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

THE MENU: (2/13 - 2/17)

HOW+WHY: Our Story / LQ@SK

LQ @ SK / PARKING / CATERING / ARCHIVES

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

Happy #MotownMonday world + NOM NOM PORK + people of Los Angeles (and for our friends in LA we hope you FINALLY got your power back POST-“Windpocalypse” craziness… YOWZERS!)

Well, if you didn’t figure it out, ‘ze NOM NOM PORK is back on (in Vietnamese it’s “technically” known as Nem Nuong if you were wondering what this spam-like-liciousness is all about! ;D)  If your taste buds haven’t had the opportunity to have been graced by it’s deliciousness yet, just know that one fan (*cough* KIRBY *cough*) has given me one of my FAVORITEST quotes about our food and specifically this dish,

“…it speaks to my soul”

When someone says that, how can you NOT be curious.. salivate.. and CONSUME one of these suckas (it is TASTAY!)

(btw, Kirby’s a cool cat w/ an even cooler girlfriend and ain’t some creepy single silent type that ain’t got anything better to do than eat our food and read my blog… hey wait a min, OTHER people read my blog too… I HOPE!)

And before I get to the BYE-BYE dish (why don’t I just make it easy, it’s the MALAYSIAN COCONUT PINEAPPLE CHICKEN chockos!), on the topic of people that admittedly read my blog (I’m sure they’re careful on who they tell so they don’t get ridiculed in the streets.. I know, I WRITE the blog haha): please meet the Stanley family! HOORAY!  And meet their 5-month old ADORABLE new born as well… Double HOORAY!

Miss Mommy Sara here has NEVER been to SK, but just hosted a private party/catering at SK yesterday for her daughter’s Red Egg & Ginger Party (and for those militant Chinese people, YES, we/she knows it’s supposed to be a 1-month old party.. she just got busy and threw it now, m’kay! ;D). Ya know why she came when I asked her,

“I read the blog.”

Whaaaaaaaaat?!?! How CRAAAAZY is that (and how CRAAAAZY is that ANYONE reads my blog). So to Sara and the Stanley fam I say:

THANKS for bringing+hosting the Red Egg & Ginger Party to SK (did I mention they’re all the way from OC too), and thanks for being one of 3-4 people with the patience enough to sift through all my A.D.D. ridiculousness I post on this blog. We salute you, and would like to offer you an “honorary” GOLD STAR (FYI- a “GOLD STAR” has no value YET at SK at the time of this blog post ^_^)

…

And I think I’ll end with that.  I was gonna post more, but I think I’ll save what I have to say for another day (i.e. tomorrah!)

And if you happened to have skimmed to the bottom (for more “pertinent” info of course) and didn’t read the informal BYE-BYE notice above, here’s the FORMAL BYE-BYE notice then:

BYE-BYE = MALAYSIAN COCONUT PINEAPPLE CHICKEN!

Alright? ALLLLLLRIGHT! :)

Xoxo,

TEAM SK

On the eve of our first LARGE SCALE food fest (aka LA STREET FOOD FEST / @lafoodfest), I can’t help but take a quick moment to reflect after preparing 3,000+ of our (currently) most coveted/popular dish- the Crispy Tofu Balls (and that ain’t no joke either, they are READY!!!)

If we NEVER make it farther than we already have now, I can safely say we are VERY fortunate to have made so many new good foodie friends and fans in the process. Why am I bringing this up now? Look at the pics above, we got these guys (especially Matt Kim who you’ll notice in EVERY PICTURE) to help us out ALL week for prep AND during the fest tomorrow at the Rose Bowl. It’s NOT easy and we wouldn’t have been able to do this without these guys… and we’re really lucky to have all these guys (including Felicia who isn’t in any of these pics) as our new found friends in this scary world of… FOOD SERVICE! ^_^

Thanks to Julian, Christine, Matt, Remil (Mr. SK Mayor), Danny, Dan, Caleb, Felicia, Misty and Justin for all your help… (I’m hoping this post gets to them so they don’t flake on us tomorrow for our big day! LOL)

And if anything, at least we got THIS out of it (total AWESOMENESS = Shaved Snow from CLASS 302 in Rowland Heights) ^_^

…

Now that I got all that sentimental mumbo jumbo out of the way (which I do mean in the most sincere way of course :D), let’s get the rest outta the way… BULLET POINT STYLE CHOCKOS!!:

• Today’s the LAST DAY for NOM NOM PORK

• We’re partnering up with Longboards Ice Cream again today for lunch: Eat at SK, get $1 a Hand-Dipped Bar from their SWEET van!

