What's that? Guelaguetza!

After reading glowing reports about Guelaguetza in CH for a long time now, we finally make the trip to Koreatown for Lisa's birthday. Needles to say, we were not disappointed. We entered not big fans of mole. The mole is kind of like the Guinness of sauces: dark, thick, sweet, and mysterious. Unable to decide on what to order, we go the safe route and get Clayuda Choriqueso (top), Mole Sampler (bottom left), and Mole Rojo Enchiladas (bottom right). This was way too much food for the both of us, which is common whenever we try a new restaurant. The enchiladas come stuffed with crumbled cheese, doused in a mellow mole rojo, topped with a fantastic string cheese. Best dish of the night. The clayuda came with the same string cheese, on top of a crispy thin tortilla like flat bread, and dotted with chorizo. We'd definitely order that again, but only if there were enough people to share it with. Otherwise it could count as an entree on the sheer size alone. The mole sample is a good way to try out the different moles available. Black mole comes rich and smoky, excellent with the chicken. The rojo, yellow, and coloradito are all much milder and have their own tones of flavors. This was definitely a new experience for the both of us. Although we didn't see the beetles or crickets on the menu, we did see a table order the beetles and enjoy them with a squeeze of lime. Guelaguetza is definitely on the list of places to try again.

Food Epiphany - Langer's

I never really beleived the hype about Langer's until I went their with our Pastrami Evangelist, Yvonne. After experiencing that sandwich a few year ago, I still can't think of too many more enlightening food experiences, EVER. If you don't believe me, check out the links to some awesome write ups about Langer's.

Langer's
7th and Alvarado, Los Angeles

Westlake exit off the Red Line


The New Yorker on Langer's

CH's Thi N on Langer's

Travel - Kunshan, China

I just returned from a 16 day stay in China. The first two weeks were for work and not much more. My company is starting up a new plant in Kunshan (about 1.5 hrs outside of Shanghai) and we were there to get approval from our customer to begin shipping parts. Flying into Shanghai Pudong airport was a bit daunting b/c of my lack understanding of Mandarin. Ugh. I thought that I could retain some mandarin through the podcasts from ChinesePod.com, but it just went in one ear, bounced around my brain for about 5 minutes, and leaked out the other. Glad to say, the driver was waiting for me at the airport like a good driver should and wisked me away to our hotel in Kunshan. Checked in, called up Meric and Young and waited for them to pick me up and head out for some night life.