More burgers! (unfortunately looks like no beer this time)

Have been hearing good things about Umami Burger recently (has been #1 on the local yelp page for a while). Any restaurant that focuses their food on a specific taste definitely attracts my interest, plus sweet potato fries and potentially "awesome" burgers always get extra points... I think this will be my next food appreciation trip :)

KogiBBQ!

Hit up the Kogi truck last friday night in the parking lot of The Brig in Venice and I figured I should write something up... In case you have not yet heard of the awesomeness that is kogibbq, the Kogi truck (there are actually 2, roja and verde) is an LA-style taco truck (I know this one confuses people from other parts of the country, but yes we actually have trucks in LA that serve tacos and don't totally suck/make you sick. Not all of them are good, but some) except that they serve Korean BBQ tacos! This is a mix that I am immediately drawn to in my search for new and exciting flavors. The idea is to take korean bbq meats and marinade them korean style then throw them in a taco, fresh from the truck! In an additional stroke of genius, they have a twitter feed so you always know exactly where the truck is and where it is going.



Anyway, KogiBBQ has been one of the big 'foodie' crazes around here for the past 6 months, so as with any foodie fad you hear both the stories of how it is the most amazing thing ever and of how it is "over hyped and disappointing." I would say that (as with ANY foodie fad) it is overhyped, but that doesn't mean it isn't good! I am here to appreciate food not criticize it :) On that note, I would say that I really really enjoyed these tacos. Don't forget the Sriracha, it definitely added a lot for me!

I had one of each kind of meat taco: chicken, pork, and beef shortrib:


I haven't tried their tofu, or any of their burritos but I have heard good things about them as well. In case you were wondering, KogiBBQ does actually taste excellent when you are 100% sober (unlike some taco trucks that are only 'amazing' when you are drunk).

Kogi has also recently been selling out of a brick and motor which I believe also has an extra rotating experimental item or two, so I plan to check that out soon!

Rubio's Salsa Picante?

So if you have never tried Rubio's Salsa Picante you need to, it is incredibly addicting! Their tacos are pretty good in general but the main thing that keeps me going back there is the salsa picante (this is their "spicy" salsa, the darker red one with black flecks in it), it isn't all that spicy but has a great mix of some heat and flavor... Anyway I have been wanting to get some for home use for a while, I recently stumbled upon a post on chowhound with someone claiming to have found a recipe that tastes the same. Haven't tried it yet, apparently 'frying chili peppers releases a fume that can be very irritating to your throat' so they recommend cooking it outside. Anyway, I will try it soon and see if it is really as good:

1 small can of tomato sauce - any brand is ok
2 T or more of red chili pepper flakes
2 tsp sugar or to taste
Salt 1 T or to taste

Toast/char the chili flakes in a frying pan – don’t burn! They should be dark not burnt
Toss the pan constantly for even charring. I leave the seeds in. Don't let them get to blackend. (I used a small saute pan, non stick)I would lift the pan when it got to hot and tossed the flakes all around. When the flakes are at the dark color you desire:
Add the can of sauce, let it simmer and reduce. Tasting it, it will taste like tomato sauce with the flakes - not good and so you will need to add
salt to taste - I added it a little at a time. Now it will begin to start tasting better
Add sugar to taste- same process a little at a time - keep tasting
Let it continue to simmer and reduce on low then turn it off and let it sit. Add a little water to thin it, not too much!
I then turned the heat back on and let it cook a little longer, maybe 5 minutes stirring it to make sure i like the consistency. I added another pinch of sugar at this point turned the flame off and let it cool. Once it was cool:
Pour salsa into a container and serve with taco salads, tacos or use wherever!
The addition of the sugar made it so much better! And today, it was excellent!

Let me know how you think it compares if you try it! Enjoy! :)

Cheese info

Stumbled upon a cool blog post the other day about the longevity of cheese, and learned something that I really should have known already:

Real cheese is alive. Suffocation is the enemy. Plastic wrap, plastic bags, and other airtight containers should be avoided in all cases except the previously mentioned fresh cheeses. These storage methods trap in stale air, as well as prohibiting the cheese from venting moisture and other byproducts. Once a soggy oxygen deprived environment develops, anaerobic bacteria present themselves. This is a bad thing. This is spoilage. Butcher paper, parchment paper, and wax paper avoid this problem.

Read the whole thing here.

Chocolate

I will also be doing this sometime very soon!

Definitely looks like they have some interesting stuff:

Dark chocolate ganache combined with orange zest and spiced with Sichuan pepper, covered with dark chocolate, rolled in dried orange peel.

and

Dark and milk chocolate ganache, with ginger and lemon zest, covered with milk chocolate, rolled in dried lime peel.

:)