• NO DIN DINS service tomorrow (Sat, July 24th), because I gotta wear THIS at the LA STREET FOOD FEST tomorrow ^_^

• We are serving DIN DINS tonight, and if you didn’t know the LEMONGRASS TOFU is on the dinner menu and tonight is the LAST NIGHT for it before it officially goes away for a lil bit

• Lastly, we’re partnering up with the AWESOME Grand Performances gang next Saturday, 7/31 for a RESERVED SEAT (it’s usually first come, first.. umm seated) + Dinner for 2 giveaway for the PACHA MASSIVE & NONSTOP BHANGRA concert! Just text “GP DANCE” to ‘56512’ to enter and reply w/ your info.. but ya gotta be there 15 min before the show to win!

(whew)

And I think that is literally EVERYTHING but the kitchen sink (thankfully we have plenty of those at SK) for today.

Enjoy your weekend, and hopefully we see ya today, tonight and maybe TOMORROW!!!

Xoxo,

TEAM SK

Happy Post-4th O’ July ya’ll! WOO HOO

So now that we got all those hot dog, hamburger, BEER and fireworks shenanigans outta the way (and let’s be frank.. those “shenanigans” never really “go away” they just go on a short hiatus LOL), it’s back to the grind.. for all of us!

Speaking of coming back, we’ve decided to rotate in another fan favorite today. This one I actually had someone tell me, and I quote, “It speaks to my soul!” WOW That was such a profound statement that we were like WTH, let’s do it (and it was also time too):

HI-HI:

• “NOM NOM” PORK (aka Vietnamese Nem Nuong)

When we first introduced this dish a couple of months ago, this kinda settled it for us on something: you guys LOVE pork! I mean, Chicken may be the meat of preference in the Greater Los Angeles area, but you guys DEVOUR pork.. and this one was no exception especially since it’s covered in a meat sauce too! :)

While not big news, we’re also welcoming back plain and simple:

• SK Chopped Side Salad

It was bound to happen, and it’s back now. So for those of you that want a lil “salad” on the side for your meal… here it is again. It’s a mini-version of the SK CHOPPED SALAD w/ the lime vinaigrette dressing

BYE-BYE:

Let’s start with the obvious once (since you can actually see it on the menu)

• BRAISED VN BEEF

Looks like this new dish was welcome w/ open arms too… well be prepared to let go as we rip this from your loving arms and take it away (I know, that’s cruel, but that imagery works, right? ^_^).  You have one more week before it leaves the lunch menu!

And let’s not forget the fan favorite people want to act like they don’t wanna love, but they love it more than they would like to admit

• SPAM FRIED RICE

So you like it, and that’s… ALRIGHT! We do too.  And after this week… *POOF* it’s gone.. or maybe it’s *POOF* you ate it all before you know it… either way, one more week!

JAPANESE GARLIC NOODLES??

So if you’ve actually read this far, you’re obviously INCREDIBLY bored and don’t want to go back to work (I dun blame ya ^_^), I just wanted to take a quick moment to make a quick statement:

“If you don’t LOVE garlic, do NOT get the JAPANESE GARLIC NOODLES!”

Got a recent comment that it tasted like there was a strong garlic flavor (pssst- there’s only granulated garlic AND garlic infused oil… not even any garlic cloves in it!!!), and guess what.. that’s RIGHT! We LOOOOOOOVE garlic, and that’s not a bad thing at all. ^_^

That’s it, I just wanted to point that out just as a matter of fact. :)

Okay, gotta get ready to head “into the office!” Til then, enjoy this KFC musical commercial (man, I needs to make me one of these soon… no REALLY! ^_^):

Xoxo,

TEAM SK

“DAAAAANG!”

