Asian Food Choice Around Calamigos
Thai Food:
Thai cuisine is famous for its light taste with strong herb aromas. If you like some refreshing and yummy dishes, Thai food is one of your best choices.
Address: 5665 Las Virgenes Rd (16 min drive)
Recommended Dish:
Pad Thai (main dish): Stir-fried rice noodle with egg, green onion, bean sprouts. The sour and sweet flavor will make you want more of it.
Shrimp Rolls (appetizer): crispy wonton blanketed shrimps and ground chicken served with sweet Thai sauce. While wonton skin creates a light and crispy texture for the coating, it also locks all the juice from shrimp and chicken. Dipping them into the Thai sauce mediates the oiliness from deep-fried. A really good appetizer!
Green Curry (main dish): remember to ask for rice or Roti! Although Green Curry is based on coconut milk and green chilies, It is not spicy from Green Basil Thai. This dish preserves the rich and creamy parts of coconut milk, and the heat from green chilies which makes the eaters want more after their first bite. The best combination for Green Curry is rice. Get a spoonful of Green Curry on top of the white rice and let the curry immerse into the rice. Highly recommend trying this out!
Exotic choice: Poh Tak Soup: A special seafood soup with squid, shrimp, imitation crab, and a lot of Thai herbs. The spiciness comes from the use of ginger. A really good choice for a cold weather day to have this soup!
Address: 18763 Pacific Coast Hwy (25 min)
Recommended Dish:
Golden Bags: Crispy wonton filled with ground chicken and shrimp served with sweet chili sauce. Similar to Shrimp Rolls from Green Basil. However, Cholada’s dishes are more aesthetic in presenting while having a high-quality taste. The difference of wrapping into bag shape preserves more juice from chicken and shrimp. Golden Bags will bring you a surprise if you order it.
Crab Fried Rice: REAL CRAB MEAT is one of the best parts of this fried rice. Egg, rice, and crab meat create layers of flavor and texture to this dish. Not sticky rice is the best proof of good fried rice. Besides eating by itself, having it with curry is another great choice of consuming this dish.
All Curry dishes are worth trying out!
Sweet Mango & Sticky Rice (Seasonal): If you doubt how rice can become part of the desert, then you should definitely give it a try to Sweet Mango & Sticky Rice! It will change your mind. Wrapping with lotus leaf gives the sticky rice a unique fresh herb aroma. Dripping some coconut milk dressing to the sticky rice and mango combines the sweetness of mango and thickness of sticky rice together perfectly. Highly recommended!
Japanese Food:
Sushi, ramen, tempura… rich flavor from the material itself is one of the principles Japanese dishes hold. If you like creamy soup or seafood in general, here are some good restaurants to check out.
Address: 2057 Sawtelle Blvd (35 min)
Tips: If you’re planning to have a quick meal, Tsujita is not the first choice. Since Tsujita is always so popular, the line usually takes around 20 minutes to wait. However, the food here is worth waiting for if you have time.
Recommended Dish:
Ajitama Tsukemen: Tsujita’s signature dipping style noodle. If it’s your first time coming to Tsujita, you definitely need to try their dipping noodle. The thick soup will form a nice layer whenever you dip the noodle in. The richness of the soup is incredible! If you feel one bowl of noodles is not enough and you still have some soup left, ask them for more noodles! That soup is something you will not want to waste.
Rice Bowl: Rice bowls come in small size, but great flavor. Salmon and tuna will melt in your mouth when you have them with hot rice. Seaweed pieces add more layers to the taste. Besides salmon and tuna, pork is a good choice too. The mild ginger taste in the pork goes well with the pork belly. If you still feel some space in your stomach after Tsukemen, get the rice bowl with the topping you like!
Address: 2029 Sawtelle Blvd
Recommended Dish:
Nikutama Udon: Sweet beef broth with thin-sliced beef and soft boiled egg. After getting your bowl of udon, don’t forget to drizzle some fried tempura batter pieces on top of the udon. The liquid egg yolk from soft boiled egg gives an extra-thick rich layer to the broth and udon. Using the egg yolk as a dipping sauce for beef is also a good choice.
Shrimp, Squid, Chicken Tempura: Good appetizer with soy sauce. If you are a person who likes to have chips with meals, Tempura dishes serve a similar function but have more layers of textures. They make the meal fun to eat.
