Yesterday, we decided to go on a treasure hunt. Where oh where was Kogi headed? As it turns out, today The Wall Street Journal spills the beans and high five to commenter #2 for hitting the nail on the head. Kogi's forthcoming dive (no pun intended) into real restaurant dining lands at Asian Rice Grill a tiny home-in-the-wall on Overland in West LA. And, not a huge shocker, but team Kogi has no plans to redecorate. Or so they say. How very...LA. When we stopped by yesterday we spotted a sign on the door that says “closed for remodeling," though there were no signs of life whatsoever. The owners of a barber shop and a Brazilian restaurant in the same strip mall had conflicting stories: the barber shop said that there have been workers coming and going since Rice Grill closed its doors and that they expect it to reopen in a month or so. At the Brazilian restaurant, we heard they hadn’t seen anyone for the past few weeks and that Rice’s new management had remodeled only six months ago.
Anyway, earlier this week Kogi's Alice Shin shared that the restaurant would be like "Yoshinoya 5.0...Very straight up, very fresh and very LA," and that the rice bowls would have interesting toppings. Here are some ideas floating around Roy Choi's head: "I see bacon-fat-studded chestnuts and fresh herbs on braised lamb; steak with a soft-poached egg and hand-crushed sesame seeds; organic rice, braised pork-belly, fresh-water spinach in a beautiful broth with sesame leaves." Choi continues on to say that the food will be inexpensive enough that people who would eat at McDonald's will be able to afford it.
·The King of the Streets Moves Indoors [WSJ]
·Kogi Restaurant Like "Yoshinoya 5.0" [~ELA~]