That’s all I gotta say about yesterday’s service.  Well that and “HOLY MOLY!”

It was the absolute BUSIEST food service we’ve had since the inception of our… and I’ll use it again… “covert culinary operation!”

Btw, I just wanted to take a moment to apologize if the food was coming out a little bit slowly and how we ran out.  WOW, we just didn’t anticipate it.  We even made MORE than usual to try to anticipate it, but you guys still surprised us.  Goes to show you, don’t underestimate the power of the internet… that and great tastebuds wanting more (if we don’t say so ourselves ^_^).

Above are some pics from last night’s service.  Check ‘em out on our Facebook Fan Page, and check out more including our fun R&D pics (Research & Development for the non-geeks out there) too.  I talked to some of you last night about our idea, but wait and see kiddies.  We’re going to actually offer opportunities to a select few of you to try some of these elusive dishes “R&D” dishes… FINALLY!  I think we’re going to start in December.  Keep on the look out.

Alrighty, I’m typing this up at 3.30a and I’m tired.  I’ll leave you with this…

SUNDAY SERVICE: I would say this is one of our signature dishes, VN BRAISED COCONUT PORK (aka “thit kho”) served with sliced hard boiled eggs BOILED in the coconut stew (and it’s GOOD!)

We got lots more to tell ya… but I’ve gots little more energy left before i pass out and drool on my keyboard (from looking at all the food pics that are making me oh so hungry…. WHY didn’t I keep a stash of food from service??? ^_^)

Nite nite (or good morning I guess ^_^)

TEAM SK

Good morning sunshine!

It’s another day, and another day closer to our Wednesday night service! ^_^  Thanks again to Harold for a great post yesterday.  It made us all verklempt (stupid spell checker, that’s Yiddish for being all choked up on emotion fool!)  And thanks to you (not in a sarcastic way, I swear) now the entire internetS knows our gate code (#141 for the rest of the internets that hasn’t found it yet), so there’s no turning back.

WHY CAN’T YOU FIND US GOOGLE MAPS? WHHHYYYYYY??

Oh yeah, forgot to mention that we’re finding that people are getting lost when using Google Maps (doh!)  It’s taking people like 2-3 miles west of where we actually are.  NOW I know why people are getting lost (outside of the fact when n00bs drive up and then realize “oh my, it really IS an apartment building”)  SO, one of our new patrons and best-est friends (we’ll get to be BFFFFFF’s soon.. I’m sure of it) figured out the trick to getting the right directions.  I’ve already changed it on Yelp, but the correction is a SIMPLE space between the double ‘C’ on Mc Cormick:

11049 Mc Cormick #205
North Hollywood, CA 91601

It’s dumb, but that’s the way it is here in the Wild West of… North… Hollywood. Hmmmm, that doesn’t quite roll off one’s tongue very well, but that’s just the way we does it here… YESSIREE! ;)

ACH! Stop Wasting Time, WHAT are we eating on Wednesday already???

WHOA, slow down young padawan. In due time… in due time… and I guess the time is… now… I think. :)

You can already see the pics in the convenient slide show above in 2 exciting parts (because it’s THAT epic ^_^).  Or if you want to make it easy and can’t tell at a glance, it’s VN BAKED GROUND GARLIC PORK (or NEM NUONG for the Vietnamese or BRODARD restaurant inclined).

“Why the two part riddle?” you MIGHT just ask me.  Oh mom, you know how to make this so why do you kid with me so!

Well mom, since your senility is setting in (she’s actually quite coherent and present, so I will probably give me a good butt-kicking and no home cooked food next time I’m back in TX) we take-sies the meat-sies and puts in the fried egg roll wrapper…sies and we add it in for one crispy culinary adventure you guys will not soon forget (unless your food has that “special” ingredient like in Randall Park’s hilarious short… THE FOOD, which I’ll include below).  And to top that off, we make this AWESOME-TACULAR special Vietnamese sauce that traditionally compliments the meat, and is also incredibly pain staking to make (but we promise it’s “conflict free”) but OOOOH delish.  We likes to call it our YUM YUM SK SAUCE!

So what’s this we hear about expansion plans?