Daikokuya: (A good late-night meal place. It opens until 1:00 AM)
Address: 2208 Sawtelle Blvd (36 min)
Recommended Dish:
Spicy Miso Ramen Special / Daikoku Ramen Special: If you are able to eat mild spicy dishes, choose Spicy Miso Ramen! If not, Daikoku Ramen is also a good choice. Daikokuya provides its customers with authentic traditional Ramen. Rich flavor broth and bouncy ramen top with chashu (Japanese braised pork belly), bamboo, egg, bean sprouts, and green onion. While having the dense feelings from soup and meat, bean sprouts bring a refreshing taste to the whole dish. Highly recommend trying it out if it’s your first time coming to Daikokuya!
Shredded Pork Rice Bowl: The sweetness combines well with the shredded pork. The best part for this dish is the rice - withhold the umami of pork and teriyaki sauce. Usually, ordering the rice bowl as part of the combo for the Ramen dish is a good strategy to have the perfect amount of food and more choices of taste.
Exoctic Choice:
Takoyaki: Octopus in a ball of pancake, mayo, Worcestershire sauce, and Katsu o bushi on the top. Be careful when you have the first bite because they are super HOT inside. Takoyaki is a really good late-night snack and appetizer to eat. The soft pancake batter gets crispy on the outside layer while holding the chewy octopus piece in the middle. If you like to have food with a lot of different textures in one bite, please order Takoyaki!
Korean Food:
Korean food is always one of the best choices for friend gathering events. If you’re struggling with where to eat for a big group of people and having everyone satisfied with the food (except vegan and vegetarian), Korean barbeque is the way to go. For students who crave some late-night snacks after studying for too long, Korean-style fried chicken will be a great choice!
Address: 7128 Van Nuys Blvd Van Nuys (35 min)
Recommended Dish (It’s all you can eat, but you probably want to ave your stomach for good choices):
Beef Tone: The thin-sliced beef tone is not as oily as bulgogi, but really beefy. Ordering beef tones at Ayce Gogi is like getting a lottery. There are chances you get wonderful beef tones with a marbling pattern, but there are other times you may get pure muscle red looking beef tone. However, believe in me, when you get the marbling beef tone, you will be shocked by how tender and flavorful one slice of meat can be in the world!
Lemon Pepper Pork Belly: after grilling for a while and getting all the grease out, the pork belly becomes really crispy and chewy. Highly recommended!
Fried Rice: Kimchi fried rice. Usually, ordering carbs at all you can eat at a barbeque restaurant is not a wise decision, but Fried Rice here is worth trying out! The sourness and spiciness from kimchi can activate your appetite and make you want more food.
Salad: You may be surprised by this recommended dish for a barbeque restaurant, but the key to having more meat is to achieve the balance between the oily feeling from eating meat, and the refreshing taste from vegetables. Using salad as the layer to wrap pork belly, bulgogi, steak not only brings extra texture but also mediates the dense flavor of the meat. Highly recommend warping your meat with salad!
Not Recommended Dish/ Dishes to avoid:
Shrimp, squid, sausage: all those dishes are either hard to grill or plain in its taste.
KyoChon Chicken (after getting fried chicken, get some boba from Kung Fu Tea will be a good choice)
Address: 3833 W 6th St Los Angeles (46 min)
Recommended Dish:
Honey Wings: Honey mustard dressing covers the whole crispy wing. Really juicy and flavorful.
Pickled Radish: If you feel the fried chicken wing is too oily or the red wing is too spicy, pickled radish can mediate all those.
Red Wing: Korean style spiciness. Really spicy, so if you are not confident in eating hot wings, I do not really recommend this dish. However, if you love spicy food, this one probably will be your favorite red wing.
Chinese Food:
Chinese food is really inclusive. Each dish reveals the culture of its originating area. Tasting different dishes is like traveling through different regions in China. Here are some restaurants for you to explore.
Dong Ting Spring (Hunan Chinese Cuisine):
Address: 520 N Ventu Park Rd Unit 150 Newbury Park (18 min)
Recommended Dish:
Dong Ting Fish: Whole fish with Hunan’s seasoning. The fish is really tender and juicy. The combination of different chilies and peppers creates a unique spicy flavor to the dish.
Sweet and Sour Fish Blossom: After slicing in a special technique and deep-frying the fish, the dish looks like a blooming flower on the plate. The sourness from the sauce fits perfectly with the fish. Highly recommend ordering this dish.
House Special Braised Pork: Similar to teriyaki pork belly. Adding garlic and a little bit chilly increases more aroma for this dish. Highly suggest eating the skin, fat, and muscle of the meat at the same time. The texture of each layer of the meat is amazing.
