Bunny Bites: Delicious treats around LA with Star Light, Xoia Vietnamese Eats, Tsujita Ramen, Culver Hotel Bar, & homemade dishes!

I use the holidays as a lovely excuse to eat, get fat, and especially to be jolly. I had some really amazing food over the past few weeks that I’d like to share with everyone! If you’re in the area, I definitely recommend these awesome eating places!

STAR LIGHT
I LOVE me some down home pub-style Asian food, and I was really wanting to gather my friends together for a little pre-Christmas spicy food and booz-a-thon  at a shiny, neon-lit little place called Star  Light over in Koreatown! Star Light used to be another little restaurant that was remodeled recently with more lights and a cleaner atmosphere.  Another great plus about this place is that they have really killer karaoke rooms above that are very fancy with shiny lights, new equipment, and really decently cheap rates! I really recommend this place for people who love good old fashioned Korean comfort food and relaxing times with friends!

Eating buddies Eron, Will, and Tim! We got a wierd plate of nachos as part of the complimentary service before the meal was served.

Delicious budejjiga, or "military stew," cooked right at the table with lots of yummy and spicy ingredients. After you're done eating the stew, the staff pour in more hot water, then add ramen to the mix!

Some other yummy things we got that night!

True Mee and I, SMILING LIKE GLUTTONS! =D

More under the cut!

XOIA VIETNAMESE EATS
It is what it says it is: a mecca of Viet food that is SIMPLY DELIGHTFUL. They have the standards such as banh mi and pho here, but also have a few fusion items that are well worth the try. This place is also the home of the MOST DELICOUS banh mi I have ever had!

Crispy Tacos with chicken, cabbage, red onions, Vietnamese coriander (rau ram), tomato and cream sauce made with Oaxacan fresh cream, coconut milk and Sriracha! An absolute DREAM of textures!

Mi Quang! Underneath all the veggies are wide yellow rice noodles, and piled on top are shrimp, pork, lettuce, bean sprouts,crushed peanuts, and mint, all served with a pork broth. SOOO good!

THIS is the life-changing Banh Mi I mentioned! They serve it with a side of Pho au jus sauce which drives me absolutely crazy with food-love.

TSUJITA RAMEN
If you are in for having your entire world totally rocked via noodles, you MUST MUST MUST try out this ramen place, located on Sawtelle in the Little Osaka area of LA.  There are a ton of ramen places that boast that they have the best broth and noodles in town, but man, my palate says, “SHE’S THE ONE. THE LUCKY GIRL I’M GOING TO MARRY” (-Gaston). Created with methods developed by the chefs at the Japan branch of the Tanaka ramen shop, this is one ramen that should be eaten by all! But a warning… they ONLY serve ramen during lunch hours from 11am – 3pm, and as early as 11:15am, there will already be a line. This one is totally worth the wait, though!

This Hakata Nagahama Tonkotsu Ramen is made by simmering the broth for over 60 hours! When you finish, you can get extra noodles for your dish for $1.50 and they give you more broth, too! EAT EAT EAT!!!

THE BAR AT CULVER HOTEL
This hot little number is great for Happy Hour! Located on the ground level of the historic Culver Hotel (ask any Culver Citizen, and they will tell you all about how John Wayne used to (allegedly) own it, and the midgets from Wizard of Oz used to have orgies there. History, y’see), this beautiful and elegant lounge space is perfect to meet up for after work drinks, or to impress your date and/or scrutinizing keepin-up-with-the-Joneses-type peers.  The Happy Hour prices are great at $5 a plate with a little bar food menu, and $6 cocktails, $3 beers, $4 wine. The totally comfy vintage chaises and roaring fire are fab, as well as the speakeasy Thursday nights they host, starting at 7pm!

We snuggled up on couches in front of the fire with our drinks, a Red Slipper cocktail (left), and a nice cheap brew of Blue Moon (right).

We ordered ALL of the happy hour apps, cos that's how we do. Garlic fries, deviled eggs, mini fish tacos, and 2 plates of things I can't recall.. haha.

They were screening cute old timesey films on the wall behind where Will was sitting, hehe.

HOMEMADE GOODNESS (by me!)
Blessed with enough free time to actually cook for myself and my boyfriend over the holidays, I was able to make some pretty epic things! I got a great hot pot cook book for Christmas, so I utilized it to make this badass nabe at our house. Clearly there is enough food here for about 4- 5 people, but Will and I ate it all ourselves LIKE THE CHAMPIONS WE ARE!

Ultimate nabe... goooo! We used salmon, tofu, naruto fish cake, shiitake mushrooms, enoki mushrooms, mussels, corn, and konnyaku noodles in this dish! The broth was simple dashi broth mixed with a light soy sauce.

I also made a simple mulled cider for a holiday White Elephant party my friends hosted! It was my first time to one of those things… and it was great! I made a nice warm drink that got chugged down pretty quickly by everyone ❤

A happy holiday punch! red wine, apple cider, oranges, apples, rasberries, and spices make for a great mulled cider!

Well, that’s it for the holiday food recap! Did you all have delicious dishes over the holidays? I’ll be traveling to Portland soon this month, and will have another doozy of a food post to go along with it, I’m sure, so if you liked this post, leave me a comment and let me know! ❤