Javier "This is what a feminist looks like" J.'s Profile

The best damn beer tour around. You're not going to see much other than a room and a couple of vats for brewing, but you're going to taste and be entertained with their beer. While you soak up.. maybe one or two bits of knowledge in beer making along the way.

$1 gets you a glass and a really great buzz going as you sample the brewery's wide selection of brews.You also get a very good tour of the brewery. More than you ever really needed to know, but really, it's fun times.

Then you have the restaurant attached. I really couldn't express how much enjoyment I got out of the beer float. Something magical about beer and ice cream. It's like combining the best things in life!

The food was also pretty damn good, though I didn't get any beer while dining. I think I had way more than enough in the beer tour. So my burger was paired with some water. Had some of the soup as well and it was pretty nice to not get fries on the side of a burger. I mean, the carbs could soak up the beer alright, but the calories saved just went to the beer drinking!

Over all, this is one amazing place to come and enjoy the food, the beer tour and to get some pretty good beer merchandise from RedHook.

One of the best brewery tours I've ever been on.

I was having a pretty bad day. My attempt to make it to the Farmer's Market to pick up some food to cook failed as traffic sucked. Work in general was pretty harsh and hectic today to add in a general lack of sleep from the last few days.. yeah, it was just a bad day. So perhaps when I saw the Spring Street Smoke House truck, it was a glimmer of hope.  

The truck looked like it was about to close up shop. So hey, maybe I should be thankful that I was able to at least get that in. The picket fence, which seems like they put out around the truck was being packed up in the back. Menu was gone and so I had to ask what they were serving up.

BBQ Chicken, Sandwich or St. Luis spare ribs were my choices. In the grand scheme of things, that's a pretty good A,B,C type of option. I went with the St. Luis ribs, a side of potato salad and baked beans, $10 and 10 minutes later I had my plate of ribs.

I have to say, for $10 it was a pretty massive amount of food, especially of the BBQ variety. It was really warm and really did hit the spot. The baked beans weren't the best I ever had, but I thought they were pretty acceptable. The potato salad was pretty good. It could use some salt in some spots, but hey, that's based on your taste on how much you like salt.

On to the ribs. The meat was fall off the bone delicious and warm. The BBQ sauce wasn't overwhelming and didn't over power the taste of the ribs. For the $8 plus the $2 for the sides, I think I got a massively good deal. I heard of some people who didn't like the sandwich because it seemed over priced for what you got. I'm glad I went with the ribs in the end.

The food was warm, tasty and very much something I would do again if I saw the truck and was hungry. Probably the highlight of a piss poor day.

Would you like fries with that? Is something you wont hear here. More along the lines of "What will you like with your fries" rings true.  It's the foundation of your meal.. and it's a really great one at that.

They don't officially hit the streets till a couple more days but this is one food truck that you have to try. When noticing them on twitter doing practice runs in various locations I just had to go to the one nearest me after work on Wednesday in Downtown. Behind an art exhibit the truck was parked and wasn't very well lit. It almost felt like it was some sort of underground secret. I suppose in many ways it was as not another person was there.

Going up and noticing that this food truck is different than the others. For one thing, it's a lot longer. It seems they converted a Potato chip delivery truck and made it into a mobile deep frying beast. It's really long and it runs on oil... which is really cool when you think about it. It's a great way to be self sustaining.. as long as you have french fry oil to run it.

The menu is a chalk board on the outside with a couple of fry options. Take note, this is a major frying truck. After I got my order some guy came up and asked if they had anything that wasn't deep fried.... So come in knowing you're going to be giving yourself a little push to that heart attack.

Even though I was just one person I tried two different fries. I had to, what kind of reviewer would I be if I just had one plate?

Chili Cheese Fries - These were made with angus beef, Which if we believe the hype, is what all beef should be cooked with in burgers and chili these days? There is some chocolate and cheddar in this one. i mean, how could you go wrong with chocolate in the chili? It just adds to the flavor in so many ways that you can't possibly turn it down.

Is it as good as High Life Burgers chili fries? I'm not entirely sure. I mean, it's so damn close.. let's just say these chili fries were very damn good. You could also replace the fries with sweet potato fries for a buck, which is a pretty good price for the up grade!

Soda Pairing: Cock and Bull Ginger Beer:  Oh my, this soda really complimented the fries well. It muted some of the heavy flavors and it countered some of the heat.

