a cut above

santa monica, ca

website

what comes to mind when you hear the phrase "hipster butcher shop"? whatever is in your mind's eye is probably a pretty accurate representation of a cut above. they sell beautiful meat - the kind that is marbled in all the right places and has a rich color that you know will taste good no matter what you do to it. but they also sell sandwiches - very popular sandwiches. pictured is the bbq pulled pork - slow roasted pork shoulder with secret sauce, pickled carrots, red onions, served on a brioche bun. i've tried nearly every sandwich on their chalkboard menu - grassfed roast beef, roasted turkey club, italian salumi, chicken salad ... all delicious. i've heard the salads are good here, but unless you're a vegetarian, i recommend a meaty sandwich or their beef chili.

big thunder ranch barbecue @ disneyland

anaheim, ca

website

for derek and myself, a trip to disneyland is as much about the snacks as it is about the rides. and the cheerful disney music accompanying your every step. and the mental gymnastics of determining the optimal allocation of fast passes. but this past june was our first time visiting big thunder ranch barbecue. turns out, it's all-you-can-eat! if we had known that in advance, we would have prepared to be hungrier. sadly, we only had the stomachs for one extra bucket of ribs and chicken. meat was decent. beans and coleslaw were both very good. cornbread was completely tasteless. still, a pretty good option if you've managed to avoid snacking on corn, churros, frozen bananas, corn dogs, or popcorn throughout the day and can actually eat enough ribs and wings to justify the price.

genwa

los angeles, ca

website

okay, the backlog is getting overwhelming and i'm now getting nearly daily reminders from various people that i haven't updated my blog in forever. so i'm going to try to catch up, but might end up paying short shrift to some places. like this one. i've already suggested that los angeles has the best korean bbq in the country. (having tried korean bbq in NY, LA, Seattle, and SF, i consider myself an expert). anyway, cindy c took anthony and i here for korean bbq before catching our flights back to palo alto and DC. in august 2012. (did i mention that i'm behind on my blogging). anyway, it was delicious. my favorite is the thinly sliced daikon wrapper for the barbecued beef. the perfect crunchy and tart balance to the fatty meat. yum! okay, one down. only several dozen left to go ...

juban

menlo park, ca

website

miracle of miracles, derek and i were both leaving the office before 7 pm. we decided to celebrate by going out to dinner. and we decided since we had so much time on our hands, we should drive over to menlo park and check out a restaurant downtown (downtown of course being a single street with a handful of restaurants and shops). juban is japanese-style korean bbq, if that makes any sense. it's similar to gyu-kaku in new york city. the meat is prepared in a soy sauce-based marinade and is usually cut to be more aesthetically pleasing than you would find in a typical korean bbq spot.

the meat was very good and it was fun to cook it ourselves at our table. unfortunately the meal was missing the banchan dishes that you usually get with korean bbq and they even made us pay extra for the kimchi. we did, however, get an excellent bowl of oxtail soup - a warm and comforting broth, filled with rice and oxtail. since you do all of the cooking at your table, this is a very efficient place to eat - it took us about a half hour from getting seated to getting our check. a pretty good option for japanese bbq in the south bay.

L&L hawaiian barbecue

palo alto, ca

website

i'm surprised i haven't blogged L&L's yet because derek and i frequently eat at their many locations in the bay area. my favorite entree is the kahlua pork with cabbage + side of rice + side of macaroni salad. the macaroni salad is addictive. the portions can be pretty large, but they offer a mini version, which is a good size for lunch.

after running some errands, derek and i were hungry and needed a snack before dinner. we decided to stop by L&L's on our way up to san francisco. we ordered the spam musubi which has grilled spam, rice, and teriyaki sauce wrapped in nori (dried seaweed paper). delicious. and of course we also ordered a side of macaroni salad. a perfect snack.

