Fun with enclaves

I was originally going to title this post "you don't make friends with salad,"* however, having used that for a previous posting in 2005 <yikes!>, I had to opt for something else.

Just a few days ago, I was in Los Angeles for the start up of a new project to examine and address the county's jail overcrowding problem. My colleagues and I had a packed schedule.  We had lots of people to meet and plenty of things to learn, not least of which was how to navigate traffic using a GPS device that we had yet to trust fully.  Travelling with co-workers is a low cost way to establish team building, I can tell you that much.

Eating with colleagues while on the road is also a great way to get to know one another.  We managed to find plenty of good restaurants in Arcadia, where we lodged, and in the city proper.  It was also surprisingly easy for us to agree on where and what to eat.  I say "easy" not to indicate that the personalities of my colleagues were difficult, but rather to compare this to other occasions where I've had to coordinate and wrestle agreements from groups of people as to where to eat (something I seem to have done thru almost my entire adult life, and some of my teenage years).  Throw in these additional factors - our days were exhausting, we hadn't done a lot of research in advance about food options, and I had an unstated (and possibly shared, though never confirmed) desire to avoid eating in chain restaurants as much as possible - and you can imagine things going awry easily.

One item in our favor was the advice of my former colleague Heidi, whose friend sent in a recommendation for Soot Bull Jeep, a Korean restaurant downtown on 8th and South Catalina. After a slight struggle with fatigue and street parking (they've got a big ol' parking lot, btw), we plopped into a booth and went straight for the basics - an order of kalbi and what I figure was bulgogi (referred to as the "Spencer" cut).

Ah, luscious meats!  They were grilled over a charcoal fire rather than a gas flame, which I found surprising, having never encountered that setup in NYC Korean joints.  Just those two orders were enough for us four hale and hearty women to feel comfortably satisfied as opposed to stuffed.  The panchan were fine, although I don't think I got to try the kim chee (that may have been hoarded by one of my colleague).  I particularly liked the spicy scallion salad for the starter.  Note to diners: I don't think the ventilation system did a damn bit of good. Plan on emerging smelly but happy.

I wouldn't rate this the best Korean restaurant I've been to - that would be one in Manhattan's Koreatown whose name now escapes me - but I definitely recommend this.  Good flavors, good fumes, laid back, and a good value, to boot.

More L.A. items to follow...

* I also just learned that the phrase from the Simpsons is actually "you don't win friends with salad," as this wondrously annoying website indicates.

Comments

[Rich]

I'm always hungry after reading your blog entries- and I just finished dinner!

[pauline]

woo... will have to try it one of these days...