Susan Feniger’s STREET | Los Angeles, CA | 08.27.11

Tonight’s dinner.

• Sweet curry rice puffs... complimentary. Strange. Sweet yet slightly spicy.
• Mandoo Vegetable Dumplings - Asian Vegetables, sweet potato and kimchi filled dumplings with roasted ginger yam and sesame dipping sauce.
• Bhel Puri - diced boiled potatoes, cilantro, chick peas, chopped onions, topped with tamarind/mint chutney.
• Smashed Potatoes - Yukon gold potatoes creamy on the inside, fried crispy on the outside then smashed and topped with sour cream, chives, and pink peppercorn. This is my perfect potato side dish.
• Tatsutage Fried Chicken - Marinated with soy, mirin, and sake crispy fried in rice batter and topped with spicy kewpie mayonaise.
• Filipino Sweet Sticky Rice Tamale - wrapped in banana leaf with coconut sticky rice, stuffed with pieces of plantains, drizzled with basil syrup and dried sweetened coconut shavings.
• Thai Tea Creme Caramel - light custard infused with Thai Tea topped with caramel whipped cream.
• Hong Kong Milk Tea - Darjeeling stepped with fresh ginger and frothed with sweetened condensed milk (all of which is prepared at your table).

Highlights were definitely the smashed potatoes, filipino tamale, and fried vegetable dumplings, which were pretty much Mary Poppins perfect in every way, and I could eat a meal of those by themselves. Crunchy, salty, sweet. Everything I want in a food.

The Filipino sweet tamale (aka Biko) was awesome. It was familiar yet, the basil syrup, shredded dried coconut, and plantain bits added a nice twist to it. I would love to take my parents here (you know, instead of their typical haunt, Denny’s) to give them a taste of what fancy filipino food could be.

What I didn’t care for was the chicken. Though batter was light and crispy, it reminded me of Chili’s Chicken Crispers. While I actually do like chicken crispers, I might as well get that same dish for half the price a Chili’s… and have a dip of my choosing to go along with it.

… and there you have it.
A bunch of things I stuffed in my mouth today.