Omelet + Rice = Omurice January 5, 2009

Omurice is an incredibly simple dish, just a layer of beaten egg cooked and wrapped around rice, veggies, and spam. Pour some ketchup on top and you’re done. Like bibimbap, it falls into the category of Korean dishes I imagine I could successfully recreate at home. It’s total comfort food. Egg, carbs, ketchup… Does it get better than that?

The place where I generally order it is also a very simple place. It’s almost like sitting in someone’s kitchen. The place is called Spoon & Chopsticks, and it’s located on 6th a block or so east of Chapman Plaza in the same strip mall as Ice Kiss and Ham Ji Park, a place Young recommended (which I tried ages ago but haven’t blogged about yet, just so you know, Young).

The food at Spoon & Chopsticks, like the ambiance, is very basic. Besides omurice they have various kinds of fried rice, noodles, some simple meats, kimbap, dumplings and probably a few things I’m forgetting. You don’t go here for a gourmet meal. You do go if you need a cheap and filling bite to eat. You can get their punch card and eventually earn a free meal. They also deliver.

Kimbap:

Dumplings and some panchan (the kimbap also made it into the picture again):

The staff is friendly (it helps to speak Korean). They’re not open on Sunday. Parking is street or the valet lot behind the strip mall. The panchan seem to vary from day to day, so if there’s one you particularly like (or dislike) don’t expect it to necessarily be offered next time.

Spoon & Chopsticks
(cross-streets: Kenmore/Catalina)
3417 W 6th St
Los Angeles, CA 90189

Choco bing soo September 28, 2007

There can be no doubt about it: chocolate bing soo (초코빙수) is the ultimate flavor (and I don’t say that just because I’m female). My previous fave was the green tea version, but after last Sunday’s trip to Ice Kiss where we got the chocolate, I’m a convert.

Ordinarily I probably wouldn’t have ordered the chocolate, considering it a little too untraditional (not that I think there’s really anything traditional about the stuff that gets added to bing soo, not at this point). But on Sunday I just had a taste for it, and apparently so did Bon V., so we gave it a shot. The verdict was that it’s a winner.

Ice Kiss’s choco bing soo includes a sprinkling of Count Chocula cereal (this is what I mean about nothing traditional).

They also serve their medium size in an honest-to-goodness dog bowl. We knew this before we went, so we made sure to order that size. Despite how huge the serving looks (and it is quite huge), and despite having filled up on KBBQ beforehand, we managed to eat every ounce of our choco bing soo, which was awesomely delicious. Well, okay, we left some of the ice at the bottom. I’ve never been a fan of things like snow cones, but when it’s bing soo, you can eat all the yummy goodness off the top along with some of the ice, and then you can just leave the rest of the ice in the bowl (for the dog, I presume). This wouldn’t work so well with some other Asian shaved ice desserts, where I gather the ice goes on top instead of on the bottom. I’ll stick with the Korean version.

The thing about bing soo is that, unlike plain ordinary ice cream, it’s lighter (because of the shaved ice to ice cream ratio), and it has fruit, which allows eaters to pretend bing soo is good for you. You’re also liable to find almost anything in it (witness the Count Chocula). It’s more interesting than ice cream, and it probably is better for you. Well, okay, it might not be. But it does have fruit!

Here’s what was left of our choco bing soo when we were done: basically chocolate syrup (used on the chocolate version instead of condensed milk) and melting ice.

Ice Kiss
3407 W. 6th Street
(about half a block east of Kenmore)
Los Angeles, CA 90020