I also tried the:

Raja Fries - There's a grilled kind of skirt steak nicely laid on top of the fries with caramelized onions, pablano chilies and some jack cheese. It was so damn good. I put on some Sriracha, which should be on every food truck around, and holy hell, I was enjoying the hell out of these fries.
The angus skirt steak was really tender, it was cooked right there to order, or at least re heated on the grill. So it really tasted fresh and still had that pink middle. Oh yes, that's how I like it.

Soda pairing: Birch Beer.
Again, you can trust them when they give you the soda recommendation. It compliments the meal in so many ways. In this case, it balanced some of the steak savory flavors and hell, it's birch beer. If you haven't drank birch beer, you're missing out, my friends. That stuff is delicious.  

There was a lot on the menu to try. The next time I track them down, I have to try the Kimchi Fries. It features Kurobota Pork Belly, cheddar, Onions and Kimchi. How can you go wrong with that? Pork belly is good no matter what you do with it.

I can't remember what the sweet potato fry one had other than some chicken, I believe. But since chicken is a little boring to me, I would prob. pass on that one.

There is a lot of Vegan options int he menu here. So don't worry about bring those picky friends. There is really something here for everyone.

The crew on the truck are really helpful and nice. I have to give them my mad props for making an amazing meal out of what is a little more than fries and some toppings. What a great idea and I'm glad they made this truck as it offers something new to the food truck scene that you will want to try.

Besides that, any truck that offers all those various kinds of sodas is great in my book. It's nice to see the smaller labels get some push and it shows the customers that soda flavors out there can vary way past the level of pepsi and coke.

They even have a credit card machine. how crazy is that for a truck to have that technology onboard. It's a $5 min, but just ordering a fry order will get you there.

This one gets a place in my stomach as one of my new favorite trucks. Even if it's just a fry truck!

Oh man, Cheap Banh Mi! You must be near the SGV. This location used to be a carls.. wait, I think it was. At the very least it's not a noodle planet/world/universe. I mean, those are all over the place on Valley.

In any event, the Banh Mi's in this hot spot are dirt cheap. You can even get in on a deal that gets you 3 for $5. That is really cheap. While it's low on your wallet, the meat quality isn't the best. But that's not going to stop you, is it? It doesn't stop me. The pickled items on the Banh mi cover up any sort of shady meat anyway.

Especially when you can see how they're making them, you will have no qualms with the quality. The food is all around good and the bread is very fresh and very delicious.

They have shrimp wraps here for cheap as well. What would normally cost you around 6-8 at fine upstanding place is about $3 here. That in itself means this is a great budget lunch.

I once went to a communist themed party and picked up a good 5-6 of these Banh Mi's and just cut them up. Had a very impressive and authentic dish for less than $15 and had the crowd impressed.

They even have Pho. Sure, it's not the best, but at $4.99, that is pretty cheap. The line moves quickly and the crowds, while a bit crowded, at least show that this place is maintaining some really good business. So you know it's good stuff.

One of the better Banh Mi places when you only have a few bucks in your wallet. It's very cheap eats!

Not sure what new material I can cover here besides stating the obvious. In that this is one hell of a great gastropub. I mean, literally is one of the best ones in town. Without question this is one of the "let's go to..." spots when I'm looking for a pint. It's that down to earth while also maintaining a level of hipness to it.

It's located in the fairly less traveled areas, being Highland Park/Eagle Rock area and it's true that cop cars seem to cruise by at least one each five minutes, you shouldn't by pass your chance to come here. Just be aware, you're not in the always safest place in town.

As for the location. It has a little bit of the edison in the retro lighting, you have all of an amazing bar when it comes to beer selection and then you have an utterly mind blowing food menu that will make you drool. There's always at least two or three items on there that I want to eat NOW! and of course the trouble is to narrow it down. Unless you're there with someone and you can persuade them to get one of the items and steal off them.

And the booze. How can you go wrong with $5 craftsman beer? Especially when it's the real, hand cranked beer from the tap that you wont get anywhere else? The beer selection again, is really great. It compliments the food greatly and I have lost count on how many tasty plates of food I've eaten here. So damn good. Just look at the board and wonder how you're going to eat all of that in one sitting.. I know I would like to.

Really one of the better pubs, true in all sense of the word, in Los Angeles. Really down to the roots but still with a hipness factor and a cool vibe to it. Especially nice is all the taco trucks/stands around this location making post drinking meals an easy option.

It's.. an experience. That's for sure.

I have a buddy who loves this place. Unironically. Ok, maybe he does love it ironically. I'm not ever really sure about him. This place is really like stepping back in time to the 70's and 80's to when your parents must have been hooking up and meeting at joints like this.

