April 28, 2010 – Square One Dining

11 am

Square One Dining

1 BLAT sandwich

side green salad

several glasses of water

Before braised pork belly began to appear on every other restaurant menu, there was bacon. Specifically, there was Nueske’s slab bacon, sliced 1/8-inch thick and slowly roasted in an oven. That’s how Square One Dining, a breakfast and lunch spot right in the shadow of the Scientology Headquarter on Fountain and Vermont, cooks their bacon. When they first opened three years ago, I went every other week. Square One was one of the first restaurants in the neighborhood that meticulously sourced their ingredients, and promptly add a pronoun to all their ingredients. Hence, breakfast potatoes aren’t just potatoes, their Yukon golds from Weiser Farms. Grits are specially ordered from Anson Mills in South Carolina, where they stone ground organic corn (it’s the best grits I’ve ever tasted). And the bacon, as mentioned before, is from Nueske, the Wisconsin butcher renowned for their smoked meats. Every time I come here, I order bacon in some shape or form. The BLAT, the classic bacon-lettuce-tomato sandwich, with avocado, is the best BLT I’ve had in LA.

5:30 pm

2 piece of sourdough bread

1 slice of cheddar cheese

I was running late to my softball game. Hence my Chinese prison meal.

10 pm

Cha Cha Lounge

2 pints of Pabst Blue Ribbon

Dec. 4, 2009

9 am

1 bowl of Total 100% Raisin Bran cereal

12:30 pm

Oaks Gourmet

BLT sandwich

side of peppadew cole slaw

1 can of Coke Zero

2 pm

Starbucks

1 tall nonfat mocha

8:20 pm

Don Dae Gam

Pork neck meat

various banchan

1 Hite beer

2 shots of rice liquer

2 shots of raspberry liquer

You might’ve noticed that I ate half a pig today. Sweet, sweet porcine goodness. As much as I would like to go on and on about how much I love pork, I simply can’t wax poetically about the pig’s heavenly goodness as well as this classic Simpsons clip: 

I blame my neighbor who cooked bacon that morning. TEMPTRESS! How can I resist your siren call. I immediately walked down the street to get a BLT from Oaks Gourmet. Look at those bacon slabs. It’s 1/4 inch thick. None of that flimsy Oscar Meyer shit for me. BUT, Oaks Gourmet overcooked their bacon. It’s extremely dry and leathery. No fat or flavor. Hell, it was actually jerky. I love jerky, but not if I want bacon. Too bad, because the rest of the sandwich, with heirloom tomatoes, avocados, camembert cheese and aioli, was delicious. You drop the ball there, Oaks.

No time to be disappointed though, not with dinner at Don Dae Gam planned. The sign outside has a fat, happy pig. That’s nice knowing that your meaning in life is to be eaten, bringing joy to others in the process. Don Dae Gam, run by the same people who own the heavily-hyped Park’s BBQ, specializes in pork. Awesome. Pork belly, pork spareribs (which are prepared just like kalbi) and the favorites for my friend Bobby and his wife Frankie, pork neck. The meat from that area is barely pink and opaque. “That’s the fat,” Frankie marveled, “It’s just like toro.” And it truly is a beautiful sight. When you slap it on the grill, the pork neck pieces curl up as the fat oozes out. But there’s still enough fat in there to remain juicy. Bobby, Frankie, their friend Marian and I plowed through three platters-worth. We didn’t opt for the spareribs and the pork belly, both of which I’ve had on a previous visit. They belly’s sliced thin and cooks quickly. Most other Korean BBQ places gives you thick slabs, which is more reminiscent of the bellies that are in every other restaurant now. I prefer thick slabs but it’s a matter of personal opinion. Whatever. We ate more necks than… no, I can’t make a vampire reference. It’s all “Twilight” right now and that’s pretty gay.

11:30 pm

2 glasses of Saurus malbec wine

handful of Pop Secret kettle corn

1 piece of German advent calendar chocolate

It seems that I spent five days in Berlin this past summer without going to the largest chocolate store in all of Europe because I was unaware of it. GAH!