Red Corner Asia

So I used to be a big fan of Palms Thai. Between Elvis, the hours, the plentitude of seating, and the delicious food, how could you ask for more?! Plus, a thai friend in med school gave Palms here seal of genuine Thai approval. When someone with 5 syllables in their last name says a Thai restaurant is good, I believe 'em! But recently a friend recommended RCA also known as Red Corner Asia. Keep in mind this friend is white. But hey, I keep an open mind. The reviews on yelp also supported this =).


So I love Thai salads. I just love their fishy, sweet, sour, spicy dressing. I'm becoming a fan of Thai papaya salad. Vietnamese eat green/raw papaya as a savory salad too. Pictured below is their Papaya Salad with Dried Shrimp (Som Tum Thai) minus the dried shrimp cuz Dumpling Man does not like dried shrimp. It's delicious! But pretty spicy!






Then there were some fried shrimp balls. Just fried. Shrimpy. Nothing special.




The pad see ew is delicious. Can't find a bad pad see ew in Thai Town. Not too sweet or fishey.




This is either yellow chicken curry or duck curry. I can't remember. Either way, I'd say the curries here are slightly weak. They're a little more bland. The duck is very fatty but its most delicious.



I forget what this next one was called, but it's basically stir-fried glass noodles, eggs, veggies, and shrimp. Good stuff but I'd doubt I'd order it again, wasn't really that special. Definitely good if you like glass noodles.



Their Pad Thai is surprisingly not very red or orange like most pad thais i've eaten. It still had that sweet/sour/tangy taste which I enjoy. I'm not the biggest fan of a hunk of egg in my pad thai, but its solid nonetheless.



This is one of my favorite dishes at Thai restaurants. Unfortunately at the more Americanized Thai places, the ones I get takeout from on the Westside don't have this vegetable. I grew up eating it at home. It's some sort of spinach but I guess it's called "morning glory." Vietnamese just stir-fry with a bit of garlic and season with fish sauce. Thai ppl do the same, but tons more garlic, fish sauce, and I think bean paste cuz theres hunks of what looks like fermented beans in there. All of it makes a very punched up version of a vegetable dish I liked growing up.




I love red corner asia. Definitely my go to place for Thai food in Thai town. Too bad its so darn farn. Altho from the bev center it probably takes 20 min on a weekday. So not horrible, but mentally it seems further. Anyways, you should go check it out. Give me a call cuz I'd like to go too =)



Red Corner Asia
5267 Hollywood Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90027
(323) 466-6722
http://www.redcornerasia.com/



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Hide Sushi

I've been on a blogging hiatus as of late. I've had some technical difficulties with my camera. I've just been feeling like the pics are subpar and so haven't been as motivated to post pics. I'm in the market for a better camera, but darn these things can get expensive if you're looking for a good one. Anyways, on to the food as usual...



So I went Hide Sushi a long time ago when I was in college. At that time, I don't think I really appreciated real sushi. I was new to the raw fish deal so I think I liked rolls better. But nowadays I can definitely call myself a fan of real sushi, minus the uni, sweet shrimp, etc. That I have yet to develop a real appreciation for. Until re-discovering Hide I didn't have a good go-to sushi place that was affordable. My go-to sushi place was Crazy Fish for rolls, but when I had a hankering for the real deal I just went without. After some yelping I found Hide again and decided to give it a go.





They do offer hot dishes in addition to sushi and some rolls.




As you can see, the sushi is priced quite affordably.



Standard miso soup, nothing too special.



Some salted cabbage stuff, again not that special. These things come when you order a dinner set and not just sushi.



Mmmm, now for the good stuff! From left to right: spicy tuna roll, yellowtail roll, salmon, and eel. All so delicious. Just getting hungry thinking about it. The yellowtail roll is particularly impressive. Just tastes fresh and very subtley flavorful with the scallions. The salmon is pretty good, but Dumpling Man is not that impressed. The eel is perfectly sweet and delicately crisp in all the right places.








This is Dumpling Man's favorite: albacore. They do it particularly well here for some reason. And you get to pour ur own ponzu sauce.



I'm not that big a fan of the hot food here. The chicken teriyaki was sorta dry, the beef was better but neither that impressive. Good dishes to fill up your stomache so you don't go broke on the sushi.




Overall I am a big fan of Hide becuz the sushi is so fresh and the price is very very RIGHT. Most people I've talked to agree that Hide is good for its location, price and quality. Obviously you'll prob find better sushi in Little Tokyo or Torrance, but when it comes to the Westside, we take what we can get! One person, who's name I shall not mention, has compared Hide sushi to that one could obtain from your local supermarket, like Ralph's. This person obviously is a gigantic boob when it comes to food and prefers his/her sushi to be served on warm rice, which in my opinion spoils the delicious rawness of sushi. It's a wonder why I continue to be friends with this person. But who knows, maybe warm sushi rice is appropriate for certain types of fish. I certainly cannot appreciate it. Anybody have any comments on this??

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