Another satisfied customer in Southern California

Edible recommendations and their dupes. Plus, a taboo substitute for a critical gamjatang ingredient.

Calibrate before taking my word for it

I have fairly pedestrian tastes; I’ve described myself as “the common man with standards.” I see a girlboss cafe (messy bun Target run get it done culture) and I know the drinks will be to my liking. Third wave coffee shop? Absolutely not you will not see me drinking their sour cold brew. I enjoy foods that are rich but not too heavy. Loco moco and country fried steak hit the spot. Alfredo pasta I cannot stand. There is a balance. I enjoy a “not too sweet but still sweet” treat. I like being able to “taste the ingredients,” not just powdered spices.

Geographically this covers spots in Los Angeles and Orange County.

Restaurants

“Roast” of the day

You eat at Dimes because of the Red Scare subreddit. I ate black coconut rice at Dimes in 2018 with my mom because I read a review by

Molly Young

on Bon Appetit’s Healthyish vertical and because L’estudio was closed at dinnertime. Meanwhile my dad waited with my little siblings at a lower Manhattan food hall that Boba Guys formerly resided in. There were probably no chairs and they couldn’t even walk around outside because it was a super chilly winter but dammit, I wanted to know what the hype was about, to experience the "dueling sensations of wholesomeness and decadence" as Young described (in a review of an entirely different restaurant). The entire piece, this idea of being the modern equivalent of a 2012 hipster millennial, was so alluring. It took me to Abracadabra in Williamsburg, which did not teach me to love the turmeric latte, but at least appreciate its warmth and Modern Love, which again, my family drove us to at my insistence (all the way from New Jersey, where other people call New York "the city" but not us because we don’t think New York is the center of the world). My dad was somewhat disgusted by the veganism while I was charmed by my first tempeh buffalo wings. We are not the same.

All that is to say Destroyer blows Dimes out of the water.

Even after racking up a $60 brunch bill for one, I felt that I had gotten a good value.

Destroyer (Culver City - LA) is a spin-off of fine dining restaurant Vespertine, which made me feel like I got a 3-course tasting menu at a fraction of the price. It was a luxury to dine there and enjoy intricate, thoughtful food with beautiful presentation.

This is the meal I will not bother trying to dupe, nor would I feel like duping. But it was inspiring, novel for me, and I consider such experiences worthwhile.

My savory course was caramelized chickpeas, crispy panisse, stewed cherry tomatoes, espelette, herbs

My dessert course was an assembly of hayward kiwi, aerated coconut yogurt, tapioca pearls, sorrel, and vanilla-almond oil

I drank a Kyoto-style iced coffee with light roast Ethiopian beans that was bright and acidic but shockingly tasty. That was my first experience drinking an acidic (versus bitter which I usually prefer) coffee and not hating it.

My second dessert was a chocolate chip cookie that was topped with sea salt and tarragon.

You don’t get assigned seats at Destroyer. They have outdoor seating that made me nervous about whether or not I was going to be able to find a seat before my food came out. I stood around and eventually mustered the gumption to ask a group of girls if I could get first dibs on their table after they finished. Luckily, I did not have to take a table for 3 on my own and feel guilty and scarf down my gorgeously plated food while the people who were in my position 20 minutes ago stood around and waited for me to finish my meal. I got to enjoy a leisurely brunch thanks to the employee who flagged me down and the couple who let me sit with them and their friends. That friend group was mostly former Beyond Meat employees, and they were really nice company. I had fun, and I felt such relief to know that I was the “kind of person” who could be invited and enjoy a meal with strangers.

Culver City Erewhon (LA)

They have a parking garage with 1 hour of free parking. It doesn’t feel sufficient given the money you’re going to drop but oh well. I made my time feel more worth it by giving up my phone number to a rebate app and getting $20 worth of “free” beverages and a lifetime of text messages that I technically did consent to.¹

I admit, the buffalo cauliflower is hard to dupe. They’re basically cauliflower nuggets and they crisp up again nicely in the air fryer or convection oven if you have leftovers. The easiest method to get roughly a similar vibe would be to cut and pat dry the cauliflower before coating it in cornstarch and nutritional yeast and then coating with avocado oil. This is the recipe I used from Cookies and Kate. Noble Made buffalo sauce is good. So is mayo with ranch seasoning. This recipe from Moribyan might be closer to Erewhon’s but it’s more steps.

If you are south of LA and want to save FIVE DOLLARS on the Strawberry Glaze Skin Smoothie, Haute Cafe in Rancho Santa Margarita makes a version called the Strawberry Glow for $15. I also recommend the breakfast bowl. But I recommend anything with a crispy potato.

The strawberry smoothie is not too hard to dupe flavorwise. The sea moss’s impact is negligible. An unflavored whey protein powder can serve in place of the collagen peptides or it can be neglected entirely. In lieu of coconut cream, you can also use coconut milk powder. The avocado and strawberry glaze aren’t entirely necessary, either. The critical ingredients are the dates, strawberries, and something coconutty, just a bit. If you’re following this recipe, I’d probably do 3 dates and half a frozen banana and no maple syrup. Mash the dates in hot water and put them in the blender first.

Amino Acid Trip is also not too hard to roughly replicate. Half a frozen banana, fist size of pineapple, squeeze of half a lemon, a few blueberries, something coconutty. It’s more acidic and fresh compared to the Strawberry Glaze, which is straight-up sweet and indulgent.

