Taste of Soul LA

October 17, 2011 | Posted By: Nahchusdivad @ 4:33 am

Over the past weekend, I heard about Taste of Soul LA and thought it’d be cool to check out. A food festival for soul food! Sounds good to me. It’s supposed to be one of the largest food festivals in Los Angeles and I have to say, it was quite packed.

The food was a mix of soul food, Caribbean food, classic American, and some others. It was hard to get through all of the crowd to check out everything. But it’s a Taste of Soul so we had to find some good soul food. We finally settled on a place called Dulan’s. They had a $12 special with chicken, collard greens, mac and cheese, corn bread, candied yams, and fried fish. My friends got the Soul Food special and I grabbed the Chicken and Fish with a side of mac and cheese.

The food was pretty classic soul food. Delicious. The chicken that my friend’s got had a gravy and was served with some stuffing with collard greens, cornbread, mac and cheese, and candied yams.

The chicken and fish combo I got came was done well and came with some fries. The mac and cheese was awesome! And the candied yams was like crack it was so good. All in all it was some good eating.

 

Speak Easy Open Mic

July 23, 2011 | Posted By: Nahchusdivad @ 10:04 pm

Walking inside the Last Bookstore on Monday nights makes you feel like you’re at some magical bookstore. You feel like the place has been there forever. And once you walk in, you see the stage and see people performing while a small crowd watches sitting on sofas or standing around leaning on a bookshelves. It’s late on a Monday night yet all these people are here and the book store is open. You don’t see customers browsing for books. You just see the performers and the audience. Everybody is quiet and respectful. You just get a sense that something different is going on here. People are putting themselves up on stage to express themselves, to teach people, to praise, or to move your mind.

A friend of mine invited me to check this out on Monday nights. It’s an open mic set up at the Last Bookstore in Downtown Los Angeles. Some people spit poetry, some sing songs, and some tell stories. Whatever that requires a mic, you may see it there. It was a really cool and chill vibe there and everybody is supportive. There are a lot of regulars that perform there. It’s hosted sometimes by Dante Basco or Lady Basco, Tara Mali, and others. Real cool set up. Here’s flyer from one of their nights as well as some photos.

 

July 4th 2011

July 6, 2011 | Posted By: Nahchusdivad @ 8:16 am

Caught some photos of fireworks in Burbank. Check em out =)

Silverlake Jubilee

June 10, 2011 | Posted By: Nahchusdivad @ 6:42 pm

Went to check out the Silverlake Jubilee a little while back. The Silver Lake Jubilee is a two-day music and art celebration located within the eclectic and bohemian Silver Lake neighborhood of Los Angeles.

Food trucks, artwork, trinkets and jewelry, booze, doggies, and bands. Pretty much sums it up. Oh and hipsters. Lots of hipters :)

Here’s photos from that day.

First Fridays at Venice 05/06

May 8, 2011 | Posted By: Nahchusdivad @ 8:59 pm

This past weekend was my first time checking out First Fridays at Venice off of Abbot Kinney Boulevard. My friend was telling me about how on the first Fridays of every month, there would be food trucks lining the streets, people selling various trinkets, music, and beer. I was pretty much sold at food trucks. Along with food, there are various stores, art galleries, bars, and restaurants that are all open late.

Some of the food trucks I saw were the classic Calbi BBQ, which sold Korean style BBQ in tacos and burritos, the Dim Sum Truck, the Grilled Cheese Truck, the Flying Pig Truck, and a many more. It was a tough decision picking out what to food truck to order from. Food prices kind of range from $5 ~ $8 and up with sodas around a buck or two. Eventually I had decided to start with a traditional Mexican food truck (it was called Danny’s Tacos I believe) and ordered a Sope which is kind of like an open faced taco with a thicker tortilla, topped with meat of your choice (I ordered pastor), lettuce, tomatoes, cotija cheese, and hot chili sauce. It was pretty deliciously awesome. It’s messy to eat and actually I’m not sure if there’s another way to eat it other than just folding it carefully and stuffing your face.

At this point it was around 11:30pm. I have to admit my first choice was kind of boring since there’s a taco truck right outside of my apartment. But you know the taco truck will be delicious most of the time. After devouring this little dish, I decided to stop being indecisive and just get whatever the hell  I want. I headed to a Cogi Truck and was craving a Bibim Bap Burrito with Bulgogi. I went to order and discovered that they were sold out! Thats when I started to notice that a lot of the trucks were starting to sell out of stuff by 11:30 to midnight.

The Grilled Cheese truck had some tasty sounding items on the menu but the line was never ending. Dim sum was nearby and I saw they had Pork Belly Buns, Peking Duck Tacoes, and Cheeseburger Dumplings. Gross? Or does it sound interesting? I was going to order all three, but again I was disappointed to learn that they were sold out of all three of those. So I ordered a Kung Pao Chicken Taco. It was so so. Ma ma hu hu. Will not get this ever again.

After that I kept staring at the Grilled Cheese Truck so my friend told me to just stand in line. I had my eye on the Cheesy Mac and Rib Sandwich. Its a grilled cheese sandwich with mac and cheese, sharp cheddar, pulled bbq pork, and carmelized onions. Drooool! Hen Hao as my chinese people would say! Not too long after getting in line ready to order my cheese bbq pork sandwich, we noticed a girl ahead of us holding some mysterious sign. When we saw the sign, it basically said she was going to be the last person to order! So upset I was.

So I learned my lesson. Get here sooner and get ordering sooner! I will be back maybe next month and hopefully I’ll get my hands on some Grilled Cheese!