Category Archives: Bar & Restaurant Reviews

Animal Restaurant – Los Angeles (Loco Moco)

Posted by The Tiki Chick in Bar & Restaurant Reviews and tagged with , , ,

img_4001

After completing phase one of “Loco for Loco Moco: No Joke-o” (me at Bruddah’s Hawaiian Foods, and the Gastronomer at somewhere I’m not sure because she hasn’t blogged about it yet), it was time to try the luxe loco moco at Animal, a restaurant with the same name as my favorite Muppet, no less. It’s on Fairfax, right across from the ill-fated Largo, and unless you know what you’re looking for you might fly right past it since it’s unmarked, that’s how you know it’s hip.

img_3982

After asking if it was our first visit (it was), our server went through the menu describing dishes and pointing out her favorites. (The loco moco was notably not on that list. For a second time, I wondered what we were in for.)

img_3994

The foie gras loco moco ($35) came with stubby Carolina Gold rice, Niman Ranch hamburger, Spam and a big slab of seared foie gras (that’s mostly what you see in that photo) topped with a fried quail egg. The gravy element of the moco was substituted with teriyaki sauce and dots of Sriracha, which made it less comfort food-y. The foie was great, but it definitely took center stage in the dish and it made it a little hard to discern all the flavors in each forkful. It was pretty ridiculous!

If you want to hear about the rest of the meal, there are more photos…after the jump!

Continue reading →

Bruddah’s Hawaiian Foods – Gardena, CA

Posted by The Tiki Chick in Bar & Restaurant Reviews and tagged with , ,

img_3926

Inspired by the luxe loco moco dreamed up by Animal, the Gastronomer and I decided to do a taste comparison that I’m officially dubbing “Loco for Loco Moco: No Joke-O.” For part one, we would sample the original version: rice, hamburger/spam and eggs over easy, covered in gravy.

Unfortunately, due to scheduling conflicts in our busy and fabulous lives, we had to do our base tastings at separate places. A cursory search for loco moco in Los Angeles, had brought up a two-year-old Chowhound thread where the consensus was that Bruddah’s serves up the best in LA.

img_3925

Bruddah’s is found in an unassuming location on Gardena Blvd., which had a very Main Street style feel that seems to have seen better days. Normally that would be quite a drive from the Valley, but I was on my way to San Diego so it was kind of on the way.

img_3924

I snapped this pic when the lunch rush was slowing down, but earlier the place was filled with locals.

img_3921

I ordered the loco moco with spam ($6.95) instead of hamburger, which was a dollar more. I have to admit, it was a little intimidating to be confronted with this big brown blob. I wondered what I’d gotten myself into.

img_3923

I seemed to have had a better introductory experience to loco moco than the Gastronomer, though. We compared notes the next day and I believe her exact words were: “Did you vom?”

On the contrary, I consumed nearly all of my heaping Hawaiian heart attack on a plate. It was the fried Spam that took it to a supremely salty level that I liked. (Tasted much better than the Spam I remembered eating from our elementary school earthquake kits. SoCal kids, you know what I’m talking about.) The gooey egg yolk and mushy overall texture made it great comfort food.

Bruddah’s Hawaiian Foods

1033 W. Gardena Blvd.

Gardena, CA 90247

310-323-9112

P.S. Wikipedia tells a charming, questionably authentic origin story of the dish, that it was created by some local boys at the Lincoln Grill in Hilo, Hawaii.

“One of the boys, George Okimoto was nicknamed ‘Crazy’ because of the wild way he played football. Crazy in Spanish is loco so the boys named the dish loco moco just on a whim. Moco had no special meaning except it rhymed with loco, however unknown to them it happens to be Spanish for ‘mucus’.”

Um, ew?

VOM.

Bruddah's Hawaiian Foods on Urbanspoon

Luau – Beverly Hills, CA

Posted by The Tiki Chick in Bar & Restaurant Reviews and tagged with , ,

l-3
The venerable Ms. Virbila in her Los Angeles Times review called Luau “the most sedate tiki lounge ever” and I can see what she meant—the quasi-fine dining atmosphere put a bit of a damper on the hedonistic tendencies that tiki spots can bring out.

img_3519
The space was smaller than I expected but I thought it was lovely.

l
Soft light from the pufferfish lanterns reflects off the mirror shard-studded wall and it’s all dark and kind of romantic, but also a bit spooky at the same time with the slow, plodding island xylophone music pumped in.

(E.T.A. And there you have my first impression of exotica music before I even knew what it was…)

l-6

Drinks were small and expensive, but potent. And because I’m a budding tiki nerd (er, enthusiast), I had fun comparing the cocktail menu to the original Luau one posted online at Arkiva Tropika. I had the Luau Coconut ($16), which was of course served in the aforementioned item. However, it was a “new coconut” and thus without the shell it seemed kind of naked (and slightly squishy). The coconut milk/rum concoction inside was tasty, but it seemed like I only got a few sips because it was mostly filled with crushed ice.

l-4

Our waitress said there wasn’t a pupu platter per se, but that you could kind of design your own with four picks from the “classic” pupus, not with any of the “nouvelle” ones though. We decided to save room for dessert and went straight for the mains. The soy-glazed Chilean sea bass ($35 for 8 oz.) was delectable, but the few accompanying pieces of garlic bok choy were bland. The NY steak ($44) was served already cut up into pieces and came with two sauces and a side of taro root fries (yum!). However, I think Mr. Baseball was more impressed with the above pufferfish lanterns than he was with his steak.

l-1

The pineapple upside down “chaos” ($13) was more like a pineapple upside down minor scuffle. It had the consistency of a pound cake and wasn’t very caramelized on top. Slopped next to it was a spiced applesauce that we didn’t like. Maybe the key lime pie tart with macadamia nut crust would be more promising? Perhaps I’ll find out next time…

8/17/09 Update: Well, it seems like Luau is now closed. A couple weeks I had called and their voicemail had said it was temporary and in the interim recommended diners to Mako and Robata-ya (both from Luau’s chef Mako Tanaka). Bummer, as Luau had tried to beat the recession blues (and lure in more price-conscious folks) with a Sunday night Chinese prix-fixe supper and Dow Jones drink that I didn’t get to try.

l-5

Luau
369 N. Bedford Dr.
Beverly Hills, CA 90209
310-274-0090

Luau on Urbanspoon