LUCKYRICE in LA Recap + LUCKYRICE in SF September 6

LUCKYRICE recently traveled Los Angeles. The traveling food festival gathered some of LA’s best Asian restaurants including host Chef Sang Yoon from Lukshon and Father’s Office for one night of feasting at the Book Bindery. LUCKYRICE continues on to San Francisco this Friday, September 6, Las Vegas on October 5 and the date in Miami to be announced. In each city, the roster of restaurants reads like a who’s who in Asian restaurants. It kicked off earlier this year with 9 different events in New York. Perhaps it’ll become a multi-day event in other cities in the future.

 

It looked like Chef Sang Yoon brought his entire team over to the Bookbindery serving a couple of bites including this salmon lomi lomi — the chunks of raw salmon are mixed with tomato gelee, scallions and pickled Maui onions.

 

As a preview to what’s to come to SF, Hopscotch from Oakland was down in LA serving dashi cherry tomatoes. Chef Kyle Itani will be serving this dish in SF on Friday.

 

One of my first bites was the deviled egg from BEP Kitchen. It was nice to see Chef Connie Tran at LUCKYRICE.

 

Cocktails were sponsored by Bombay Sapphire East gin. Some of LA’s greatest bartenders turned up to pour. Here’s Rosie Ruiz from Connie & Ted’s with two cocktails. I tried the TEA-nage Dream (Oolong & Jasmine tea infused Bombay Sapphire East gin, rice elixir, demerara syrup, coconut powder, cinnamon). The creaminess reminded me a bit like horchata.

 

Leave it to Ngyuen Tran from Starry Kitchen to wear a giant sombrero to an Asian themed event. But it makes sense in a twisted way… later we would see him in an outfit more appropriate for a German beer hall at another Night market themed event. I have to get over to their new restaurant location in Chinatown soon. I really liked the variation of the chili crab as gumbo.

 

 

Another spot I have to check out is the new No Vacancy bar from the Houston Brothers who also have Pour Vous, Harvard & Stone, La Descarga and they’re always working on new projects. I tried the Hemingway on the China Front (Bombay Sapphire East gin, jasmine water, coconut jasmine cream, lemon, egg white).

 

One of the best bites was from Goldie’s. Corn and crab go so perfectly together and screams summer. Although admittedly, I didn’t see the Asian connection.

 

R23 was one of my favorite sushi bars back in the day. It was delightful to see them at LUCKYRICE. The yellowtail canape with avocado was great.

 

 

I probably should have gone over to Ayara Thai at this point but got distracted by some smiling faces at Old Lightning, the forthcoming bar from Steve Livigni and Pablo Moix. I hadn’t expected to see them there and was happy to try their punch. It was one of the best drinks of the night.

 

I’m always happy to see Night + Market at events though I should try to get over to the Hollywood eatery more often (can’t wait for their Eastside location to open!). They served a shrimp chip topped with tuna ceviche.

 

One of the longest lines for drinks was for Hinoki and the Bird.

I tried the Matcha Rickey (Bombay Sapphire East gin, matcha fruit syrup, lime, muddled Thai basil, club soda) and also the  Enter the Dragon (Thai bird chili-infused Corzo silver tequila, mezcal, lime, honey, dragonfruit, Chinese 5-spice). I preferred the spicy cocktail.

 

It was an eggs extravaganza over at Komodo. They were serving dragon eggs (fried hardboiled eggs) with kale salad and Nasi Goreng. The Indonesian style steak fried rice had quail eggs.

 

 

I was expecting Pour Vous to be at the fest but La Descarga stepped in at the last minute. Ricky Yarnall was helping out at the booth serving a couple of cocktails. I tried the Kreteck Cocktail (Cazadores reposado, clove syrup, coffee, Angostura bitters) which helped wake me up a bit and get me to the final stretch.

 

After getting noodles at Rock Sugar, beef wraps at Spice Table, we stopped by newcomer Phorage for their lemongrass pork belly with cucumber slaw. The next time I’m on the Westside, I’ll have to stop by to see what they’ve done with the old Chego space.

 

I braved my melon allergy to try the Summer Love from Sadie. Made with Bombay Sapphire East gin, strawberry-cantaloupe syrup, Aperol, lemon and soda, it was served punch style.

 

Originally I wasn’t going to wait in line for the ramen but a little take out container appeared when I mentioned how I really wanted some noodles. The egg was the best part. Described to be a Japanese “Scotch” egg, it had great consistency and the yolk was still runny. The broth was good too.

 

I loved the presentation of the handrolls from Katsuya with droppers filled with soysauce. It was the perfect way to nosh on the rolls while strolling around the VIP area.

 

LUCKYRICE in San Francisco

Friday, September 6

One Ferry Building

 

VIP $125 –  7-10P

General Admission $88 – 8 -10PM

Buy tickets

© The Minty  2013