armadillo willy's

los altos, ca

website

we used to live in the flatiron district which had several excellent bbq restaurants located nearby, like hill country and blue smoke. we've also visited austin, where a+m served us amazing bbq from the salt lick. i used to make frequent trips to north carolina for work and had excellent bbq there (even at the airport...) so, we're quite picky when it comes to bbq.

armadillo willy's is located between derek's office and our apartment, which means its perfect for him to pick up on his way home from work. the food is pretty good. it's not as good as anything i listed earlier, but its sufficient to satisfy our bbq cravings. derek likes the ribs, i like the brisket sandwich (chopped, not sliced) and their "texas tots." if you're stuck in los altos and are craving bbq, i highly recommend.

riki

link to yelp

midtown, nyc

it's been nearly a month since my last post. a lot of working, some unpacking, and quite a bit of eating. i've been in california for over a month now, but i have such a backlog that this post is about a restaurant we went to when tina visited jenny and i in midtown several weeks ago. riki. jenny first discovered this place years ago, but since then the ownership and menu changed significantly. we noticed the change while walking in, but decided we were too lazy to go elsewhere.

riki used to be an awesome yakitori spot, but now it's turned into a mediocre japanese bbq spot. we ordered "shabu-shabu" style meats and tripe to cook on our table's grill. "shabu-shabu" style apparently refers to thinly sliced meat that you typically find at hot pot restaurants, but here you grill it instead of boiling it. grilled meat is always going to taste pretty good, but riki's meat was lacking the flavor that you typically get at korean restaurants. disappointing food, but the company more than made up for it.

gyu-kaku

new york, ny

website

this was my first time trying japanese bbq. it's very similar to korean bbq (they even have kalbi, tofu chigae, etc.) except that it's a shabu-shabu version of korean bbq. you can choose various meats and vegetables and then you use your personal tongs to cook the food piece-by-piece to your liking.

okay, not as good as soon won galbi, but it was still very tasty. derek and i ordered the garlic kalbi, regular kalbi, brisket, and ribeye. you can choose what marinade you want on each meat. my favorite was the brisket, of course. derek's favorite was the garlic kalbi. we also ordered the tofu chigae soup which was not as spicy as koreans usually make it. another plus - they have excellent ventilation so we didn't smell like cooked meat afterwards.

wildwood barbeque

new york, ny

website

this is a huge restaurant on park avenue south. the interior is so big and over-the-top that it seems to come straight out of frontierland from disneyworld. but the ribs are so good that i don't mind. derek and i have tried a lot of bbq places and wildwood's kansas city baby back ribs are our favorite ribs. i'm honestly not sure how authentic the ribs are, having never been to kansas city, but i know what i like. the ribs are covered in "spicy chipotle bbq" sauce which is just spicy enough to be tasty.

we usually order a whole rack and a few sides. i like their tater tots (again, i'm skeptical about authenticity here) and derek likes their fries. but it's really all about the ribs. the picture is a few ribs short of a full rack as i had to first hoard some on my plate. derek is a rib-eating machine and many times he has finished the entire order while i'm still gnawing on my second rib.

soo won galbi

los angeles, ca

link to yelp

wow - this was quite a lunch. jinny and kurt found this place on yelp. there's an odd "valet" system where a guy stands near the restaurant, parks your car for you in the small lot that you just drove into, and then halfway through your meal, gives your keys back to you and asks for money. whatever - the food was amazing! i'm glad my brother chris drove an hour into the city to join us and he seemed pretty happy as well.

this was better than any korean food that i've had in new york and it was half the price of our usual k-town bbq meals. the highlight? the BEEF BACON. we're pretty sure that it's brisket, but somehow the thinly sliced pieces of meat sizzle on the hot grill right in front of you to the point where it starts tasting like bacon. but with beef. yum. this restaurant also provides flat rice noodle and sliced daikon wrappers to wrap your meat in. so good. i'm glad i went, but my visits to 32nd street k-town will never be the same again.