Tana Ethiopian Restaurant (Anaheim - OC)

I need more people to know about this place. It’s a small, honey restaurant with warming, cozy food. The stews are beefy and flavorful, not so much a hot-spicy capsaicin bomb but more subtle and earthy. It’s the kind of place where you can really taste the ingredients, not just the seasonings. Portion-wise, a combo platter and 2 sambusas are sufficient for two.

Cream Pan (OC/LA)

Japanese curry from the box roux will never compete with “restaurant curry.” I have been told by Reddit that restaurants use S&B Dinner Curry Mix flakes. They are sold in kilograms units. I have never purchased it myself, so if anyone can attest to this, please speak up! The people long to know. Usually the curry from the box needs a bit of garam masala to give it an extra oomph. It makes it about 17% more “restauranty” but not all the way there.

Cream Pan’s curry is a simple and tasty Japanese style curry. Just sauce, chicken, and rice. Be sure to also get a strawberry custard croissant for dessert. The mild crunch of the croissant with the sweet custard and tartish strawberry is a textural and delight.

(It’s an outdoor only seating bakery)

Sunny Dumpling House in Lake Forest (OC)

Dumplings handmade on the spot. That’s all it took to convince me.

“Not too sweet” but still sweet beverages for basic Bs like me

Coffee Dose in Irvine (OC)

The Orange Dreamscicle Latte is a creamscicle flavored coffee. It just hits the spot idk. Make it at home with espresso (or pourover like I did) + orange oleo saccharum + vanilla paste or vanilla syrup + oat milk.

Kei Coffee in Westminster (OC)

Take the orange oleo saccharum + espresso + club soda over ice and you have their orange espresso tonic. Theirs reminded me of a chocolate orange, so extra points for deep, chocolatey beans. This could also be good with cold brew.

Triple coconut Thai tea is refreshing, sweet, and coconutty but not in a sunscreen way. I imagine it’s hydrating from the coconut water. The other two coconut elements are the coconut cream and coconut flakes.

Caffe In in Tustin (OC)

Anything cream top is their specialty. Their default matcha cream top will taste like a matcha ice cream. If you get the ceremonial matcha with cream top, that’s more “not too sweet” vibes.

Cream top is thicker than sweetened cold foam call but not quite as stable as whipped cream. Cream top is the einspanner topping.

Stereoscope (OC/LA)

Do NOT get the strawberry matcha latte at Stereoscope without upgrading it to ceremonial matcha. Ceremonial is more expensive, but the default matcha powder they use for that beverage is presweetened and practically undrinkable with the strawberry milk.

Dessert

Honeymee (OC/LA)

Wholesome milk ice cream the way Ray Peat intended. I like the matcha ice cream with honeycomb topping. Or the matcha affogato.

626 Ice Cream (SGV-LA)

Inventive Asian soft serve and highly tasty. They let you sample everything before trying. Expect to spend $10 on 2 scoops.

The recipe they said couldn’t be done. They called it sacrilege.

Gamjatang 감자탕 no gamja

Gamjatang is a stew that is hearty, rich, and bright. It has a heavy pork broth made refreshing and somewhat herby by the perilla leaf topping and perilla seed powder.

Gamja means potato in Korean, but in the context of this recipe they’re talking about the pork bones because the spinal cord in the backbone of the pig is called gamja. Hence, pork bone stew. Even so, people put potato in this stew because they expect it due to the name. I didn’t put potato in it because I feel like it doesn’t make sense to eat potato with rice. That’s a me thing. But that’s actually not the sacrilegious thing I did to this soup.

This is what I’m doing for you, okay?

The traditional recipe, using pork neck bone, is pretty complicated. It’s a dish my parents don’t bother to make at home. I don’t even particularly enjoy pork neck. When I order it at a restaurant, the soup arrives sizzling hot, and I take about 10 minutes disassembling my meat so I can eat without hindrance. Pork neck is a pain to eat because there are so many little crevices and squishy bits. I only really like the muscle. I can do without the intermuscular fat, so I discard all of that and the bones. MARBLING is good; that’s INTRAMUSCULAR fat. I like that. Squishy collageny bits I don’t care for. Ribs are good because it’s very easy to separate the meat from the bones.

But the commenters at Serious Eats find it an essential part of the stew. I admit, the only thing I took from that recipe was the validation that pork ribs could be used instead of neck bones and overall I did not trust it as someone making gamjatang for the first time. But everyone thinks pork neck bones are SO critical! I love my abomination stew. <3 Everyone always thinks Asian cooking has to be “authentic” to be any good. That’s some white hipster globalist nonsense. People with particular preferences are universal.

For success, follow

Maangchi

’s recipe with precision. She is the GOAT of English diaspora Korean cooking for good reason. The only place with wiggle room is the amount of vegetables you can add. Adding more vegetables will not “water down” this soup so vegefiy with abandon. I would not stray from using perilla powder, which unfortunately seems to be the hardest ingredient to acquire. I would not settle for roasted sesame powder.

To use pork ribs instead, 2 pounds including the bones will suffice. Salt and sear the ribs first. Then throw them in with mushroom, ginger, onion, quarter to half cup of mirin (or soju or sake), and water. Slow cook or simmer for 8 hours. (Ribs are also convenient because you don’t have to clean the bones.) From that soup base, continue with the rest of the ingredients and the recipe.

1. it is called Aisle