darling of LA right now. When I finally took the time to figure out what the hell LudoBites was (hey, we’re all n00bs at one point in time.. right?… RIGHT??? ^_^), I was like..

“Wait a minute, they’re a husband and wife duo that has setup a renegade kitchen?!?!  HEY, we’re a husband and wife duo with a renegade kitchen TOO and kinda similar but the low profile version”

(similar in many respects… except height! They kinda tower over us… but in a nice and attractive way, I promise!)

(Krissy taking the picture of her French hubby blowing out the cake from Kiss My Bundt… which was frickin’ MOIST and delicious btw)

So I literally DID reach out publicly via Twitter, and shortly there after (to my amazement) they BOTH responded… and after months of email + Twitter correspondence + the passing of LudoBites 3.0 (which I read about in AWE living vicarious through all the blogs, tweets and etc) they actually showed up on our door step on a Sunday afternoon (aka SK NoHo secret lunch service!), and thus began the LEFEBVRE LOVEFEST. :)

And since then, they’ve personally “popped-up” (<- pun INTENDED there) at SKDT, have been very supportive of what we’re doing and are now doing the most awesome-licious LudoBites 4.0 (we went last Saturday… and had 1 of EVERYTHING… OMG, so good… and we were so damn FULL). There’s unfortunately a wait list a 1000 people long (and I don’t believe that’s an exaggeration, it’s actually THAT long), so you might have to wait for his famous Ludo’s Fried Chicken nights (we still haven’t been ourselves) or next LudoBites (if there is one) to meet/taste his delectable (and many times hilarious) bites.

Btw, they’re SUPER COOL and very nice too.. forget all this other stuff, they’re just good peeps which is what matters the most (remember, SKDT - “Keep SKDT D-Bag Free!”)

So there you have it… an actual, genuine anecdote from us. It’s not all non-sequitur antics and New Wave Weds videos here at SK… hey, we have a soul and we have people we look up to as well (excluding Chuck Norris of course… damn you CHUCK, I’ve resisted mentioning you for SO long.. why now… WHHHHHY?)

And with that I’ll close by saying you’ll see our support of Ludo + Krissy today, which is coincidentally “SK CASUAL FRIDAY” for our staff, with our LudoBites t-shirts!

(well, you’ll at least see the Kitchen Ninja wearing it, I got called in to JURY DUTY today… DOH!)

HAPPY FRIDAY… FRIENDS

(Enjoy your new “Coq” … necklace Chef!)

Xoxo,

Team SK

Since we’ve started our experiment way back in May (wow, has it been that long???), we’ve heard about many similar stories, an NPR report and restaurant recommendations that are or were similar to what we are/were.  Here’s just ONE article (of many) of this movement that we seem to be a part of right now.

Movement, revolution or not… it’s been a lot of fun.  If you read the article, you’ll read about $175 prix fixe menus and stuff.  We’re obviously not THAT at all, but we think we’ve had fun with the concept we’ve built out of our quaint NoHo apartment.

Take a look at the article, and if you have time read the comments too.  They’re HILARIOUS!

And if you still have time (hey, it’s the holiday still, right?), take a look at the SK R&D pics soon too.  OMG, the Kitchen Ninja outdid herself by going all Indo & Malay on those dishes last night.  F’ they were AWESOME! ^_^

TEAM SK