My answer to that can be summed up this clip (which I think I’ve used in a post before… but BLAH… who cares):

And if you’re still reading, you get the benefit of actually hearing (or in this case “reading”) the update.  WELL, we’re still figuring things out and we ARE looking at taking over a downtown location.  The ONLY thing with it is that we won’t be able to keep our current concept at this location, but it will be a variation…  And it will still be JUST as tasty at the very least.  And that’s not to say we won’t do our concept in other ways… we HAVE ideas! ^_^

Also, in the next day or two we’ll probably announce a SUPA DUPA SPECIALISTIC SATURDAY BIRTHDAY BRUNCH-TACULAR (my b-day’s on the 25th… WHOOPEE), but just surf Facebook or something until we make that announcement.  M’kay?

Alrighty, for that ONE person that’s actually read through all of this, check out this HILARIOUS short film called THE FOOD.  Not only does this make me laugh, but that “Asian looking guy”, Randall Park, makes me laughsies too (he’s AWESOME in THE PEOPLE I SLEPT WITH that yours truly happens to be involved in ^_^).

“How ‘bout some NOSE pizza?”  That’s hilarious I tell ya… HILARIOUS!

But beware, this clip ain’t for the kiddies (unless they’re like 8 or something because they use ALL these profanities already… trust me!):

I think we’ll just end on that note (hopefully it was a funny note for you ^_^).  See ya Wednesday!

Peace,

Team SK

HAPPY MLK DAY (and if you’re free and hungry, we’re open for lunch today too! ^_^)

So this “rotation” jazz continues, and for those of you that have come along for the ride (or have just eaten at SK… which is a whole lot easier :D) I’m sure you guys have figured out what goes away WILL eventually come back. And today is no exception chockos.

If you haven’t already scrolled all the way down to figure out what this is (or it’s just on your screen because it’s large enough to see it all DOH!), my FAVORITE quote from a fan for this dish is, “It speaks to my soul.” Ok, maybe that doesn’t mean much to you, but that means a lot to me when I personally just think it tastes “NICE!!!” Well, without further ado (because there really isn’t ANY element of surprise on this blog anyway LOL):

“NOM NOM” PORK

(aka Vietnamese Nem Nuong for the Asian food afficianados out there! ^_^)

And we do it “OC style” (as I like to call it) and serve THIS in the sammie and/or wrap w/ a crispy fried egg roll wrapper:

OH yeah, the Kitchen Ninja (who’s on that there Twitter now by the way at @StarryKN) has changed up the recipe for the “NOM NOM” PORK and is so happy with the way the flavors have come out that she feels there is no need any more for what we used to call the Yum Yum SK Sauce. So for those that will wonder, have read this far, are completely bored and have experienced this before… there you have it.

And oh yeah, the dish rotating OUT (because “it” happens) is a NEW fan fave:

• MALAYSIAN COCONUT PINEAPPLE CHICKEN

And it’s super tastily complimentary rice friend:

• Shallot Fried Rice

I know, it’s a sucky thing to do.. so come get some (preferably those two together ‘cause they taste EXTRA NICE together!)

And that’s it folks. If you haven’t already, I suggest you watch the WINGS ETC singing chicken puppet video in my last post. It’s a nice song to sing-along to and it’s kinda funny (if you want more crass double entendre BALLS jokes that is :D LOL)

Much love,

TEAM SK

Time is short, so here’s your “quickie” for today (it COULD be a “Nooner” if the post was around Noon… but get your head outta the gutter and get back to work chockos!)

BYE-BYE:

Na-na-na-NAAAA…NA-na-na-NAAAAA.. hey, hey, hey… Goodbye (after this week)..

• NOM NOM PORK

HI-HI:

“Game Changer #1” =

• CRISPY KIMCHI RICE CAKE

And SK and the Crispy Tofu Balls (not on the menu right now, but they WILL be served this Saturday at the LA STREET FOOD FEST… WHOOPEE!!!)

