Miho Izakaya, Portland, Oregon

I went to Miho Izakaya for dinner my first night in Portland, OR. Even though it's called an izakaya, they admit freely that they are not a strictly Japanese restaurant. Chef Michael Miho hails from Hawaii so there are some items on the fun menu inspired from his home. We were lucky to share some drinks with bar manager Michael Carothers this evening, sampling some shochu as well as several beers from the local Bridgeport Brewing. I quite liked the Hop Czar Imperial I.P.A.
We started with a tasty salad made with warm kimchee and a generous amount of gochuchang. We ordered the 'Ika' calamari salad, a wonderful and tangy salad made with tender squid, and an order of the kabocha squash.

On the menu, my eyes were right away drawn to the beef 'loko-moko' burger. I'm a fan of the original Hawaiian grinds version, so I ordered the iteration at Miho. In place of gravy, they used a Bull Dog sauce, used in "katsu" dishes in Japan. The result is a sweeter and smokier taste that was perfect with the rice, burger, and egg.

Next up was an order of crab and potato croquettes. They arrived with three sauces: hot mustard, horseradish, and a tomato sauce.
The dish of pork belly with sweet egg followed. The pork belly was wonderfully braised and very tender and fatty. The sweet egg was a split hard boiled egg that was topped with sugar and flamed like a creme brulee. It was really good, but I imagine how it would have been had it been a deviled egg.
Our last item was the sesame pork meatballs, a simple but satisfying dish.
By the end of the evening, the great food combined with great local drinks really hit the spot.




4057 N Interstate Ave
Portland, OR
(503)719-6152

Birthday Bo Ssäm Dinner at Momofuku Ssäm Bar

I was lucky to get together a good group of friends and relatives in New York for my birthday dinner, so we went to Momofuku Ssäm Bar and ordered their Bo Ssäm, their slow roasted whole pork butt.
We started with a few appetizers. First up was honeycrisp apple kimchee with Benton's bacon. Honeycrisp apples are my favorite apple, and the kimchee maintained the crispiness of the fruit. The sweetness paired well with the smoky-salty flavor of the Benton's bacon.
One of the specials was a variant on Momofuku's famous pork belly buns, so Fougoo ordered that. Instead of hoisin and onion, this version had pickled ginger, avocado, basil and mayo, and the pork belly was fried. It was actually lighter tasting than their usual bun.






I had a great time eating the Bo Ssäm. The pork butt was massive. It must have been 10 lbs. With 7 of us eating, we ended up with about a third of the butt leftover.
The bo ssäm is served with lettuce, a dozen raw oysters, rice and four "sauces": kimchee, pureed kimchee, ginger & onion in oil, and gochujang (the Korean red chili sauce). The way you eat it, is you take a piece of lettuce, grab some pork, and then you add a combination of the different elements, almost like a taco. I liked using the raw oyster because of the way it added a briny flavor to the pork as well as the texture of the oyster itself.
When were had our fill of pork butt, we celebrated with a whole crack pie from the Momofuku Milk Bar next door. It was really sweet and buttery. I was happy to celebrate my birthday with such a great meal in such wonderful company.


207 2nd Ave.
(corner of 13th + 2nd)
New York, NY

Kogi- Korean BBQ Trucks in LA

As soon as I landed in LA this holiday weekend, we checked Twitter, and located the nearest Kogi Korean BBQ Taco truck in Santa Monica this day.
As it was the lunch rush, there was a bit of a line when we pulled up, but the wait was not bad and certainly worth it.
I ordered two tacos, their signature short rib (kalbi) taco and the spicy pork taco. They were served on small corn tortillas with loads of veggies, kimchee and meat. I really liked the use of kalbi style meat in a small tortilla.
I also ordered a kimchee quesadilla. I actually like this even more than the tacos- it was a true clash of Korean and Mexican cuisine as the quesadilla was loaded with both kim chee and cheese.
I also ordered a pair of Koji sliders, which basically was like bulgolgi with cheese served in a slider bun. It was also amazingly good.