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

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)

Hey gang,

HAPPY MONDAY (barf!)  Welcome back to the grind. For those of us that don’t have Facebook, twitter or the entire internet blocked, here’s a little tidbit from yesterday.  If you can’t read the previous blog posts because your internet impaired, yesterday we went ALL NEW which we haven’t done in a L-O-N-G time.  We served:

• VIETNAMESE BRAISED STAR ANISE PORK (‘da meat)
• HONEY PANKO CRUSTED CRISPY TOFU BALLS (‘da m’fing good veggie)
• PINEAPPLE FRIED RICE (side)

Pics are above for those that didn’t make it, and for those that want to cause further frustration to themselves because they can’t have it because:

1. We rotate our menu and who knows when we’ll bring any of these 3 items back
2. You work in an area where Gruel is the special of the day and only option (sorry suckas)
3. You’re a lurker and STILL haven’t stopped by (s’alright, more for us until you show up ^_^)

Btw, did anyone notice that we have 15 Five-star reviews on Yelp now!!! How friggin’ sweet is that.  Damnit we’re spoiled now.  The minute we drop from anything but a Five-star rating, we’ll be bummed but that’s life I guess!

Alrighty, enough of those shenanigans (which my spell checker ACTUALLY knows how to spell correctly… genius!)  We have to think about what we’re going to serve Wednesday.  The KITCHEN NINJA feels like trying some more new stuff, so more than likely Weds will be all new again.  HOORAY!

And on the topic of new and a rotating menu, after much thought and deliberation with in the inner circle of SK (me and my wife that is), we’re going to stick with this as we grow.  I bring this up because we ARE considering growth already.  Don’t want to go “on the record” yet, but we’re vetting out an opportunity as we speak and one of the main questions have been “do we keep surprising people” or “do we sell out and be like everyone else?”  I say F’ that, we’re sticking to our guns and surprising people.  I’m thinking the routine will change from what dish is your fave to these people will just trust us and take what we dish out.  Or as one of my New Yorker friends put it, the Soup Nazi did just fine not telling anyone what he was serving… why can’t we?

But anyway, gotta go… and I can’t seem to keep up these blog posts and one of my favorite things to do with them too: embed funny unrelated videos.  With that said, please allow me to present to you something I JUST found now: Christopher Walken reciting Lady Gaga’s POKER FACE… an instant classic:

Xoxo,

TEAM SK

omame:

はじめてのデジタルイチガン♂ » かりかりチキンソテーに手づくりタルタルソース

Just in case you don’t know how to read Japanese or didn’t know that there are a number of online text translators for many languages (like Google Translate) to the one I’m writing (English.. ahem), here’s what the translator makes it out to say (even though I know Japanese it was still a little incoherent to me ^^):

Dejitaruichigan the first ♂ »homemade tartar sauce on crispy fried chicken

My first thought on this was: CHICKEN FRIED STEAK! And if you’re not from the South and STILL don’t know this or another iteration served at Denny’s and many greasy spoons across the country (aka COUNTRY Fried Steak), then get some. It’s one of my absolute FAVORITE things to eat when I grew up here in Dallas, TX, and it looks a LOT like that. We don’t put tartar sauce on ‘em, but we do put some gravy that looks similar. And when you get a good one, you’ll know!

I will admit that I am very curious how this culinary delight tastes as well. SO, I’ll either have to fly to Japan to figure this out, OR beg and plead with the KITCHEN NINJA to try to make this for my person enjoyment and consumption. (or I can make it myself… and I do cook too ^^) FYI- the KITCHEN NINJA actually enjoys a good chicken fried steak too.

TEAM STARRY KITCHEN

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

Pictured above, our side from yesterday: LIGHTLY CURRIED FRIED RICE w/ LEEKS + SHITAKE MUSHROOMS…

What does that mean? It mean’s it’s effin good! That’s what that means. :)

HAPPY MONDAY HUMANITY

Thanks to all of ya’ll (here comes my Texas roots right there… even though I don’t actually talk like that) that moseyed on over to our eating establishment (aka our back-patio apartment).  We’re still meeting new people… and we LOVE that!  Props to Rachelle and Sophie.  Hot diggity damn you girls are REALLY on top of the current taco truck twitter crazy in LA.  WOW!  I wish I could have talked to you more.  I heard you talking to another n00b, Gary, about all the different trucks. Caring is sharing… that’s what they say! ^_^

Stop your jibba jabba, what you servin’ Wed?

Answer: we’re not goin’ to tell you… until Wed at least (because it’s going to be new ^_^)

And what’s this about a Saturday Brunch-tacular?

The best place to find that answer is to go to this link HERE: http://bit.ly/aQiNL

In short, we may be taking over this place pretty soon and we want to test ourselves out in the kitchen. So if you can make it, come on out.  It’s good for ya.