Toodles,

TEAM SK

So let’s jump into the time machine and look back at… ummm… Wednesday.  Remember that fateful day? No?  Well we did (and here’s a LINK for ya just in case - http://bit.ly/1826JA).  FOREVER (until the next biggest day) 11/11/09 will be remember as the most HECTIC day of food service in the short 7-month history that is… STARRY KITCHEN

The reason why we bring it up is because of the dish, what we called VN BAKED GROUND GARLIC PORK otherwise known as NEM NUONG in the Vietnamese circles of yesteryear… and maybe present day too, but that doesn’t matter.

WELL, that was really long winded BUT I mention all of this because we are an OFFICIAL (how official can one be serving food outta the back of your apartment???) SPONSOR of our friends at the theater ensemble group-tacular, LODESTONE, and their last and final show opening of GRACE KIM & THE SPIDERS FROM MARS!  This marks an INCREDIBLE ending after 10 years as a predominantly Asian-American theater group in LA.

WHY should you care?  Well, if you want to see some good theater and laugh (because it’s a comedy not at them foo’s), this show goes on for the next month.  UNFORTUNATELY, tomorrow night’s opening is sold out.  But if you are one of the fortunate entities to have a ticket, you get to enjoy some of our food… for free (but isn’t $5 ALMOST like it’s free, right???).  And that INCLUDES traditional Vietnamese Springrolls with…. (tongue/drum rolll please)… NEM NUONG!  And that is what the hoopla is ALL about.

For more information about the show, check out THIS link: http://bit.ly/2ur575

Hope to see you at the theater,

TEAM SK

PS - And if we don’t see you at the theater… hope to see you this Sunday (12-3p) for our signature VN BRAISED COCONUT PORK (aka THIT KHO)… oh man, oh man I cannot WAIT!  This dish is actually this blogger’s (am I officially a blogger now???) FAVORITE of our 15 meat dishes (that I’ll compile into one post ONE day)

Hey buckaroos,

WELCOME TO THE WEDNESDAY NIGHT CRUNCH-TACULAR

So today (6-9p) is a special crunchy treat for everyone!  I would say this could be to celebrate our now EIGHTEEN 5-star Yelp Reviews (which is awesome)... but naw!  It’s because this is what we came up with, and it really is too much fun for us ^_^

The Metro:
Before I jump into it, really quick note.  If you DIDN’T know, we’re actually REALLY close to the North Hollywood Metro stop (5-10 min walk). Click this link (because Tumblr’s not liking me trying to embed the map) for walking directions from the station if you’re planning on being a little green and coming by Metro: http://bit.ly/zqxwn

What we’re serving up tonight:

In the Meat corner: VIETNAMESE BAKED GROUND GARLIC PORK (aka “nem nuong”) w/ EACH dish served with crispy fried egg roll wrapper in every bite.  Everything is also served w/ what we like to call our YUM YUM SK sauce that is traditionally served w/ Nem Nuong, and is painstakingly made up of slowly cooked glutinous rice, ground chicken and all sorts of Vietnamese flavors but so DARN GOOD with this.  I don’t even know how to describe it anymore, but the best way I can is… “Drool” (that’s for you Joe and Natasha ^_^)

In the Veggie/Kosher: CRISPY KIMCHI RICE PATTIES (or as I like to call it, one of our our new “game changer” veggie dishes because it’s so crisp-ity crunch-ity that you don’t need meat!!!)

The Side: ALL dishes served with I THINK JAPANESE GARLIC NOODLES which are oh so garlicky + delicious. DOH, can’t find my pic. Oh well, you’re just going to have to believe me on this one.  If you like garlic, Parmesan cheese and noodles… you’ll DEVOUR this.  If this changes, I’ll update on Facebook/twitter.

And there you have it.  Tonight’s going to be a tasty and fun night, ‘cause this sh-t is GOOD! ^_^  Hope to see you guys out, and as always LIMITED quantity (especially with our “game changer” ^_^).

If you think you’re going to show up later (closer to 8p or so), you can email, Facebook or Twitter your order BEFORE 6p (I can still operate on the buddy system right now if you wouldn’t believe it), and we’ll make sure to hold your food.  After 6p, I just get crazed and will try to check everything as much as possible, but no guarantees unless you get a direct response from me.  Thanks!

Xoxo,

TEAM SK