Tuesday, May 29, 2012

KoKo Chicken and BBQ - @@@

Arrived in LA on late flight from east coast and after some Disney beignets wanted something savory. After yelping some late night spots around my hotel, I settled on this Korean chicken spot down the street. I love Korean style fried chicken, as it gets super crispy and has some flavor cooked in, usually soy or garlic.

When I got here, it was this small, clean spot in a strip mall. Definitely localish which doesn't bother me at all. Next door was a liquor store with some guys sitting outside just chilling on a late Cali night. Looking at the menu it was exactly what I was looking for, some fried chicken choices. It was not a Korean BBQ where they have a center grill but I know that and was looking forward to the fried chicken. There was the soy flavored chicken but also crispy fried chicken with sauce to dip it in. I asked the server what he would go with and he suggested the fried chicken with sauce on the side. I went with the hot sauce and sweet spicy sauce.

First came out a cole slaw-ish dish that I thought was quite refreshing. It was topped with a thousand island-ish based sauce that was kinda spicy. Liked it. Then the chicken. Extremely crispy and hot when it came out; I had the dozen wings. The sauce was good but not earth shattering. The spicy sweet was like a BDubs Asian zing sauce with less heat. The hot sauce was also somewhat sweet and not nearly as hot as I was expecting. The chicken was good but lacked salt. It needed that sprinkling of salt right when it came out of the fryer to give it that last finishing touch. Overall good though.

Finally the last exciting story was mid-meal the mom of the restaurant went screaming out into the parking lot! Everyone inside was like what the heck?? We look outside and those guys chilling at the liquor store got in a fight and one guy had the other guy pinned down on the concrete. Crazy! Cops definitely called and when I left there were still 3 police cars outside almost blocking me in.

Overall cool little local spot that served some decent chicken. Would love I have checked out the soy wings as well, but they didn't have a combo. It was certainly served fresh and hot. Check it out

8532 Commonwealth Ave
Buena Park, CA 90621

Monday, May 28, 2012

Lucky Garden - @@@@@

Thursday continued with the repeat restaurants. Not much more needs to be said about this place, as it is one of my favorite spots in PVD. Got the standard black pepper beef, Chinese broccoli, and rice. No menu needed. Great dinner.

1852 Smith St
North Providence, RI 02911

Cassarino's - @@@

Continuing on going to PVD favorites, we went to to Cassarino's Wednesday night. The first time I really liked it, but I think that was before the massive Italian overload. This time I'll give it a 3 of 5 with the extra point for one of the funniest dinners in a while. There were a bunch of us just joking around and was quite enjoyable.

As for the food, I started trying to split meals and getting different courses that I would be too full to otherwise get. So we started with sampler app with fried calamari, bruschetta, clams casino, and stuffed mushrooms. Pretty good; the bruschetta was really cheesy. Salad course was caprice, which was really large. I didn't even finish it all as it had greens in addition to the basil. Not the beat I've had, wouldn't recommend it unless you are going for a meal. Main course was a penne pasta with broccoli rabe, roasted red peppers, sausage, chicken, and Gorgonzola cheese. A lot of stuff I like individually, but put together it was just ok. It was missing garlic surprisingly which I think would've helped it a lot. That is how I cook something similar to this at home. After all this, still went dessert which was a peanut butter pie. I was surprised it wasn't chilled, which I would've thought would make it better. It seemed a little dry overall and did not stand out.

Meal time overall was fun and since I know my coworkers like it we will be bak sometime. There are certainly worse places to end up at in Federal Hill.

177 Atwells Ave
Providence, RI 02903

Saturday, May 26, 2012

Madeira - @@@@

Tuesday went to Madeira in what was to become the start of going back to places I have been already. Not much else to say that differs from the first post about them, I thought it was still high quality food that is served in a style I rarely get elsewhere. Still had the bife a casa (sirloin steak topped with ham, egg, and red wine sauce) with the double starches.

Appetizer of Madeira-style wings was a letdown as they were basically wing dings with a side of hot sauce. Portuguese soup also not what I expected as I thought it would have larger and more pieces of kale and sausage. But the main dish is why I came back and did not disappoint. Go here, and enjoy some authentic Portuguese cuisine.

288 Warren Ave
East Providence, RI 02914

The American - @@@

Started off the week by going to a place recommended by some of my coworkers. They had gone there earlier in the project and thought that I would like it. They were right, it was pretty good.

Started off with an appetizer of bacon, where I have a separate pic. It was good, thick cut like pork belly. Pretty salty, it was a good way to kick off the meal.

For my entree, I went with a pork chop with garlic butter and peperoncinis. Again recommended to me, it was pretty standard. They did not ask me how I wanted it cooked and I didn't think to ask. It came out more well done than I would've preferred. The butter sauce helped, and the peperoncinis added a little spice to it. As you can notice, I did not violate my rule of pork chops with bone on it. Has to have it to add flavor.

Surprisingly had desert as well. Table split some mudpie and key lime pie. As with the meal, good not great.

Perhaps the highlight of the night was the mass amount of media at the location when we pulled in. As the restaurant is connected to some office building, there a major hearing with Curt Schilling and the RI governor. Had something to do with Schilling's company or something like that according to the staff at the restaurant. Found out today Schilling just laid off his entire video game company, not a good look all around and an overall sad story for citizens according to the news.

Anyways, back to the restaurant, I give it a 3 of 5. I call this place a "corporate American" spot because it is upscale American-ish food (meat dominated dishes) that is a little more fancy for those business travelers on expense accounts. Not as much as downtown Pittsburgh; it was a little better and cheaper in comparison. Good but not great, would check it out again at some point.

311 Iron Horse Way
Providence, RI 02908

Back to PVD!

Just started my new project this week. Thanks to all that have helped us get through the past few months...it is much appreciated!!

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