This place is what hipster joints aspire to be. At least in theory. Once you walk in and see how tragically unhip they are, then they realize how much they appreciate their ironic interest in moderation.

So why does my buddy like this place? This was the spot nearest to his work. So he wold cruz by here and, well.. enjoy a night away. Nothing like cooking up your own steak or drinking and getting a buzz in a room that comes with its own acid flash back. On that note, I'm pretty sure he scored his stash here many many times. No green medical symbol needed there.

It's a dive bar. Know that going in and get that idea out of your head that this has anything romantic about Venice, Italy besides the name out early and you'll be drinking cheap booze, getting your buzz on and hopefully not burning your own steak.

How can you not love this place? It has a night club atmosphere with endless supply of meat. With K-pop going on in the background, you can literally cook your meat to the massive beat that this place provides. I dare you to try it. It works.

The Atmosphere here is classy all the way. Like an upscale K-town bbq joint, you're going to smell like smoke when you leave. Simple as that. Then again, with Korean BBQ, how can you really go wrong? As long as the meat is not rancid, you're mileage will vary because you're doing the cooking. Here the food quality was pretty top notch.

They could have tossed in more sides, as I've been to Korean BBQ joints that load you up with a lot of options when it comes to the side plates. So that could be an improvement.

You have $2 valet parking and some reasonable amount of street parking depending on what time you show up around here. The restrooms have different names. Not sure what they mean, but they have the name.

The service is pretty quick. With a button at your finger to call upon them for your every grilling meat call, they do react pretty quickly. The lay out is pretty nice so you can really just randomly talk to your neighbors and get a sort of communal table going on there.

In the end, I would give this place a 3.5 stars. There's some room to improve in terms of sides, sometimes the music can be a little overwhelming and loud. But a solid Korean AYCE joint if I've ever saw one.

Usually expansion for a restaurant means that they'll be expanding out. For the case of Saladang, it means you open up another place five feet away from you.

The angel wings here are to die for. I love them very very much. They make this atheist wish there was an after life filled with angels.. just so I could eat their wings off.

This one is the more traditional thai place.. which may be why I'm never as excited to go here as I am to go to Song. Which offers more Fusion plates. But Saladang is the standard thai place and you should go in figuring out what you normally get when you go to any typical thai place.

The service, I have found, in this location is a little less on the gun as the other location. Which isn't to say it's bad. But it does lack something. Eh, maybe I'm just more into the Thai fusion factor, but this one is good if you're looking for the standard thai plate.

The ambiance is pretty good. I've had many big dining celebrations, meet ups here with friends and so forth. Very vegetarian friendly. So all your non-meat eater friends will be happy and you won't suffer from their inability to enjoy good food.

Just remember, Angel wings! GET THEM!

After getting their treats from a yelp event gift bag, I decided to check this place out. The decor was really nice and it felt really cool.

As for the real nitty gritty, the taste, I have to say, I've grown tired of the cupcake and dessert centric places but this place was really swell in that.

I especially like that you get the discount on the more you buy, it makes me feel like I'm bartering without really haggling. Really, that is the best to it without having that pretentious feel that comes from most pastry places.

You gotta give this place massive credit for the box the cupcake comes in. It's like a perfect gift for when you realize you forgot to get your friend a gift and are pressed for time. It's all pre-wrapped and ready to give as an easy gift!

The lady was craving coconut shrimp after a trip to Trade Vic's that really lacked a good butterfly coconut shrimp indulgence. To our surprise, on a night out for Belgian beer drinking, we stopped by to get some food in our bellies to soak up that alcohol content and we noticed the coconut shrimp here.

They were the worth the trip alone. Absolutely delicious in every way possible! I have to be honest, I love seafood. There's something just clean about your food being in water for most of its life. Sure, it may not be the cleanest oceans, but it's pretty good. In this case, I had the feast of a thousand seas pad thai.

It had just about everything tossed in there possible that comes from the ocean.It was damn good. Oh yeah. clams, shrimps, squid.. Oh my! But there is one mistake that I seem to make every time I go to a thai place. It's a trick, I tell you. Why is Thai tea so delicious and yet gone in a matter of seconds? It's the plight of thai tea. So I suppose I should just stick to the water.

The outdoor seating here is also pretty nice. I suppose it may not be all that nice now in the winter. Great for the summer and mid day in Pasadena, though.  

Service was pretty good and they took us with little wait and easy parking. Enjoyed it a lot more than the sister place a whole five feet away from it.