We’re still working out logistics (i.e. the week hasn’t started yet), but this much I can tell you already.  The dish for this Saturday: “NEW” LEMONGRASS CHICKEN.  And by “NEW” I mean we’re going to try a new recipe.  We’ve been serving this successfully since… April ‘09 (doesn’t quite roll off your tongue when you say it out loud), and we felt a new improvement could work and we’re bringing it out for all of YA’LL to try this Saturday.  PLUS, it’s one of the most palatable dishes for a larger group (don’t worry foodie friends, it’s pretty tasty anyway… we promise or we wouldn’t be foodies too… and I realize that promise has no weight to it but just go with it for right now ^_^)

What about your tomfoolery in your “secret” kitchen in Noho?

Who’s asking all these questions?  Where are you Chuck Norris… WHERE ARE YOU????

…

(ahem) That’s a good question… who EVER you are?!?!

Answer: UNTIL we open up a real… or MORE real establishment here in the valley/NoHo… the STARRY KITCHEN “test/secret/covert” kitchen STAYS! (and all 4 blog readers rejoiced with a quiet… yaaawwwn ^_^)

:p

I have a ton more to post for all 6 of you (I’m pretty sure since the beginning of this post I’ve acquired 3 more readers… I’m SURE of it!) including picks of one my FAVORITEST Korean BBQ places in EVER… PARK’S BBQ!  Even the KITCHEN NINJA has never been there… until last night, and she was IMPRESSED… and I’m just FULL! ^_^  I’ll give you a quick summary though: HIGH QUALITY.  I’ll write more later with pics too.

Until then, you either hate her, love her, deplore her, think’s she’s weird or… whatever… but here’s LADY GAGA’S BAD ROMANCE for your mental consumption (or deterioration).  I have to admit, she’s a guilty pleasure of mine… and so much fun to sing at karaoke too.  Don’t hate me ‘cause I’m a DORK (that’s who I am… I can’t helpS it) ^_^  Just watch it, even for a minute because frankly… it’s pretty f’in beautifully shot.  Forget the music, it’s pretty cool to look at (and hopefully you sellout to like the music so we can karaoke this, JUST DANCE, PAPARAZZI and P-P-P-POKERFACE together ;p):

Xoxo,

TEAM SK

meganom:

Cream Cheese Pound Cake

…I am going to learn how to make this! I LOVE POUND CAKE!! Still love the Sara Lee brand stuff too. Hey, I’m not embarrassed to admit that. It’s the truth, and I’m sure most of you enjoy it too.

Btw, I love New York Cheesecake, so I learned how to make that too (10 years ago). I mean the whole kit and kaboodle too: I make the crust, mix the creme cheese (which is a BITCH if you aren’t patient OR if you didn’t let it sit at room temperature for a while FYI), mix in all the eggs, vanilla and etc, the baking, cooling, the springform pan and etc. Yeah, you didn’t think I knew how to do all that, did ya… DID YA!?!?!

Well, in the SK family Thi Tran is the KITCHEN NINJA. I’m not sure what I am, but maybe I’m the BENEVOLENT BAKER. ACH! Whatever it is, I’m the one that write’s this blog. That much is for sure. ^^ That and I’M MAKING CREAM CHEESE POUND CAKE ONE DAY!

On that note, here’s an OLD Sara Lee commercial. The slogan is “Everybody doesn’t like something…but nobody doesn’t like Sara Lee.” Watch the guy that falls into the water. It’s kind of funny in an innocent way. If that were made today and I were the commercial director, it would be like a little kid shoving that guy into the water and then calling his bonehead friends over so that they could cackle together, point at him in awe while smacking their hand on their thighs for extra embarrassment and hilarity… but after thinking about it, I’m not sure Sara Lee would make that guy who got pushed in feel much better after an experience like that. Oh well, just don’t be a TOOL in life, because Karma’s a bitch. :)

TEAM STARRY KITCHEN

izakaya-norio:

ぐるなび - 王道居酒屋 のりを 本町店

地下鉄御堂筋線本町駅　1番出口　徒歩2分

電話：06-6223-1877

If you can’t read Japanese (I can only read Hiragana and Katakana w/ limited Kanji myself… and thats no joke either ^^) This is actually a blogger that found us, so I started following their blog too! MAN this guy makes me miss Japan so much, and he takes such GREAT pics of these locations.

FYI - KITCHEN NINJA’s dad is doing well. His only complaint is the annoying pain (who can blame him, right?) So we’re in a hospital all day just reading, supporting him emotionally and hanging out… so why not show you what we’re reading too, right? Take a look. From this blogger’s username, blog and pics, it looks he/she takes pics of Izakaya’s. We have these in EVERY culture. Basically beer+food eating/drinking establishments (like Tapas). And the Japanese have some tasty morsels that are worth trying too if you find an Izakaya in your area too. (yes, in the states)

TEAM STARRY KITCHEN