Dong Ting Pig Stomach with Chicken: Really flavorful soup! Pig stomach makes the soup dense and creamy while chicken stock adds a lot of flavors. If you only order a few dishes, please try out this one.
Address: 1530 S San Gabriel Blvd
Recommended Dish:
All the appetizers that are placed along with the seasoning: Traditional Chinese appetizers, such as the red date and white fungus soup. They usually have a light taste.
Meat dish and Vegetable dish: The flavor of all the meat dishes and vegetable dishes is hugely depending on the dipping sauce you made on your own and the hot pot base soup your group decides, so there are not really specific dishes recommended. However, trying out the dishes you have never seen in other places will be a smart choice, such as ordering the pig brain.
Chinese Version:
Calamigos 附近的亚洲美食
泰国菜：
Green Basil:
地址: 5665 Las Virgenes Rd (16 分钟车程)
推荐菜单：
Pad Thai 泰式炒金边粉： 这盘菜中有炒粉，炒鸡蛋，豆芽菜，葱， 和你所选的肉类。 酸甜的口感中和了炒粉会有的油腻感。 相当推荐的一个招牌菜！
Shrimp Rolls 油炸虾卷： 用馄饨皮裹住鸡肉泥和虾肉后再深度油炸。 保证面衣脆的同时锁住了肉汁。 搭配泰式甜辣酱相当可口。
Green Curry 绿咖喱：点这道菜的时候别忘记需要单独点饭或者Roti， 否则只有咖喱。 椰汁的奶香和丝滑夹带着辣椒和其他香料所带来的冲击， 这道绿咖喱会让你感觉好吃到无法停下手里的勺子。
Poh Tak Soup: 类似于冬阴功汤。 生姜和其他佐料让这海鲜汤非常富有层次外还有利于暖身。 是冬天饭桌上的不二选择。
Cholada:
地址: 18763 Pacific Coast Hwy (25 分钟车程)
推荐菜单：
Golden Bags：与Green Basil的 Shrimp Rolls 用料类似， 不过这家的菜无论是摆盘还是味道都要略胜一筹。 非常值得点了当开胃菜吃。
Crab Fried Rice 蟹肉炒饭：真材实料的用了螃蟹肉是最大的亮点。光吃这盘炒饭就已经很美味了， 但是有条件的话， 搭配咖喱淋在饭上会有别样的惊喜。 十分推荐尝试这道菜
所有种类的咖喱都值得尝试一下
Sweet Mango & Sticky Rice 芒果糯米陪椰浆： 荷叶包裹着的糯米带着草本的清香。 软糯的口感搭配酥软的芒果和微甜的椰浆是再合适不过的饭后甜点了。 由于这道甜点是季节限定的， 所以虽然有可能有时候没有这道菜，但是有的话芒果的质量绝对值得保证。
日式料理：
Tsujita:
地址: 2057 Sawtelle Blvd (35 分钟)
贴士：Tsujita一年四季都非常热门， 所以一般从到达到能够入桌进餐都需要排至少20分钟的队伍。不过Tsujita的美食绝对是对得起这些等待时间的。
推荐菜单：
Ajitama Tsukemen 溏心蛋蘸面： 如果是第一次来Tsujita的话一定要尝试他们家的蘸面。 浓厚的汤单独在一碗里， 与面分开从而保证了面条的筋道。 每一次将面蘸进汤汁后， 面都会均匀的裹上一层浓汤。 配合溏心蛋， 笋， 叉烧等进一步提升了这道菜的鲜味。
Rice Bowl: 虽然盖浇饭的份量比较小，但是味道相当不错。金枪鱼和三文鱼盖饭的鱼都会有一种入口即化的口感。如果不喜欢生鱼的话，点猪肉盖饭也是不错的选择。姜戎完美的中和了油腻感。
Marugame Udon （乌冬面）
地址: 2029 Sawtelle Blvd (35 分钟)
推荐菜单：
Nikutama Udon 牛肉温泉蛋乌冬面：薄切牛肉搭配温泉蛋相当饱足。 可以用液态的蛋黄当作牛肉的蘸料搭配乌冬面。 非常实在的一碗乌冬面。
鱿鱼，炸虾，炸鸡天妇罗： 酥脆的外壳和里面弹牙的馅料使得吃天妇罗相当有层次感。 搭配店里提供的酱油蘸料是不错的开胃菜。
Daikokuya 大黑屋: (开到凌晨一点， 是个不错的深夜食堂)
地址: 2208 Sawtelle Blvd (36 min)
推荐菜单：
By: Yinjie Zhai